Psychology

According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22PaulaS.Fass22lrsourcegbs_metadata_rcad9 Paula S. (2004), a child soldier is any person under the age of 18 who is a member of any kind of irregular or regular armed group or armed force in any capacity. This definition includes non active militants like porters, messengers and cooks but is not limited to this group. The definition also encompasses girls who are recruited for sexual purposes and later forced into marriage. Therefore a child soldier does not only refer to a child who has carried or is carrying a weapon.

According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22AlcindaHonwana22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad9 Alcinda H. (2007), war affects all areas of a childs development. Children who are affected by armed conflict can be uprooted from their communities and homes, killed or injured, separated from their families and parents, subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse, deprived of recreation and education, notwithstanding the risk of becoming a child soldier.

According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22AlcindaHonwana22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad9 Alcinda H. (2007), as children grow up as child soldiers they are alienated from the rest of and the only place they can develop values is within their war camps. How is the way of life in the war camps where they live Life in war camps in no way resembles that of normal family and community life. Military type discipline is the way of life and for a child they grow up within a set of rules that allows no room for deviation. They therefore get no opportunity to develop their own personal identity and that which has been chosen for them is by no way beneficial to them in short term or in the long term.
Child soldiers do not get the same opportunities as other children to develop as other children who grow up normally. From the age a child soldier is able to carry a weapon, they are exposed to terrible acts of brutality and violence. Most if not all child soldiers are forced into this life at very early age when their perception of what right or wrong is not fully developed. It is believed that by the time child soldiers reach their early teens, many of them opt to remain soldiers for this is the only lifestyle they know.

The few that run away do so because they reach an age where they have reached an age where they can make their own independent choices. According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22CynthiaLightfoot22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad3 Cynthia L.   HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22MichaelCole22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad3 Michael C. (2008), it is believed that between the ages of 7-13 a child begins making the fragile steps towards developing the requisite moral sense i.e. the ability to determine right from wrong.

Child soldiers are therefore brutalized at an early age and encouraged or coerced to do the same to others perceived by them as adversaries so that this may seem like the norm. With time as the children grow they lose any recollection of what a family and how it functions. They eventually lose their identity outside the armed group and the violent system they have gotten accustomed to.

According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22AlcindaHonwana22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad9 Alcinda H. (2007), by participating in wars, children are denied their basic human rights of enjoying their childhoods and being carefree. The family environment and the community normally determine the values an individual adopts in their adult life. It is therefore very unfortunate that no matter where in the world a child is forced into the life of a child soldier, they end up the same way. War is war regardless of the region it is being fought in and therefore the effect it has on children is the same.
What then happens to this child soldier once the war is over Based on the environment that they have been brought up in it is very difficult for them to get integrated back into society.

According to  HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22CynthiaLightfoot22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad3 Cynthia L.   HYPERLINK httpbooks.google.co.kebooksqinauthor22MichaelCole22sourcegbs_metadata_rcad3 Michael C. (2008), the formative ages of a persons life are very important for they largely determine what the persons character will be when they grow up. Child soldiers are therefore denied the right to choose their destiny and are instead brought up in an environment that in no way resembles what normal society should be like.