Poverty and Child Development

When I was young my family survived on my Grandmother’s senior citizen’s rations that she received from the local church.   My father was suffering from PTSD and was addicted to tranquilizers.  My mother was scared to leave and go work because of my father’s irratic and unpredictable behavior.  She would watch neighborhood children, but everyone knew what was going on with my father so many did not want their children around us.  Even though we never really had much sweets, I  never really felt poor.  I was taught from a very early age about not wasting food and taking care of my  clothes and shoes.  I never really knew why except that I should take care of my things.  I do remember being sad because my friends would get to go out for the community sports and take piano lessons and I couldn’t.  I also remember that my clothes were usually too big for me because they were hand me downs from my sister.  I was constantly tripping over my feet because my shoes were two sizes too large.  I never felt bad though because of my clothes and shoes because my mom always emphasized making the person on the inside beautiful and not worry about the outwardly appearance.  As I grew I can remember having the school provide paper for me to make my flashcards and doing it at school because they knew we did not have extra paper laying around.  I was academically at the same level as my peers, but physically I was behind.  This could be because of the lack of nutrition during my younger years causing a physical delay (Berger, 2009) or it could simply be due to physical family traits. 

As I have grown, my father received help for his PTSD and his addiction.  He also got a good public service job that had insurance.  Once my father got on track and my brother, sister and I were in school, my mom got a job to help pay bills as well.  Life got better, meals were complete with a nutritious value, I got shoes that fit for the first time.  Every time I got a chance to dog sit, babysit, or earn any kind of money, I did and spend it on my own deodorant, clothes, etc.  I felt it my duty at age 12 to pay for my stuff if I could.  So poverty may have delayed my physical development, but it actually made me a very responsible person.

When I met my husband, he had a similar story from when he grew up in the Philippines, but also stories of chaos from the soldiers and gorilla troops fighting around their houses.  His parents, who came to the US to become doctors and make money, go back to the Philippines and provide free clinics for their town they came from.  They are trying to help, even if it’s a small part, where and when they can to reduce the stress on the peoples in that region.  The children are given immunizations, medicines, milk, food, toys, clothes all in these free clinics.  The region itself is still covered in poverty, but UNICEF and PIDS are realizing just how much the children in this region are suffering (http://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-children-suffer-multiple-dimensions-poverty-study).

References:

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

http://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-children-suffer-multiple-dimensions-poverty-study