Poverty and the Effects on Children
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For my blog this week, my focus was how poverty affects children. Poverty is directly linked with poor nutrition, lack in academic achievement, lack of proper shelter, and inadequate child care. In my childcare center, the majority of our families enrolled receive some type of government assistance. 70% of our families receive child care assistance to help them pay for daycare. These are single parent families that rely on this help from the Indiana CCDF fund so they are able to work and go to school. These families live paycheck to paycheck and worry every day about whether they are going to be able to make ends meet.
As a childcare provider, we try and keep a list of resources for families that might not be aware of help that they could qualify for such as child care vouchers, food stamps, Women, Infants, Children (WIC), and local food banks. We keep a list of local resources posted on our parent communication board. I have found in my experience that parents will come to us and ask about some of the resources because they have that trusting relationship with us as providers for their children.
Poverty causes stress on the parents as well as the children. Some children come in hungry and tell us they ran out of food at home. Children being hungry can affect their behavior, attention, and learning.
Children and Poverty in South Africa
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Poverty has been defined as “the inability of individuals, households or entire communities to command sufficient resources to satisfy a socially acceptable minimum standard of living” (Plessis, P.D. & Conley, L., 2007, p. 50). 66% of children in South Africa live in poverty. South Africa has a high rate of infant mortality due to poverty. There are also numerous cases of children infected with HIV/Aids. South African children and their families do not have enough resources available to them for these children to have proper nutrition, shelter, and medical care. Poverty is preventing these children from being able to get an education. Because of lack of nutrition, children in South Africa do not grow and develop properly. High levels of unemployment in South Africa are listed as a main reason for such high poverty rates. Sometimes one child works and supports their entire family. Children have extra responsibilities that children in America don’t have. This puts a lot of unneeded stress on these South African children.
References:
(Effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and youth). Retrieved November 22, 2011, from American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx#
Plessis, P. &. (2007). Children and poverty in South Africa: The right to social security. Educational Research and Review , 2 (4), 49-59.
I also chose poverty as a topic of discussion. It amazes me how well the children in poverty stricken situations adapt and develop coping skills to make do with what they have. As young as five years old, some of these children find ways to hide the fact that they are suffering the effects of poverty and go about their day with smiles. As we waved good bye to our students on Tuesday afternoon, we stopped to wonder how many of them were worrying about the long five day break and whether there would be enough food to feed everyone.
ReplyDeleteYou hit all the big effects of poverty on young children! Yes, poverty affects children's development in many ways. You are doing an awesome job by maintaining a list of resources for families in need.
ReplyDeleteIn the Dayton, Ohio area I recently heard of the Food Bank preparing backpacks that are distributed to children filled with foods for the weekend. I heard that 463 backpacks were prepared for just one school last week. This is extremely troubling that hundreds of children need this assistance, and what that could mean for their development. When children so not have the nutrients, they do not have energy or the brain power for learning. Additionally, their social and emotional development (behavior) can be unstable.