ANSWER:

Introduction

This case study talks about a young family that moved into a flat with very few families like theirs. The family consisted of a father named Des, a mother- Angela, a three-year-old son- Ricky, and a one-year-old daughter- Michelle. Des previously worked at a building, painting, decorating, and installing a new kitchen. Just before he could finish his work, he lost his job, which brought a lot of arguments between him and Angela since there was no longer enough money to pay the bills. Angela also could find Des to be immature and unreliable. These quarrels led to their separation just after Michelle was born.

Angela receives one-parent family payments but still finds managing her money difficult due to her financial worries. On the other hand, Des cannot be relied on for financial help. Currently, Ricky requires new trainer shoes, but Angela cannot afford them. She also can't find a playground nearby for Ricky to play, thereby keeping him indoors most of the time. Lately, Ricky has been bored and has temper tantrums quite frequently, leading to a small fight between him and his mother, who also flares up very fast.

Michelle, meanwhile, grows to be a difficult child who cries a lot and rarely gets enough sleep at night. Her mother finds coping with her exhausting, leaving her little patience for dealing with Ricky. She would like to have put down his name into a playgroup a year ago but didn't have the chance to investigate it. She wishes to cook nutritious meals for Ricky, but they are expensive; hence, they usually buy take-aways. Angela goes through a lot alone. She finds it difficult to go to her mother's place, two bus journeys away, and the bus services are indigent. Sometimes she feels bitter about her situation so much.

Needs Being Met

            The need for shelter is one of the basic needs in society; Angela and Des have made sure that this need is was met. Shelter means having protection from the storm, adverse conditions, enemy observation as well as having a roof over your head. Being a basic need means it is one of the most critical needs in human life classified under the necessities of human wants.

            A shelter gives people the feeling of well-being and maintains one will to survive. In some areas, one's need for shelter may take precedence over the need for food and possibly water. For example, prolonged exposure to cold can cause excessive fatigue and weakness or exhaustion. An exhausted person may develop a “passive” outlook, thereby losing the will to survive. (DNews 2011). The case study tells us that Angela and her family live in a flat with young families like theirs. From that point, we understand that Angela was able to provide shelter for her family, and there was no point in which they were homeless. Therefore, Angela fully met the need for shelter.

            The second need that Angela met was the need for food. Angela can provide food for her family, i.e., she can meet one of the basic needs in society. This need falls under physiology together with clothing in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, usually depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs include: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualisation. Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that people are motivated to achieve particular needs and that some needs take precedence over others. In this case study, the physiological needs, the physical requirements for human survival, e.g., air, food, drink, clothing, and shelter, are fulfilled when Angela buys food from the local shop. On that account, Angela met the need for food.

Needs Not Met

            The mother did not meet Ricky's need for enough playtime as she did not enroll him in any playgroup. Ricky lacks the need to mix and socialise with other children. According to Dr. Sandra Musial, MD (2018), playtime is crucial for a child’s emotional, social and physical development. It is much more than having fun. Playing stimulates the imagination and encourages creativity, helping children learn to respond appropriately to positive and negative emotions based on their experiences playing with other children. In addition to that, play can involve exercise that helps to enhance coordination, build muscles, and gets the heart pumping, helping to keep the body at a healthy weight. From the case study, Angela kept Ricky indoors since no playgrounds were nearby. Besides that, she did not sign him up in any playgroup hence is more bored and has temper tantrums more frequently.

            Play deprivation on early child development has several impacts. A child who has not had earlier experience of healthy play may not have learned the complicated languages of the game, which harmoniously bring together the cognitive, emotional, physical, and elements necessary for personal competence in playing (Brown and Vaughan C 2010). Furthermore, the child may overdo the play processor may not understand what is going on. These children become isolated or bullied, or they can become bullies. The lingering effects of childhood play deficits echo in later adult attitudes about becoming a viable part of a community. The behavioral aspect around play-deprived children is also affected since one of the anatomical benefits of healthy play is activating a wide array of genes in the prefrontal cortex. This is the administrative area of the brain, governing decision-making for humans and other social mammals (Panksepp and Biven 2012).

