by Joanne Lynch

Created on: April 09, 2009   Last Updated: April 15, 2009

It is said that over the next two years, over 2 million children will be affected by foreclosure. Children need safe, loving, secure environments in order to thrive and reach their full potential. Moving is one of the greatest stresses in life. Children are bank foreclosure's youngest victims.

Children need not understand the complexities of mortgages and financial strain on the family. They only need to witness the stress of the parent(s), feel the loss of their home and the challenges of starting over. There is a great impact on children's education as a result of foreclosures.

Education is funded, in great part, by tax payers. People are moving out of areas in great numbers due to housing markets. Children are being uprooted, their friends are suddenly leaving without saying goodbye, and schools are closing. It is a vicious cycle in this economy.

As such, the impact on children can be heavily overlooked. Children need stability. They need to feel secure and loved. They also need to understand. They need to understand what is happening in kid's terms, not in adult terms. They need to feel part of the plan and part of the solution but not part of the problem.

The best thing a parent can do is communicate to their child in terminology a child can understand. Reassuring a child can bring a sense of control to the family and less worry for the child. A child should not have to worry about adult issues like money, mortgages and foreclosures. Their priorities are schooling and friends. Despite the hardship on the family and the tough economic times, keeping stability in a child's routine is a must.

A child can take up to six weeks to regroup and progress forward after a major change. A lot of children are being held back and/or losing valuable lessons as a result of frequent moves. Moving can lead to less of a proficiency in reading and less of a chance of a child graduating high school. The cost of this on society goes beyond the loss of a home.

Children are tomorrow's home buyers. They are impressionable and innocent. Adults caused this mortgage crisis but children are paying a huge price as a result. As a family, you can ease the burden of this stress on a child by talking to them in terms they can understand, allowing them to have children's worries and not adult worries, and constantly reassuring them that everything will be okay. In the end, children are resilient. They just need their families to help them see things through. After all, home is where we all should feel the most welcomed, safe and loved.

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