Category: Children

All our lives we are taught that the family is the most important trait in society. But when we have problems and we can´t get along with each other, the only solution to the issue for adults is divorce. In today’s world, far more people decide to end an abusive relationship in that way. The problem is that they do not understand the effect it may take over their children. Kids are easily affected by their parents’ habits and the conversations they hold in front of them.

Ending a marriage leads to the destruction of the relationship between husband and wife, but the most valuable relationship that is ruined is between parents and children. Divorce always affects children’s nature and this can lead to violent behavior, depression or subconscious mind which might change their thinking about future relationships.

The impact of parents’ divorce has slight benefits in some cases. When there is a lack of uniformity, it is for the best for the whole family to live separately. That doesn’t mean for the children to end the relationship with one of the parents he is not living with. If the parents are reasonable enough to know how to make their children feel comfortable, the divorce won’t be a problem. Some kids’ mindset is developing faster than another and this might create a better bond with both of the adults. When the parent-children relationship is the leading factor, the communication will be much simpler and this won’t result in an inadequate way on the mind of the children.

On the other hand, there are a lot of negative outcomes on the mindset of children after divorce. Every kid accepts things differently, but divorce is one of the hardest phases that someone may go through. At a young age, children are willing to unlock depression. This might lead to a bad relationship with others, as communication. As I have gone through that, I can affirm that the connection with others is beginning to change. Everything is proceeding so fast that they can’t be aware of the outside occasions. Moreover, the only thing that worries them is how and why did that happen. They rethink every possible solution to the problem and struggle to understand if this might be their fault.

Consequently, depression is not the only negative effect resulting in children. Divorce can be so confusing for a child that it can develop an arrogant attitude towards others and reduce his or her success on valuable matters, for example, school. Children feel overwhelmed while trying to adapt to changes so the disruption of discipline in school is as normal as failing on different subjects. That leads to more problems, related to conversations with the principle or the school advisor which may not be the right decision but it will be necessary. If parents want to avoid that, it is for the best to speak with their children alone and explain them honestly the reason for which they made that decision. Trying to escape from the conversation would not be an optional solution while your children are trying to stay away from the load situation.

Another effect that is likely to occur on children is the moral change of children´s mindset about future relationships whether or not they are related to love or friendship. Seeing their parents fighting, children can act the same way in a future relationship. As a result, the developed rude behavior it’s going to be a leading coefficient for the kid when he is enough mature to create relationships alone. Under other conditions, the child may be so frustrated or discouraged that he might begin to feel better alone and try to avoid every possible communication. Every relationship is a new lesson and will encounter the child with different types of people and their characters which will contribute to a good change.

Because divorce discourages children’s minds, it may increase health problems, too. The mental issues are inevitable, but the physical ones are not less important or impossible to occur. While going through stress or depression, children have a higher tangibility of getting sick. Also, some children acquire bad habits because of the difficulty to go through this period. These bad habits can be from less dangerous like nails biting and other similar to the worst ones – nicotine or drug addiction. Meeting with professionals should not be excluded, but the moral help from the family is of vital importance. It would be most helpful from the outset to avoid serious health problems.

To sum up, the bad effects of divorce over children can be prevented. From the beginning, parents should be careful about how they talk in front of their children. Everything should be explained in details and parents should behave adequately so that their child can grow properly. If parents want their kids to feel calm and happy, they have to keep the order of things without crossing the borders and destroy the stability of their children’s mindset.

Children abduction and trafficking refer to the abducting, kidnapping, buying, trafficking, cheating, picking up and transferring children for the purpose of selling, it is a global issue. Children abduction and trafficking is an illegal behavior, it is a worldwide criminal behavior. Such crimes have been rampant for a long time, especially in poor areas and developed areas where the floating population is concentrated, such as China, India, Myanmar, Vietnam.

As long as human traffickers abduct or sell children, no matter in what way, it will constitute a crime issue for society, even human traffickers abducted children for raising them and did not sell them, it will constitute a crime issue for society. If some people bought kidnapped children for adoption, but they did not know that the children were kidnapped, it will not constitute a crime, but it will constitute a crime if they knew the children that they bought were kidnapped, regardless of their purpose. If buyer bought abducted children and does not obstruct the children returning to their place of residence, if buyer did not maltreat the bought children and did not obstruct others rescue children, it will not constitute a crime. However, if buyer bought abducted children and sold to another person, it will constitute a crime.

If buyer bought abducted children, then deprive, restrict the children’s personal freedom or insult, or children were damaged by buyer, buyer will not only to constitute a crime of buying abducted children, but also according to its behavior, constitutes other crimes, such as to detain abducted and sold children, deprived or restricted their personal freedom, it also constitute a crime of illegal detention; If they hurt children, it will constitute a crime of intentional injury; If there was maltreatment, another crime of maltreatment will be constituted; If buyer bought abducted girl and force her to have sex, another crime of rape will be constituted.

There are some social causes of this issue. First of all, smooth sales, a big buyer’s market. Under the influence of feudal traditional ideas, some people buy children at a high price regardless of morality and law in order to continue their incense or to show that the population is prosperous and the family is prosperous, which provides a market for human traffickers to abduct and sell children. For the same reason, in some poor families, in order to give birth to a boy, they also take all means regardless of the law; Others will also buy a son to raise in order to reduce the cost of childbirth. They don’t think about where their children come from, or the tragic circumstances of their missing biological parents.

Secondly, high profits tempt desperation. Abducting and selling a child or infant can earn anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of Chinese dollars, especially for baby boys. Even families that are not well off will give everything they have to have a son and pay top dollar for it. Beggars form a professional, children’s ability to save themselves is very poor, criminal gangs will control and force children to engage in street busking, begging. In order to achieve high returns, there are also disabled children, using disability to gain public sympathy for profit.

Thirdly, it is difficult to obtain evidence. Abducting and selling children is safe and easy to handle. Even if the children are rescued in the future, they have no ability to report the case and cannot identify the criminals and provide evidence, so that criminals can evade the attack and have no fear. The reason why human traffickers or trafficking gangs target the abduction of children in economically underdeveloped areas and areas with dense population mobility is that people in economically underdeveloped areas go out early and return late every day to make a living and have little time to take care of children at home. In addition, the poor public security environment provides opportunities for human traffickers. It is difficult to manage places with dense floating population, so it is difficult to find children kidnapped at the first time, and it is also difficult to find suspects, which makes it more convenient and safer for traffickers to commit crimes.

Moreover, there are blind spots. There is a lack of effective means to close down the buyer’s market. Make this kind of criminal cannot be punished in time, the need for children even from hidden to open; Such as the Chaoshan city in China, where human traffickers have become the ‘good guys’. Buyers become blind spots. In practical actions, the punishment for traffickers is relatively severe, but the punishment for buyers is relatively light or not. As long as the buyers do not obstruct the enforcement of law by judicial organs, the possibility or degree of punishment will be correspondingly reduced and mitigated. This treatment of the symptoms but not the root cause of the buyer’s market demand is an important reason.

Finally, the serious shortage of public security forces and funds has prevented timely investigation of the clues of a large number of missing children cases, leading to the failure of timely rescue of some abducted children and the impunity of criminals. In China, cooperation between regions is weak, and the place of the crime and the possible destination of the children are just a joint report that the local police often fail to attach great importance.

I think the government is the main power to solve this issue. To solve this ubiquitous issue that children abduction and trafficking, the government should set up a strict household registration system for children, which will allow them to have their fingerprints recorded and updated every year, so that the household registration system can be kept tight. Regularly organize community and school education, strengthen children’s awareness of prevention, do not talk with strangers. At the same time, we should work with the community public security police to educate parents in the community, strengthen the preventive awareness of child guardians, keep children away from danger, and let parents remind children to strengthen prevention at any time. Most importantly, the government should strengthen the management of children within its jurisdiction, and timely contact the public security organs to file a case for investigation when discovering children who are not their own and come from unknown sources, and cooperate with the public security organs to rescue abducted children. Work to be meticulous, strengthen the children census work, increase the census frequency. To supervise the work of relevant departments, establish a public reporting system, encourage the public to report lawbreakers, and work with the public security organs to bring criminals to justice.

Also, parents can do somethings that as same important as government do. Don’t post your child’s real name, nickname, photo or other private information on social media at any time. To abduct the child cheater, forcibly rob the child in the center of the city, the risk is too big, they can only choose those far away from parents, neglect the child, rely on the method such as cajoling, cheat the child’s trust, slowly let the child away from the relatives, then see the opportunity to abduct. Parents should not share their children’s private information at will. They should be careful not to call their children’s names after strangers see them. When taking your child outside, always keep your attention on the child and make sure the child is always in your line of sight . Do not take children to desolate and remote places to play, in case the children go without authorization, resulting in lost direction or abducted, kidnapped. Children are often reminded to beware of strangers. Parents should tell their children not to listen to strangers, not to ask strangers to lead the way, not to take a ride in a stranger’s car, and not to eat drinks, candy and other snacks given by strangers. When children can speak, they should be trained to remember their parents’ names, telephone Numbers, city and neighborhood names, home addresses, etc. Teach children to dial emergency Numbers. Once found that the child was abducted, to the first time to report to the public security organs, as far as possible for the public security organs to investigate and solve the case for time. At the same time, parents should be the first time around the search and phone screening, to help the police narrow down the scope. As far as possible to mobilize relatives and friends to the station and traffic thoroughfares, take children’s photos in the station, highway exit and other places to search. According to the general rule, after the swindler, will take a vehicle to leave, the station, highway exit is the most convenient place to stop.

