Children and Families: Navigating Crisis with Functional Impairment

This essay examines the impact of crises on children and families, with a specific focus on situations where a child has a functional impairment. It delves into the emotional and social challenges faced by both the impaired child and their siblings, including feelings of jealousy, fear, and guilt. The essay explores the financial burdens, societal stigmas, and the importance of parental support in creating a safe environment for children to express their feelings. It also highlights the crucial role siblings play in providing emotional support, promoting social skills, and assisting with daily challenges. The essay emphasizes the need for parents to be attentive to the needs of all their children, fostering open communication, and preparing them to navigate the complexities of their situation. It also discusses the positive outcomes when healthy children support their disabled siblings, including increased confidence, tolerance, and empathy, as well as the development of lifelong bonds. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the unique experiences of each child and providing tailored support to help them cope with the challenges of living in a crisis situation.

Children and Families in time of crises

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6
Books and Journals ................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A crisis is a occurrence that lead to dangerous and unstable situation when important
changes take place and important decisions are required to be made. These changes are
completely negative and affect the human lives. A family's circumstances completely changes
when a crisis is triggered. It is kind of fear to families as well as children and creates hurdles to
achieves their goals. In the given essay there is case study of children who are living with their
sibling has severe impairment.
MAIN BODY
The main purpose of this study was to make reader familiar with the crisis faced by the
family where a child is living with functional impairment. A family thrust into crisis when a
child born with a disability or any functional impairment. Family faces difficulty meeting with
basic requirements and responsibilities if do not have any apparent source of support. Children
living with disable siblings, fare emotionally and socially. A disable child get more attention in
comparison to a healthy child and this may lead aggression, jealousy and fear of abandonment.
They may suffer with a wide range of emotions some of them feel guilty why the life he is living
is not given to his sibling where as some are dealing with the fear about his sibling's health and
treatment. It is very traumatic for him to deal with society's stigmas (Abdul-Haq, 2018). Children
living with disabilities may have impairment in cognitive, visual, ambulatory domain or
auditory. Parents are always concerned about the needs or other medical requirements of disable
children and this make healthy child feel favouritism. Sometimes, healthy children kept in the
dark that what is going on with his/her disable sibling because they do not want to burden their
child. At the early age children are very curious and having wild imagination and this made them
feel that the situation is worse than what actually it is. Children may feel array of feelings and
stressors which enhance the risk for their behavioural and emotional changes. In some cases,
children (Akkan, 2019) having chronic conditions requires costly car treatment and family thrust
into financial crisis. This financial crisis may affects the educational and other requirements of
other children. This makes them feel jealous or anger that their parents are being partial towards
them. Healthy children may asked to help out their impaired siblings or do extra household work
and this make them angry. Parents emotional energy directed towards the disable child and
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health child starts felling neglected (Damianidou, 2021). Parents do spend their most of time
with disable children as they are not able to perform daily activities. Thus, healthy children may
feel that their parents are being careless towards them. Health children living with a disable
sibling may develop fear if they caused the disability. Children are embarrassed with the
appearance and behaviour of their sibling living with an impairment. Children living with guilt,
may motivate the child to secrete their feeling in order to avoid further burden on their families.
Parents are required to create a safe environment so a child can express his feelings and make
their children feel that they do not need to maintain a image of perfection when they are sitting in
front of their parents. The impacts change with the respect of time and parents are required to
monitor their behavioural changes (Dobrich, 2021). Having disable sibling affect a healthy child
development. A healthy child may support his disable sibling by communicating, problem
solving together and spending time with him. It is only possible if he understands the sibling's
disability which assist him to connect with his sibling and make a beautiful relationship. He may
assist his disable sibling to know about the surroundings things through sports and other
extracurricular activities. In case if a disable sibling is not playing the same game or may taking
his toy can make him feel angry and resentful. Healthy child may encourage his disable sibling
to share his feelings in order to reduce his stress (Engwall and et. al., 2019). A disable child may
share his problems with healthy sibling which is a good way to work through child's difficulties.
