Passionate about helping children living in poverty. I am a children's book author & social worker. Proverbs 16:24
Author: crinamorpho
I am deeply passionate about working with vulnerable children, adults, and their families, with a focus on education, parenting, mental health, and wellbeing, as well as empowering people to begin their own personal journeys and find their path in life. I grew up in a disadvantaged family, and that experience shaped who I am today, giving me resilience and a strong sense of purpose in this amazing world we call home. My journey has led me to this path, and sharing my lived experiences is my way of encouraging others to believe in themselves and put their faith in God. Even in the darkest moments, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. This is what I am passionate about, and what I continue to build through my work and my writing.
When comes to songs for kids we have to be so careful, listen to song yourself before letting the kid access it.
In these days there are millions of songs just to a click distance. But have you ever looked deeply into the author of that song and what the lyrics says exactly?
Here is the list of some of the songs I will accept for children to listen
It can affect children from birth and left unchecked and unchallenged, can impact negatively on every aspect of a child’s life.
Usually, poor children are located in hard to reach villages, isolated, but not only. In these villages, communities people follow traditions, they copy each others even if it’s bad or good. Sometimes no one is going to these villages to make a difference, and the children grow up and have no future.
I used to live like a disadvantaged kid some years of my life, what was the reason? well, an alcoholic dad and unemployment of both of my parents. I do not condemn them, but I try to understand their actions.
There are a number of reasons why a family may be disadvantaged, and therefore, vulnerable.
Unemployment
Single parent
Low income
Substance abuse…
What are the effects on a child living in poverty?
A child may suffer from:
A poor diet or neglect
Low educational achievement: no school trips, no books, uniform packed lunch, healthy snack
Lack of positive interactions with parents
They might be unable to understand their own emotions and those of others
Poor/dirty clothes, shoes.
The child may have low self esteem
Tensions/fights between parents at home.
The child may experience some types of abuse from parents or family.
At my workplace I am observing many children refusing their food, simply they do not wanna open their mouth or they are pushing away the plate. I am watching them and think how long they will resist that day without food, so we are trying to offer them options, and guess what, they are perfectly fine with plain pasta or a biscuit!
Now, we have to keep in mind that children may refuse a type of food if it’s the first time you give it to them, they need to taste it slowly and a few times to learn to like it, so make sure you are not forcing, pushing the food aggressively in the mouth, most probably they will not like it. Would you like if someone will push the spoon in your mouth, with food you never tried, let’s say…snake meat! yuck!
Also some children may like to be independent and not to be feed, so just let the plate in front of them and observe them without talking, touching their food, try to ”avoid” them. I do have a baby in the nursery that loves to be independent and eat with his own hands.
Toddlers refuse extra food also when they have eaten enough. Do not try to overfeed your toddler,some kids will eat less food than other toddlers of the same age. If your toddler is growing and developing normally then he or she is taking the right quantity of food for his or her own needs!
There is also medical reason why kids refuse to eat. When kids have a well documented medical condition or are visibly sick, it is obvious that their eating can be affected, but sometimes there are more subtle issues. Two of the biggest culprits are acid reflux and constipation. Both of these very common problems for kids can put a halt to eating.
For many “picky eaters”, sensory processing plays a big role in their refusal to eat foods. Simply put, if something feels gross in their mouth or on their hands, they aren’t going to eat it. they may not like certain textures in their mouth, or chew/lick everything else but food, it is a sign that their oral sensory system needs to be looked at.
I always say BE KIND and I truly believe in the meaning of these words!
But, I have noticed that some people sees the kindness like a weak value, something that can be used against you.
I think some persons even think I’m easy to manipulate or a real push-over. I remember a lot of situations when I chose to be kind to a person and let myself down so that person can feel he/she won.
I am sure that God gave me this value and wants me to use it and to be kind, But also I AM SURE He doesn’t wants people to think or treat me as I am a weak person, here is not my problem but their problem. I choose to still show kindness and help people, I believe kindness can transform a heart made of stones into a gold heart full of kindness and compassion!
Learned my lesson, some people will always try to put you down and think they are better than you, and makes you feel weak, especially when they discover your kindness ”weapon”. In these situation I remember these kind of people seek attention, they might be hurt inside, or have no wisdom!
