Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The Effects of Hunger on Children

My family and I did not experience it personally, but when we were younger our

neighbors who lived directly beside us experienced hunger.  My siblings and I

were very young but we were all in school.   Our neighbors had two children a boy

and a girl.  The parents worked but the bills were high and they rarely had enough

to buy food.  There were eight of us, not including my mother.  My mother would

always invite them over to eat, but they parents never can, they would always send

the children. When they entered middle school their father died, which made it

extra hard for their mother.  I felt sorry for them when we went to school because

they would eat leftovers off of the plates that food was left on.  Although they went

through many obstacles, hunger and the death of their father, they did well in

school.  Their mother found out how to get assistance with food and her rent.  This

 really helped them out a lot.  When we graduated from high school, so did they. 

They did not let this obstacle get in their way.  We still live in the town in which

we grew up and they both are doing very well. 

 

Africa

When we look at or read human rights documents, the right to food is one thing

that is mentioned consistently.  There are about 840 million people worldwide who

are malnourished, and the highest percentage of these people live in Africa. 

Africa’s current food crisis in long term and has been building up for decades.  The

hunger problem is basically caused by poverty.  The food production gap results

from deterioration in food production because of the stead increase in the

population.   When children are faced with hunger on a daily basis, it can be

detrimental to their biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development.  Children

will not be able to learn and achieve their full potential and have  lower academic

achievement.   The impact of child hunger is more far reaching than one might

anticipate.  Hungry children are sick more often and are more likely to suffer

physical, emotional, and developmental impairment.  It can cause speech and

language development problems, their brains do not develop properly, insecure

attachments, etc.