The children of our wounded homeland have been suffering from multiple situations and scenes of violence, besides living in the incidents of war and devastation of Syria in conjunction with social destruction of the family, all that deeply affected the memory of children which was reflected behaviorally and psychologically on their lives and their surroundings.
From living with children during this semester, and taking notes on their activities” draws and games “which reflect the psychological and behavioral situation of them, we have noticed the implications of war on them, and how they lost their psychological balance, the images of bombardment, killing, multiple displacement (which is full of fear, anxiety and uncertain fate) and fleeing trips from the areas of the Islamic State have been imprinted in their memories.
Perhaps the major impact is losing the feeling of security even with the family, this impregnable shelter collapses when the kid sees the father, mother or the big brother cowering.
Those psychological problems are increasing in the presence of irresponsible family and community which doesn’t know about the implications of the psychological problems on the children , and the lack of psychologists and qualified teachers.
In the northern countryside of Idlib, there are children from different environments in one school which contains students from several Syrian provinces, so we can say it is a small sample of the children of Syria.
There are students who returned to school after they left it for more than one or two years, this school has male and female students from the age of 6 to 15 years old, from the first grade to the seventh one.
We have noticed that the male students are more affected by war than the female ones, and that was clear through their moves and behavior (like clothes, toys, draws, aggressive actions, causing mischief, showing power, physical skills and the mental concentration is low comparing to females and the years before war).
We have noticed also that the male students have straying, amnesia, unwanted tempers and behaviors like lying, snitching, stealing and scuffling.
Whereas, females get more afraid when they hear the sound of fighter jets, and we have noticed that they are trying to look elegant and concentrate more than males. They are trying to prove themselves through housework, studying, and tact. Males are trying to prove themselves through showing power, trying to look manly and show their physical skills.
The children who have lived in the hot zones and the areas of the Islamic State are more affected than their peers due to what they went through of bombardment, killing, and intimidation which were more than what their brains can bear. The scenes of killing and panic have been imprinted in their memories, and that reflected on the child and his psychological and physical formation and eventually affected his social and psychological behaviors.
displacement may come second in affecting the children, the lack of relatives and friends or losing a member of the family as well as changing environment for the child the pressure of adaptation to the new environment , all that have major impact on the mental health of the child. Moreover, the situation of some displacing families and what they are getting through of problems such as psychological and economic pressures as a result of losing homes or jobs, along with losing one of the family members. Additionally, The vagrancy of one family between so many places and countries. All that led to new cases or worsened the existing one of domestic violence and lack of security in the family, the imbalance in the form and nature of the relationship inside the family, problems between brothers and lack of obedience to parents.
No doubt that the economic situation of parents and the inability to address the needs of their children has a major impact on the psychological balance of children and their social relationships, the feeling of inferiority, the inequality between them and their peers, those feeling generate feeling of loss of confidence , so the childe become irresolute in makings decisions and answering questions. Moreover, the major impact of war is more than the other segments of society, because children are more affected by the surrounding than others, and they are less capable to avoid the psychological implications and that what makes the case of children is way more important than the other cases, this case needs a psychological support program to deal with children of all ages , and taking into consideration the multiple levels changes of the psychological impacts caused by war on children in all ages, and that because children are the base of society , and as what one of the psychologists said :”the children is the father of the man, and this scientific psychological result is a definite result , the child is the future of society”.