Like bible says in Matthew 5:44, just read, it’s an amazing verse
In these time we all live, feels like it’s the end of the world soon. So if we are all unkind, severe what is going to happen? Next time we meet a kind, compassionate person, try to be nice and think that we all live on this earth we all never know what happens in the next minute, we have to measure our words that comes from our mouth. We all live once, let’s be kind and lovely persons!
What is kindness?
Kindness is a behaviour marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition and consideration for others. It s a virtue, a value which is considered to be one of the knightly virtues.
In these times we live now, with protests happening around the world and in our communities, it’s so important to sit down with the child and explain what is happening. The children are really curious and it’s the adults job to explain in a nice way to kids.
Did your child ever asked you ”Daddy, Mommy, what is a racist”?
Remember to be honest,open and clear with your child while giving explanation. You can use books, movies, their favourite Disney movie, or a Superhero, now ask them if they believe anyone can be a princess, or a superhero?
It’s time to be honest and tell them that no matter how beautiful, smart, how good, or how many degrees they will obtain some people still won’t like them. I know it’s hard to say this to your child, but we all know that’s the truth.
In school they have multicultural day, kids needs to understand and to know that there are many cultures, races and people are different, which is a good thing for the world, imagine seeing the same colour every day, let’s say blue, isn’t boring?
The way adults acts with adults it’s the model the kids copies, if we are nice and kind to people for sure we will inspire this to our children.
As your child gets older, you can introduce the term racism and what racism means, which is basically not accepting someone who has a different skin colour than you do. And that it’s wrong and racism is wrong, and we accept all types of people no matter what their skin colour,religion, disabilities they have, we are all people and we all have one heart, we using our heart with love not hate.
I wanna talk today about this subject as I find it really sad and violates the rights of the children (girls). That girl goes to a trauma, her self esteem is shaking badly.
BREAST IRONING – It’s a traditional practice whereby the breasts of a girl are flattered with tools like heated objects( spatulas, stones, hammers) to try to make them stop developing or disappear.
Usually happens in the villages, and it’s mostly done by the female members of the family, by an auntie, grandmother, eldest sister.
Some women whose breasts were ”ironed” have said they had trouble producing milk and breastfeeding their children.
Mothers in Cameroon thinks that by this practice girls will look less sexually attractive to men and keeping them in school for longer. (global citizen.org)
According to UNICEF, 38% of the children in Cameroon are married before they turn 18th. and 20% of them drop out of school after getting pregnant.
The practice is more common is West and Central Africa, yet has no borders, it occurs all over the world and has migrated with people and culture in the UK.
I can only imagine what is in their mind, what emotions they have, sure there is fear, pain, trauma, sadness, and so on.
It’s thought that about 1000 girls across the UK have been subjected to the practice. BREAST IRONING is child abuse!
COVID-19 took many lives and created panic, fear and sadness.
But do not tell your kid that.
If the children do not ask about the virus, do not push it. But I know some children are really curios, and they might wonder in the morning why you not take them to school, or playdates?
Now is the moment to talk about the different types of virus, and why they have to stay away from other family members, friends, neighbours for a while. Children have the capacity to understand and to absorb information from adults more than we can imagine.
I really recommend you to download this book, which I think is free to download (https://phoebemorriscreative.com/superfelix) reading this book is a good way of starting talking about these strange times we live.
Also teach them simple ways to be safe, like washing hand for more than 20 seconds, the time it takes to sing ”HAPPY BIRTHDAY” twice.
There is so much to write and say about this subject. It’s really sad to see children exposed to harm, abuse. Today we gonna focus on children without parental care.
Children without parental care are exposed to many risks, neglect, all types of abuse, and also large numbers of children end up in institutional care.
In 2008, in Central and Eastern Europe some 1.3 million children lived in public care; just under half of these lived in large-scale residential care facilities or boarding schools (UNICEF, At home or in a home, 2011). In the Middle East and Africa, over 300,000 children are estimated to live in residential care (UNICEF 2009 Progress for children).
There are many reasons why children are left without parents:
Natural death
The parents went to work abroad
They can’t afford raising them
Divorce, sickness
Abuse of drugs, alcohol
Can you think of other reasons, comment below!
Few days ago I’ve seen a documentary about children without parental care in China. They’ve estimated that over 60 million of children have no parents!