Abstract

Technology plays a significant role in our daily lives, and it helps shape and change society. However, some of these changes can be detrimental to our well-being which is apparent in the social structures that we inhabit, and ultimately these technologies shape our thoughts and processes. Digital technology has lost its legitimacy and moral appeal in the eyes of the people, as it is consistently abused in order to simplify people’s lifestyles. This justifies the complacency of poor social interactions, laziness,poor development as well as emotional and physical dependence. Technology is the leading factor in the efforts to improve our lives, making them easier, more productive and more efficient (Walton, 2018). With the advancement of new technologies, society is able to overcome obstacles of time and social dynamics. Such technologies include but are not limited to cellphones, tablets, game consoles, and social media. Some say that people positively use of these technologies to learn about one another, be socially diverse, interact with families, maintain and strengthen familial relationships, communicate effectively, and be more socially adept (Zheng, 2018). The main focus of this article is on technological devices cause different health issue in young generation, precisely under the age of ten as well as some benefits.

Introduction

One of the negative impact of technology’s influence on society s is how our current generation has formed in response to it. Technology has changed our society in every aspect of life. For example, how we perceive institutions, and how we socialize with other people.This impact is visible when the current generation is held up against and compared to previous generations. Some of the major mental health drawbacks that digital technology brings include childhood obesity, diabetes, compromised eyesight, and digital eye strain (Siegel, 2018). The modern generation is so busy playing indoor video games and watching television shows for extended periods of time,they do not participate in outdoor activities. Likewise, technology also minimizes the hours of sleep in a night. Children face a lot of psychological problems due to the overuse of their cell phones during bedtime and therefore they do not get enough time to sleep (Zheng, 2018).

Technology has negatively impacted children’s health in a variety of ways. Childhood obesity, diabetes and eyesight weakness at an early age can lead to many other diseases which can be fatal later in life . An excessive amount of screen time causes other cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and other neurological problems (Siegel, 2018). Technology also plays an important role in the behaviour of children and the way they communicate with their parents, siblings and others. My main focus of the research falls under the three components: first, technology’s impact on children’s physical activities, second, the effect on children’s mental health and lastly, to promote social relationships.

Digital technology impact physical activity

Children are successful in their lives until they start overusing technological devices such as mobile phones, tablets. Their screen time is directly related to physical activity which leads to obesity and other physical health problems (Siegel, 2018). Due to constantly looking at their devices children face digital eye strain, reduced vision or dry eyes. Research shows that constantly looking at the screen can decrease our blink rate by half which causes other muscle strains (Fares, 2017). Digital technology increases obesity in children by decreasing their physical activity as technological devices are addictive (Daniel, 2007). Most children consume food while on-screen or online and also the choice is usually the commercialized fast food with unhealthy fats. Inactive children spend more time on mobile phones than the active ones because different companies use food advertising through digital media thus leading to child obesity (Siegel, 2018).

One of the main causes of health problems is light-induced melatonin being suppressed by a blue screen at night time. Compared to adults, children have a higher melatonin suppression rate of melatonin (Lee-Il , 2018). Melatonin is a brain hormone that regulates the circadian rhythm of humans, which is suppressed by excessive use of digital media leading to lack of sleep with the decrease in Melatonin (Lee-Il , 2018). A decrease in melatonin in our body causes other neurophysiological and cardiovascular problems. Neck pain is common in the young generation because of the manner in which the mobiles and computer technologies are used contributes to stress and other physiological pain (Fares, 2017). Neck pain due to different distorted neck positions while on their cell phones or video games also increases stress and pain in the cervical spine, which can cause other health-related issues specifically in the younger generation. Likewise, excessive use of the phone causes “text neck”. This syndrome results from the constant forward head flexion stress (Fares, 2017).

Mental health

Although the use of technology can have a positive impact on our lives, it can also be connected with the development of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and loneliness in some individuals. Loneliness affects one’s health via psychosomatic pathways such as causing a lack of self-esteem, hopelessness, mastery and less perceived social support. Evidence supports that loneliness itself is a direct stressor, leading to an elevated stress-response system in the brain (Child, 2019). There is a correlation between depression and the use of social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram (Lin, 2016). A study revealed that people who used these social networking sites instead of active communication tended to report feeling less happy, moody and lazy (Ceulemans, 2012). Among high school students the rates of depression were higher in those who regularly use social media sites in their daily lives (Shensa, 2018). Social media can cause depression because people can evaluate themselves and compare themselves to other people without having a valid point, which can trigger feelings of low self-esteem (Vitelli, 2016). For example, an individual using a social media site may see other people on the site and assume those individuals are more successful, beautiful, have better jobs, rich, intelligent and so on. Thus, people assess themselves and feel as though their peers are happier than them leading to more feelings of depression (Walton, 2018).

One of the main reasons, the use of social networking site is associated with depression and anxiety is the fact that it’s social networking, communication often give the wrong impression of physical and personality characteristics of other users. This can lead to a false conclusion dealing with physical appearance, level of education, intelligence, moral integrity in addition to other character traits of online friends (Pantiac, 2014) Harmful radiation emitted by technological devices has a direct effect on the human brain. Radiofrequency radiation has a harmful effect on child neurodevelopment and cognitive development. RF radiation effect more young children than adolescents because their brain is under development phase. There is a great chance of malignant tumour in children as compared to adults (Zheng, 2018).

Promote Social Relationship

Digital technology is used to promote social relationships. The younger generation uses technology to stay in touch with their friends. Most children have online friends and that’s where they tend to socialize. Online interaction is also good for children because they can make friends beyond their circles. Likewise, technology is connecting kids with their loved ones even though they live far away from each other. Kids virtually meet with their grandparents and with these interactions they develop cognitive skills. Technology can improve social and communicational relationships between parents and children with disabilities like autism. Different programs were introduced by researchers to help children improve their interaction through video modeling. Technology also helps improve communication between children and peers through information communication technology (Parsons, 2019). Even though there are benefits to online socialization, it is not recommended to allow kids to use their phone for anything other than video chatting (Zheng, 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, digital technology could have both positive as well as negative impacts on child development. Digital technology has an impact on physical and mental activities of children. Digital technology promotes social relationships. If there was no technology then people would have a difficult time communicating with their loved ones living far away from them and toddlers would not have the privilege to develop cognitive skills by speaking to their grandparents. Not every kid likes to socialize with others in person while most kids do like to socialize online. Therefore, with the help of technology, children can make friends and have a social circle around them. However, technology can negatively promote unhealthy social relationships if someone exceeds the moderate amount of use.

Modern social networking sites have negatively influenced people due to the fact that people spend more time on their phone or gadget than in face socializing with their peers, workmates, and families. Thus, it leads to weak interpersonal skills, mental and personal health issues. Spending too much time on the computer can strain your neck and upregulate addiction to social media which can in turn lead to social isolation.Furthermore, digital technology can have a negative impact on the society. In one example, a young person hits a girl with his car while driving. In another example, a girl committed suicide just because of frustration with the wireless network. Therefore, technology can have positive as well as negative impacts on childhood development. Too much use of technology could hurt children mentally and socially while moderate use could lead to tremendous increase in cognitive social skills and could have a positive relationship with the people around them (Zheng, 2018).

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Domestic abuse is classified by several things, including scratching, slapping, spitting, threatening, burning, etc. Due to aggressive domestic violence some children are exposed to at a young age, they are often left with a lifelong impact. These impacts include anxiety, depression, as well as possible violent behavior in their future. My research is focusing on how some children and teens, especially in Africa, are influenced throughout their whole life, just because of these events in their childhood.

What is domestic violence? As explained by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, it is “a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.” Domestic violence can be physical, mental, or psychological; it also includes intimidation and other methods of threatening such as using weapons, pressure to use drugs/alcohol, prevention of working or getting education, etc. Basically, there are SO many different ways and signs of abuse in a relationship.

Many parents also commit child abuse and it really leaves lifelong scars on children. The main categories of child abuse are neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse; more than 5.5 million children are victimized by domestic abuse every single year. Complex trauma refers to the many issues victims of child abuse may face in their future, including anger and suicidal thoughts. Overall, domestic abuse is really an enormous issue worldwide. Over 35% of women all over the world have experienced psychological or physical abuse at some point in their life.

According to the World Atlas, Africa is the most common continent where domestic abuse takes place. More than half of the top 20 countries in the world, known for domestic violence, are in Africa. The 3 places where domestic violence takes place most are DR Congo, Uganda, and Gabon.Over half of Africa’s female population suffers from domestic abuse. Domestic violence is most common in Africa because many women’s opinions are not supported and not taken seriously. For example, in several cases, when South African women complain to their families about an abusive partner, the family blames it on the woman, telling them they probably disrespected their partner in some way (which is usually not the case). Another reason is because several abused women don’t want to leave their husbands because then they will have to face several other issues such as providing for their children by themselves and possibly living in poverty.

Children who witness domestic violence in their homes are at enormous risk for their futures. It affects them, no matter what the age is. There are short term effects which usually just affect the child for a short period of time. The types of effects on minors depends on what age they view domestic violence in their homes. Very young children can start to repeat patterns of stuttering, hiding, wetting the bed, and insomnia. School-aged children often start to think that they’re the reason their parents are fighting. It can affect their self esteem, as well as health, often causing stomach aches and headaches. When teens view domestic violence at home, they are more likely to have less friends and do unnecessary things to get their parents attention such as drugs and unprotected sex.

