Integrative Paper for kim woods.
LisaEffects of lack of after school programs for children 2
Effects of lack of after school programs for children
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Introduction
After school concern for children is a social issue that is significant in the United States. It is vividly evident that thousands of families are encountered with the issue of insufficient or lack of activities and attention for their children when they come from school. This problem majorly faces families with both parents working; when the kids come home from school, there is no supervision on them from their parents. While the children are at school, they go through several experiences between the time they are in school and the time they will be out of school.
In the case that both parents are working, the kids will lack the attention and support they need from their parents or guardians. The kids come from school after going through different experiences some of which are discouraging and may impact negatively on their academic performance as well as moral behavior. It is important that the kids get attended to by their parents or are involved in co-curricula activities that will help them fix and get over the various challenges they have gone through while ate school.
In real life, there is lack of after school activities for children or there is no supervision from their seniors or parents. Due to this scenario, the children are likely to occupy themselves with activities that they think are good for them but in real sense they are harmful especially in their social life and their relationship with the community. This paper is going to look at the dangers of lack of after school activities for children, the extent of the problem, its consequences and the possible solutions that can be adopted to take control of the problem.
Statement of the problem
There is an alarming danger that comes along with the social life of children that are not involved in constructive activities after school or lack parental care. In some cases the lack of parental attention is called uninvolved parenting. According to Diana Baumrind, uninvolved parenting which is also known as neglectful parenting is a style of parenting characterized by lack of responsiveness to the needs of a child. When kids are in school, they are attended to by their teachers and are involved in play with other kids; but when they get home they lack supervision of their parents and are likely to involve themselves in behaviors that are harmful to their social.
The children especially teenagers will find pleasure in taking alcohol and abusing drugs. They tend to believe that these will make them feel more relaxed and superior. 3 out of 10 teenagers that do not get the deserved attention from their parents especially after school think of taking drugs and related substances. The end result is they become irresponsible adults who may not even be able to take care of themselves. They become a burden to the community because all the time they have to be taken care of otherwise they can be destructive in what they do.
Children that don’t engage themselves in after school activities are also at risk of being overweight. Research reveals that in the last three decades obesity in children in the United States of America has more than doubled while in adolescents it has tripled. The percentage of children between the ages of 6 and 11 years that are obese has gone up from 7.1% in 1980 to almost 18% by 2010. On the same note, adolescents between the age of 12 and 19 years are seen rising in obesity from 4.9% to 17.5% over the same duration of time (Larson & Wilson, 2004).
In the United States, most of the households own at least one television set. Children that don’t engage in any after school activities find it wise to spend their time behind television screens. Without proper monitoring, these children will watch programs and movies that are not helpful to them; apparently they will prefer movies with fighting, violence, crime and related themes. When exposed to these for some time, they tend to think that it right to practice what they watched on television. In the long run the children may involve themselves in criminal activities because they think it right for them. This is a social problem because it has a negative impact on the community. Children will start practicing crime due to lack of appropriate after school programs.
In adolescents, if there is no activity after school, they will go out socializing with their peers. Due to the changes and developments in their bodies, they will tend to associate with friends of the opposite gender. Being alone with nobody around them, they are likely to end up having sexual intercourse which could be unsafe or unprotected. The chances of pregnancies that are not planned for is very high if this behavior goes on from time to time. The kids born will not be properly taken care of by their parents because they are still young and unable to provide for the needs. This now becomes a problem for the society to take care of such kids who may end up not getting the care they should have received. They may grow up being another burden to the community.
Children and adolescents are not wise when it comes to decision making. When left on their own, they will choose friends that will help them accomplish their missions. The adolescents may select bad company that will later ruin their character; their choice of friends could no be the best for their good. All this is caused by the fact that children lack programs that will guide them on what to do when they come home from school. The friends chosen by teenagers are the ones who are likely to lead them into all kinds of social evils in the community. The friends are the ones who will provide links on how to get alcohol, drugs and other substances.
This issue of lack of activities or programs for children after school posses a threat to the social well being of the community at large and not just the involved individuals; when the effects come out, the entire community suffers. For example, if it is crime, the victims are the members of the community that the children reside. It is therefore necessary that investigations are initiated with the aim of determining the best programs that can be established for children and adolescents after they come from school.
The programs can have a positive impact in the social life of the community because the youth can engage themselves in activities that will make them useful to the society. This makes them more responsible adults in the future and can participate in the building of the economic as well as the social life of the communities that they come from. The after school programs and activities will make children be helpful in the community (Canuto Marcello & Jason Yaeger, 2000).
Apart from being helpful to the community, the after school programs, depending on what they are, can be used to discover the various talents that children have. Once talents have been discovered, they can be majored on and be what the children will earn a living when they grow up. After school programs are important for the social life of the community, lack of them translates to a social problem in the community.
References
Canut, M. & Jason, Y. (2000). The archeology of communities. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Diana, B. (2000). Parenthood in America: An encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO
Larson, R. & Wilson, S. (2004). Handbook for adolescent psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.