Child Well Being (Research Paper Sample)

The Child Wellbeing:
The factors that influence the construction and experience of childhood
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27th April, 2014
Introduction
This research paper investigates the factors that influence the construction and experience of childhood, by examining the social, economical, cultural, health and educational wellbeing of the child in Grindon. Grindon is a densely populated suburban area, three miles from the central business district (CBD) of Sunderland. As from2004, when Thornley Close was added to the electoral ward of Grindon, Grindon electoral ward changed its name to Sandhill Ward. The wellbeing of a child is all the dynamic and interactive processes, which are external to the child (the child’s physical surroundings, socioeconomic and family set up) and internal/individual characteristics (the child’s cognitive abilities and personality) that interactively act upon a child to satisfy his/her needs while at the same time building his/her abilities, positive perceptions to life and psychological reservoirs (Nef and Action for Children 2009, p. 2). Statham and Chase (2010, p. 2) on the other hand defines child wellbeing as a dynamic multi-dimensional states, including both the social, emotional and physical aspects, that subjectively and objectively brings into light the child’s immediate quality of life at the moment and the impact it shall have in his/her future life. The child’s health and quality of education has been identified has the main factors influencing the child’s wellbeing.
The factors influencing the construction and experience of childhood
There are several factors that affect the child’s wellbeing, among them being: the child’s social, economical, cultural, educational and health, with the last two cited as the most influential in the child’s development as they tend to directly determine the child’s present and future lives. The Centre Community Child Health (2004) while analyzing Shonkoff and Philips’s (2000) research notes that; a child’s educational, academic, learning and communication outcomes at teenage hood and later life are greatly is traceable to his/her early pre-school years and the experiences they encountered during those years. The child’s education, health, protection and nutrition has been proved to have a significant impact on the child’s later life’s social, spiritual, cognitive abilities, physical and emotional development ( World Vision N.d, p. 6).
* The Child’s Health
In the research carried out in the Grindon area of Sunderland, child obesity and breastfeeding dominated the research.
* Breastfeeding
It was established that three in ten women (30%) of women in Grindon community breastfeed their children, with the majority being older women. Younger mothers cited the notion of being anxious, getting it wrong in breasting and feeling ashamed breastfeeding in public as the main reasons they prefer not to breastfeed. Sunderland Children’s Centres, realising that breastfeeding can be hard, have dedicated all their efforts and energies to help and support both new and older mothers in breastfeeding. Just within the Grindon community, there is in existence a certain support group called Bosom Buddies run by local mothers that provides support to mothers on how to correctly breastfeed their babies.
On the national scale, it was established that breastfeeding commonly occurred in; mothers aged thirty years and over, mostly from minority ethnic groups, who at least left education aged eighteen years and over, who are professionals and live in the least deprived areas. According to the Maternity Action (2012, p. 1) information sheet, the Equality Act that came into force in 2010 prohibits unfavourable treatment of breastfeeding mothers in public bodies, services, premises, benefits and facilities to the public and higher learning institutions in order to promote the breastfeeding culture among mothers. All employers are required by law to provide rest facilities, flexible working hours and indirect sex discrimination protection, protection from harassment and health and safety protection to the breasting mothers (Maternity Action 2013, p. 3). Societal and cultural norms, clinical problems, health centres’ lack of continuity of care and health professionals’ lack of preparation in effectively supporting breastfeeding programs are among the factors contributing to the low statistical rates of breasting mothers in the UK (Dyson et al 2005, p. 16). Dyson et al (2005, p. 16) continues to argue while quoting Nicoll et al (2002) that among the European Union (EU) countries, the UK has been identified as the one of the countries with minimal support for workplace support’s international standards. The individual factors among young mothers decision of choosing not to breastfeed their babies are: Breasts and nipples tending to be painful during breastfeeding, health professionals’, mother’s and family’s ‘insufficient milk’ on the mother’s perception, the babies ‘inability’ to breastfeed, baby’s or mother’s being ill, perception of breastfeeding tiring or taking too long, difficulty in establishing the amount of milk the baby has drunk and misleading perception that the baby must only be breastfeed with his/her own mother and nobody else (Dyson et al 2005, p. 17).
On the international scale, Dyson et al (2005, p. 18) argues while quoting Yngve and Sjostrom (2001) that breastfeeding rates can be increased and/or sustained in other developed and industrialised countries where formula feeding is generally accepted as a norm posing a challenge to the UK’s policy makers and enforcers and health and social care sectors come up with deliverable and effective programmes and strategies that addresses and nurtures the breastfeeding issue. It has been established that the globalisation of formulated baby feeds proceeded with commercial interests in industrialised counties, media’s misleading portrayal of formulated baby feeds as normal and safe and women’s breasts as a sexuality symbol, improper implementation of WHO’s Breast Milk Substitutes Marketing code, increased numbers of women securing work opportunities in environments with inadequate supportive feeding and/or childcare facilities and cultural shift to baby formula feeds where bottle feeding is a development growth indicator (Dyson et al 2005, p. 17).
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding provides your baby with the ideal form of nutrition because it has the perfect amount of protein, carbohydrates which aid a baby’s growth. It also creates a mother – baby bond and helps burn 5,000 calories each breastfeeding time, hence helping to reduce the mothers weight gained during pregnancy.
There is sufficient literature and research that suggests breastfeeding to be advantageous to both baby and the mother (Breastfeeding Promotion in Britain N.d, p. 1 ). Breastfeeding Promotion in Britain goes a step further in citing these benefits as including: reduced infancy respiratory and gastrointestinal infections while quoting Hanson (1999), reduced atopic diseases risks while quoting Vandenplas (1999), reduced adulthood obesity prevalence while quoting Von Kries (1999), long term immunological protection against immune-deficiency diseases and diabetes type 1 development while quoting (McKinney 1999). It is further stated that breastfeeding has the following benefits on the mother: reduced postpartum haemorrhage risk and burning up of extra weight gained during pregnancy in the short-run and reduced premenopausal breast and ovarian cancer and increased mother and child bonding resulting to high self-esteem on the child’s later life (Breastfeeding Promotion in Britain N.d, p. 1). Later childhood diseases like asthma, diabetes, wheezing and eczema have been found to be greatly reduced by breastfeeding (Maternity Action 2013, p. 1).
Due to these benefits, it is highly recommended by health professionals to carry out baby breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months in order to enable the child acquire them (Maternity Action 2013, p. 1).
* Child Obesity
In the research carried out in Grindon area of Sunderland, it was established that childhood obesity was in the increase. Perhaps not surprisingly, healthy eating was directly linked to Education. By 2017, the Sunderland strategy aims to halt the increase in childhood obesity by reducing the proportion of obese and overweight children to 2000 levels through the DCSF’s children’s plan.
Nationally, one in ten children is obese when they start school according to the Daily Mail (2013). This figure has almost doubled to almost 20 percent by the time children enter secondary school. This is a major concern as; 3 in 10 boys and 2 in every 15 girls are overweight or clinically obese and fat that it threatens their health. According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2008, p. 1), by 2050, 90% of children in Britian are predicted to become obese. The UK account for about over 1 Million obese children of the world’s 22 million (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence 2008, p. 2). Obesity prevalence among two to five year old children is 16 percent for boys and 15 percent for girls (Association for the Study of Obesity 2011. p. 1). Mwatsama (2011 ,p. 6) asserts that the UK leads in obese children with over five million obese children and twenty million overweight ch...