Healthy child can acknowledge disable sibling's complex emotions. Disable children face many
difficulties while performing daily activities and suffer from anxiety so they can share their
feeling to their healthy siblings even they have negative one. Sometimes, children tease their
disable siblings such as arguing and calling name and this causes conflicts between them. The
beneficial part is these conflicts help them to develop social skills and they prepare themselves to
fights with the stigmas (Johnson and et. al., 2020). A disable child grown up with a health
siblings and having some ordinary fights, is already prepared to face the community and it makes
his survival easy. Parents need to give their attention to both of them, no matters either he is a
disable child or a healthy one. Healthy children also deserve care and attention if they get angry
or misbehave. Disable siblings having behaviour challenges and anger may cause fear and
frustration in healthy siblings where as some are familiar with their own responsibility and assist
their siblings in order to make their survival easy. Parents need to monitor their behavioural
changes either they are disable or not to make sure their children are not in vulnerable condition.
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Disable children are more comfortable with their sibling in sharing their feelings and ideas.
Heathy children make familiar their disable siblings with the behavioural and social
considerations. For helping a disable sibling, children must be aware of his health conditions,
implications and their treatments. Healthy children must feel that their parents do care and will
be always there whenever they need them (Meltzer, 2018).
Siblings may ask some question related to their school because it is also crucial source of
information. Asking question and answering those question makes their siblings feel valuable
and reduces stress. Healthy siblings are role models and lifelong friends of their disable siblings
in terms of sharing experiences and feelings (Ryan, 2020). Sharing problems assist them to
overcome with their challenges and difficulties. Siblings become care givers as their parents are
no longer together. Listening to the experts make learn more about the life and its critical
circumstances about their sibling who is living with disabilities. Many of sibling address sibling's
concern about the future because it very tough to understand the behavioural changes of a
disable children. Parents may support their children by listening attentively to sibling’s input and
suggestions, making solid plans for the future of their children with disabilities, accepting that
siblings’ availability may change over time, and planning accordingly, sending siblings a clear
message that they have their parents’ blessing to pursue their own dreams and developing backup
plans in case plan a doesn’t work (Shivers, 2019). Siblings play a crucial role if they are living
with their disable brother or sister as they work as support system and assist them to deal with
their daily challenges. Many disable kids hesitate and do not want to go to schools because of the
stigmas of the society. Healthy siblings can make them understand that these stigmas should not
matter to them and he should do perform all the academic activity with his all potential. Siblings
can make them participate in extra curriculum activities too, so they can develop their cognitive
skills and prepare themselves to survive in society. Disabilities come with financial burden as
disable children need all the medical support and aids which make them do their daily activities.
These financial instability affects the requirements of healthy one as they do not get their desires.
High cost medicines and therapies make them suffer with financial crisis. Parents may help them
to deal with he crisis by explaining them the situation in a very simple way even of they are not
behaving well with them (Singh and Mehra, 2019). They can have a conversation about their
basic requirements and can make familiar with the high cost treatments of their disable siblings.
As per a research, it is analysed that whenever a healthy child helps his sibling with a disability
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in his academics, outcomes are really good for both the disable children as well as healthy one.
Health children give strength to the disable sibling which increases their confidence, tolerance
and empathy. There is national program for people living with disable siblings and assist them to
recognise their daily challenges they may face while performing daily activities. This program
make familiar with health conditions and treatments so that they can support their siblings
whenever they needed. Children living with disable siblings grow up quickly as well started
feeling a sense of responsibility towards them. This phenomena is known as prettification.
Healthy children may take some burden off in order to make their parents feel proud of them.
