An Exploration into the Psychological Effects of Vending on Children Whose Parents are Vendors. A Case of Ruwa

An Exploration into the Psychological Effects of Vending on Children Whose Parents are Vendors. A Case of Ruwa

Simon Muchesa¹, Agnes Chirata², Elijah Nyamavuvu³, Yvonne Sanyanga^4
1Lecturer at Women’s Univerity Africa, Harare
²Primary school teacher and counsellor at Greystone Park Primary School in Harare.
³Development Practitioner & Counselor, Fern Valley Mental Health & Rehabilitation Centre, Mutare, Manicaland, Zimbabwe.
⁴Arrupe Jesuit University, Zimbabwe.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.701059

Received: 12 August 2023; Revised: 22 August 2023; Accepted: 27 August 2023; Published: 02 November 2023

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the various psychological effects of the behaviours of vending parents which affect the lives of their children. The study also sought to find out how vendors’ children were affected psychologically by the activities of their parents who are vendors. The objectives of the research were to: examine behaviours of vending parents towards their children in Ruwa and explore behaviours of emotional and intellectual development exhibited by children whose parents are vendors in Ruwa. It also considered the impact of the physical environment on the psychological development of children of vending parents. The qualitative paradigm was adopted for this study and an exploratory research design was employed. The study population was six hundred (600) and the sample size was made up of sixty (60) participants recruited for this study, twenty-eight (28) were vendors and forty-two (42) were children of vendors. The research used observations and in–depth, interviews to obtain primary data Twenty-two (22) participants returned the questionnaires. Since street vendors and their children are found in specific areas dotted around Ruwa, the study used a purposive sampling method.

The study established that parents who are vendors did not have time with their children, exposing them to street life and vending. This affected the behavior of children as they were influenced by the environment more than the parents. In addition to that the parents’ behaviours towards their children also showed some negative and positive reactions which shaped the development of these children.

The study recommended that the government through the Ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare should put policies that cater to the social welfare of disadvantaged children, the Child Protection Act should make it an offence for a parent or guardian who uses a school going age child to sell commodities in the street. The Ministry of Local Government and Town Planning through the Ruwa Local Board should create a playing space for children while their mothers are vending. Libraries need to be constructed to cater for learners, especially those who are in high school, and to create space for children in their planning of marketplaces. Setting up play centres and toilets at all vending points, stall markets designated vending points to accommodate children of vending parents.

Key Word: Psychological effects, behaviours, vending, children, vendors.

INTRODUCTION

The thrust of this chapter was to explore the psychological effects of vending on children whose parents are vendors in Ruwa Urban. As the economy of Zimbabwe has reached unprecedented unemployment rates which are estimated at about 10.7% levels, vending is on the increase, (ZimStat Labour Force Survey, 2014). Parents have occupied the space of vending, selling wares from toys, secondhand clothes, vegetables, and of late, fuel in the streets of many developing countries. This has left most children of vending parents miserable, lonely, and psychologically abused.

As children develop, an inferred struggle may persist between the children and their parents and demands that parents understand the development of children bearing in mind that children learn from observation of intelligence and favour a more socio-cultural approach. Children’s multiple potential bits of intelligence is shaped by the situations in which they grow up, the opportunities that are available to them, and the skills valued by their community, and considered appropriate according to their age, gender, ethnicity, social status, and education (Grace, 2012; Britto & Ulkuer 2012).

Mature capacities for thinking, reasoning, and communication valued by modern societies are not the culmination of general processes of growth, development and learning alone. They are also the product of forms of cognitive socialisation, strongly linked to school learning and instruction (Mercer, 1995; Faulkner et al, 1998).   Children develop cognitive, mental, or intellectual processes, and social, development of behaviour that involves a relationship with others. They also develop emotional, and psychologically in language, physical and in moral values (Turner and Helms, 1987).

These developments need the involvement of responsible parents to set a stable environment and predictable routines and a context of supportive relationships. It is believed that there are psychosocial dimensions of vending poised by parents to children which include the breakdown of social networks, and emotional bonds, and induction into inappropriate behaviours like crime, drug abuse as well as peer exploitation (Turner & Helms, 1987). The relationship between academic performance of children of vending parents, especially the girl child is far from simple and direct, they face isolation from other peers, rejection bullying, violence, and stigmatization. This study is carried out in the realization of vending and its Psychosocial impact on the family lives of children of vending parents and in particular the girl child.

Street vending in Zimbabwe can be traced back to 1970. In the late 1970s and early 1980s street vending was regarded as black-market practice which sold products that were occasionally not available in retail shops. Some of the common products that were being sold on the streets included detergents, candles, cooking oil, bread, and sugar (Hansen, 2004). The term black market was used to refer to any illegal marketing activity such as vending in streets, yards, and homes. However, during this time street vending was not so visible, it became more visible after the adoption of the neo-liberal reform policies in the 1990s.

This shift towards liberalization brought many effects on the Zimbabwean citizens. Privatization of major national companies and downsizing of the civil service led to huge unemployment leaving people without any other option but to join the informal economy. Eventually, the reduction of the formal economy fueled the rapid expansion of the informal sector. Msoka (2006) posits that the main actors in street vending are the most vulnerable people in a society. He further noted that street vending serves as a livelihood strategy for the poor or a supplementary activity where individuals in the formal economy employ it as a coping strategy when the economy is not doing well.

In the case of Zimbabwe, the informal economy has overshadowed the formal economy due to a combination of economic and political crises and unfavorable weather conditions in the form of recurrent droughts which forced several companies to close (Marapira, 2013).

Children growing up in underprivileged communities or homes environment face multiple social, emotional, economic, and educational deficiencies in their lives (Morrow, 2010; UNICEF, 2015). Due to the economic meltdown, most mothers cannot afford to hire maids to take care of their children. Hence, young children either accompany their mothers to street vending or go to pre-school. Early childhood is a stage where children start thinking logically but are easily influenced by the environment around them (Okoli & Cree, 2012 cited by Daudi & Mugweni, 2018; Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies 2(11):134). Some children who return home from school have no one to look after them at home, leaving them vulnerable. This pathetic situation prompted the researcher to explore the effects psychological effects of vending on children whose parents are vendors in Ruwa Urban.

The informal sector has become the largest employer in Zimbabwe. Economic downturn, rapid urban population growth, political instability, rising unemployment, and lower take-home pay drove some Ruwa residents into the informal sector as street vendors. The increase of street vending in the early 2000 led to illegal activities in the urban cities and the government of Zimbabwe decided to remove all illegal street vendors in urban areas during the Operation Murambatsvina campaign in 2005. Operation Murambatsvina, restored order in the Ruwa urban district in places such as Ruwa and Zimre Park areas as most street vendors were displaced. However, this was short-lived as street vendors returned into streets during the 2008 economic crisis.

The growth of street vending from 2008 to date was because of unemployment, job losses and an unstable economy. As most men were retrenched from companies and industries in Ruwa and most residents resorted to street vending. Recent surveys according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), (2008), show that most of the street vendors in Ruwa urban district are women because either their husbands died or are no longer employed due closure of many companies in Ruwa Urban. According to United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), (2008), women dominate the informal sector in most Sub-Saharan African countries, where they are found in the fields of trading, agriculture, and food processing.

In addition, women have been largely involved in the informal sector as street vendors to look at their families and supplement the income of their husbands. Some women street vendors are single mothers who have seen street vending as their main survival strategy. This has resulted in major influences on psychosocial well-being associated with children, especially the girl child. Women street vendors in Ruwa sell small items like clothes, vegetables, street food, airtime, and toys among other items.

The rapid change in the behaviour and development of children in both the developing and developed world has become a very typical topic. As the economy of Zimbabwe has reached unprecedented levels, vending business is the on the increase, hawkers and their children are found in the streets (Marapira, 2013; Njaya, 2014; Rodgerson, 2016)

In the theory of child development, children need love and care, education, health care, respect, leisure, support, guidance, acknowledgment, time to play, to be listened to, appropriate role models, to belong to peers, family, or group (Shaffer, 1985). Such needs become part of many expectations and disappointments that children of vending parents face. While vending is among the few means of earning a living, it has left many children miserable, lonely, and psychologically abused.

