Conflict can affect children in so many ways and their impact in the live of children cannot be ignore. conflict can occur from individuals, group of people, communities, regions, societies and even organizations and sometimes the cause of conflict can easily be avoided if the issue is settled or attend to on time.
The painful part of conflict is that even after the conflict has been resolved or solved must time the impact of the conflict is still present even after the conflict has been forgotten and the two parties has moved on. it can lead to people been internally displaced, refugees and asylum and when people find themselves in this kind of situation they begin to find way to adjust to the new life they found themselves in and coping with the loss.
Some of the impact of war on children are
Witnessing of fighting and bloodshed: this can has a negative impact on their emotions and psychology, must of them will begin to believe this live is all about fighting and shedding of blood to survive and some might even developed some phobia and emotional issues that will take years to resolve especially those that witness the killing of their love ones right in their present.
The loss of basic resources: some conflict especially the armed conflict can cause a destruction of basic amenities necessary for the healthy and social development of a child which includes schools, health care, shelter, water and food.
Disruption of family relationships: conflict can cause a child to loss his family which can cause a great stress for him and we all know a family play a great impact in the lives of a child. during conflicts some parents are greatly affected which can have an indirect effect on a child since such child will not receive adequate care for their parent which are emotional affected which might even lead to some children been separated from their parent or not be shown the necessary love and care they need.
Stigma and discrimination: some children because of war in their country are forced to join army at a tender age and this affect their level of socialization as most of their age group will not want to play or associate with them again due to one reason or the other
A pessimistic outlook: one of the effect of conflict on children is loss of hope since they believe those that are supposed to help them become what they want to become in life are gone and once they feel hopeless they tend to give up on building that great future they once plan for themselves.
Normalisation of violent: when children are exposed to violence during key developmental years, come to accept violent as a normal way and part of life.
In conclusion
Before we start any conflict or fail to prevent any conflict from arising let think first of the impact the conflict will cause in the life of children.