Hunger
in the United States
As
I looked through the list of stressors that children around the world live with
including war, poverty,
racism, natural disaster, isolation, hunger, noise, chaos, and disease, I
thought how lucky I have been to not know anyone who has experienced any of
these stressors. I am aware, however, that there are children in the United
States that do have to deal with some of these stressors. For example, children
in the United States, with fathers that go to war, have to deal with the
absence of their fathers or mothers, sometimes permanently. Although I have not
talked to anyone personally that had to deal with racism, there are plenty of
children in the United States that do have this stressor. There have also been
many tragedies in the United States this year including natural disasters.
Finally, hunger exists even in the United States.
I
am not sure if I have ever known a truly hungry person, but there is a child in
my class who may have to use special education services next year despite the
fact that she appears to be just as able as any other child when a person first
meets her. Her older sister also is involved with special education. She is a
happy child who always eats two full plates for lunch at my school. Despite her
large appetite, she is skinny and small. It is quite possible that she is not
as hungry as I am making out. I had to consider, however, that hunger may be an
invisible problem. Those children, who are hungry, may not seem so different
from other children, so teachers have no way of knowing who is hungry. Because
of this, we all need to be aware that children may be hungry even in the United
States, and sometimes the children’s behavior could be a clue to their hunger.
There
are hungry children in the United States. Here are the statistics. Sixteen million seven hundred
thousand children lived in food insecure households in 2011 (Feeing America,
2013). Twenty percent or more of children in 36 states lived in food insecure
households in 2010 (Feeding America, 2013).
Feeding America has two programs
that address this problem. Kids Cafe is an after school program in which kids
can get food at clubs, churches, and schools where they are after school. Their
Back Pack program gives kids easy to prepare food, so that they can make this
food over the weekend. These programs are important to help kids do well in
school and have a brighter future because “good nutrition, particularly in the
first three years of life, is important in establishing a good foundation that
has implications for a child’s future physical and mental health, academic
achievement, and economic productivity” (Food America, 2013).
References
Feeding America
(2013). Child hunger facts. Retrieved from http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/child-hunger-facts.aspx