In risky business conditions parents take turns selling their wares, sometimes they spend the whole day into the evening, leaving the children vulnerable and exposed. Sometimes they take to the streets in the evenings, selling on the pavements of restaurants and beerhalls leaving the children behind.  As such, an inferred struggle may persist between the children and their parents and demands that parents understand the development of children, bearing in mind that children learn from observation. Children develop cognitive or intellectual processes, socially. This is a development of behavior that involves relationships with others. They also develop Psychologically and in language. Children also develop physical and in moral values (Turner & Helms, 1987). All areas develop simultaneously. Children are affected positively and negatively by the systems that surround them.

Theorists such as B.F. Skinner, John Watson, and Kurt Lewin who have been associated with behavioral theory allude to the fact that the parents’ behaviours have a bearing on the child’s development and later stages of life. It is from this background that this research intends to explore the effects of vending on children’s behaviour and its psychological effect.

There has been a significant influx of breakdown of social networks in families with vending parents, emotional bonds, and an increase in abuse-related cases of children from vending parents. Although vending has become a lifeline for many families in an economy that has crumbled and has become more informal than formal, there is however a need to find out the trends of the breakdown in the family social fibre.

The informal sector economic activities are rapidly increasing globally, especially in developing countries like Zimbabwe. In Africa for example, informal sector activities account for almost 80% of non-agricultural employment, over 60% of urban employment, and 90% of new jobs for the past decades (Manganga, 2007). For example, in urban Zimbabwe, it is currently estimated that 80% of households rely in some way and to some extent on informal economic activities (Manganga, 2007).

Poor black women in many cases dominate the informal sector. These women show acts of ingenuity and courage in thorny circumstances in contributing to household income generation. According to the Dualist Theory, the persistence of informal activities is because not enough formal job opportunities have been produced to take in surplus labour due to a slow rate of economic development and a faster rate of urbanization (Tokman, 1978).

Research Objectives

1. The objectives of the research were to:
2. Explore the Psychological effects vending parents have on their children.
3. Examine behaviours of vending parents towards their children in Ruwa.
4. Explore behaviours, emotional and intellectual development exhibited by children whose parents are vendors in Ruwa.
5. Assess how the physical environment affects the children’s psychological development.

METHODS

Research Design

The researcher chose a qualitative approach, and the research design because it is exploratory in nature and tends to focus on issues and populations about which little is written, thus allowing participants to be listened to construct an understanding based on their ideas (Creswell, 2003).  This approach enabled the researcher to gain insight into the plight of street vendors and their children and provided new perspectives on how they negotiate their existence on the streets, giving meaning to the street life phenomenon (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008).

The researcher ensured that participants were not removed from the environment in which they lived and worked by going out to the field of study, gaining access, and gathering data. By so doing the researcher gained in-depth knowledge about their experiences and concerns regarding the meaning that the phenomenon has for the street vendors and their children.  Through interviews and observation, I had the opportunity to watch people in their territory interacting with them in their own language, on their own terms (Irvine & Gaffikin, 2006).

Target Population

The total number of participants found at the research site was twenty-two (N=6000). According to the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NVUZ), an organization that represents vendors’ rights in Zimbabwe, Harare has 20000 vendors with Ruwa having 6,000 vendors operating and 15 percent of these are underage children assisting their parents (NVUZ, 2019). To draw the sample a selection criterion had to be applied. Participants for this study were chosen purposefully from the Ruwa urban area.

Sample And Sampling Procedure

Sample Size

Data for the purpose of this study were collected as located in the place where participants lived and did ‘their lives’. The sample size for this study was comprised of six (6) child participants as well as six (6) parents who numbered (n=12).

Sampling Technique

Purposive sampling is a criterion-based selection generally used for qualitative studies, in which the researcher decides to select deliberately beforehand which characteristics (such as the research sites and settings; participants and persons; or events and areas) are needed to provide the best insight into the research topic and answers the research questions (Nieuwenhuis, 2007; Patton, 2002).

Data Collection Instruments

Table 3.1 Summary of Data Collection Tools

Data Collection Procedure

To begin with, the researcher collected a letter from Women’s University in Africa before embarking on a journey to get permission to conduct this study in Ruwa Urban area ward 9 to 11. Once the permission to conduct this study was approved by the relevant authorities the researcher then approached the potential participants seeking their consent and those who fitted the criteria and consented constituted the study population. Once the consent was given the researcher then began establishing rapport with the participants. This was done by asking them general questions and queries about the effect of their vending business on their children.

Ethical Considerations

Best and Kahn assert that “in planning a research project involving human participants, ethical issues cannot be overlooked”. (Best & Kahn, 2006:84) It is, therefore, important to consider ethical guidelines to protect participants. Flewitt (2005) elaborates that ethical issues are particularly salient when researching vulnerable members of society, such as street vendors and their children. Best and Kahn (2006:84) warn that carrying out research involving human beings raises “a lot of legal and ethical issues that must be well taken care of before proceeding with their involvement in studies”. Flewitt (2005) concludes that ethical guidelines are needed to guard against the obvious and less obvious atrocities of research. In this study ethics were observed to avoid misuse of information and fulfillment of personal interest, but rather as a step to resolve domestic violence and gender-based violence. It is for this reason that this study took cognisance of ethical issues as they constitute an integral part of the research. These include the assurance of informed consent, voluntary participation, confidentiality, and anonymity of the participants and obtaining ethical clearance for research.

RESULT

Research texts for the study include original quotes from the participants (Mantzoukas, 2004).   The quotes, although short, are rich and thought-provoking as they provide more insight into the lived realities of street vendors and their children.The outcome is a description of the phenomenon, as seen through the eyes of the people who have experienced it first-hand.

Demographic Profile of The Research Participants

As hinted above, the demographic data of the participants aids the understanding of the phenomena under investigation as it brings with it new dimensions and viewpoints of looking at the problem under study. Demographic characteristics to be considered are marital status of the vending parents, educational level of the vending parents, gender of the children participating in the study, ages of the child participants, family structure and finally household size.

Marital Status of the Vending Parents

Under this subtitle the marital status of the vending parents is to be investigated and it is grouped into four segments which are: married, single, divorcee or widow according to the findings.

Table 4.1 Marital Status of the Vending Parents

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.1 shows the summary of the marital status of the vending parents selected for this study. The majority of 64% of the sample are those that are married and 18% are made up of the participants who were with different levels of being unmarried, single 18%. Divorces constituted 9% and widows also made up 9%.

According to Fomby and Cherlin, (2007). Young children thrive in predictable settings with nurturing, and responsive. Research shows that infants who experience multiple changes in their lifetime might have to encounter far worse outcomes in their development compared to children that were raised with both stable parents in the family and maybe also in children raised by single parents who are stable in single-stable families (Fomby and Cherlin, 2007). This research has gained support from other researchers who believe that the home environment is crucial for the child’s social-emotional development and involves the growth of skills that allow children to interact successfully with others and express their emotions (Santrock, 2012). Children who have complete families may not have problems that affect parental involvement, but according to Motsinger (1990:63), “having two parents will give a student a 200% better chance at success in school.” This does not mean that students who do not have two parents cannot succeed, but they have a more difficult time and may have to work harder to succeed. The cultural background affects the relationship between home and school. This existing literature underscores the importance of stability in a home which is usually provided in a family where there are both parents. Therefore, the marital status of the vending parents becomes crucial in understanding the psychological effects of vending parents on their offspring.

Using the observation method, the researcher noted that all the participants were married women who were vending as a way of augmenting the low income of their spouses. To single parents, divorcees, and widows, vending is the only way of earning a living, a form of employment, and a means of taking care of the children.

Educational Level of the Vending Parents

The educational level of vending parents is categorized into three sections namely, Primary, Ordinary, and Advanced Levels (O’ and A’ Level) as well as Diploma level.

Figure 4.1: Educational Level of Parents

Figure 4.1 shows that 4% of the participants had attained Primary Level, 14% attained Diplomas level, 4% Primary School level and 82% attained Ordinary and Advanced level.

