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Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

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Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#11

Post by UnpossibleJim »

altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

We also have no requirement to become a parent. No education requirement once you become pregnant or a parent from the local schools or clinics. Good parenting is not just some "God given talent", but can be improved through education to help parents of all wealth levels. If you want to raise the "potential of the country", help with sex education and parental education.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#12

Post by tomnipotent »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #7

Housing is an enormous tax, and rent seeking just transfers money from the poor to the rich. Rather than giving everyone money, I would prefer to see a market solution where we greatly lower the costs for things at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid.

This.

I grew up on welfare, and I can't tell you how often my mom would talk about section 8 housing and how that would change everything. Having to move was my parents greatest nightmare - they would barely afford day-to-day things, nonetheless first/last/deposit.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#13

Post by wonderwonder »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #7

Housing is an enormous tax, and rent seeking just transfers money from the poor to the rich. Rather than giving everyone money, I would prefer to see a market solution where we greatly lower the costs for things at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid.

It appears that we have plenty of money to subsidize farming for both ethanol and tariffs, seems like we could go a step further and work on greatly reducing the cost of food. We would need to do so in such a way that all of the funds are not just going to massive corporations that just swallow the funds, something we don't really seem to be able to do currently.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#14

Post by hmschreck »

mech1234 wrote: post #9
altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

What programs tackle child poverty?

SNAP and WIC are one of the first to come to mind. The effect of poor early life nutrition can have a measurable impact throughout a person's life.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#15

Post by JakeTheAndroid »

mech1234 wrote: post #9
altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

What programs tackle child poverty?

I used to work for a company that partnered with (and is now owned by) a non-profit called Youth Villages. They focused on in-home rehabilitation to help avoid having kids enter into foster care by working with the parents. There are a few foster care programs that target poor youth and aim to provide them with more resources and opportunities. I am not sure what other types of programs would focus specifically on childhood poverty.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#16

Post by Ididntdothis »

wonderwonder wrote: post #13
rdlecler1 wrote: post #7

Housing is an enormous tax, and rent seeking just transfers money from the poor to the rich. Rather than giving everyone money, I would prefer to see a market solution where we greatly lower the costs for things at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid.

It appears that we have plenty of money to subsidize farming for both ethanol and tariffs, seems like we could go a step further and work on greatly reducing the cost of food. We would need to do so in such a way that all of the funds are not just going to massive corporations that just swallow the funds, something we don't really seem to be able to do currently.

We have subsidize the right food though. Otherwise obesity and associated diseases will keep growing.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#17

Post by marpstar »

empath75 wrote: post #10
wonderwonder wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are generally the same people who protest so vehemently against abortion. I have always been amazed that I live in the richest country in the world and at night tens of thousands of kids go hungry or fall asleep in a car.

also the same people that are fine with putting immigrant kids into cages.

...does that make abortion right? I think both are wrong.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#18

Post by newnewpdro »

altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

> In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no fault of their own.

Is it really unexpected/surprising?

Ever since population sizes grew large enough for paternity to matter, where children didn't just fall into a common pool, we've cared more about our resources contributing to our own children's outcomes and not those of others.

Children born in poverty are just at the extreme low end of the spectrum, but anywhere on that spectrum there's economic disparity between families affecting the probabilities of outcomes for their respective children.

It's arguably irrational to care about someone else's children in this scenario, when you have your own. They're competitors, you want to give your children as much advantage as possible and disadvantage everyone else's, if you're playing aggressively. As the population continues to grow larger, there's only increasing pressure on parents to be aggressive, if they're paying attention.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#19

Post by hmschreck »

altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

More and more research is showing that poverty has a severe impact on the brain, and left unchecked it can become nearly unbreakable.

Many of the decisions made by impoverished people are either somewhat sensible for their situation in the short-term (e.g., asking a 16 or 17 year old child to drop out and start working) or are sensible when viewed through certain forms of skewed perspectives (e.g., spending a small windfall immediately because 'that money will just be gone soon anyway'). Children of impoverished parents overwhelmingly learn these lessons, and the stress of poverty is an ever-present part of their lives, so they are often debilitated by it from the very start.

Re: Poverty hurts children in ways we're beginning to understand

#20

Post by baby »

altacc wrote: post #3

In discussions about low income families I often see somebody comment along the lines of blaming the parents for making bad choices and choosing to have children they couldn't afford/care for/want. This is used as a reason not to provide any social support to those families as they see it as rewarding bad behaviour. But these children didn't make those choices and they now exist in their circumstances through no faul…

It’s the recurrent “blame the user, not the system”.
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