Saturday, January 26, 2013

Childhood Poverty


I haven’t received a response from my contacts yet, so I went and visited the Childhood Poverty Research and Poverty Centre (CHIP) website. In the article I discovered several things about what poverty involves. The three most relevant topics that I read about were: the emotional side of poverty for a child, causes for childhood poverty, and what can help to diminish poverty.

Emotional- a child who grows up in poverty not only lacks from basic economic and nutritional resources, but also from emotional and spiritual developmental needs that feed the soul. Some parents may lack the time or desire to spend time with their children, these leads to emotional destabilization for the child. In school, children could be stigmatized by their peers for wearing old or torn clothing.

Causes of poverty-  economic trends and policies, environmental stresses, epidemics, and/or poor governance. It also has to do with the expenditures that a poor country has and its liberalization on financial systems to make the country “competitive” in global markets (developing countries v.s. developed countries) such as: bringing foreign worldwide companies competing with national/ local companies, privatization, limited disbursement on public needs, among others.

Diminishing Poverty- responses from the government and private sectors should be: investing on positive impact programs and economic activities, access to primary health care, health services for mothers and their children, adult education, access to service for children with disabilities, among others.

There’s also our own contribution to diminish poverty, no matter how small or big. Being educated, means to give a helping hand and not being selfish, that's what makes us human.



4 comments:

  1. Hey there! I haven't been able to get in contact with my conatcts as well, but I did enjoy reading your blog post. I found it very interesting that the emotional impact of poverty on a child, the causes of child poverty and ways to diminish poverty were so important to you. I do agree that these three points are key in helping put an end to this plaque and that every person can help end this fight with just a helping hand. Thanks again for sharing!!!

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  2. I haven't heard back from anyone either. However, I love your last quote:

    There’s also our own contribution to diminish poverty, no matter how small or big. Being educated, means to give a helping hand and not being selfish, that's what makes us human.

    This encourages everyone to help in some way. Many people feel that if they cannot give trememndously, then there's no point. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I personally like to start with my own students--buying and giving them some of the things they do not have and need. :)


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  3. Hello Elisa,
    Thank you for sharing your insights on the three most relevant topics regarding poverty. I agree that we, parents, educators, citizens would benefit from promoting education for everyone. In the long run, an educated society spends less money on remedial programs and gives itself a chance to thrive in a competitive world. In this light, quality programs such as Head Start should be available to all children.

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  4. the early stage of development is so crucial, and parents must understand that even being in a situation where money is a issue, they can find alternative methods to spend time with their children and do things together in order to boost their learning. Poverty has a toll on young children and those who are able to be assistance for these children will be a great benefit for their lives. Sometimes people can be selfish and only attempt to make a way for themselves; however, if we can all come together for the sack of young children, they will be given an opportunity to life as well.

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