These findings are an indication that despite being educated and literate, the population is forced into vending due to economic prevailing challenges leading to some psychological problems for the children. This notion has been supported in a study by Morrow (2010) that revealed that children growing up in impoverished communities or homes face multiple social, emotional, economic, and educational obstacles in their lives. It can therefore be said that a parent’s educational level has the potential to influence the psychological development of the children of vendors positively or negatively.

Gender of Participants

Table 4.2 Gender of Participants

Literature on street vending in various settings suggests that women, who are another disadvantaged group, tend to be attracted to this niche because they lack skills for more rewarding employment pursuits, they play subordinate roles in family income packaging strategies, and because street commerce offers maximum flexibility in combining work and childcare (Chinchilla, Hamilton & Loucky 1993; Lund, 1998; Macharia, 1997). Men’s involvement in street trade has been considerable, and within street trade, gender specialization and hierarchy are always present. This study supports the notion raised by other researchers Ajiboye and Oladiti (2008), who suggest that street vending attracts women more than men who in turn lure their children into vending. The girl child is the most defenseless to her parents when it comes to being assigned vending duties (Ajiboye & Oladiti, 2008).

Gender of Children

Data gathered here considers whether the child whose parent is a vendor is male or female.

Table 4.2 Gender of Children of Vending Parents

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Figure 4.1 shows that the highest level of education of the respondents is 82% have a maximum of ‘O’ and ‘A’ level. This is an indication that despite being educated and literate, the population is forced into vending due to economic prevailing challenges.

Table 4.2 above summarises the gender of the children of vending parents. As indicated, most of the children were females (girls) constituting 67% and 33% were males. 4.5% preferred not to say their gender.

Street vending employs a sizeable share of informal workers who are women and girls (Cross & Balkin, 2000). In developed countries, street vending is clearly a marginal occupational niche, for it is often legally restricted or even banned, it requires minimal skills and capital, and its returns are particularly paltry and unpredictable even by the unenviable measures of the informal economy, leading to vending parents resorting to using their children, especially the girl child. Although in less developed countries street vending is much more common, in both settings this occupational niche appeals to disadvantaged segments of the urban population. The research findings agree with existing literature when it comes to the aspect of the gender of the children who tend to emulate their parents by becoming vendors themselves. The girl child is seen to be more likely to follow the footsteps of their vending mothers since more females are into this business than their male counterparts.

Ages of Participants

This demographic characteristic considers how old the children of vendors are so as to ascertain whether they are school-going age and check if there are no concerns of child labour

Table 4.3 Ages of Participants

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.3 depicts the ages of the participants out of a total number of 22. Those aged 4 were 4 and those aged 18 were also18. The average age was 12. The standard deviation age is 4.

According to the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NVUZ), an organization that represents vendors’ rights in Zimbabwe, Ruwa has 6,000 vendors operating and 15 percent of these are underage children assisting their parents (NVUZ, 2019).

The minimum ages of participants of this research, in terms of children, was 7 This category was assisted by their parents to participate. Through the observations made by the current researcher the children who were aged 4 in this study did not have the opportunity of attending ECD which is a very crucial early childhood intervention with positive impacts on children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes, which includes long term reductions in criminal behaviour. The effects of which were noticed in some children who were brought up by vending parents and were adolescents, whom the researcher came across during the research. The Coalition against Child Labour in Zimbabwe (CCLZ) in 2019 placed the number of child vendors across the country at 112,000 owing to the vicious cycle of poverty in the Southern African nation. It was also observed that child participants who were aged between 4 and 18 were 18. This age group could choose between assisting parents with vending or attending school. They also could have the option of going to the market after doing their school homework. Considering the present literature, the child vendors from Ruwa are no exception and vending is seen as a gateway to poverty while it brings an array of other psychological effects which emanate from poor education such as challenges in emotional and behavioural challenges.

Household Size

Figure 4.2 presents the household size for the research participants. A household with 1person is 18%, 2 people 18% and 3 people stood at 14% while a household with 4 is at 14%. Households with 5 people was at 28% while those with 6 people stood at 4%. The last household with 7 people had 9%. The biggest household had 23% and the lowest being that with 6 people at 4%.

Household Size

The household size is of paramount importance to vendors. Attachment theory in childhood emphasize that the way separation is titled is the root to protected bonding and sees the care givers providing a secure base both in child’s mind and real life from which a child can start to explore the world’ (Bowlby, 1988). Literature indicates that children need to form a close bond with their parents or care givers (Britto & Ulkuer, 2012). According to the said authority a child normally rushes to its parent when in distress or scared because the child knows he/she will get that love and reassurance that everything will be fine, but since this world is full of uncaring individuals the child can be either loving or hateful regardless whether it was brought up in a stable family it’s the surrounding’s and environment which help to shape them or not (Britto & Ulkuer, 2012).

The researcher using observational method in collecting data noted that vendors with more children had a better chance of having enough manpower to use at home and for vending activities while the parents attend to other chores at home or go to order more goods from the major market in Mbare Musika. It was also observed that children living in smaller families had a challenge of sharing responsibilities among themselves, especially in cases where the household had between 2 and 4 people. It was noted in the study that vendors’ children who were few had more assignments and chores among themselves, at the expense of their schoolwork, lacking attachment and parental love. However, some children just grew up to be strong minded with a caring attitude and they can achieve their goals regardless of whether its nature or nurture would have has shaped them they will grow up to have their own ambitions and dreams. The Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory, (1979) underscores the importance of the social environment which determines a child’s development and so the size of the household spells out the system of relationships that form the child’s environment.

Family Structure

Table 4.4 Family Structure

According to Table 4.4 above, the mean number was 4.45 years and the standard deviation was 1.371. One of the goals of this study was to look at the family structure and its psychological effect on children of vending parents in Ruwa. According to (Kellam, Ensminger and Turner, (1977) the family structure has an.  influence on the mental well-being of children. (Kellam, Ensminger & Turner, 1977).

The study, through observations made by the present researcher revealed that a child who was brought up and raised alone and with a solo parent was always occupied and never had time to attend to the child’s needs most of the time. The child was placed with different child minders whilst the parent was vending, this child was likely to grow up being aggressive and use abusive language and he or she would not be having that caring nature to anyone around him or her because he or she did not know what love and care is because they never experienced it and their environment shaped their behaviour that way. These children lacked attachment and were always defensive about their behaviour because they would be looking back on their childhood and use that as an excuse when confronted about their bad actions.

The researcher also noted that some children grew up to be strong minded with a caring attitude and they could achieve their goals regardless of whether it was nature or nurture which had shaped them. They grew up to have their own ambitions and dreams. Attachment theory in childhood suggests the same. According to Bowlby, (1988) bonding between the child and the caregiver is important in the development of the child and where there is no separation between the two, there is bonding, and the caregivers provide a secure base both in the child’s mind and real life from which a child can start to explore the world (Bowlby, 1988). Children need to form a close bond with their parents or care givers because a child normally rushes to its parent when in distress or scared because the child knows she or she will get that love and reassurance that everything will be fine. It is fair to assert that the family structure is key in the emotional as well as social development of the children of vending parents in Ruwa. This is also in keeping with Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of 1979 which postulates that a child’s development is determined within the context of the system of relationships that form his or her environment. This theory is relevant to the family structure because it looks at the position of the child at a family level clearly exhibiting the fact that, children are shaped not only by their personal attributes but also by the ever-widening environments wherein they develop (Bogenschneider, 1996). Bronfenbrenner’s theory positions the child at the centre of multiple circles of influence on the child, can a child’s development be adequately addressed, (Freeman, 2011). These multiple circles of influence can be distinguished as the microsystem.

The Origin and Level of Education of Vendors    

The focus here is on whether the vending parents are operating in their place of origin while also considering their level of education. Origins of the vendors is important to trace as it illuminates on the effect of the environment on an individual’s life and consequently on the life of their offspring using the lenses of The Ecological Theory of 1979 by Bronfenbrenner.

