Children and Stress

In recent years I came across a little boy who unfortunately experienced the stress of chaos, daily.  This young man came from a home which in included his mother, father and brother, but their home life was complete chaos.  The mother would always scream, no consistency in controlling the household, the older brother would hit, kick, bite, and pinch this little boy who was only six (6).  He was often not bathed and wore the same clothing for days at a time.  Reports were made and filed to the proper authorities often, however investigations only found minor things and offered very little help to the family.  The school became his only place for routine and normalcy, which was sometimes hard due to his defiant behavior as well as some learning disabilities.  They learned that this young man often responded well to immediate positive reinforcement and extra attention, which again was hard with 21 other students.  The help that was offered outside of school truly did not make a difference but the school resources really helped this young man and he did progress slightly throughout the year.

One stressor I found about children in China is the fear/anxiety they have about school and being successful.  They fear the exams, the teachers and their parents.  It is said one three students experiences this stress and that they have physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach aches.  Here the students are compared to one another often and knowingly and each parent wants their child to have an edge and in order to so they push them tremendously.  Currently this issue is being looked at regularly and being monitored to find a solution to this problem.   

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7027377/Third-of-Chinese-primary-school-children-suffer-stress-study-finds.html