One of the strategies to overcome play deprivation is for Angela to create more play time between her and Ricky. She could create a space for Ricky in the house as a playroom. They could make castles, do crafting, and more in that space. She will need to be around watching Ricky and instigate a lot in the play. The other strategy Angela could use is enrolling Ricky in a playgroup. This means that her son will have the exposure he needs with other children of his age. These are the steps she needs to follow when enrolling him in a playgroup;

1.     Find a school near her house.

2.     Schedule a tour. This will help her in making her decision.

3.     Register with the school to enroll.

4.     Complete the enrollment procedure and other forms provided by the school.

Angela could also involve Des when going through this procedure to help as Ricky's father. These two strategies will help Ricky’s creativity begin to flow and develop more independence independently.

            The second need not met is quality care and love for the children. By quality care, I mean the necessity to be protected from danger or injury and the need to eat nutritious food. The children are also denied a parent's love from their father since they are separated and do not feel a sense of belonging with their mother. Early childhood, especially the first three years of life, accounts for a subtle period of the life course, one in which caregiver warmth, responsiveness, and developmentally appropriate stimulation are essential for development (Sperry and Miller 2018). Experiences during early childhood-whether positive, such as language exposure, or negative, such as high and chronic levels of stress or deprivation-have lasting effects (Kalil 2016). Research exhibits that socioeconomic discrepancies in cognitive skills and physical development are apparent in infancy (Halle 2009). The case study shows that the children are not receiving quality child care and love from both parents. They lack the father figure in their family since Des is absent and only visits them once in a while. On the other hand, the mother is unable to afford new shoes and nutritious food for Ricky. She finds herself shouting at the children and flares up very fast, and sometimes she gets depressed.

            Consequently, poor quality child care is associated with more negative outcomes, including less harmonious mother-child relationships, more wayward behaviours, and lower cognitive performance. We can see this from the case study when Ricky throws a toy at her mother and has temper tantrums more often.

             A strategy that may be used to improve the quality of child care Ricky and Michelle receive is focusing first on the children's safety, health and happiness. Regardless of the setting, children's safety, health, and happiness are the essential elements of quality care and education. Minimizing risk and maximizing children's chances to engage with caregivers, teachers, other children, and the world around them are the essential strategies for promoting physical health and social-emotional, language, and cognitive development. Another approach that could be used is to employ observations and assessments to support every child’s across all developmental domains. Excellent programs frequently accumulate information about children's physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. The National Research Council (2008) has published guidance on choosing and using child assessments appropriate for children's developmental, cultural, and linguistic characteristics (Peña and Halle 2011). The results of the evaluations should guide communications with parents, teaching strategies, curricula, and activities to help each child learn and develop in the way that works best for them.

A playschool teacher, counselor, and therapist could be involved in these strategies. The playschool teacher will need to be empathic and patient with Ricky to help him learn and grow effectively in his education. The counselor and the therapist need to be active listeners and dependents to Angela and Des. They require counseling and therapeutic sessions to help with their marriage if mended. The therapist could also help Angela manage her anger issues so that she can be able to control herself in front of the children.

Conclusion

            From the case study, we get that Angela's family is a single-parent family and is struggling to keep it as a whole. If followed, I think the given strategies could help her family stabilize and create more bonds between them. If Des could find a job quickly enough and help Angela in the upbringing of their children, Angela would not be resentful of her life anymore.

References

Brown S. & Vaughan C. (2010), Play, How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination And Invigorates the Soul.

Halle T. & others (2009) “Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort (ECLS-B)” (Washington: Child Trends, 2009), available at http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2009-52DisparitiesELExecSumm.pdf

Kalil A. (2016). Early Childhood Development. In Delivering Equitable Growth: Strategies for the next Administration (Washington: Washington Center for Equitable Growth, 2016), available at https://equitablegrowth.org/how-economic-inequality-affects-childrens-outcomes/

National Research Council (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.https://doi.org/10.17226/12446.

Peña E. & Halle T. (2011). Assessing Preschool Dual Language Learners: Traveling a Multiforked Road.

Panksepp J. & Biven L. (2012). The Archeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions.

Sperry D., Sperry L. & Miller P. (2018). Reexamining the Verbal Environments of Children from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds Child Development 00 (0) (2018): 1–16, available at https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13072