Table 4.5 The Origin and Level of Education of Vendors

Source: Primary Data

Table 4.5 which demonstrates where the parent participants originally came from and their level of education. Most of the vending parents came from rural areas with only 4 having an urban background. 17 out of the 18 vending parents who originally came from the rural areas had the maximum qualification of up to ‘O’ level. 4 of the vending parents who originally came from the Urban, only 1 had a maximum qualification of ‘O’ level and 3 had Diplomas. One in Agriculture and 2 in Education.

To shed more light on the importance of one’s origin and educational level it is vital to employ the theoretical framework which the current study is anchored upon that is, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of 1979. An individual’s environment affects their relationships not only with the immediate environment but their interaction with the whole wide world. An individual’s place of origin presents their microsystem (see Table 4.6 above) but due to circumstances in life one can drift from that environment and becomes part of the macro system in a different space thus, individuals are shaped not only by their personal attributes but also by the ever-widening environments wherein they develop (Bogenschneider, 1996).

The present study has shown that most of the vending parents are from rural backgrounds, yet they do their business in Ruwa Urban Area in a bid to survive and take care of their children. This study also highlights the fact that most of them have attained basic level education and probably due to unemployment at their place of origin or the microsystem they migrated to the urban area or macrosystem in search of greener pastures. This can impact on their children’s psychological development if they fail to make a profit from their wares then their children may fail to attend school among other challenges.

Impact Of Social Environment on Children

This part shifts attention to the use of space within a social environment. It looks at where the parents and their children sleep at the end of a busy day and the two options given are either they sleep in the same bedroom, or they use separate bedrooms.

Figure 4.3: Sleeping Rooms for the Research Participants

Figure 4.3 implores that a significantly high proportion of the research participants 59% confirmed that they sleep in the same room with their children whereas the remaining 41% revealed that they sleep in separate rooms.

The present researcher observed that amongst the 41 % that sleep in different rooms with their children, some sleep in the kitchen or lounge, whilst only a few have their own separate bedrooms. Amongst those that sleep in the same room, some have a curtain to separate the room so that adults sleep behind the curtain and children sleep on floor, the other side of the curtain.

According to the United Nations Population Fund Report (2012) living in over-crowded areas affect children’s socio-emotional and language development because the children will be exposed to unpleasant conditions which might affect their health, nutrition, and safety.

The sleeping patterns, due to the type of bedrooms resulted in mental problems which developed in some of the vendors’ children at an early stage and their experiences in long-term developmental episodes which resulted in aggressive behaviours in some of them (Sroufe & Jacobvitz, 1989) The research pointed out that early childhood sleeping patterns, especially emotional experiences with other people encourage and shape the behaviour and the construct growth that result in the expanding functional capacities of a developing in oneself. Schore (1994) in his study agrees with the same idea and repeats that these sleeping experiences that occur early in the environment, shape different personality development, and adaptive capacities as well as vulnerabilities to and deviants against some other forces of pathologies. It can be noted that the child’s social environment like the room where they sleep can have psychological effects on their development such as mental problems, while also contributing to socio-emotional and language development as highlighted by the literature provided here.

Figure 4.3 above implies that a significantly high proportion of the research participants 59% confirmed that they sleep in the same room with their children whereas the remaining 41% revealed that they sleep in separate rooms.

The present researcher observed that amongst the 41 % that sleep in different rooms with their children, some sleep in the kitchen or lounge, whilst only a few have their own separate bedrooms. Amongst those that sleep in the same room, some have a curtain to separate the room so that adults sleep behind the curtain and children sleep on the floor, the other side of the curtain.

According to the United Nations Population Fund Report (2012) living in over-crowded areas affect children’s socio-emotional and language development because the children will be exposed to unpleasant conditions which might affect their health, nutrition, and safety.

The sleeping patterns, due to the type of bedrooms resulted in mental problems which developed in some of the vendors’ children at an early stage and their experiences in long term developmental episodes which resulted in aggressive behaviours to some of them (Sroufe & Jacobvitz, 1989) The research pointed out that early childhood sleeping patterns, especially emotional experiences with other people encourage and shape the behaviour and the construct growth that result in the expanding functional capacities of a developing in one self. Schore (1994) in his study agrees with the same idea and repeated that these sleeping experiences that occur early about the environment, shape different personality development, its adaptive capacities as well as vulnerabilities to and deviance against some other forces of pathologies soon. It can be noted that the child’s social environment like the room where they sleep can have psychological effects on their development such as mental problems, while also contributing to socio-emotional and language development as highlighted by the literature provided here.

The Lighting of the Home and its Power Source

Figure 4.4: Home Lighting Power Source

Figure 4.4 above reveals that most of the household uses electricity for lighting power in their homes. According to the said figure 9.5 % use solar energy, 33.3% of the participants use candles, and the remainder making up 57.1% of the study population make use of electricity.  Most of the household uses electricity for lighting power in their homes as presented in Figure 4.4 below.

The research also revealed that although they were lighting resources to assist the children with their homework, this was not adequate due to inconstancies of the supply. Vending parents lacked enough monthly resources of purchasing candles repairing or maintaining solar units. Those who used electricity could not afford to pay for a stable supply, which then affected the learning of their children. In the light of the given literature, it means that the children of vendors in the present study faced an array of challenges in their learning because of poor lighting resources.

Studies show that appropriate lighting enhances academic achievement and reduces negative aspects of off-task behaviour, while incandescent lighting is more appropriate in learning environments due to its positive impact on students (Sleeman & Rockwell, 1981).   In 2001 Knez found that females were more sensitive to light than males. Also, he found that they performed in different ways in different kinds of lighting. Results which come from a study by Knez and Kers (2000) that different colour of indoor lighting may express different meanings to different genders (Knez and Kers, 2000). In general, the study noted that effect of indoor lighting on mood and performance of people differentiated by gender, this also makes sense when it comes with age as well. It is important to mention that poor lighting may lead to poor academic performance which translates to psychological effects in children of vendors such as negative intellectual development, mood problems, as well as exhibiting off- task behaviours.

According to the findings above 33.3% of the participants use candles as it is the only means of lighting in their households. Some vendors cannot afford to pay electricity bills and resort to candles. Although not effective in terms of brightness during study, vendors’ children who are leaners concurred that using candles during their evening study was not effective. Candlelight was best used for lighting purposes better than study. A considerable smaller percentage, 9.5% of the participants use solar light. This power source was efficient, brighter than candles and lasted longer in the night, assisting the learner to do his/her homework and study. However, the participants faced challenges during winter and when it was raining or on cloudy days. The system could not generate enough energy to sustain the long hours of study. The main source of electricity used by children of vendors was electricity at 57.1%. Most children failed to do their homework effectively because of either power failure caused by load shedding and persistent blackouts, or the power was disconnected because of lack of payment. This finding here concurs with the psychological studies which show that there are positive relationships between the visual elements and the students’ behaviour, which improves the quality of the teaching and learning environment (Lippman, 2010). Therefore, it can be said that there is a connection between lighting and academic performance of the vending parents’ children.

Examining The Behaviour Of Vending Parents Towards Their Children In Ruwa

This part of the chapter looks at the behaviours exhibited by the vending parents towards their children as this may have positive or negative effects towards their development. The aspects considered under this heading are emotional, psychological, threatening their children or neglecting them.

Table 4.6 Behaviour of Vending Parents Towards Their Children in Ruwa

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.6 demonstrates the behaviour of vending parents towards their children. Emotional behaviours were exhibited by 15.8% of the participants. Psychological behaviours were also found in 36.8 % of the participants. Parents who threaten their children constitute 15.8% of the study population. Parents who neglected their children constituted 31.6% of the entire study population. Several partparticipants,ing up 13.6% of the target population chose not to answer this question and so the researcher had to respect their willingness to participate in the research although they voluntarily decided not to take up this question.