There is also a number of long term effects that can affect children all through adulthood. These effects include: diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, and heart disease. Children and adolescents who grow up with violent behaviour in their households are more likely to repeat the same actions as adults. A study from 2005 (Vargas, Cataldo, Dickson) states, “A girl who grows up in a home where her father abuses her mother is more than six times as likely to be sexually abused as a girl who grows up in a non-abusive home”. Children and teens usually see, hear, and KNOW exactly what’s going on, even if the parents think they have no idea. [8: ] [9: ]

Domestic abuse in Africa has been going on for decades. In colonial Africa, there were several cases of domestic violence in Gumbu and Banamba, with the male abusing the female; children would often run away because they felt abandoned. During those times, as well as the present, verbal abuse and physical abused were sometimes also aimed at the child. Women [10: ] and children have never been respected in a proper way in Africa. The main issue that still persists in Africa is that they are simply treated as property, NOT people.

Children in African countries are exposed to domestic violence at extremely young ages. In Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, it is stated that part of a woman’s role in Monrovia, Liberia in 1985 is “on her back in the dirt as one, two, three, four drunk soldiers rape her in front of her crying children”. Children in this type of situation often try to run away because they can’t handle seeing one of their parents being abused. Conditions in Liberia are better now as former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued an order banning domestic violence last year, causing it to happen less often.

Children in families with domestic violence are also heavily affected because they are usually caught up in divorces and custody battles. This can lead to depression because of separation from a certain parent. For example, in 2006, Janet Akinyi in Kenya filed for divorce as well as custody of her children because her husband tried to kill her with a knife and harm her children.

Children in other countries, besides from Africa, are also affected when they see their parents fighting at home. Domestic abuse in Europe is not talked about as much as abuse in other foreign countries, but it still takes place and affects children just as much.“Me and my sister are scared..our parents fight a lot and we fear they might split up. They fight when we’re upstairs. They don’t think we know what’s going on, but we do.”, said a schoolgirl from the United Kingdom.

Of course, children who grow up with domestic violence in their homes are left with terrible memories and constant fear. Though, there are also some lifelong lasting effects that have been recently discovered. Children/teens viewing excessive shouting, threats, and violence can even lose the sense to feel empathy or guilt and be more likely to lie and get frustrated easily. Compared to other children, they are also more likely to try to harm themselves. Children who witness this behavior at home will also probably feel socially isolated (as a result of being lonely) in most of their surroundings.

The effects domestic violence has on families are devastating. And most of the time, it’s only one parent’s fault. Susan R. Murphy was even fired from her job because she was scared her husband would threaten her children, and she did not want them to be affected in any way; she states “the kids were innocent bystanders in the fights”.

In conclusion, domestic violence is a big issue, and children all around the world are greatly affected by it, sometimes for their whole lives. It can change a person’s whole life. Children can recover from this intense trauma. With friendships, self esteem, and a support system, children can get through this. In 2008, United Nations Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon said “There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.” It really isn’t okay. And hopefully all children and victims will eventually recover. [18: ] [19: ]

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15. Murphy, Susan. Domestic Violence: One Woman’s Nightmare. Susan R. Murphy, 2019. ‘What Is Domestic Abuse | Domestic Violence Definition.’ Center for Family Justice. Accessed May 05, 2019. https://centerforfamilyjustice.org/faq/domestic-violence/.
16. Ziavash. ’20 Worst Countries For Spousal Abuse.’ WorldAtlas. June 23, 2016. Accessed May 09, 2019. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/20-worst-countries-for-spousal-abuse.html.

Child hunger is a big problem in the United States and around the world. Lately, child hunger has been hitting even harder than it has already been in the past years before 2020. This is because people are losing their jobs because of Covid-19. People aren’t being able to get money for food, the only way the kids get to eat is by lunch at the school, which is not that much. Covid-19 has left many families desperate to even eat. On top of people not getting enough money, the cost of food and water has increased by a lot. Child hunger usually happens to kids with more brothers and sisters because they can’t get enough for the whole family, and you can’t just feed one kid. I have been fortunate enough to not have to go through child hunger, but I know kids who have and it’s sad.

Child hunger is not only in America it is in many other countries. Around the world, more than enough food is produced to feed the global population—but more than 690 million people still go hungry. After declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise, affecting 8.9 percent of people globally. From 2018 to 2019, the number of undernourished people grew by 10 million, and there are nearly 60 million more undernourished people now than in 2014. Before this increase in recent years, the world had been making significant progress in reducing hunger. In fact, in 2000, world leaders joined the United Nations and civil society in committing to meet eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015: the first of which was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Hunger is caused by poverty; it interacts within social, political, demographic, and societal factors. People dealing with poverty often face household food insecurities, aren’t able to take care of themselves, live in an unsafe environment with very low access of water, have bad sanitation, hygiene, and no access availability to health service. All of these things in some way have a part in hunger. Most people in poverty look forward to lunch at the school because that’s all they have to eat. As a kid myself, I am very fortunate to live in a stable household. As you grow up, you start to understand how fortunate you are and become more appreciative. As I was growing up, I didn’t really appreciate what all I had growing up. I didn’t understand child hunger and that people would go days without eating. It’s scary to think that that could have been me. My mom and dad have worked very hard for me and my brother to eat and put a roof over our head. Majority of the time I would complain to my parents in some way shape or form. I grew up and now appreciate everything that I get and I now know how hard my parents really work.

Hunger can also be caused by a conflict of some sort. Whether your parents died or anyone you were close to, it could cause depression which can also cause hunger. The weather can also impact hunger. If the ground is dry then, you can’t grow crops, then they can’t get money because they sell the crops to grocery stores.

There are more than 690 million people who go to bed hungry. Farmers complete 70 percent of the global food supply. Another fact is that 122 million of 144 million children live in countries, affected by conflict. 5.6 million children under the age of five died in 2016 due to child hunger. The average children dying due to starvation each year is 3.1 million. There are 2 billion people suffering from micronutrient malnutrition (a term used to refer to diseases caused by a dietary deficiency of vitamins or minerals) and 1.9 billion people suffering from obesity and being overweight.

The most effected place by hunger is Chad. Chad is the 5th largest country in Africa. Chad has 44.7 million deaths from starvation. The second most affected by hunger is Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste is on an island right above Australia. Timor-Leste has 37.6 million deaths from starvation. The third most affected country is Madagascar. Madagascar is an island to the right of Africa. Madagascar has 36 million deaths from starvation. The fourth most affected country is Haiti. Haiti is located on an island with the Dominican Republic, in the south of Cuba. Haiti has 33.5 deaths from starvation. Finally, the fifth most affected country is Mozambique. Mozambique is in Africa. Mozambique has 33.1 million deaths from starvation.

There are many ways to help with child hunger. There are the wide variety of charities we can donate to help with child starvation. For example, Central Texas Food Bank helps feed around forty-six thousand people in the Central Texas area. To date, Mealshare have served 1.2 million meals and #HashtagLunchbag has hosted over one hundred cities globally. Feed the Children has been helping the community for 35 years; they have been a hub for connecting leaders, communities, and donors so they can help solve child hunger. Bread for the World helps with churches around the world. The goal for WhyHunger is not only to solve world hunger, but some of their goals are movement building, social justice, and human rights. And finally, Freedom from Hunger; this organization serves mostly women in foreign countries.

Child hunger is a big problem in today’s world and we should always be appreciative of what we have because a lot of people would do anything to be where you are.

I. Introduction

Besides the Vatican City, the Philippines is the only country in the world that doesn’t permit divorce. Filipino married couples have previously filed petitions to legalize divorce due to their spouses’ infidelity, physical abuse, drug abuse, and other factors that lead them to consider an end to their marriage. The Philippine Senate has begun hearing proposals for the legalization of divorce. The Catholic Church has criticized divorce proposals.

According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution: Article XV, Section 2: “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.” This is the reason why the Philippine Catholic Church condemns divorce as unconstitutional. CBCP also claims that the Philippine Constitution was recognized as the first proponent of pro-family values in the world. Back in February 2018, House Bill 7303 (“An Act Instituting Absolute Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage in the Philippines) was submitted to the upper house. The bill is a substitute for other house bills numbered 116, 1062, 2380, and 6027 related to the termination of marriages. Our stance is for divorce, but we will stress on its moral and ethical implications later on.

Two published statements of the CBCP are used here for arguments against divorce. Fallacies detected from the statements’ arguments will be presented and restated in the following paragraphs. The ethical and moral aspects of the issue will be presented as well.

II. Fallacies from the statements

According to CBCP, if divorce as an “easy option” is legalized to end marriages, both marriages and families tend to dissolve more easily. Thus children from these families will “grow up disoriented and deprived of the care of both parents.” They have committed a slippery slope fallacy in their arguments contending that if divorce were to be legalized, families would break up more quickly, resulting in children growing up fuddled and stripped of their parents’ care in the future. CBCP has assumed that these consequences they provided are inevitable and to be traced back to the legalization of divorce. This leads to another fallacy of equating correlation to causation. While divorce correlates with harm and emotional instability in children, divorce itself does not cause these.

Another fallacy in the same statement of the CBCP is the fallacy of false cause. According to the statement, divorce causes the easier break-up of marriages and families. This is not the case because the failure of marriages and families results in divorce, not the other way around. Marital failures occur first, resulting in opting for divorce afterward. Examples of factors that cause marital failures are marital violence and physical abuse, not divorce. To restate the whole CBCP statement as less fallacious: “Marriages tend to dissolve more easily upon the introduction of divorce because the very idea of it causes couples to outright terminate their marriage instead of solving their marital problems. Children of divorced parents may experience confusion and feel out of place because they were used to having both parents. They will have difficulties in searching for a father or mother figure.”

