Poverty is the single greatest
threat to the well being of children and families. It can affect every area of a child’s
development-social, educational, and personal.
The children who are at risk for academic failure are likely those who
live in poverty. An American child is
born into poverty every 43 seconds, one in five children is poor during the
first three years of life, the time of greatest brain development (Gordon &
Brown, 2008).
When I was a young child, my best
friend, Rita and her four siblings was raised by their grandmother. She was a homemaker and had to rely on her
Social Security to make ends meet. I could remember her grandmother going to
the Welfare office applying and receiving food stamps. Although they were
living in low-income housing, they still had to search out for clothes for
school and other items. The good part
about it, me and Rita wore the same size, I would sometimes let her wear my
clothes and sometimes my shoes. There was still guidance and love in this
household, but I could tell some of the things other children had, they couldn’t
afford them.
Africa includes some of the poorest
countries in the world and in south of Sahara, harsh environmental conditions
exacerbate the conditions of poverty. The
land is dry and barren and covers large expanses of this region. While the poor try to eke out livings through
farming and other subsistence practices, they exhaust the land, using up the
soil nutrients needed to grow crops.
There has been a recent major shift
in African effort to address the continents problems. The New Partnership for Africa’s development
(NEPAD) aims to tackle HIV/AIDS, reduce poverty and sustain long-term economic
growth. A number of countries within
Africa have made real progress, poverty has been reduced, free primary education
and new schools built (Fight Poverty, 2006)
To overcome the issues of poverty
in Africa, it was stated that governments should step in. They should finance and provide primary
education and basic health care; and subsidize water and electricity so poor
people can afford these services.
References
Fight Poverty. (2006). Retrieved on July 18, 2012 from http://www.fightpoverty.mmbrico.com/facts/africa/html.
Gordon, A.M. & Browne, K.W. (2008). Beginnings and Beyond:
Foundations in Early
Childhood
Education. (7th ed.). Thomson: Delmar Learning.
I agree that poverty is a major concern in stressors for young children. I teach preschool and to qualify for my class you have to be on free or reduced lunch. I see alot of parents struggling to make ends meet. I also see children that are stressed and behave poorly because they are stressed about what is going on at home.
ReplyDeleteJanet,
ReplyDeletePoverty is a common stressor for children today. Families suffering from poverty have to prioritize things differently sometimes. Food is usually limited in the home and therefore children go to school hungry. Children have a hard time concentrating on learning when they are hungry. Nutrition effects the brain’s development. If a child is not receiving proper nutrition, then his/her brain might not develop as it should. Many times children living in poverty are tired because they were unable to rest comfortably the night before. A child's development is definitely going to be impacted by stressors such as poverty.
Poverty is a very sad issue that young children are dealing with every day.