The behaviours of vending parents’ lives impacted either positively or negatively towards their children and these effects affected the early development of the child in many areas (Vander Zanden, Crandell and Crandell, 2014). The said authority study established that effects of mothers’ street vending on children’s socio-emotional development were mostly negative. The children had no time to play freely as they were always confined to their mothers’ stalls. The moment they wanted to initiate play they were called back by their parents to protect them frothe risksks of the streets. Children had no same age peers to play with as most children in the streets were either infants, toddlers, or school learners. Data collected on the socio-emotional development of the children revealed that all the five parents admitted that street life was hectic for adults let alone for young children who were still growing (Vander Zanden, Crandell and Crandell, 2014).

Emotional Abuse

The researcher using observation noted the presence of what seemed like emotional abuse of vendors children by their parents, which affected their academic performance. The interaction between factors in the child’s maturing biology, his/her immediate family/community environment, and the societal landscape fueled and steered his/her development negatively as vulgar words were used against them.  Through the lenses of Bronfenbrenner’s theory complex “layers” of environment such as biology, family, or community as well as the societal landscape influence the psychological development of vending parents’ children. This theory has recently been renamed “Bio-ecological Systems Theory” to emphasize that a child’s own biology is a primary environment fueling her development (Bronfenbrenner’s, 2001 in Madjitey, 2014).

Psychological Abuse

Psychological abuse against children was also observed. Cultural factors appeared to strongly influence the non-physical methods that parents used to discipline their children at marketplaces and vending places. According to The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), children must be protected from ‘‘all forms of physical or mental violence’’ (United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Article 25, 1990), while they are in the care of parents and others, and the (UNCRC) United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has underlined that corporal punishment is incompatible with the Convention. The researcher witnessed corporal punishment of children in the form of hitting, punching, kicking, or beating by vending parents in Ruwa. This is not legally accepted but socially accepted in most parts of Zimbabwe. The researcher concurred with a large body of research which has shown that corporal punishment is indeed a significant factor in the development of violent behaviour, and it is associated with other problems in childhood and later life, (Sege & Sieglem, 2018). Corporal punishment is dangerous for children. In the short term, it kills thousands of children each year and injures and handicaps many more (Sege & Sieglem, 2018). Therefore, it can be shown that vending parents who exhibit emotional behaviours towards their children create a host of other psychological effects on their children which help in moulding their future personalities and behaviours.

Threatening Children

Daudi and Mugweni (2018), assert that the practices of threatening children with abandonment or with being locked out of the house is common in vending parents. The researcher through observation found that the practice was prevalent among vending mothers in Ruwa, particularly single mothers living with adolescents. This included use of abusive language, threatening to withhold payment of school fees, withdrawing privileges, and threatening to lock the children outside ‘their’ home if they did not change their bad behaviours. In Ruwa parents acknowledged using physical punishment to discipline children but reported it as their least preferred method. Threatening children with abandonment can create a sense of insecurity in them leading to an insecure personality (Bowlby, 1988) which is a psychological effect of using threats in disciplining children.

Neglect of Children

Conditions such as hunger and poverty were observed in the children of parents who are vendors in Ruwa. The researcher observed that there were children who were sleeping on the open markets of Ruwa in broad daylight because they were hungry after going for days without food. Some of the reasons given by the children were that their mothers could not buy food because they had spent all the money they heard on expensive jewelry.

On a more positive note, it was also observed that there where families with vending parents that were functioning well, elements related to the functioning of life and the future prevailed, which are: love, marriage, the care, and happiness, (Vukasocic, 1994). Hence it can be said that although neglect was evident it was interesting to note that some families were functional, which means the psychological effects of the two backgrounds were both negative and positive in nature.

Who Pays The Fees Of Vendors’ Children

As the question above requires this section demonstrates who shoulders the responsibility of paying for school fees of the children of vending parents. The data here is to be presented using tables and some quotes of the participants’ actual responses are to be given as well.

Table 4.6 Who Pays School Fees?

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Type Of School Attended by Children of Vendors

This part presents the actual names of the schools the vending parents’ children attended.

Table 4.7 Name of School Attended by Children of Vendors

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.7 shows the schools attended by the vendor’s children. Breeze Academy, Churchill Boys High, Mabvudzi High School, Makomo Primary, Mandalay Primary School, Raymondale Primary School, Raymondale Secondary School, Ruwa Primary School, Shelot Junior, TC Hardy, Thorncroft Primary School and ZIMRE Park School are under the Local Councils while Howard High School and St Vincent Secondary are run by religious organisations, Salvation Army, and Roman Catholic Churches.

The education system in Zimbabwe consists of 7 years of primary schooling and 6 years of secondary schooling (Kanyongo,2005). The minimum entrance age to the first year of primary school, known as Grade 1, is 6 years. Thus, a child is expected to enter his/her first year of high school (Form 1) at 13 years. The study noted that most of the children of vendors finished primary school either at age 15 or 16 because they repeated some grades due to poor performance

Helping Behaviour Of Vendors’ Children

This subtitle considers the percentage of children who engage in pro-social behaviours by helping their parents with selling of their products.

Table 4.8 Children Who Help Vending Parent(s) to Sell Their Products at The Market?

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.8 discloses that, 90.9% of the vendors’ help their parents at the market while 4.5 % do not assist and 4.5% of the participants did not respond and the researcher had to respect their right to participate in the study without the use of force.

By helping their parents to sell their products and wares, children modeled behaviours of their parents (Vander, Zanden, Crandell and Crandell, 2014). In addition to that, the findings agree with Madjitey who postulates that parents took their children in the streets to assist in selling wares Madjitey, (2014). The current researcher observed that children who helped vending parents to sell their products at the market displayed characteristics identified as important in distinguishing helping from non-helping children. These characteristics included having empathy and responding to their parents’ need emotionally. While these children displayed a high sense of self-efficacy, they believed that they were likely to be helpful as they assisted their parents.

The researcher also observed that the children’s exposure to street life psychologically affected the children’s socio-emotional and language development. The social learning theory according to Nabavi, (2012) highlights the importance of modelling and communication (verbal and non-verbal) for children.

The study noted that financial hardships experienced by families made children help their vending parents sell their produce at the market. Some of the reasons were that child vendors are more attractive to customers and likewise more customers bought the wares sold by the children than parents. Children choose their words wisely to persuade customers and finish selling wares faster because they are more vigorous and move around quickly. One child said it was the child’s responsibility to help their families in raising money:

‘Ibasa rangu kubatsira vabereki semwana nokuti ndikasadaro hapana mumwe angawabatsira. Ndikasawabatsira hatiwani mari yekudya nekubhadhara kuchikoro’.

Translated as:

‘It is my responsibility as a child to assist my parents because no one else can do so besides me. Apart from that, we will not be able to have money for food and school fees if I do not assist my parents’.

The researcher categorised the development of children of vending parents helping their parents selling their wares as child labour. Zimbabwe’s Labour Act prohibits employers from hiring a person under 18 to perform work, while the Children’s Act makes it an offense to exploit children through employment.

In Zimbabwe, with the rise of child vendors, child labour itself is happening at a time the country is a signatory to several conventions that protects children from abuse including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of 18.

Frequency Of Assisting with Vending Activities

Frequency of the vending parents’ children assisting with the vending activities.

Figure 4.6 Frequency of Assisting with Vending Activities

Figure 4.6  presents the frequency of assisting with vending activities and it revealed that 72% of the children assisted with vending activities daily, 22% during weekends while 6% occasionally did so.

While this affects the studying time and energy for the child, Vygotsky in Britto and Ulkuer, (2012) believe that a child’s social environment and experiences are important in their development. The researcher agreed with Vygotsky, who gives prominence to social interaction in the development of young children on the basis that it influences language and thought, and Vygotsky argues that higher mental functions are a result of social interaction as evidenced in the research (Howe, 2013).  As children accompanied their parents to the streets, they had both positive and negative effects of being on the streets. Thus, influencing a child’s development in terms of socio-emotional and language development.

The research through observations revealed that parents who have good educational backgrounds strongly encouraged their children to go to school while those who did not have strong educational backgrounds did not value the importance of their children’s education. Furthermore, vending parents were not fully aware of the negative impacts of engaging their children in selling wares, such as being beaten by adults, raped, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, engaging in drugs, and using vulgar language.