According to the pastoral statement of CBCP, children benefit “psychologically, physically, and spiritually” even in problematic marriages. Intact marriages “lead to a better, compassionate, stable, and more dynamic society.” The statement has committed the fallacy of cherry-picking because of selectively confirming reasons for keeping difficult marriages together. Instances of marital abuse, physical abuse, and psychological abuse to children – which are also the reasons for the petitions to legalize divorce – are not considered in the statement. The whole statement cannot be restated into a less fallacious one but can be solved by acknowledging that problematic marriages can also harm the children because of the abuses – reasons that drive couples to divorce – mentioned above, and weighing whether the absences of parents outweigh these abuses.

III. Ethical and moral concerns

Since divorce includes concerns for the well-being of the married couple, their promises to each other, and their children, ethics can enter the discussion. What is good for the CBCP is the sanctity of marriage and its inviolability which are accordingly beneficial to both parents and children. The good that divorce wishes is the spouses’ choice to take a more stable life, in this case cutting from a destructive or loveless marriage, and the welfare of the children from cases of abuse or neglect.

There are ethical issues on both the legalization of divorce and the absence of divorce, examples respectively: a. The absence of a mother or father figure of a child, b. Continuous abuse within the household. However, this is how the situational aspect of divorce comes into view. Divorce is for irremediable, failed marriages. Denying divorce to the whole nation includes those who suffer from proximal harms such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. If one or both of them want to save their marriage, there is marriage counseling that can help them. If they do decide on divorce, marriage counseling beforehand must be suggested to them as it can provide information on the consequences or benefits of the divorce. Divorce is an option.

The question about the morality of divorce still stands. Is it morally permissible in certain situations only? Is it morally permissible altogether? Philosophers such as Justin McBrayer and lawyers such as E.S.P Haynes have written about divorce in relation to morality and ethics. In the following paragraphs, it must be noted that the words promise and marital vow mean the same.

McBrayer provides the situational morality of divorce. He defines “morally permissible” as having no moral obligations requiring one to act in a different way. For instance, divorce is morally permissible if the initiator keeps all their moral obligations. According to McBrayer, marriage produces moral obligations. These special moral obligations may establish requirements of action or forbid other actions. Promise-making, the generator of moral obligations, is a part of marriage. However, there are objections to this stating that marital promises don’t have the capacity to generate new moral obligations because these promises are promises from emotions, and that feelings and emotions are beyond one’s control. Therefore, it does not generate a new moral obligation. McBrayer rejects this idea and provides his reasons.

McBrayer rejects the claim about marital promises as merely emotional promises. He takes an example of a marital vow, examines it, and explains that its emotional aspect refers to itself as behavioral. For instance, A makes a promise to B. A has the correct feelings from the marital vow to B. However, what manifests in his behavior is that he sleeps with other individuals, is abusive to B, and neglects B. It cannot be said that A has fulfilled his vows and his promises. This in turn confirms that marital vows can generate new moral obligations.

McBrayer moves on to illegitimate promises. He says that not all vows and promises create moral obligations. Autonomy and willingness between informed people to exchange vows generate legitimate new moral obligations. If not, the vows are illegitimate. Examples McBrayer gave are coercion to marriage, arranged child marriage, and deception. A moral obligation is generated by marital promises if both partners are suitable informed agents.

In bilateral divorce, a mutually consented divorce, McBrayer differentiates marital promises before someone and promises to someone. Bilateral divorce is still morally permissible when promised before someone, a deity for example. It is because this someone is merely a witness, not a beneficiary of the promise. Bilateral divorce, according to McBrayer, is not always morally permissible, however. An example he gives is parents having moral obligations to each other and their children. There are promised obligations that do not accept harm unto children or get a divorce. McBrayer also criticizes Hollywood celebrities for marrying and divorcing in rapid succession. He says that though their divorces may be morally permissible, they hide a moral vice within themselves for casually making promises they don’t plan to keep in the first place.

McBrayer also speaks of divorce when one partner is unable to do what they promised to do. He says that divorce is morally permissible if one partner is “literally unable to keep the marital promise.” An example he gives is that A is having affairs. B, the spouse, is morally permissible to file for a divorce if A does not keep the promise of infidelity.

This goes to the morality of unilateral divorce, one-sided divorce as opposed to bilateral divorce, in other cases. An example McBrayer gives is a man wanting to divorce his wife. The reason is that his wife was diagnosed with a chronic degenerative disease. McBrayer says this ground for divorce is not morally permissible. Non-reciprocation and lack of happiness do not justify one’s grounds for unilateral divorce. Another example he gives is the promise of being sexually faithful to one’s partner “no matter what happens.” Often it is translated along the lines of conditionality: “I will be sexually faithful to you only if you are sexually faithful to me.” However, McBrayer stresses that the promise is not a promise through conditionality. The phrase “no matter what happens” invalidates the phrase of conditionality. So if A sleeps with other people and B starts to do the same after knowing that A does, B filing for a unilateral divorce on grounds of A’s infidelity is not morally permissible. But if the promise is conditional after all, then a divorce is morally permissible.

E.S.P. Haynes talks about t the various laws regarding divorce in different countries. Aspects such as custody and care for children are another issue even back in the 1910s when Haynes’ journal article was published. Laws have been considered ethical and moral concerns and have developed from there. Religions like the Catholic Church have contributed to marriage and family laws in countries such as Spain and Italy. Ethical and moral concerns about divorce do not only revolve around promise-making between spouses but also their impacts on children and families.

According to Michael W. Austin, philosophers have not talked about family in a wider sense historically, but contemporary philosophers have said much about the rights and obligations of parents in relation to their children. He says that many contemporary philosophers do not agree with the idea that children are the property of parents. Other philosophers take on parental rights based on biology. Others have taken on the view of social contracts. The autonomy of children is also part of the discourse. Issues in parental ethics such as the existence and the degree of parental rights, children’s rights, and stately interests are also issues within the field of Ethics. Even the weighing of benefits and consequences of divorce is problematic because the effects on the parents differ on the children. Austin remarks:

“While both the theoretical and practical aspects of the rights and obligations of parents are receiving increased attention, there remains much room for substantial work to be done on this important topic.”

Bibliography

1. Austin, Michael W. “Rights and Obligations of Parents.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed March 9, 2020. https://www.iep.utm.edu/parentri/.
2. Haynes, E.S.P. “Divorce and Morality.” International Journal of Ethics 25, no. 1 (1914): 87–93. www.jstor.org/stable/2989564.
3. Lagman, Edcel C., Robert Ace S. Barbers, Emmi A. De Jesus, Arlene D. Brosas, Teddy Jr. B. Baguilat, Rodel M. Batocabe, Ariel B. Casilao, et al. AN ACT INSTITUTING ABSOLUTE DIVORCE AND DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES, AN ACT INSTITUTING ABSOLUTE DIVORCE AND DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES §. Accessed March 8, 2020. http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/first_17/CR00640.pdf.
4. McBrayer, Justin. “The Morality of Getting Divorced.” Philosophy Now, 2017. https://philosophynow.org/issues/120/The_Morality_of_Getting_Divorced.
5. Official Gazette, Official Gazette §. Accessed March 8, 2020. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-article-xv/.
6. “PASTORAL STATEMENT AGAINST DIVORCE.” CBCP NEWS. 2018 ECFL National Conference, February 21, 2018. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/pastoral-statement-against-divorce/.
7. “Philippine Senate Hears Proposals to Legalize Divorce.” Crux. Catholic News Service, September 19, 2019. https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2019/09/philippine-senate-hears-proposals-to-legalize-divorce/.
8. “THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES – ARTICLE XV,” accessed March 8, 2020, https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-article-xv/.
9. Torres, Joe. “Philippine Church Caught Unawares by Divorce Bill Acceptance – UCA News.” UCA News, February 6, 2020. https://www.ucanews.com/news/philippine-church-caught-unawares-by-divorce-bill-acceptance/87163.
10. Valles, Romulo G. “CBCP STATEMENT ON THE DIVORCE BILL.” CBCP News, March 13, 2018. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/cbcp-statement-on-the-divorce-bill/.

How does video games affect the children in our generation? Video games affect children in our generation in multiple ways. In this research you will find that video games affects children in our generation because it causes lack of being social , lack of sleep/rest, and causes bad habits/bad influences .Therefore , it distracts them from everything and that is the only thing they are focused on instead of their schoolwork, their family,or anything that actually matters. Can video games affect children in the future ? Yes, It also could affect the children in the future in the 3 main points included , and they will be explained. “Im hearing more and more people seeing the level of violence in video games is really shaping young young people thoughts “. Which is true because video games could affect children and cause them to become murderers , robbers , and thieves in the future of their life .