Sometimes, burden f responsibilities put on them can make them feel unhappy about the
privilege they are not having as being a healthy child. In this situation, isolation is the major
issue that a disable sibling having (Vatne and et. al., 2019). Health child who lives with them can
provide opportunities to participate them with their peers which may enhance their skills and
working capacity. Disable children may feel loneliness and healthy siblings can assist them to
overcome with their loneliness by spending time together. Kids at their early age, are magic
thinkers so they must informed about the condition of his siblings and the information should be
delivered in a very simple words as they can understand easily. Both he children may enjoy
themselves by playing and learning together if they are getting bored. Healthy children assist
their disable siblings in reading story books or they can build building blocks together. Such
activities enhances craft activities and both of them enjoy each other's company. Disable kids
always suffers for their survival in society as people start bullying them by name calling. In this
situation a healthy child can make understand about health condition of his siblings to his peers
so they may not ask such rude questions and stop bullying them. A healthy child can assist his
disable sibling if his classmate or his friend is making fun of his heath condition. Parents need to
handle their children's rivalry as they may feel jealous and anger when they do watch their
sibling getting extra support, care and attention. In some cases children may feel lucky as they
are growing among people who are selfless. The financial burden of high cost treatment may
embitter a child living with his disable sibling. Child living with disable sibling learn to serve
and have kindness but at the same point they may suffer with rigid routines and tough behaviours
(Wickenden, 2019). They also feel sympathised to their siblings as their disable sibling do not
get the access of all the things what they are getting in their life as being a health child. It is not
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required that very single child has same feeling for their siblings, it may vary person to person
and also depends upon their surrounding which must influence them.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay it can be concluded that children living with sibling who have
functional disabilities may suffer with emotional trauma as they and their families are going with
mental and financial crisis. At their early age having this kind of responsibility towards
physically retarded siblings can may impact their personal life. Children may feel worried about
their siblings health. Sometimes they may be scared that what if they would also have the same
condition. They may feel like lucky ones that they do not facing such challenges while
performing their routine. They may also develop their won perception if they are not being
familiar with his health condition.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abdul-Haq, A.K., 2018. Disability. In Caring for Arab Patients (pp. 117-123). CRC Press.
Akkan, B., 2019. Contested agency of young carers within generational order: Older daughters
and sibling care in Istanbul. Child Indicators Research, 12(4), pp.1435-1447.
Damianidou, E., 2021. Care in the context of disability: a tool for (in) dependence and (dis)
empowerment. Disability & Society, pp.1-21.
Dobrich, J., 2021. Working with Survivor Siblings in Psychoanalysis: Ability and Disability in
Clinical Process. Routledge.
Engwall and et. al., 2019. Children with disabilities in Swedish child welfare–a differentiating
and disabling practice. European Journal of Social Work, 22(6), pp.1025-1037.
Johnson and et. al., 2020. Sibling relationships when one sibling has ASD: A preliminary
investigation to inform the field and strengthen the bond. Children and Youth Services
Review, 116, p.105190.
Meltzer, A., 2018. Embodying and enacting disability as siblings: Experiencing disability in
relationships between young adult siblings with and without disabilities. Disability &
Society, 33(8), pp.1212-1233.
Ryan, S., 2020. Love, Learning Disabilities and Pockets of Brilliance: How Practitioners Can
Make a Difference to the Lives of Children, Families and Adults. Jessica Kingsley
Publishers.
Shivers, C.M., 2019. Empathy and perceptions of their brother or sister among adolescent
siblings of individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder. Research in
developmental disabilities, 92, p.103451.
Singh, R. and Mehra, M., 2019. Does parents’ level of education moderates quality of sibling
relationship between mentally challenged children and their normal siblings? A cross-
sectional study.
Vatne and et. al., 2019. The development of a joint parent-child intervention for siblings of
children with chronic disorders. Fokus på familien, 47(1), pp.20-35.
Wickenden, M., 2019. “Disabled” Versus “Nondisabled”: Another Redundant Binary?. In Global
Childhoods beyond the North-South Divide (pp. 123-144). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
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