Corporal punishment of children in the form of hitting, punching, kicking, or beating is not legally accepted but socially accepted in most parts of Zimbabwe. Some research participants concurred that corporal punishment was used to “discipline” those who refused to assist their mothers with vending. The study revealed that corporal punishment is indeed a significant factor in the development of violent behaviour, and it is associated with other problems in childhood and later life of children of vending parents (Sege, Sieglem 2018). It can be noted that children assisting their vending parents may be exposed to some antisocial behaviours such as aggression and substance abuse.

The researcher observed that vending parents stopped their children from going to school but sent them to sell wares when there was urgent need for money when they did not have any means of getting money.  One vending parent said:

‘Kumusika ndiko kunobva mari. Kana tichida mari nekukasika ye gasi rekubikisa kana patinenge tawirwa ngedambudziko tinongotuma mwana kumhanya kumusika netwunhu twunokasika kufamba’.

Translated to:

‘Our income cones from the market. We send children to sell at the market so they raise money to buy cooking gas, or when there is an emergency issue which might need money from the village. So, we send the children with goods which sell quickly’.

The other participant alluded that:

‘Mai vanotirova, ini nevaning’ina vangu mambama, kutistunha kana kutirova neshamhu kana tikaramba kuenda kumusika, kunyanya kana iri weekend patinenge tisikuenda kuchikoro’.

Translates to:

‘My mother hits us, she punches, kicks or beat us all over our bodies when we refuse to go to the market, especially during the weekends.’

The researcher categorised the development of children of vending parents helping their parents selling their wares as child labour. Zimbabwe’s Labour Act prohibits employers from hiring a person under 18 to perform work, while the Children’s Act makes it an offense to exploit children through employment.

In Zimbabwe, with the rise of child vendors, child labour itself is happening at a time the country is a signatory to several conventions that protects children from abuse including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of 18.

Physical Environment Affecting Learning

This part of chapter four looks at how the physical environment may affect the learning of children of vending parents. The physical environment here entails room lighting, temperature, noise, visitors, and customers frequenting the place. Learning is important for the intellectual development of the children of vendors as it clearly brings to the open the psychological effect of vending on the children of vendors.

Figure 4.5: Physical Environment Affecting Learning

Figure 4.5 shows the physical environment of a vendor’s child which affected the vendors’ children’s learning. 60% of the participants indicated that they had adequate lighting while 40% said lighting affected their learning. 78% were not affected by temperature while 22% indicated their learning was affected. Noise affected learning of 78% of the participants, while 12% were not affected and 77% of the participants did not complain about visitors while 53% complained about visitors who disturbed their learning. 67% of the participants complained about being disturbed by customers while 33% said their learning was not affected by customers.

Nakisani and Ongori (2013) are of the view that virtually in all countries, children of low-income parents have poorer health than children of more affluent parents. They assert that parental income can be related to children’s health because it affects the quality and quantity of health care that children get. It can also affect children’s nutrition, the safety of their living environment, and their health practices.

Figure 4.5 above shows the physical environment of a vendor’s child which affected the vendors’ children’s learning. 60% of the participants indicated that they had adequate lighting while 40% said lighting affected their learning. 78% were not affected by temperature while 22% indicated their learning was affected. Noise affected learning of 78% of the participants, while 12% were not affected and 77% of the participants did not complain about visitors while 53% complained about visitors who disturbed their learning. 67% of the participants complained about being disturbed by customers while 33% said their learning was not affected by customers.

Nakisani and Ongori (2013) are of the view that virtually in all countries, children of low-income parents have poorer health than children of more affluent parents. They assert that parental income can be related to children’s health because it affects the quality and quantity of health care that children get. It can also affect children’s nutrition, the safety of their living environment, and their health practices.

Room Lighting

According to the findings 60% of the participants indicated that they had adequate lighting while 40% said lighting affected their learning. Appropriate lighting enhances academic outcomes and reduces the negative situations during ‘off-task’ behaviour. There are two types of lighting in learning environment: natural daylight and artificial. Natural lighting has positive influence on leaners interaction and motivation (Higgins et al., 2005; Earthman, 2004; EDUCAUSE, 2004). Benya (2001) emphasises that appropriate daylighting must be supplemented with artificial lighting. The connection between these two types of lighting is important in providing the required amount of illumination in the learning areas. The researcher agrees with Higgins et al., 2005; Earthman, 2004; EDUCAUSE, 2004). Benya (2001), the study revealed that 60% of the participants had adequate light which allowed them to attend to their homework while 40% found the light inadequate.

Room Temperature

According to the current study findings 78% were not affected by temperature while 22% indicated their learning was affected. Students’ ability to learn is undermined when their classrooms are too hot, new research says, a finding that could help explain persistent gaps in performance between students in poorer regions and countries without consistent access to air conditioning and those in wealthier areas.

A study carried out in Ghana by Madjitey on the socio-educational development of children of street vendors in 2014 revealed that the youngest children in Accra were in the streets with their parents.  This was necessitated by socio-economic problems such as economic stagnation, urbanisation, and inadequate housing.

An analysis published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Goodman et al., 2018). comparing student test scores with average temperatures suggests that when classrooms get too hot it prevents students from learning as well as they would in more comfortable temperatures, with lasting impacts on students’ future success and their ability to contribute economically. It also found that adequate investment in infrastructure, namely air conditioning can mitigate the negative effects of hot weather.

This study distinguished that over exposure to heat can cause sunburn, rashes, swelling, exhaustion, and stroke. A previous study in Nairobi’s slums found that deaths in older people and children under age 4 increased when temperatures rose above a heat threshold of 68 degrees. If temperatures recorded at official weather stations differ from slum microclimates, the alarm bell for heat alerts may not be sounded. That means vending parents in neighbourhoods of Ruwa, which accommodate more vendors will not be able to assist their children with school homework at home as well as receive the help they need from public health and disaster management teams.

Ironically, the research found that weather conditions made it harder for the children of vendors to do homework studies at home. Most of the children had to leave their front doors wide open for ventilation as they were doing their homework but the stagnant water from heavy rains and sewage flowing emerged as a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that disturbed the study.

Noise in the Environment

Noise affected learning of 78% of the participants, while 12% were not affected Outside sources derived from street traffic, mobile vendors, music from public bars and restaurants, animals, and pets can all raise noise levels in the room where the vendor’s child (Allen and Hessick, 2011). Most vendors cannot afford accommodation in settings that are conducive for learning after school, they live in places that are too noisy and otherwise, disturb the students and their learning. Avoiding heavy motorways and industrial areas is important. Shield and Dockrell (2004), however, claimed that the external noise level has little effect on the student’s auditory quality, whereas the noise created by other students in the same room and their activity in the room had more impact on the overall acoustic volume.

Visitors coming to the Homes of the Children of Vendors

The findings of the present study have revealed that 77% of the participants did not complain about visitors while 53% complained about visitors who disturbed their learning. Density is another hindering factor found in the research. The human psychological behavioural reaction to crowding is also important. It has been suggested that a low-density environment encourages more participation and positive attitudes, as well as creating a sense of friendship and greater academic achievement (Newton et al., 2009). Thus, visitors visiting a child’s physical environment can negatively impact their academic achievements.

Customers Coming to the Homes of the Children of Vending Parents

Most vendors in Ruwa cannot afford accommodation in settings that are conducive to learning after school, they live in places that are too noisy and otherwise disturb the students and their learning. Outside sources derived from street traffic, mobile vendors, music from public bars and restaurants, animals, and pets can all raise noise levels in the room where the vendor’s child does his or her homework (Allen and Hessick, 2011). Although avoiding heavy motorways and industrial areas is also important, the researcher observed that it was not practical for the vendors as they had limited options for choosing suitable accommodation.

What The Vendors’ Children Do For Leisure

This section looks at how the children of vending parents spend their leisure time to have a clear understanding of whether they have time to play and do schoolwork as the popular saying goes, ‘All work and no play makes Jill a dull boy’.

Table 4.9 What Do You Do During Your Leisure?

