Challenges Affecting Latch Key Children

Thursday 3 March 2016

By Edward Allen


In the twenty first century, many people have become career couples. Unlike in the past where parents have had enough time with their kids, now they are often left alone at home since their parents are either working or have gone for another shift. This has brought a problem in terms of parenting where there is a less parental supervision on the kids. The latch key children often end up suffering because there is no one they can tell their problems to.

There are many challenges that affect these kinds of kids. The main problem is loneliness which these kids are prone to. In most cases when the kids are coming back from school, they find no one at home. They spend the evenings on their own. There are some severe cases where the parents come back home when the kids have already fallen asleep. This reduces the time the kid is able to be with their parent to about two hours a day. This often leads to the kid feeling lonely.

A kid will always feel insecure and afraid when the parent is not around during the night. Some neighborhoods where people live are known to be insecure and this will cause a lot of fear to the kid. Parents are advised to at least try and get home before night fall. This will ease the pressure on their kids.

Kids will feel bored when their parents are not at home. Parenting involves spending a lot of time with your kid and helps them discover their abilities. Playing with toys or watching television is not enough for kids because they are not leaning anything new. Spending free time with the kids is encouraged to help them break from the usual routines.

Most kids who enter puberty and they have less parental supervision are likely to start using drugs. At this stage, kids are prone to peer pressure and will start taking substance they have never used before. Some will use the drugs as they try to relieve themselves from the challenges they are encountering on a daily basis. This eventually brings more problems to the family.

Lack of enough adult attention is another effect that most young people suffer. During puberty, parents are required to spend reasonable time with their kids trying to understand their behavior changes and new changes they are going to. When the parents are away from their kids, the required attention is not available hence the kids will develop a low self-esteem affecting their performance.

Most parents who are away from home are financially poor and try to work extra harder to assist their families to meet all their needs. This also has some effects on the economy since some kids may drop out of school to try and work with their parents at some stage.

The law concerning the rights of latch key kids varies from one state to another. There are however provisions that have been put for parents to spend reasonable time with parents. Such parents should be assisted by the state to ensure their kids enjoy good parental acre just like any other kid.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

 

ads

Popular Posts