A Long Way Gone is a story that looks at the accounts of the child, Ismael as he grew up. The book reports the habit developed by the child to remain strong despite the challenges that came his way. The story is about a young boy Ismael who becomes a soldier at a young age. The boy becomes a soldier, and the British use him a killing machine. According to the author, some children exhibit some characteristics that help them to remain strong remain competence, have effective strategies to cope with the problems in the surrounding environment and exhibit autonomy. As such, the writer notes that it is vital to know the factors that may create resilience in children as it helps the children grow positively with means to overcome the challenges.
Ismael is later taken to a rehabilitation center where he tries to forget the past and look into the future. After a successful period and recovering from the conditions he was exposed, he was taken to New York, the US where he interacted with children with similar challenges. According to the author, every child in every society is faced with specific forms of risk. In the regular life, one experiences a transition between a happy moment and worst moment when one meets risks that could even ruin their lives. Most of the childhood problems come from the family setups and the school environments. However, every child reacts differently to the issues depending on the ability and kind of challenge at the community. Some children are resilient to the challenges while others absorb the problems and live with the pain.
Ismael later travels back to his country Sierra Leone and the war outbreaks again forcing him to move permanently to the US after his uncle dies in the war. The children that do not have resilience show signs such as low self-esteem, feeling of despair and other poor behaviors. Despite the fact that that the judicial system takes resilience a reason for punishing the offenders, the author notes that it is a great virtue that distinguishes between the young people who do well in life and those that do not. Resiliency in children according to the author is a function of three distinct but related aspects of life. The areas are the social environment, the family milieu and the personal characteristics and attributes.
As the author describes Ismael’s account, he notes the characteristics that reveal that a child has developed the necessary resilience skills and thus he or she can cope with life challenges in a better way. One of the characteristics is the active approach to the life’s challenges. Such a child is always proactive and solves the problems with a positive mind of overcoming them. Despite the amount of risk that such a child faces, he or she can negotiate emotionally and have a solution. Another aspect is the ability to maintain a positive relation and attention to family and friends. Additionally, the children maintain a strong faith and keep the vision of a successful and meaningful life despite the challenges at present. As such according to the author, resilience children may face problems, but they meet them with the positive mind of succeeding.
The author further notes the challenges that Ismael overcame due to the war outbreak in his country. As indicated, a child experiences risks in stages that may be used to create the resilience. The characteristics of a child are first affected by the demographic factors. This is the environment that a child grows and experiences including the people around him or her. As the development continues, the personal characteristics of one develops, and they might be other risks that one needs to fight and overcome. If the individual risks are not addressed at an early stage, they grow into imminent dangers that many cannot cope with. At the scene, the young people face challenges in life such as poor relations with family and friends. They cannot withstand even little pressure at school and homes. Children may become uncontrollable as they grow and hence putting their life at risk in the communities, they live. The author as well describes the better ways to help a child develop resilience to the challenges in the world. Some of the solutions include setting a healthy environment, rehabilitation, instilling good morals in children and giving them a chance to decide what is better for them on particular issues.
Key Passages and Application of Class Materials
Quote
“The terms resilience and resiliency will be used in this text and refer to those who demonstrate "a good outcome in spite of the high risk, sustained competence under stress, and recovery from trauma." We find the concept of resilience to be useful to distinguish between young people who do well and those who do not (Child at risk p.1).”
Author’s interpretation
The author primarily looks at the challenges that the boy had to withstand despite his age and thus the resilience and invulnerability among the children and the factors that contribute to such development in life. Usually, children are prone to challenges in their development life, which adversely affect their growth and the acquisition of useful morals to become responsible people in the community. The problems affect the personal experience of the children and interfere with the mentality and the war a child perceives different things. For instance, is a child is abused at the early stages by a relative; he or she may develop a fear that will remain until his or her death.
Application in the course material
The story A Long Way Gone is educative on the lessons learned in the course. It affirms that children face many challenges as they grow in different environments. A child at the early ages depends on the adults for support and direction. The situations that the adults keep for a child are very critical, and they affect the way such children develop and their ability to solve the challenges that face everyone in life. The book also gives insight on how the risks in life grow from one stage to another. Therefore, affirms the course readings that challenges in life may intensify to uncontrollable scenes if one does not take the right measures to handle them.
The reading further confirms the course materials that children across the world face challenges such as discrimination, abuse such as being forced into war, and neglect from the adults around them as they grow. However, the way different young people react to the challenges forms the difference in life. The fact is right since children born and raised in the same environment may have different skills and abilities to cope with life problems and hence a disparity in the success attained in life. According to the international organizations about children, every child has the right to reasonable parenting and care from the parents. As such, the material conforms with the requirements in its provisions.
The author addresses the current issues influencing the child development. Additionally, the book is critical and in line with the course materials in the way the author provides the solutions to challenges facing the children. Every child is faced with the risk of different challenges, but according to the author, the resilience created to make the difference. Suggestions such as promoting a healthy relationship with the child as he or she grows up coincides with the requirements of childhood development learned in the course materials.
Personal Reflection
The book deals with the challenges that children face as they grow up and looks at how a child reacts to the problems. As such, I choose the book so that I could learn the about the reaction of children to the risks faced and their impact in life. The information in the book confirms the course knowledge that children have challenges as they grow. Additionally, the author was keen on providing the solutions to the problems. Individuals who read the book can get real insight into the challenges that a child faces in the development stage and how they react to the challenges. Therefore, one will understand a child’s life and learn how to help them develop resilience to cope with the challenges positively. Training a child to handle the life challenges is critical since problems will always arise in life. If one cannot deal with them and have a positive drive to solve them, he or she is likely to fail in life.
References
Fraser, M. W. (1997). Risk and resilience in childhood: An ecological perspective. Washington, DC: NASW press.
Wells, K. (2015). Childhood in a global perspective. John Wiley " Sons.