Source: Primary Data, 2020

Table 4.10 above reveals what the vendor’s children do during their leisure time. According to the findings 75% do not have any leisure while 5% go on holidays and leisure parks and another 5% visit Long Cheng Centre, 5% play football, 5% go to Victoria Falls and 5% watch movies during their leisure.

Since these children spent the greater part of their time without any leisure and on the streets, they became exposed to violence, child labour, social vice, street fighting, pollution of different sorts and kinds of street networking activities (Ajiboye and Oladiti, 2008). This exposed the children of vendors to dangers such as sexual abuse, juvenile delinquency, premature parenthood, and prostitution, they are additionally susceptible to Human Immuno Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV-AIDS) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (Umar 2009) and become easy targets to occult operators (Umar, 2009).

The researcher observed that these children being on the street, find themselves in a situation that increases their vulnerability. They are viewed negatively and are stigmatised and discriminated against by the very society that created the situation in the first place. In support of this Samson and Cherrier, (2009) asserts that they are prevented from unlocking their potential and therefore denied negotiating power.

Psychological Development Exhibited By Children Of Vendors

This section pays attention to the behaviours, and emotional as well as intellectual and psychological development aspects displayed by children of the vending parents in Ruwa. This data here concentrates on the number of friends a child has since this is key in terms of their behavioural, emotional, and intellectual aspects which are key terms in defining psychological development.

Figure 4.6 Number of Friends the Children Have

As presented by Figure 4.8 above one participant did not have a friend. 4 participants had 1 friend each while 5 had 2 friends each. 6 indicated they had 3 friends, 1 had 4 friends, 1 had 5 and 1 had 8 friends.

Friendship relations may foster the development of social concepts that may initially be features of friendship but are eventually extended to interpersonal functioning beyond the confines of the relation. This proposition has been presented as an aspect of the Sullivan-Piaget thesis (Youniss, 1980) a theory of social development that integrates the perspectives of Piaget (1932, and 1965) and Sullivan (1953). According to this thesis, the objects of social knowing are not “selves” and “others” as beings, but the interpersonal relations which exist between selves and others. Children come to know these relations by focusing on the interactions that occur between persons and by cognitively abstracting from these interactions generalizable forms that serve to distinguish relations from one another. In his book on the development of moral thought, Piaget (1932/1965) depicted peer relations as characterized by an interactive form which he termed K. H. Rubin et al. (eds.), Peer Relationships and Social Skills in Childhood Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1982 280 Jacqueline Smollar and James Youniss “mutual” or ”reciprocal.” This means simply that participants in peer relations are free to respond to an action taken by one member in any way they wish, including replication. If the peers are to maintain contact, they must cooperate to the extent that they must mutually construct the interaction “rules” they are to abide by. Piaget contrasts these relations with parent-child or authority relations which he describes as characterized by “unilateral” interactions. In parent-child relations the interaction “rules” are not mutually constructed but instead are set forth by one member of the relation (the parent) and conformed to or rebelled against by the other (the child). According to Piaget, these interactive forms (mutual and unilateral) have different consequences for social development.

DISCUSSION

The behaviours of vending parents’ lives impact positively or negatively on their children and these effects affected the early development of the child in many areas (Vander Zanden, Crandell and Crandell, 2014). The psychological effects that vending parents have on their children is best described using the lenses of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of 1979 which states that the social environment a person grows up in shapes their psychological development. It has been found that the gender of the children vendors is basically female, and girls tend to emulate their mothers in becoming vendors and foregoing their own goals to make it big in the world.

The level of education of the parents have been seen to also contribute to poor standard of living especially if the vending parent is a single parent or unmarried therefore, the academic achievement of the vendors children is compromised with evidence that only a few goes to the best schools in the country that sets them up for success.

The study also showed that minors become vendors at a very young age and so they fail to go for ECD because the parents basically attained Ordinary level and employment is hard to come by. This also means problems may be encountered in their intellectual development as well as socio- emotional development. The moral development of these children also becomes compromised as they spend most of their time in the streets learning vulgar language so-called street language.

The second objective was to examine behaviours of vending parents towards their children in Ruwa.

The behaviours of vending parents towards the children were both positive and negative. The mothers’ street vending led to a negative socio-emotional development in their children. The children had no time to play freely, and they did not have time with their age peers to play with as most children in the streets were either infants, toddlers, or school learners. Street life has been seen to be hectic for adults what more of the young children who were still growing. Emotional and psychological abuse were also observed, and it affected the children’s academic performance. Use of corporal has been seen to increase aggressive behaviour in children of vending parents and the use of threats on children has proved to lead to the use of abusive language, threatening to withhold payment of school fees, withdrawing privileges, and threatening to lock the children outside ‘their’ home if they did not change their bad behaviours.

Neglect is another factor observed to be exhibited by some vending parents towards their children. Conditions such as hunger and poverty were observed in the children of parents who are vendors in Ruwa would buy expensive jewelry instead of meeting the children’s physiological needs they would prioritize their luxurious needs.

On a more positive note, it was also observed that there were families with vending parents that were functioning well, elements related to the functioning of life and the future prevailed, which are: love, marriage, the care, and happiness.

The next objective was to explore behaviours, emotional and intellectual development exhibited by children whose parents are vendors in Ruwa.

Child labour is employed in street vending depriving young people and children the opportunity to develop socially with their peers because they are deprived of childhood and quickly given responsibilities to help fend for themselves while missing school.

The use of physical punishment by their parents in disciplining them introduces aggressive behaviour to these children thereby negatively impacting on their social and emotional development. The fact that most of the vendors are females, street life creates vulnerabilities in the girl child such as sexual, physical, emotional and substance abuse therefore leading to negative socio-emotional growth as well as poor intellectual performance.

Most of the children did not have many friends which could negatively hamper their social skills and ultimately their socio- emotional growth. These children spend more time selling with their parents at the marketplace or doing business instead of affording each other quality time to discuss daily activities that affects the children or maturing adult.

The physical environment has been shown to immensely contribute to the intellectual development of children because it either enhances their learning or inhibits it. Factors such as source of power and other situational factors like lighting, noise and temperature were seen to play a role in academic performance of children of vendors. Visitors and customers frequenting the homes of the vendors also tend to distract the children of the vending parents when they are supposed to be studying and doing homework.

LIMITATIONS

People were reluctant to give information on this topic due to its sensitive nature and the stakes which are involved in this issue as it deals on people’s livelihoods. Nonetheless, I managed to carry out my fieldwork by using purposive sampling to gather the sensitive data objectively.

CONCLUSION

The present study has concluded that: Psychological as well as social effects do exist in children of vending parents.

The physical environment also either promotes or inhibits the psychosocial, emotional, moral, and intellectual development of the children of vendors. The parents’ demographics also influence the psychological development of their children.

Child labour has been noted to exist in the children of vending parents in Ruwa. Parents of Vending Children also react positively and negatively to situations leading to abuse to their parents or becoming even closer to their children.