Main Point A is “Social skills”

According to research ( independent.co.uk) the data was collected through questionnaires filled out by parents and teachers, and the children responded to the questions through an interactive tool. Also, from my own experience , it caused me to stop going out of the house, calling/communicating with my family, and responding to messages. According to (onlinegamingaddiction.web.unc.edu) “ This lack of social interaction that results from obsessive gaming can have long-term social consequences . An addicted teenager would not develop effective social skills, which will hinder his ability to develop and maintain healthy relationship in college and beyond. Suddenly, he is 21 but has the social skills of a 15 year old. He does not know how to make friends, talk to girls or just ‘‘hang out’’ and enjoy people’s company . The social weirdness created by the isolationism of gaming addiction unfortunately, feeds the addiction . Video games makes you become very antisocial, like not calling your family , getting out the house, being really “weird” as people say, and losing your friends . According to (m.gadgetsnow.com) “They fear that the number of hours their children spend gaming is directly related to the decline in the number of hours they spend playing or communicating with real people. The average amount of time spent by a person playing video games has been recorded at 18 hours a week. With the numbers seeing a steady rise over the last few years, BT finds out if there is any truth in the statement that the next generation could be one that lacks social skills.” That research make perfect sense and is very accurate to me because I’ve experienced myself becoming antisocial from playing video games for lots and lots of hours .

“Lack of rest”

Video games affects children because children with high video game addiction gives them risks of sleep deprivation. According from my research A Study held by Flinders University found that A 2012 study held by Flinders University found “participants who played video games for 150 minutes or more at night experienced a delay in falling asleep of 39 minutes, according to their sleep journals. They also lost an average of 27 minutes in total sleep loss during the night.” Also , from my experience of playing video games , video games caused me to stay up all night long and not get any sleep on a daily basis . There was man that died from no sleep playing a video game . Vigneault, 35, was in the midst of a 24-hour gaming marathon that raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation when he died, according to a report in The Virginia-Pilot. The lack of rest is what caused him to his death . Video games also made me stay almost every night , never getting any sleep , and I would only rest for 5 hours which is terrible. According to studies from (sleepjunkies.com)A 2012 study held by Flinders University found that participants who played video games for 150 minutes or more at night experienced a delay in falling asleep of 39 minutes, according to their sleep journals. They also lost an average of 27 minutes in total sleep loss during the night.The researchers also found that playing games caused a drop on the amount of time spent in the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep – a loss of 12 minutes for those who spent over two hours playing games. Which makes sense because the more longer I would play the less tired I would get overnight and cause me the play longer and longer every single night because I would not be tired anymore .

Bad influences/Habits

With the over exposure of video games can lead to youths becoming murderers do to the fact of correlational studies . From my research, “Those that examine violent media consumption and aggression outside the lab – it could be that aggressive kids want to play aggressive games, or that an outside factor such as family background causes both. But an experiment randomly assigns participants to play a violent vs. a non-violent video game, and then measures aggression.”

That fact finds that playing violent video games does , indeed, cause aggression. The video game industry would not want to believe that their product leads to aggressive and violence in real life . “Some point out that violent crime has declined over the last twenty years as video games have become more vivid and violent.” Which is true , and I know this because I also play a lot a video games myself that are really violent . According to research from (kidshealth.org) “It’s true that some studies have shown certain video games can improve hand–eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and the mind’s ability to process information. But too much video game playing may lead to health problems. It’s hard to get enough active play and exercise if you’re always inside playing video games .And without enough exercise, kids can become overweight. Really overdoing video games also could affect other important stuff, like friendships and how well a kid does in school. And kids who play violent video games might act more aggressively.” Those are all facts as you all know , video games actually cause all the things that was in the quote , and all of those causes are the reasons why video games is a bad influence on children in our generation.

The type of games played

Point A is Grand theft auto , this game is the most common video that kids play and is the most bad influencing video game there is. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the best games of the century, but should be denied to trustworthy 13 year old game enthusiasts. There is a lot of swearing and violence in this game though. The video game is already rated ‘M’ for ‘Mature’ , but children still play the video game which is a bad sign already. The negative things about grand theft auto are shooting, prostitutes, getting drunk, strippers, nudity, fighting, grand theft auto, and stealing. All of those negatives things can affect children in the future and cause them to those negative actions.

From experience , my little brother was playing this game and he was shooting a gun on the video game, after a while she became addicted to the game and started to get excited shooting and seeing toy guns. It has a really big influence on these children and I know this from playing the game myself. According to research from (huffpost.com)”These studies show that violent video games increase aggressive thoughts and angry feelings and lead to higher heart rate and blood pressure and more aggressive behavior”. Referring to “these studies “ they are talking about the actions that are in the game. I also was influenced from this game because by it being so fun , the bad things in the game makes you want to try it in the real world like becoming a drug dealer , robber , thief , and even a pimp.

Point B is Fortnite , this game is the most addictive video game at the current moment and causes kids to never get off the game . From researching on fortnite “Fortnite: Battle Royale,’ a multiplayer, last-man-standing shooter, is the hottest game of the year, expected to rake in $2 billion by the end of the year.” It can be played for free on every console and screen, from Xbox to iPhone. Although rated ‘T for Teen’ in the United States,” it’s no secret that many of the game’s more than 125 million players are kids and that many have a hard time stopping.” This game has taken over the gaming community by a long shot , kids don’t even want to go out the house anymore because all they want to do is play the game . My brother once stole my mother’s credit to card to buy things on fortnite and spent $200 on outfits to make his player look better . By him being addicted to playing the game , it caused him to steal her card ( do bad things) . Concern among parents and experts that ‘Fortnite’ is addicting for children comes at a time of heightened focus on problematic video gaming. This summer, the World Health Organization officially labeled “Gaming Disorder” as a mental health condition. It describes the condition as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior,” defined by impaired control over an escalating video game habit, which “takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities.” There is so many dances and emotes that kids love that causes the children to copy everything they do , no matter what it is . Fortnite is so addictive that it even has 7 year olds playing the game late at night not getting any rest so they could become a higher level , which is very sad how video games could cause little kids to play games like that .

Point C if Mortal Kombat , This game has been out longer than any other game that i mentioned and has been affecting children before this generation and even now. This one game led to the establishing of the entertainment software rating board, and is still, quite possibly, one of the most historically controversial games ever. From my research “Mortal Kombat was admired by critics but inevitably better known for its unashamed glorification of murder. It allowed combatants to rip the heart out of a vanquished foe, or tear the head off a fallen opponent, and hold the appendage up a trophy”. The game encouraged players to do this with the infamous message ‘Finish him!’ that would repeatedly flash on the screen when a bout was over. The game is also Rated “M” for mature but children under 18 would still play the which is a bad idea because of the actions in the video game. Mortal Kombat has always pushed the limit. As time goes on, the bar is raised and developers reach for it. Honestly, I would not let my child play the original ones either. I’m pretty sure most parents that post here are knowledgeable enough to know what they want their kids to play and what is unacceptable for their age.according to(commonsensemedia.com )”this mortal kombat game is not for kids and parents you need to know that mortal kombat has one of the most over the top violence that you can ever imagine a lot of blood and gore also when you performed a fatality on your opponent it can be very disturbing and hard to watch also there is some partial nudity shown when it comes to the female characters there breast bounces up and down when they fight and also they dress inappropriate” Mortal Kombat is also known for being the “bloodiest, goriest game”. This game could cause children to have brutal fights and try to kill someone because of what happens in the game.The game also has a lot of curse words that could cause children to use those words as well at a young age.

Playing video games can create bad eyesight, obesity, and numbness in the finger & hands because of over-exertion. Back pains are also experienced by children that play video games constantly. In the article “ Negative Effects of Video Games: it’s worse than you thought” it states, “One of the most common health issues that is faced by most individuals, adults and children alike, addicted to playing video games is obesity. Addicted gamers often face this problem because they tend to sit in one place for a long time and hence their body practically misses out on any kind of physical activity.” This means that video games can lead to health hazards. According to a research, conducted at “ The Council on Science and Public Health” Dr. Mohamed K. Khan has stated hat “Constant video-gaming may put people at a risk of photosensitive seizures, a form of epilepsy triggered by constantly flashing lights and speedily moving objects.” Playing video games could cause children to have poor academic performance . “Studies show that kids who play video games without a limit get lowers grades than those who have a limited time to play them. However, some educational games can benefit you, unlike violents games… They can cause you to skip out on assignments, which might lower your grade.” That quote makes perfect sense because violent games causes you to act out and never finish your assignments or even attend class, but certain video games also gives you knowledge . Also, video games affects a person’s ability to identify visually .

“Three or more hours at one sitting will lose those benefits. In addition to increasing the risk of computer eye syndrome, excessive video game use can cause eye discomfort, focusing problems, blurry vision and headaches .” Video games is the main reason children can not function at the level they should be on. Researchers interpreted the findings to suggest that video game playing can “compound kids’ existing attention problems.” But the study results don’t offer supporting evidence that the games cause or worsen the attention problems they just suggest that kids who play the most have more severe ADHD symptoms. Also video games could kill you , you may think that weight gain is the worst health risk associated with playing video games too often or for too long. They are even worse possibilities that can happen . According to my research (Lansing.legalexaminer.com) “a 20-year-old ‘Xbox addict’ recently died after playing his games for up to 12 hours at a time. Unfortunately, Chris isn’t the first gamer to suffer from extended play. In fact, reports of gamers collapsing in Asia after playing for 15 hours at a time are fairly common, and in 2005 a South Korean gamer died after playing online games for three days straight without a break.” Video games is not something you should want to play everyday or a extended amount of hours because the effects of playing the video games isn’t worth losing your life, ruining your life , and losing friends/family. Many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes. They promote the killing of people or animals, the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, criminal behavior, disrespect for the law and other authority figures, sexual exploitation and violence towards women, racial, sexual and gender stereotypes, and foul language obscenities and obscene gestures.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is an investigation teachers’ communication strategies used in response to children’s verbal and nonverbal communication. It is important to note that communication plays a very unique role in the life of human beings. Therefore, effective communication requires a tone of voice, touch, discussion, ideas, feelings, and emotions, eye contact, body language, and so on. Verbal and nonverbal communication skills are indispensable and interrelated in the teaching and learning process. The teachers’ ability to apply both in the early-year classroom can improve the quality of teaching, learning, and teacher-child interaction. Many studies have examined the communication skills of children and adults, and only a few have included children-teacher communication in the early-year classroom.

