Things are much more complicated today than they were when I was growing up. I believe a child’s mental health should be addressed to determine if a child has a healthy viewpoint of themselves. The emotional development of a child is as important as the other developmental stages of development. An African-American child can have low self-esteem due to negative stereotypes, economic disadvantages, and being unattractive (Crocker & Major, 1989). In Africa, a very small percentage of children have access to early child development programs. Although many studies have shown that early childhood development programs make a positive difference in the intellectual, social, physical, and emotional development the government and policy makers do not see how the benefits of these types of programs justify the costs (Jaramillo, 2001).

“We know the adult we want the child to become; we know the world in which the adult must live and work. The challenge is to produce the adult to fit into that world, in the most cost-effective way – and with the help of scientific knowledge-as-regulation the challenge can be met” (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005).

I believe these early interventions will not only improve the immediate well-being of young children, but may manifest themselves at later stages in their lives with both social and economic benefits for the individual, his family, and society.

Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of

stigma. Psychological review, 96(4), 608.

Dahlberg, G. and Moss, P. (2005) Ethics and politics in early childhood education. London, UK:

Routledge Palmer.

Evans, J., Myers, R. G., & Ilfeld, E. (2000). Early childhood counts: A programming guide on

early childhood care for development. Washington, DC.: World Bank.  

Jaramillo, A., & Tietjen, K. (2001). Africa Region Human Development. Human Development.

Mvula, A. F. (2014). Experiences and perspectives of Children and Staff on Play, Learning,

Health care and Program Implementation. A qualitative study of an ECCD Program in Urban Zambia.