4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial Is 'Extreme Capitalism' Killing Our Kids?


recently that 1 in 5 children suffer from a mental illness. According to the CDC, parent-reported information from the 2011-12 National Survey of Children’s Health showed that 1 out of 7 U.S. children aged 2 to 8 years had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder (MBDD). It was determined that males, children between ages 6 and 8 and non-Hispanic White children were more likely to have an MBDD:


Aside from genetics, I believe the BY ANGELA JONES From drug overdoses to school


shootings, it is no secret that children are more likely to die young from these issues in the US, than anywhere else in the developed world. Many people blame guns for the death of children in school shootings; but are guns really at fault?


When adults and children both


take a step back from the heated debate about school shootings and gun laws, they will realize that violence at schools was a problem even before the general public had access to assault weapons. Tat is not to say that I believe that people need to possess weapons that can cause such carnage. In 2007 the Center for Disease Control conducted a survey and found that 5.9% of high school students carried a weapon of some sort, including a gun or knife, on school property during the 30 day period studied.


Drugs are another problem for


children as well as adults. Some states are suing pharmaceutical companies because they said that patients would not become addicted to opioids. Because of extreme greed, there were more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2016. More than 20,000 of those overdose deaths were related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids) according to drugabuse.gov.


Te common denominator


between drug overdoses and school shootings is troubled children or adults. I heard the staggering statistic


root cause of many of these disorders may be "Extreme Capitalism." Because it take so much money to provide the basic necessities for families today, usually, both parents in a household must work. Single parents have to work even more hours, oſten leaving young children to fend for themselves aſter school.


Children leſt alone for long


periods of time may begin to feel as if no one cares about them. Tey may turn to drugs or gangs for comfort. Tey may also entertain themselves with violent television shows or video games. Tese forms of entertainment can eventually desensitize people to violence. Tey may not be able to empathize with people who are being harmed in real life.


When we hear about a school


shooting, we oſten are told that the perpetrator did not empathise with their victims. Te shooters ignore pleas for mercy. Tey may have been conditioned by movies and video games to believe that violence is normal.


One solution, to help children


who may feel unloved, is showing our children that we do care. Ensuring that they are not leſt at home alone for many hours, day aſter day and year aſter year is paramount. Children need to spend time with their parents. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we can make more time for our children. Even if one feels as though their children are safe at school, children should not spend more waking hours in school than they do at home with their families.


Forgo purchasing that new car


and let our children know that we love them more than material items by working fewer hours and spending more time with them. We must learn to work smarter by doing things like telecommuting a few days a week or starting a home-based business to ensure that our children will grow up to be physically and mentally healthy. Tey will also be happier when they are able to spend more time with their parents.


Te ultimate sacrifice for one’s


children is to homeschool them, which would really give them the time and attention they need from their parents. Not everyone is in a position to be able to homeschool their children, but I did and I believe it was the best decision that I have ever made in my life. My child excelled in college because of it and she received numerous scholarships, fellowships and awards. When arriving at college, she was not beaten down from spending twelve of her most formative years with an overseer who could never give her the love and positive reinforcement that I was able to give her.


Another byproduct of American


greed is the state of our healthcare system. It is a shame and a disgrace that Americans have to travel to Canada or Cuba for free or low-cost healthcare and medications. If states expanded medicare, or if there was free healthcare for all in the US, it would lessen the financial burden on parents who have to leave their children at home alone for


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hours on end, while they work two jobs to make ends meet and to pay astronomical healthcare costs.


Wouldn’t it make more sense


to provide free healthcare for these families rather than spending an additional $3.3 billion to combat the opioid crisis. Tis figure includes an increase of $2.8 billion in treatment, prevention and research for programs under Health and Human Services. It will help communities across the US fight the opioid epidemic as outlined in the 1.3 trillion spending bill that Congress recently approved to fund the federal government through the end of September. Te rich continue to get richer and American children are leſt holding the bag.


Who can remember the days


when there was always a parent or grandparent waiting for children when they returned home from school? Do not become tempted with the shiny new objects flashed at us during television commercials. It is a trap that will keep parents and their children in a rat race that cannot be won. Find a way to ensure that children feel loved rather than abandoned, so that they will not have to search for comfort in a gang, a gun or a pill bottle. It is more common than you think. Also, when voting, one may want to select the candidate who cares more about our children than they care about their bottom line.


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Volume 12 Number 7


April 2018


You are cordially invited to attend... City Council meetings...


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