Keywords: Teacher; Children; Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Skills

Introduction

Communication is an essential part of human lives. We communicate in different ways to express our thoughts, feelings, knowledge, skills, and ideas. Communication is normally assumed to be identified with speed and sounds. Conversely, it is the combination of verbal and nonverbal transition of knowledge. Muhammed, et al

While a plethora of studies has assessed the level of communication skills of teachers; including developing communication skills in the young child, impacts of nonverbal communication on learning, the power of verbal and nonverbal communication in learning, and so on. However, there is a need to investigate which of the teachers’ communication skills is most effective when responding to young children’s communication needs in the classroom. This study, therefore, would be undertaken to determine the most effective communication strategies used by teachers to respond to children’s communication in the early years in class, with respect to it’s impacts and effects on young learners.

This study addresses the main research question;

What is the most effective teachers’ communication skills used to respond to young children communication?

And sub-question:

What are the impacts of nonverbal communication responses in the classroom?

Conceptualization

Graber (2003) cited in Thompson (2011:12) defined communication as a process in which there is some predictable relation between the message transmitted and the message received. Thompson also considered Fiske’s 1990 definition of communication as social interaction through messages. He suggested that the social dimension of communication is the recognition that communication takes place in a social context which has a significant effect on the success or otherwise of the communication and, on the very nature of that communication, and secondly the transmission of information from one person to another. (p.12-13)

Communication is an ability that is not simple and straightforward to acquire and cultivate. Frequency and dedication are needed to be able to communicate effectively, Dunhill (2009:17) Thompson argued that communication is an important part of our everyday life in the sense that we cannot but communicate, Thompson (2011:14). Communication is vital in the human being; infants communicate with others right from birth. Words or signs are used to converse with others, body language, gestures, facial expressions, sounds and movements we make, and the way we pause are salient and are also means of communication. Human beings use symbols in dances, music, visual arts, in the stories we tell, in drama or write as literature. We are the only creature who communicate in symbolic ways. The human brain has a large tendency for communicating through high symbol usage. It is of great significance that we do not allow children to encounter the kind of experiences which cause them to be left alone to use symbols in restricted ways, because this wastes the possibility of thinking, feeling, and relating with others, Bruce (2005:74). Moreover, teachers’ communication with children include a process of commitment with the child concerned. It is only in this manner that a teacher can effectively pass messages across and understand responses from children by creating a communicative bond. These include;

• a) Appropriate form of language usage based on the child’s level of development
• b) Choice of befitting body language
• c) Identification of the right timing and place
• d) Selection of appropriate topics, and points of interest that will help engage the child
• e) Connectivity to the level of the children’s rapport, greetings, and humor, Weld (2009) cited in Thompson (2011:160).

Good communication is essential with children. It involves listening, questioning, understanding, and responding to what could be communicated. Communication is not just about the word’s usage, but also your manner of speaking, body language, and above all, the effectiveness with which you listen, (DfEs, 2005 in Lefevre, 2010).

In these contexts; verbal communication will be discussed thus;

1. Intrapersonal communication that is, communication with oneself implies the sound of one’s thoughts.
2. Interpersonal communication that is, communication with another person, (Adler & Rodman, 2012:7).

Younger children’s language takes its attribute from the fact that they are apprentice speakers. Thomas et al. argued that during the first five years of life, children are still in the process of acquiring the grammar of their native language and a working vocabulary (2004:124). Young children are usually regarded to be dependent on older speakers and haven’t expected that their contributions would be irrelevant or delayed. The younger the children, the more likely their attempt to initiate new topics which could overlap.

Nonverbal communication vitality makes a healthy verbal meaning to children. It could be expressed as stopping and dedicating full attention to the children. These are indications that teachers are truly interested in and care about them. The gesture in turn shows the children possibility of full attention, (Raising children). When your nonverbal communication sends a different message from your words, the child is more likely to believe the nonverbal communication. One of the greatest pleasures of working with young children is to see their fascination and eagerness for communication of many kinds. Teachers owe it to them not to destroy this potential and it should be cultivated with respect and sensitivity.

Body language and tone of voice are key parts of nonverbal communication. Teachers can use them to send positive nonverbal messages and reinforce what he is saying to his pupils. Research by Mehrabian (quoted in Dunhill, 2009) believes that only seven percent of communication involved direct words spoken between people. Instead, it was paralanguage that conveyed thirty-eight percent of the meaning of the message. (paralanguage means the variables that accompany and amend the spoken word; the tone of voice, speed, loudness, pitch, and intonation). Body language and other nonverbal signs accounted for the remaining fifty-five percent of information transmitted. Similarly, Bruce (2005) opined that nonverbal communication forms eighty-five percent of all communication with others. Talking with others takes place in isolation from nonverbal communication. It is very difficult if not impossible for a teacher to explain something without moving, facial expression, eye contact, body language, and hand gestures.

Young children strive to talk with adults. They want to communicate their thoughts and feelings and connect with others. They acquire information by exploration and conversation with interested others and they need to know that adults especially their teachers are listening to what they are saying. Genuine conversation with children is a skillful art. It works best when adults can abandon their own agenda and take note of a child’s intentions, which are expressed in body language, facial expressions, gestures, and sounds (Bruce p.83).

Some reviews of related literature confirmed that nonverbal communication is the most used communication strategy by teachers in responding to learners. It is widely considered reliable and effective in comparison to verbal communication as it gives additional support to verbal communication, Muhammad et al. (2014). Nonverbal communication requires teachers to be flexible in their instruction and to consider all factors that influence teacher-child interaction. For example, Park (2013) observed a preschool teacher with eighteen years of teaching experience in the English language who used a calm tone of voice, body language, and appropriate touch in her classroom and concluded that; a calm tone of voice is used to refocus children attention and maintained their sense of calmness. While body language such as gestures, body movement, and facial expressions is effective in demonstration teaching (storytelling) as they can replace a spoken word to explain an idea when the children show difficulty in comprehending. She also used appropriate touch when a child was angry and sad and found out that it made the child happy and secure.

Moreover, Mackey (2000) cited in Okon (2011) implied that learners respond first to the nonverbal body language used by teachers. The mood and tone of voice used by the teacher is established in the first few minutes. He includes that the nonverbal communication skills used by the teacher can have a strong impact on the class. In a like manner, Shams et al. (2016) submit that the use of a nonverbal communication strategy is the method that produces the highest output for children learning. They acknowledged the fact that the majority of teachers use nonverbal communication for getting classroom attention, for making teaching-learning interesting, and for motivating young children, Muhammad et al. (2014) agree with this line of reasoning from his research and noted that nonverbal communication is efficient to motivate and facilitate young children towards learning as they can easily understand through symbols and gestures rather than words. They stressed further that teachers’ body movements, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice help keep children active and awake in class.

As reported by Okon (2011), research regarding nonverbal behaviors has frequently manifested that the specific nonverbal language used by the teacher will have a direct impact on both the psychological attachment of the children to the teacher and the teacher’s ability to connect with the young children. Nonverbal communication serves as the foundation for building intimacy and allowing the children to feel connected to the teacher. Similarly, Houser and Frymier (2009) suggest that the manner in which a teacher responds to a child d during interaction will be reflected through both verbal and nonverbal communication. Teachers whose verbal and nonverbal communication styles are compatible and reinforcing will be able to provide the children with a clear sense of belief in themselves.

To recapitulate, based on the major role played by communication in educational practice, a lot of writers have suggested that communication skills be taught to teachers as part of their training especially the area of nonverbal communication as it is an essential part of teaching and learning instruction.

Professional Context

The inspiration for this study began as a result of my experience while working with young children. I began my teaching career in the year 2007 when I was employed by a private school in Nigeria to teach grade one pupils as a class teacher. Ever since I have worked with several schools ranging from preschool to primary and secondary schools. I then discovered that effective communication strategies are needed to respond to children’s diverse communication needs, especially in the classroom. As a teacher, I still need to find out which of the communication skills is best used to respond to the learners. My current position is Education Officer in the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria

The philosophical basis of the research

Methodology/Methods

This study reviewed literature that already exists, therefore journal articles published in the last ten years (that is, 2009-2019) were reviewed. The articles were found in the university library via electronic recourses: the database used were ERIC, Education Research Complete, Google scholar as well as research gate using these keywords; teachers, children, and communication skills

Approach

This study will be a qualitative research approach because it focuses on presenting and interpreting people’s views, interactions or values based on previous studies (Atkins & Wallace, 2015).

Limitation

The limitation which must be acknowledged in this study is the review of literature which was taken from articles published in the last ten years. It does not investigate the children’s communication skills, it is basically on teachers’ communication styles, this is due to the fact that the children in this current study comprise mainly two to five years old.

Ethical issues

There was no ethical issue to consider in this study because it is literature-based research.

