Children, The Family and Health: What it Takes to Give Children Long Life
The Hawaii Workshop: Panel II
The Changing Roles of Children and Youth in American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is located 2400 miles southwest of Hawaii. Its land area is approximately 77 square miles and has an estimated population count of 61,200. American Samoa has been a Territory of the United States since 1900.
Today, I am honored to present before you, my perspective on the changing roles of Children and Youth in American Samoa. Although it is a fact that change can not be ignored, the drastic transition from conservatism to outspoken possesses a great challenge for us as service providers.
Traditional Roles
Children from age 3 - 11 primarily learn from those around them in the household. Their role models are the parents, caretakers or their older siblings or relatives. As they get older more responsibility is expected of them. The general rule is, no matter how old you are; married, divorced or working, you still answer to Mom, Grandma etc. The authority over you stays as long as you live.
Asking questions is not appropriate for any child or youth. You do as you are told. Decision-making comes from the parents. Whatever decision is made, you are to comply and adhere to - regardless of your opinion or feelings. “Do as I say, Not as I do” simply states that the elders can do it, “but don’t you dare.”
If the child or youth complies with all of the above, then you are sure to hear positive compliments about that child or youth. He is such a good person… etc. He behaves well and is very quiet. In our native tongue we hear: “O se Tama/Teine lelei”. Those are some of the expected roles of a good child or youth.
What Has Changed:
I concur with the issues stated as causes, challenges and opportunities for this panel. The changes are inevitable for everyone in the community. Today, we witness an increase in statistics of students successfully completing high school. We also witness an increase in student enrollment and graduating from the local Community College. A higher number of students pursuing Bachelor degrees or more can be expected this year. This indicates that more students are taking advantage of the opportunity to advance in education.
The accomplishments are milestones which many parents did not have in their times. Therefore, conflict sets in because of the advancement in education today. Students are learning more today than their parents learned in their time. Time moved forward with advanced technology and not all parents were fortunate to be exposed to such knowledge. The students may be smarter but not necessarily wiser. They may be heard more than you would expect before. Truth is, the good news of their success comes together with the sad awareness of their tendency to disrespect tradition. Change is good provided it respects the customs and tradition of who you are.
Not all children in the family end up with a successful story of finishing school. Some children are not as fortunate.
The belief system of the Samoan family is based on its spiritual life. Religion plays a predominant role in the everyday life of the family. The children are groomed to take an active role in the church. The family faith (regardless of denomination) stays with the child as he/she grows up and starts his/her own family. “The family that prays together, stays together”. Success for the child/youth is attributed to the devout faith of the parents, family and the child him/herself. We know these as blessings from the Lord.
What Are Some Problems Experienced By Today’s Children/Youth In American Samoa?
There is a definite increase in the early experimenting by the youth with Substance Use/Abuse. Early exposure to alcohol is often a result of usage in the home by a parent or significant others. Exposure to other substances, likely occurs at school or with peers. We are grateful to the Lord that the drugs are not coming in as fast compared to other islands in the region. Nonetheless, the children and youth in American Samoa are not exempt from exposure to drug abuse.
In the homes; Problems with the children/youth are likely to stem from the lack of appropriate role models and/or broken relationships This contributes to the low self-esteem experience. Ironically, the child/youth is capable of doing well in school. With these types of circumstances, the young people seek their own means of survival and grow away from the security of their parents/family and home. In reality, the expectations of the children to respect their elders and/or parents are severed.
When the home environment becomes unhealthy overall, the family ties loosen and the children/youth drift away. This gives an unfortunate opportunity for the bad influences to win over the child’s mind and soul.
Programs Available
There are Social Services Programs available in American Samoa which cater specifically to the wellness of the children and youth. Such services include; Individual counseling, Family Counseling, Group Counseling, Support groups and Self-help groups. Clients seek self-help voluntarily or they may come under court order. These programs do not affempt to replace the roles of the parents or family. Simply, the Programs serve as a bridge for both sides and utilize the skills of counseling to re-structure the broken ties.
For the many years I have worked in this field, I can affest to the sore hearts of parents who have experienced conflicts with their children. I can also attest to the emotional pain and hurt the children and youth have experienced finding difficulties in reconnecting with their parents. Who is at “fault” is not important. I feel that we should seek a balance in both tradition and new knowledge because we can not do without one or the other TODAY.
I thank you for allowing me the time to share my perspective of the issues on hand. I pray that we can pull our strengths and weaknesses together to knit a more healthy environment for the children and youth of our homes. God Bless us all.
Fa’afetai Tele. Soifua.
Children’s health in Taiwan, the Republic of China
By the end of 1997; there were 3,2203,838 children under 10 years of age, or 15% of the total population in Taiwan. Generally speaking, children’s health conditions are very good in Taiwan due to the relativeIy advanced health care system and the National Health Insurance Program in the country. The neonatal mortality rate (3.47%), and the infant mortality rate (6.66%) are low. 99.8% children under 6 years of age have received all the preventive inoculations. According to the 1997 Children’s Right Report in Taiwan, the protection of chlidren’s health right was the most satisfied one. Even that the allocation and the quality of medical resource were not quite satisfactory, the illness management and the preventive health services were regarded “pass” by a group of very cautious professionals.
Overall, there are three prevailing physical problems of the under 10’s in Taiwn: eyesight defects, tooth decay, and obesity. At least two non-profit organizations were established aiming at the promotion and social education for both parents and children of the proper diet, personal health care behavoir, and the like. One thing that is gaining more and more social attention is concerning children’s developmental delay problems. International statictics show that 6% to 8% children under 6 would fall into this category. Though the discovery and assessment systems of children’s developmental delay are still in an early stage and cover very limited areas in Taiwan nowadays. That hinders the effects of early healing to prevent children’s learning disability and mental retardation.
Another worth noting phenomenon comes from the data on leading causes of death of children in Taiwan. The leading causes of infant death are (1) certain conditions originating in the perinatal period. (2) congenital anomalies, (3) accidents and adverse effects. Those of the under 5’s are (1) accidents and adverse effects, (2) congenital anomalies, (3) malignant neoplasm. Leading death causes of 5-year-old to 10-year old are: (1) accidents and adverse effects, (2) malignant neopiasm, (3) congenital anomalies. These causes have been shown in the vital statistics charts consistently for years. Therefore, children’s safety is an issue that always attracts the social concerns in Taiwan. Child Protection Service for the abused and neglected children are mainly the governments’ responsibilities. There are a number of non-governmental organizations pooled together to assist the reporting, rescue, healing, especially the prevention of the child abuse and neglect. Parental education programs in children’s safety and child supervision skills are very much popular among community service programs. To train volunteers to deliver those contents at the door toward “high-risk groups” is the new approach adopted by some NGO’s now.
Last Modified: November 29, 2002