Consequences of Stress on My Childhood Development

During my childhood I experienced much stress. I was not raised in a lavish community and my parents were not rich. My mom has a high school education and my father has only a 5th grade education. I do not come from a well-educated family. My parents did the best with what they had and they made sure that all of us did not miss out on the opportunity to the best education. We all graduated from high school and some even college. Whether it was occupational or professional all 5 of my parents children have a degree. To get where we are today we had to deal with life stress. We grew up in poverty and violence. We had food on our table, a roof over our had, and clothes on our back but it did not come easy for my parents. Many of friends did not know that some of my clothes came from the second hand stores and stores like Walmart or Target. My mom had to get what she could afford. Many of friends never knew my mom had to go stand in the free cheese line, when the government would pass out free cheese and butter. There was violence in my neighborhood, but not like it is today. There were incidents when there was shooting on my block and my neighbors were killed. I was ready to move and I did not want to live in that area anymore. I remember begging my mom and dad to move to a different neighborhood because I was scared to walk out the front door. I learned to pray and I prayed everyday. We finally moved when I was in high school and I was very excited and grateful. Life is not easy and even though one may have access to more money or come from a well-educated family does not mean they do not have stress either. I know some people that may have had everything they wanted and they were very unhappy. Their parents may have not gotten along or there may have been drugs involved with the family as well. I know my friends use to do things to get their parents attention, such as drugs or some form of bodily harm. It is sad that children have to have any stress, a child life should be stress free and easy.