Trauma in Children

Traumatic experiences happen all too often in the lives of children without anyone even recognizing it. Trauma might also be known as Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs. What's even more alarming is that most of these experiences happen to children 0-5 years of ages. Unless you are an administrator in an early childhood education setting, you may not be familiar with all the things seen and heard on a daily basis that need to be addressed.

There is no way that we can cover the whole topic of trauma in one blog post, but we can at least address what it is, what it may look like, and even, where it might come from and how it touches so many children. 

Trauma refers to an emotional or psychological response to an overwhelmngly distressing event or experience, such as physical or sexual abuse, natural disasters, accidents, witnessing violence, or the loss of a loved one. 

You are probably thinking about  your children or the children in your care and thinking, "none of them are abused, so this certainly doesn't apply the majority of children". If this is what you are thinking, I'm afraid that I have some bad news: abuse isn't limited to what you can see, it's also what you can not see, as well as, things that might seem just a bump in the road to an adult. When you think of all the things that could cause trauma in a young child, you may be surprised to find out  that research shows that 1 in 7 (or less) children have had a traumatic experience before the age of 4. Mindblowing, yes? I was astonished, even knowing what I know, I was still taken back by this figure. It is also to be known that the research is taken only from the US and no other countries. A country that is advertised as a country of great reward and high standing is actually full of children with trauma, so what about the other countries? What do you think the childhood trauma rate might be for those children?

What are some examples of the events or situations that might be scary, unsafe, or upsetting for our children?

• Let's take out the obvious trauma of physical abuse and sexual abuse, what is left?

1. Housing with out water or food
2. Households with a missing parent or both parents are missing from the home
3. Housing that is lacking basic cleanliness; full of bugs, mold or other issues
4. Houses where children are constantly neglected or adults are inattentive to child's needs
5. Car accidents, or near accidents
6. Households that use fear to control the children or other adults (emotional abuse)
7. Natural disasters, anything from a fire to COVID or other contagions or illness
8. Witnessing violence in real life and on television

• The most common trauma that occurs is neglect.

Wow!! That was a lot for a first time introduction. I'm going to let you absorb that information and I'll be back to continue the introduction to trauma blog posts next week.

As Always, Be Kind, With Love, Teacher Christy