Become An Early Worker, This Is The Impact On Children's Growth

On July 23, Indonesia will commemorate National Children's Day. Commemoration of National Children's Day is interpreted as a sign of concern for the entire nation for optimal child growth and development, child welfare, and realizing a child-friendly country.

Unfortunately, this has not been fully achieved, because according to data from the Indonesian Child Labor Rate, the prevalence of child labor aged 10-17 years is still quite high. A report from the National Labor Force Survey at 2020 shows that around 9 out of 100 children in the 10–17 year age range are already working. The Central Statistics Agency or BPS recorded around 2.3 million or 2.63% of child laborers in 2021. They work in various sectors, ranging from agriculture such as tobacco fields, industries such as palm oil processing and even firecrackers, and other jobs such as road crossing services. . Whereas work carried out by children under 18 years of age can interfere with and endanger the safety and development of children.

The negative impacts of child labor include the impact on growth and development. Child laborers often do not get the necessary nutrition and lack of rest time, even though they need more nutrition and calories. Ultimately, child laborers may experience nutritional deficiencies, short stature, and impaired genital development.

Child laborers can also have cognitive developmental disorders. The work that children do can reduce opportunities for self-development through education. They tend to be more focused on their work than their school so that school performance is disrupted or even interrupted.

Work can also cause problems in the psychosocial development of children. Children are at high risk for experiencing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They can be exposed to unfavorable social behavior such as smoking, use of psychoactive substances, gambling, having sex with sex workers, fighting, and criminal acts.

To improve the situation, it is necessary to take steps to eliminate child labor, so that children can grow and develop according to their age without having to be disturbed by the impacts caused by work. The role of various parties is also needed, such as socialization of children's growth and development so that information on growth and development can be conveyed and accepted by both children and parents.

Those of you who want to know the growth and development of your children and the efforts that must be made so that their growth and development are according to age, can also look for information on the mDoc page or consult with a pediatrician through the mDoc application.