REFERENCES

1. Abrams, L. S. (2010), Sampling Hard to Reach ‘Populations in Qualitative Research, Qualitative Social Work, www.sagepublications.com
2. Addai, I. and Pokimica, J. (2010) Ethnicity and Economic Well -Being: The Case of Ghana    Social Indicators Research – SOC INDIC RES
3. Adepoju, A., & Oppong, C. (Eds.). (1994). Gender, work and population in Sub Saharan Africa. London: James Currey; Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
4.  Alghamdi, A.H. and Li, L. (2013), Adapting design-based research methodology in educational settings, International Journal of Education and Research
5. Al-Hassan, R. and Poulton, C.  (2009), Agriculture and social protection in Ghana, FAC Working Paper
6. Allesch, Christian G. (2003). “Person and Environment: Reflections on the roots of environmental psychology”. Colville; W.A. Optimal Books
7. Balegamire, J. B. (1999), Children ‘s right and the context of their education in south Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prospects
8. Bandura, A.  (1986), Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, Nj: Prentice Hall.
9. Banerji, A. Bissell, S. & Thomas, C (2010), Joining Forces Against Child Labour, Inter-Agency Report for The Hague Global Child Labour Conference of 2010
10. Barnes, J., Katz, I., Korbin, J.E. and O‘Brien, M. (2006)  Children And Families in Communities, Theory, Research, Policy and Practice, England: John Wiley and Sons.
11. Barnes, V et al (2003), Deconstructing Dissemination: Dissemination as Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research
12. Berndt, T. J. Children’s conceptions of friendship and the behaviour expected of friends. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University, 1979.
13. Bogenschneider, K. (1996). An ecological risk/protective theory for building prevention programs, policies, and community capacity to support youth, Family Relations.
14. Boserup, E. (1970). Woman’s work in economic development. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
15. Bradley, H. (1993). Across the great divide: The entry of men into “women’s jobs.” In C. L. Williams (Ed.), Doing “women’s work”: Men in non-traditional occupations (pp. 10-27). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
16. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979), The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
17. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986), Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives, Developmental Psychology, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
18. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989), Ecological Systems Theory. In: R. Vasta (Editors), Six Theories of Child Development: Revised Formulations And Current Issues (pp. 187-250). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
19. Brown AL. Measuring the effect of aircraft noise on sea birds. Environ Int. 1990;16(4–6):587–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-4120(90)90029-6.
20. Census. (1998). II Recenseamento geral da população e habitação, 1997. Resultados Definitivos. Cidade de Maputo [Second general census of population and housing, 1997. Final results. City of Maputo]. National Institute of Statistics, Maputo, Mozambique.
21. Chinchilla, N., Hamilton, N., & Loucky, J. (1993). Central American in Los Angeles: An immigrant community in transition. In J. Moore & R. Pinderhughes (Eds.), In the barrios: Latinos and the underclass debate (pp. 51-78). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
22. Christensen, P. & James, A. (2008), Research with Children: Perspectives and Practice (2^nd edition), USA and Canada: Routledge.
23. Christoplos, I.  (2001), Can Research Contribute to Understanding the Relationship Between Education and Poverty Al Eviation? In Melin, M. (Eds.), Sida/DESO/Education Division Documents No.12, Sweden: Education Division at Sida.
24. Creswell, J.W. (2007), Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (2nd ed), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25. Cross, J. C., & Balkin, S. (Eds.). (2000). International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 21. Special issue on Street Vending in the Modern World. 341
26. Daudi, & Mugweni, Rose. (2018). Impact of Mothers’ Street Vending on Children’s Socio-emotional and Language Development in Rusape Urban. 10.13140/RG.2.2.25026.12486.  Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies (JAIS): ISSN 2523-6725 (online). November 2018 Vol. 2, No. 11
27. Drolet A, Dussault C, Côté SD. Simulated drilling noise affects the space use of a large terrestrial mammal. Wildl Biol. 2016;22(6):284–93. https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00225.
28. Earthman, G., Cash, C, & Van Berkum, D. (1995). “A Statewide Study of Student Achievement and Behaviour and School Building Condition.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Council of Educational Facility Planners, International. Dallas, TX
29. Folbre, N. (2008) ‘Reforming care’, Politics & Society 36(3): 373–87. Folbre, N. and Nelson, J. (2000) “For love or money – or both?” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14 (4): 123-140.
30. Ginsburg, M. et al (2000), The politics of linking educational research, policy, and practice: the case of improving educational quality in Ghana, Guatemala, and Mali, International Journal of Comparative Sociology
31. Giordano, J., O ‘Reily, M., Taylor, H. & Dogra, N.  (2007), Confidentiality and autonomy: the challenge(s) of offering research participants a choice of disclosing their identity pearls, pith, and provocation, Qualitative Health Research
32. Goodman, Joshua, Michael Hurwitz, Jisung Park, and Jonathan Smith. “Heat and Learning.” HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP18-014, May 2018.
33. Haavio-Mannila, E., & Kauppinen, K. (1992). Women and the welfare state in the Nordic countries. In H. Kahne & J. Z. Giele (Eds.), Women’s work and women’s lives: The continuing struggle worldwide (pp. 224-247). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
34. Jacobs, J. A. (1993). Men in female-dominated fields. In C. L. Williams (Ed.), Doing “women’s work”: Men in non-traditional occupations (pp. 49-63). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
35. Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
36. Kellam SG, Ensminger ME, Turner RJ. (1977). Family structure and the mental health of children. Concurrent and longitudinal community-wide studies. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1977;34:1012–22.
37. Koame, A. (2000). L’insertion des migrants sur le marché du travail: une revue dela literature [Migrants’ integration into the labor market: A review of the literature]. UAPS Studies and Research, Issue 2.
38. Lengagne T. Traffic noise affects communication behaviour in a breeding anuran, Hyla arborea. Biol Conserv. 2008;141(8):2023–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.05.017
39. Locke, William W., “The Effect of Frequency of Home Visits on Parent Behavior and Child Achievement” (1976). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2859. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2859
40. Lund, F. (1998). Women street traders in urban South Africa: A synthesis of selected research findings. Center for Social and Development Studies Research Report No. 15. University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.
41. Macharia, K. (1997). Social and political dynamics of the informal economy in African cities. Nairobi and Harare. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
42. MALULEKE, S. G. (2014) Parental Involvement in Their Children’s Education in the Vhembe District: Limpopo Province, R.S.A. Unpublished manuscript, The University of Pretoria, 1978.
43. Mantzoukas, S.  (2004), Pearls, pith, and provocation issues of representation within qualitative inquiry, Qualitative Health Research, 14(7): pp. 994-1007, Sage Publications.
44. McDeviit, T. M. & Ormrod, J. E.  (2013), Child development and education (5^th Ed.) Pearson Alyn and Bacon, Incorporated.
45. McMillan, J.H. & Schumacher, S. (1993), Research in Education: A Conceptual Introduction, Harper Collins College: Virginia.
46. Moore, J., & Vigil, J. D. (1993). Barrios in transition. In J. Moore & R. Pinderhughes (Eds.), In the barrios: Latinos and the underclass debate (pp. 27-49). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
47. Osirim, M. J. (1996). Beyond simple survival: Women micro entrepreneurs in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. In K. Sheldon (Ed.), Courtyards, markets, and city streets: Urban women in Africa (pp. 213-240). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
48. Palmer, R. (2007), Skills for work? From skills development to decent livelihoods in Ghana ‘s rural informal economy, International Journal of Educational Development,
49. Portes, A., Castells M., & Benton, L.A. (Eds.). (1989) The informal economy: Studies in advanced and less developed countries. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
50. Ryan, J., & Smollar, J. A developmental analysis of obligations in parent-child and friend relations. Unpublished manuscript, The Catholic University of America, 1978.
51. Saldaña, S. S.  (2010), The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, London: Sage.
52. Schroeder, D. A., Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., & Piliavin, J. A. (1995). The psychology of helping and altruism: Problems and puzzles. New York: McGraw-Hill.
53. Spring, A. (Ed.). (2000). Women farmers and commercial ventures: Increasing food security in developing countries. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
54. Tanner, J., T. Candland, and W. Odden (2015) ‘Later Impacts of Early Childhood Interventions: A Systematic Review’. Washington DC: IEG World Bank.
55. Tilak, J.B.G. (2001), Education – a Way out of Poverty? New Education Division  Documents No. 12 Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Department for Democracy and Social Development, DESO Education Division.
56. Umar F. M.  (2009), Street Hawking: Oppressing The Girl Child or Family Economic Supplement, Journal of Instructional Psychology,
57. Williams, C L. (1992). The glass escalator: Hidden advantages for men in the “female” professions. Social Problems, 39, 253-67.
58. Williams, C. C., & Windebank, J. (1998). Informal employment in advanced economies: Implications for work and welfare. New York: Routledge.
59. Williams, C. L. (1989). Gender differences at work: Women and men in nontraditional occupations. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.
60.  Williams, C. L. (1995). Still a man’s world: Men who do “women’s work.” Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
61. Williams, L. S., & Villemez, W. J. (1993). Seekers and finders: Male entry and exit in female-dominated jobs. In C. L. Williams (Ed.), Doing “women’s work”: Men in non-traditional occupations (pp. 64-90). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.