Risk Factors Affecting Children In Today's Life And A Teacher's Role (Essay Sample)

NAME OF THE STUDENT: PROFESSOR’S NAME: COURSE TITTLE AND CODE: DATE OF THE PAPER: Risk factors affecting children in today’s life and the role of a teacher Risk factors affecting children in today’s society emanate from a wide range of sources. These factors range from family background, cultural and religious practices and peer influence among others. Therefore, it is the duty of the teacher to devise methods and ways of to supporting the process of changing the behavior of the child. It is a task that is not easy and calls for knowledge and skills acquired through training and professional experience. Family background has a lot of influence in child’s behavior because of the values that the families teach their children at an early age. At a tender age, a child will learn the mother’s language and the rest follows automatically. Financial stability in a family determines the social status of the children in a family. The social class in our societies cannot be underestimated and has a lasting influence in children as they grow and in their various areas of the day to day interaction and this is mostly in schools. Children from poor back ground lack almost all the basic necessities and it is the duty of the teacher to understand such like children and seek ways and means of helping them. They should give them moral support for the child to feel wanted. Teachers are in a position to initiate financial assistance to help bright children from poor background through charitable bodies and people of goodwill. This will provide a platform to enable the child unleash the full potential and realize the born with capabilities. In so doing, the teacher will help in taping and nurturing talents for the future. Teachers through parents should ensure that these children have the proper reading materials available and guide the children by advising them to draw timetables for proper time management. Children growing in a certain environment tend to be influenced by their peer groups. If their leisure time is not well monitored, they may engage in activities which are undesirable like drug taking and trafficking and, prostitution. This happens mostly if the child has a lot of idle time. It is the duty of the teacher to devise ways and means to occupy the child and ensure that the child is busy at home. This is achieved by giving regular home works and frequent assessment tests in school. Such methods are meant to keep the child in a study mode hence improving child’s time management and study skills. This does not mean that children should not have time to play. The school curriculum provides for breaks in between lessons where children have time to relax and socialize. Physical Education also plays an important role for both mental and physical growth of the children. Children come from different cultural believes and backgrounds .As a child, one has no opportunity to choose where to be born neither the practices embraced by the society he or she is born in. The teachings and cultural believes embraced by these communities are deep rooted and some of which emanate from their forefathers who lived many years ago. These cultural practices have no place in our modern society because of the dynamics of living styles in today’s world. Nevertheless, some communities are still embracing these practices and it is the duty of the teacher to help the child when necessary. In Kenya for instance, there are communities who to-date practice “passage initiations” which target certain age groups. Some of these target age groups are children who are under age and are supposedly school going children. The maasai and the pokot communities of Kenya practice girl child circumcision and this affects the chil...