Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/little-moments-that-prepare-children-for-big-moments/5023483/
Right this moment there is a four-year-old child sitting with his elbow propped on his knee, supporting his tiny chin, intently listening to a story about a character learning to express strong feelings in safe ways. The child appears as if he is enjoying the experience; he is engaged and ready to learn.
Imagining this child during this simple moment adds to our overarching vision of hope for every child across the globe. We want every child to have safety, learning, joy, and success in the little moments that will help prepare them for the big moments to come.
But a number of risk factors can interfere with these little moments of hope.
A child’s location, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and gender help determine how much risk he is most likely facing (Eckenrode, Smith, McCarthy & Dineen, 2014; Khera, Jain, Lodha & Ramakrishnan, 2013; Martin & Citrin, 2014; Mbagaya, Oburu & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013; Sedlak et al., 2010; UNICEF, 2015; WHO, 2016). Risks can be daily occurrences that wear down a family, such as regularly not being able to pay bills, having transportation issues, living in a single parent home, experiencing inconsistent routines, or being in regular contact with a family member or members with a ...