References

1. Adler, R.B. & Rodman, G. (2012) Understanding human communication.11th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. Atkins, L. & Wallace, S. (2015) Research methods in education: qualitative research method. London: SAGE Publications Ltd
3. Bruce, T. (2005) Developing learning in early childhood 0-8years. London: Paul Chapman Publishing Company
4. Caudle, L.A., Jung, M., Fouts H.N. & Wallace, H.S. () Early childhood preservice teacher guidance strategies across classroom contexts.
5. Dunhill, A. (2009)’ What is communication? The process of transferring information; in Dunhill, A., Elliott, B. & Shaw, A. (eds) Effective communication and engagement with children and young people, their families and carers. Exeter: Learning Matters 17-30
6. Edwards, A.G. (2002) Relationships and learning: caring for children from birth to three. London: National Children’s Bureau
7. Lefevre, M. (2010) Communicating with Children and Young People: Making a difference. Bristol: Policy Press
8. Muhammad, H., Muhammad, A.F., Abdulkhaliq, A. & Mudassair, Z. (2014) The role of nonverbal communication in teaching practice. Science International, 26(1), Lahore: Pakistan, 513-516.
9. Okon, J.J. (2011) Role of nonverbal communication in education. In Carteny, A. (ed) Mediterranean Journal of social sciences special issue, 2(5), Rome: MCSER, 35-40.
10. Park, M. (2013) Nonverbal communication: a quiet path to children’s engagement. Texas child care quarterly, 37(3) Winter, 18-22.
11. Raising children network: Nonverbal communication with children. Available online: https://raisingchildren.net.au>connecting-communicating pdf[Accessed20/11/19].
12. Shams, F., Khan, N., Bibi, Z., Shah, K. & Nazish, F. (2016) Nonverbal communication and its effects on students at secondary level in district Burner, Pakistan. Courage in media
13. Thomas, L., Wareing, S., Singh, I., Peccei, J.S., Thornborrow, J. & Jones, J. (2004) Language, Society, and Power. An Introduction. 2nd edition. London: Routledge
14. Thompson, N. (2011) Effective Communication: A guide for the people professions. 2nd edition. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan

Abstract

A class study was conducted to measure the correlation between parental strictness and child lying. We wanted to find whether the stricter a parent is, the more likely it is for a child to lie. We used a survey to measure how strict a parent is using a Strict Parenting Scale. How accepting a person is to lying was measuring using The Revised Lie Acceptability Scale (Oliveira & Levine, 2008) and reasons why people lie, was measured with The Lying in Everyday Situations Scale (Hart, Jones, Terrizzi, & Curtis). We were able to obtain data from 331 participants using this online survey. The data collected with Pearson’s correlation analyses does not support our hypothesis, displaying that there was no relationship between parental strictness and child lying. However, when we split the data by gender, the study found that there was a significant relationship between parental strictness and child lying amongst men.

Parental Strictness and Child Lying

A strict parenting style that lacks comfort and support can be seen as controlling and overprotective. Child development depends on parenting styles, and influences personality and why a child behaves a certain way. The personality of parents can be inflicted onto a child and determine their behavior and cognitive development later on in life (Huver, Otten, DeVries, & Engels, 2010). Children learn from observing their parents and are conformed into behaving based on what is being received on the other end. An authoritative parenting style has been found to be a better influence on child behavior. It contains a balance of maintaining strictness while also, providing love and support (Huver, Engels, Breukelen, & Vries, 2007). If there is a lack of strictness in condoning certain behaviors, a child is more likely to participate in deviant activities (Huver et al., 2007). Strict parents who use techniques such as constantly monitoring a child’s actions and locations can hold back good behaviors in a child rather than enforce them. It is inferred that being overprotective can create negative behaviors in a child and cause them to believe there is a lack of trust within the relationship (Engels, Finkenauer, Kooten, & Dyana, 2006). This type of relationship could be seen in authoritarian parenting styles. (Donaldson, Handren, & Crano, 2016).

Restrictive parents can create tension in relationships with children because it prohibits them from feeling as if they have a sense of freedom. This can later lead to negative outcomes and cause issues in school (Donaldson et al., 2016). A study found that children were less likely to lie and confess if they believed the consequences would not be negative. Children were more likely to lie if they thought it would cause negative feedback from parents. The fear of response will cause children to avoid negative repercussions and try to find many possible ways to get out of it (Chiu, Hong, & Chiu, 2016). Children lie to get out of trouble but when in fact, it creates more issues and hinders the trust in a relationship.

It was found that there originally is a drive to initially tell the truth, but when thinking about repercussions, the urge to tell the truth can be driven away (Rinaldi & Howe, 2012). The fear of what might happen can stop us from telling the truth. Children urge to please adults and often find ways to get rewards. Personal self-interest can prohibit this and prevent telling the truth in some circumstances (Rinaldi & Howe, 2012). A factor related to strictness in parents could be the development of their children’s social relationships (Smith & Rizzo, 2017). As a child ages, most relationships are built outside of the home. It would make sense that a parent would be curious about their whereabouts, control who they are with, and create curfews. Deception is found to be related to the nature of that certain social relationship. There are fewer levels of deception in a pleasurable relationship that contains qualities such as great communication and trust (Smith & Rizzo, 2017).

In some cases, it was found that there were some gender differences in lying. Men were found to lie more to their parents than women. The nature behind lying was also analyzed and concluded that women are more often to tell lies in regards to preventing hurt feelings. Men were more often to tell lies if it involved some sort of personal self-interest (Talwar, Arruda, & Yachison, 2015).

It is unsure the true nature as to why children lie to their parents. We can only analyze a few factors that might be possible reasons as to why they do it. It is not to say that a certain type of parenting causes lying. For example, just because a parent has a permissive parenting style, does not exactly mean that their child will never lie. Due to observations or personal experiences, we wanted to analyze whether there was a correlation between parental strictness and child lying. We wanted to see if one of the reasons kids lie was because their parents were controlling, and if they resorted to lying to escape negative consequences. Our hypothesis was the stricter parents were, the more a child would lie.

Method

Participants

Data from the survey was obtained from 331 participants. Because the material used was an online survey, the participants could have come from various places distributed around the world. The participants were recruited for this online survey using social media, text message, emails, etc. This survey was taken at the participant’s own convenience. The participants took this online survey at their own convenience which lasted approximately 5 minutes in length. The demographics collected in this survey asked age and gender. In order to begin this survey, it was required that the participants had to be over 18 years old. We found that there was a great difference in the number of how many women took this survey than men. When collecting the data, we also found that many participants started the survey but failed to complete it, therefore we were not able to use the unfinished data. There were no incentives given to the participants for completing this survey.

Materials

In this study, parental strictness and child lying were measured on 3 scales. All the items in each scale were scored on a 1 through 7 scale with 1 being strongly disagree, and 7 being strongly agree. Parental strictness was measured using 12 questions on a strict parenting scale. This scale measured how strict a participant’s parents were. Lie acceptability was measured using 11 questions with a Revised Lie Acceptability Scale (Oliveira & Levine, 2008) that measured the morality of lying and how the participant feels towards it. How often a participant lies was measured with The Lying in Everyday Situations (LIES) Scale (Hart et al.). Ten questions were asked which determined situations in which the participants think it is necessary to lie.

Procedure

Participants were directed to an online survey from a posted link onto social media sites, text messages, or emails for participants to take the survey. Because the survey was taken at the participant’s own convenience, it was noted that the information collected from their surveys would be used in a study. Before continuing onto the survey, participants were provided with information regarding what the survey is being used for and the age requirements to take it. It was also noted that the survey was voluntary and provided an idea as to what the topics of the questions were in case it was a sensitive subject for anyone, before continuing on to taking the survey. Some participants failed to complete this survey that lasted about 5 minutes, leaving us unable to use some of the collected data.

Results

Using Pearson correlation analyses, we failed to support our hypothesis. The results revealed no significant relationship between strictness and lies (r(329) =.002, p = .482) or between strictness and lie acceptability (r(329) = .078 , p = .079). We then split the data samples between male and female and still failed to support our hypothesis. There was a significant relationship between strictness and lies in men (r(54) = .266, p = .025) and strictness and lie acceptability in men (r(54) = .033, p = .249). For women, we found that there was no significant relationship between strictness and lies (r(274) = .055, p = .180) and strictness and lie acceptability (r(274) = .024, p = .346).

Discussion

In this correlation study, we failed to support our hypothesis of the stricter the parents, the more a child lies. We found that there was no correlation between parental strictness and child lying. However, when we divided the data between genders, we found that men tend to lie less with strict parents. These results counteract what Talwar et al. (2015) found that men tend to lie more to their parents than women. Our study found that there was a significant relationship and that they tend to lie less when they have strict parents. Analyzing why there is a difference in gender when it comes to strictness and lying would be the next step towards future research. Finding factors that contribute as to why men lie versus women could possibly help us understand gender differences in this study. We could also look at how frequent they lie and analyze lying in various relationships versus just with parents.

Some limitations would be the great difference in how many women completed the survey versus men. With an equal amount of men in this study, the results could have possibly reflected opposite results than what we found. Another limitation could have possibly been memory. Because the mean age of the participants was 30, some could have forgotten how strict their parents were when they were younger. When taking the survey, participants could have also been dramatic when measuring how strict their parents were on a scale. Everyone has a different idea of what it considered strict and what is not. That small detail could have made our results less accurate.

This study answered our hypothesis whether parental strictness is correlated to lying. Although our hypothesis was incorrect, it helps to raise questions and create more studies on the nature of lying and what factors increases lying, while making it easier for society to tell lies.