A child said ”Everyone has a Mom and Dad, but I do not, at the end of every semester when the school asks for our parents feedback, I do not have anyone to wright the comments, as my grandparents can’t write or read. I often feel envious when I see children with their parents on the street”.
Are these kids condemned to a life without parental love, harm, neglect, exploitation, sadness and so on?
I think we all should do something for them, to be there physically or by supporting the people which are ready to change a life!
Copiii sunt cei care ne dau energie, ne fac zilele mai frumose cu zâmbetul lor molipsitor, ce facem, însă, când toate acestea dispar și sunt înlocuite cu tristețe, iritabilitate, dificultate de a se concentra, îngrijorare?
Depresia nu doar ca afectează adulții, dar poate afecta copiii și adolescenți, un lucru foarte imporrtant este să înțelegem și să fim alerți
Când aveam 14 ani am fost depresivă, pentru aproximativ un an. Schimbările din viața mea au jucat un rol puternic în a dezvolta nesuferita depresie. Începusem liceul așa că m-am mutat la oraș, părinții s-au despărțit, tata a devenit un alcoolic, am rămas fără locuință. Cu toate că aveam 2-3 oameni apropiati, nu m-am simțit ( pe atunci) destul de familiara cu ei încât să le spun despre simptomele mele.
Cum să îți dai seama dacă copilul sau adolescentul suferă de depresie?
Somnul și alimentația pot fi influențate, doarme mai puțin, petrece mult timp în pat.
Energia scade, activitățile pe care le făcea înainte, acum i se par inutile și refuză să se mai întâlnească cu prietenii.
Refuză să meargă la școală, performanțele școlare scad
Stima de sine scăzută
Copiii mai mari si adolescentii, pot avea comportamente problematice, intra in dificultati la scoala, sunt negativi, morocanosi, irascibili, iritabili, se simt neintelesi.
Uneori este dificil pentru părinți să identifice semnele depresiei, dar fiți atenți la ce vă transmite copilul, depresia nu este ceva ce se desfășoară pe 4-7 zile ci poate ține și 1 an. Discutați cu copilul, și găsiți ajutorul medical potrivit. Este așa de important pentru copii să aibă pe cineva de incredere, de partea lor, să-i iubească necondiționat și să le ofere tot ce este mai bun.
Depression does not only affect adults. Children and teenagers can get depressed too, same like adults, the important thing is to understand and to be aware of that.
I can say about myself that when I was 14 years old I felt really depressed for about a year, there was some changes in my life I had to embrace. I did not knew that was depression but I can identify it now by the symptoms I experienced.
Here are some examples of depression I also experienced
Signs of depression in teenagers
sadness, or a low mood that does not go away
being irritable or grumpy all the time
not being interested in things they used to enjoy
feeling tired and exhausted a lot of the time
refusing to eat, shower themselves or clean their room
Aggressive
Refusing to go to school; look at the changes in performances at school
Sometimes is tricky for parents to identify the signs of depression, but if you see any changes in your child just talk with and find the right help, is important for kids to have someone on their side. Like I had no one to help me, even though there was my teachers, social worker, some friends, but I still felt alone and discouraged. Dad became an alcoholic and my Mamma left the home, and I started the High School with no support from parents, God, is so hard and depressive. But you, yes you the one who reads this post you can help a child by showing support.
Let’s talk about young children, it’s hard to hear for them words like ( I am angry, upset, sad, you know, words that describes feelings). But you can see changes in their behaviour, in this way they telling you that something might be wrong and they are feeling depressed.
Signs of depression for 3-5 years old
They might not be interested in the activities
They might have problems sleeping
irritable ;social withdrawal
decreased appetite
If you’re a believer in God, you know that praying is weapon we can use all the time! Pray for your child and know that every person can go through depression, but God is there to help and He knows our problems!
FAITH- To have faith in someone or something is like we can rest and trust in someone or something.
Do we have doubts about the person we trust?
Well, depends, isn’t it?
Having faith in people is good. Myself for example, I had a lot of faith and trust in some people while enrolling to High School. I had started a new chapter in my life with the left foot, my parents decided to divorce, dad became an alcoholic and lived on the streets. So I had to move to dorm in college and have faith in some people I knew, they told me they will support, help and encourage me during my 4 years of college. This is trust and faith.
Through these years my faith wasn’t wrong, these people helped me out and I finished the college.
Faith in God is different than faith in people. If we…
CRINAMORPHO 