References

1. Chiu, Su-Lin, Hong, Fu-Yuan, & Chiu, Shao-I. (2016). Undergraduates’ day-to-day lying behaviors: Implications, targets, and psychological characteristics. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 44(8), 1329-1338. doi: https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2016.44.8.1329
2. Donaldson, C., Handren, D., & Crano, L. (2016). The enduring impact of parents’ monitoring, warmth, expectancies, and alcohol use on their children’s future binge drinking and arrests: A longitudinal analysis. Prevention Science, 17(5), 606-614. doi: 10.1007/s11121-016-0656-1
3. Engels, Rutger C. M. E., Finkenauer, Catrin, & Van Kooten, Dyana C. (2006). Lying behavior, family functioning and adjustment in early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(6), 949-958. doi: 10.1007/s10964-006-9082-1
4. Huver, R., Engels, R., Breukelen, G., & Vries, H. (2007). Parenting style and adolescent smoking cognitions and behaviour. Psychology & Health, 22(5), 575-593. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.07.012
5. Hart, C. L., Jones, J. M., Terrizzi, Jr., J. A., & Curtis, D. A. (in press). Development of the lying in everyday situations (LIES) scale. American Journal of Psychology
6. Huver, Rose M. E., Otten, Roy, De Vries, Hein, & Engels, Rutger C. M. E. (2010). Personality and parenting style in parents of adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 33(3), 395-402. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.07.012
7. Oliveira, C. M., & Levine, T. R. (2008). Lie Acceptability: A construct and measure. Communication Research Reports, 25(4) , 282-288. doi: 10.1080/08824090802440170
8. Rinaldi, Christina M., & Howe, Nina. (2012). Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles and associations with toddlers’ externalizing, internalizing, and adaptive behaviors. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(2), 266-273. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.08.001
9. Smith, & Rizzo. (2017). Children’s confession- and lying-related emotion expectancies: Developmental differences and connections to parent-reported confession behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 156, 113-128. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.12.002
10. Talwar, Arruda, & Yachison. (2015). The effects of punishment and appeals for honesty on children’s truth-telling behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 130(1), 209-217. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.09.011Get

This assignment examines Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligence. It further shows the career prospects of children that possess each of the seven types of intelligences.

Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligence points out to seven intelligences possess by a child in the process of growth and interactions with others. According to Northern Illinois University (n.d) Gardner’s work in psychology and in human cognition and human potential led to the development of the multiple intelligences. It is said that he initially developed six intelligences. He later developed three more intelligences that brought the number to nine. However, the primary seven are the most concentrated on for the purpose of developing a whole individual. The illustration of the multiple intelligences is based on the work of Howard Gardner himself and his associates. The illustration will follow the order in which they were first identified and presented.

The first, not in order of importance, is the linguistic intelligence. It involves dealing with written and spoken words. It entails that the individual is able to interpret and explain ideas and information through the language. It implies an understanding of the relationship between communication and meaning. According to Gardner (2011) it is said that when this intelligence is very strong for a person or an individual, it means that the individual has highly developed skills for reading, speaking, and writing and tend to think in words. This is also an indication that the individual likes various kinds of literature, plays word games, makes up poetry and stories, engages in involved discussions with other people, and is involved in debates, formal speaking, creative writing, and telling jokes. It is further said that the individual is precise in expressing oneself and is irritated when others fail to. These type of individuals love learning new words, do well with written assignments, and the comprehension of anything they read is high. In this view, we see teachers, lawyers, copywriters, editors, Public Relations officers, Media consultants, Historians, trainers and journalists. The list is not exhaustive.

The second is the logical mathematical intelligence. It involves analyzing of problems, detecting patterns, performing mathematical calculations, and scientific reasoning and deduction. This entails the understanding of relationship between cause and effect toward a tangible outcome or result. According to Gardner (2011) logical-mathematically inclined person tend to think more conceptually and abstractly and are often able to see patterns and relationships that others may not see. These individuals probably like to conduct experiments, to solve puzzles and other problems, to ask cosmic questions, and analyze circumstances and people’s behaviour. It is said that they mostly enjoy working with numbers and mathematical formulas and operations, and they love the challenge of a complex problem to solve. It is further said that they are probably systematic and organised, and very likely they always have a logical rationale or argument for what they are doing or thinking at any given time. This intelligence implies that an individual would work as an analyst, public accountant, an engineer, banker, researcher, scientist and statistician.

The third is the musical intelligence. It involves awareness, appreciation and use of sound, and recognition of tonal and rhythmic patterns. This intelligence entails the understanding of the relationship between sound and feeling. An individual is capable of bringing out emotions of people through music. Music speaks to an individual in whatever they are passing through in life. It is an intelligence that takes a sound note and attaches it to a feeling or an emotion of a person. According to Gardner (2011) an individual strong in this intelligence area is likely have a strong love of music and rhythmic patterns. It is said that the individual are probably very sensitive to sounds in the environment including such sounds as the chirp of cricket, rain on the roof, varying traffic patterns on a daily basis. It is further said that the individual equipped with a recorder and music maker, can create some music from the chirp of a cricket, traffic patterns and even the noise of rain on the roof tops. These individuals may study and work better with music in the background. These types of individuals can often reproduce a melody or rhythmic pattern after hearing it only once. According to Gardner (2011) the various sounds, tones, and rhythms may have a visible effect on the individual such that others can often see a change in facial expressions, body movement, or emotional responses. They probably like to create music and enjoy listening to a wide variety of music. They are also said to be skilled at mimicking sounds, language accents, and others’ speech patterns, and they can probably readily recognize different musical instruments in a composition. Therefore, an individual can work as DJ, music performer, entertainer, music producer, composer and singer.

The fourth is the bodily kinesthetic intelligence. This involves eye and body coordination, manual dexterity and physical agility and balance. It entails an understanding of the body parts and how each moves to the entire movement. According to Gardner (2011) individuals who have strength in this intelligence area tend to have a keen sense of body awareness. They like physical movement, dancing, making and inventing things with their hands, and role-playing. It is said that they probably communicate well through body language and other physical gestures. These individuals can often perform a task much better after seeing someone else do it first and then mimicking their actions. It is further said that they like physical games of all kinds and enjoy to demonstrate how to do something for someone else. They may find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time and are easily bored or distracted if they are not actively involved in what is going on around them. An individual can work as nurse, physical education teacher, physical therapist, physician, actor, sign-language interpreter and a dancer.

The fifth is the spatial-visual intelligence. It involves interpretation and creation of visual images and pictorial imagination and expression. This entails an understanding of relationships between images and meanings and between space and effect. According to Tsai (2016) an individual strong in this intelligence tend to think in images and pictures. They are likely very aware of object, shapes, colors, textures, and patterns in the environment around them. It is said that they like to draw, paint, and make interesting designs and patterns, and work with clay, colored markers, construction paper, and fabric. According Tsai (2016) many who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence love to work jigsaw puzzles, read maps and find their way around new places. It is said that they have definite opinions about colors that go together well, textures that are appropriate and pleasing, and how a room should be decorated. They are most likely excellent at performing tasks that require seeing with the mind’s eyes such as visualizing, pretending, imagining, and forming mental images. An individual can work as an architect, an artist, city-planner, graphic designer, landscape architect and as a photographer.

The sixth is the interpersonal intelligence. It involves ability to relate to others, and interpretation of behavior and communications. This entails an understanding of the relationship between people and their situations, including other people. According to Gardner (2011) if this person-to-person way of knowing is more developed in an individual, the individual learns through personal interactions. They have lots of friends, show a great deal of empathy for other people and exhibit a deep understanding of other points of view. It is said that they love team activities of all kinds and are a good team member. They are sensitive to other people’s feelings and ideas, and are good at ensuring that their own ideas ride along others’ thoughts. It is said that they skilled at drawing others out in a discussion and also skilled in conflict resolution, mediation, and finding compromise when people are in radical opposition to each other. This individual can work as an advertising professional, a care giver, coach and mentor, counselors, health provider, Human Resource professional, politician, therapist and trainer.

The seventh is the intrapersonal intelligence. It involves one’s own needs for and reaction to change, ability to deal with change in the workplace. It also involves an understanding of one’s relationship to others and the world including personal cognizance, personal objectivity and the capability to understand oneself. According to Yeh (2014) at the centre of this intelligence are human self-reflective abilities by which an individual can step outside of their own self and think about their own lives. This is said to be the introspective intelligence. It is said to involve unique human propensity to want to know the meaning, purpose, and significance of things. It further involve the awareness of the inner world of the self, emotions, values, beliefs, and various quests for genuine spirituality.

According to Gardner (2011) when an individual is strong in this intelligence, they may like to work alone and sometimes shy away from others. They are self-reflective and self-aware and thus tend to be in tune with their inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes. It is said that they are frequently bearers of creative wisdom and insight, are highly intuitive, and are inwardly motivated rather than needing external rewards to keep them going. In any situation, they are often strong willed, self-confident, and have definite, well-thought out opinions on almost any issue. Other people will often call them for advice and counsel.

This individual is one who is self-aware and involved in the process of changing personal thoughts, beliefs, and behavior in relation to their situation and also other people, their purpose and aims in life.

In conclusion, it is clear that an individual has multiple intelligences. However, not all will work predominantly in one’s life. A number may be predominant and these may define an individual in the process of one’s life and work. According to Ali and Rajalakshmi (2016), it is imperative that parents also understand the multiple intelligence in order to help their children learn effectively rather than forcing a child in an area where they are weak. This is a clear indication that the child’s learning process is at the centre of the triangle involving teacher, school and parent.