This article by: Mary Keegan Eamon touches on the effects of children living in poverty and how all facets effect their lives.
Interconnected Systems:
- Microsystem- the group that is the closest environment the child interacts with like family, school, neighborhood. When the child lives in poverty it can affect the social emotional development.
- Mesosystem- is connections between different microsystems like the child and school. Poverty makes it more likely that issues will arise like limited communication and collaboration between family and school.
- Exosystem- This setting is indirectly influenced by the development of the child. Community resources, government policies, and social services. Living in poverty can affect the child by limiting access to quality healthcare, education, and social support.
- Macrosystem- embodies the larger cultural and societal values, beliefs and norms. Poverty can be influenced by societal factors such as income and inequality and discrimination.
Policy Implications:
- Stay informed- Keeping current with research, policies and procedures and best practices.
- Join professional organizations- look for focuses that touch on poverty and child welfare.
- Collaborate with policy makers- amplify your voice and advocate for policies.
- Influence policy development- help provide expert input, conducting research, and offering evidence-based recommendations. Engage and show up to public hearing and meet with policymakers to address systematic issues.
Resilience and Protective Factors: Within the ecologic system there are various protective factors of resilience-building strategies that social worker can explore to help with social-emotional development. Here are so examples that can push us in the right direction:
- Strong social support networks- more connections with family members, friends, mentors, teachers, and other community members.
- Access to high quality education- every child deserves to have access to proper schooling which can help foster opportunities for learning, skill building, and personal development.
- Positive relationships with adults- building relationships that nurture and help grow and develop the child with a standing support, positive role model and environment and being more resilience.
- Culturally responsive practices- having the upmost respect for cultural backgrounds, values, and their identity.
- Trauma informed approaches- understanding trauma and providing and being able to create a safe space, build trust and promote healing.
By using these examples and live by them we are able to support children’s social emotional development and resilience in the face discrimination.
Reflecting on this article:
We need to be and create a safe space for children. The author chatted about how the parents stress would spread and also reach the children. In male children they pick up more on the burden of providing to your family in need. The depression that lingers and effects everyone. Being malnourished and going without trying to provide for your children.
Touching on peer rejection was hard to swallow. I remember my single mother trying to make ends meet when we were children and being upset, we bought our shoes at Payless. I was embarrassed I did not have a name brand and would not be accepted by my peers. Feeling alone and rejected were huge fears. Such a trivial thing to be upset about, as a parent now I take my children to thrift shops. We get excited when we get our friends hand me downs. I want to raise children past that stigma.
We need to have more systems in place to help children feel the void the poverty can create. More programs and support for the children and the families.
Neveah Reese
This article was right up my alley, as I have taken many courses in child development and family studies these last couple years. I could not agree more with you more regarding the ways you suggested we can begin to foster change. Helping parents break generational traumas, implementing healthy parenting approaches, ensuring all children are receiving the opportunity to reach their highest potential, and teaching in the context of cultural is crucial for healthy development. With that, teaching children how to be comfortable with differences and diminishing bully culture.
Growing up I had two single parents, as they were separated but had 50/50 custody. There was a time in my life where I didn’t have consistent home with one of my parents. Sleeping in a tent in the summer or house hopping at friends in the winter. We were on state assistance, the family that took hand-me downs, and didn’t have money for unneeded things. Luckily, as you are with your children, there was never shame that came with this. Both of my parents made things special and exciting always. We understood why we had the life we did, and we were okay with it! Now that I’m older though, I do see a lot of things that were taught to me unknowingly. For instance, all my siblings and I struggle with anxiety. Watching how stressed our parents were has created a constant feeling of impending doom in our own life. In addition, we are frugal with money. While this is somewhat positive, we also have habits of hoarding money, stressing of money, and letting it consume us when it doesn’t really need to. Needless to say, poverty certainly impacts the socio-emotional development in children for several reasons. If we ignore this factor, it heightens the possibility of poverty to continuously repeat itself in each generation. We need community support, more effective programs, and focus on growth and change, rather than temporary solutions.
Christine Ryan
Neveah,
Thanks for sharing your personal experiences, must have been challenging to take on all that extra stress from your parents, not even understanding what you were at the time. I understand the anxiety around money and the stress. Hopefully seeing the blog helped you realize the whys behind the stress and understand that with a little awareness, you can breathe and make good choices without the panic.
John Da Broi
Now I am not that knowledgeable on this topic of poverty and the effects it has on children but after reading your blog which shows all the details that are available for kids and parents to help remove/relocate out of this circumstance they are currently in and how we can create change so this is less likely to happen by providing support.
Alex Beaudouin
Hi Christine,
Thank you for your blog and for shining the light on “The Effects of Poverty on Children’s Socioemotional Development’. Those effects can be significant and long-lasting. Poverty can hurt children’s emotional well-being. I think it is important to recognize and address the socioemotional needs of children living in poverty. Providing support through social programs, access to quality education, and mental health services can help mitigate the negative effects of poverty on their development.
Robi Naranjo
Thanks for sharing. That was a really good breakdown of poverty in children. I could relate to your reflection at the end about Payless shoes and the stigma of not fitting in with your peers! I still cannot buy Payless shoes for me or my kids. I’ll just wait until dividends or something come along to buy non-payless shoes. I like how you said” We need to have more systems in place to help children feel the void the poverty can create.”
Ian Miller
In reading the Article by M.K. Eamon (2001), I found myself coming back to your first “resilience and protective factors; Strong social support networks- more connections with family members, friends, mentors, teachers, and other community members”. Multiple times the writer referred to parental involvement and parental coping skills as being the greatest contributing factor to a child’s socioemotional development. To the extent that in some of the reading it felt like the writer was blaming the parents! Eamon stating that “Mothers who are uninvolved in their children’s schools also may use less skilled parenting practices in the home, and the effects of these practices are observed in the classroom”. Though that may be true, statements like that should be accompanied with an analysis of why parental skills, coping strategies, and scholastic representation is still lacking in the impoverished populations. Like you stated, we have to create safe spaces for all people to feel like they have a say in their social environment, and if we see gaps in an individuals efficacy, we need to be able to respond in ways that lift people up
Mel Maendel
Thank you for sharing your own experiences that tie into the article. Your blog was full of very useful and informative information, and I also liked that you included a wide variety of information like the definitions, reflection of the article and even protective factors. I do think that most of the time when we think of poverty, we think of more of the implications that are happening to the adults, so it sometimes goes over our heads that there is also stress out on the kids in many different ways. So, I really like that this article focused more on the child aspect as sometimes it is overlooked.
Maren Chaffee
I have experienced and assisted with the impact of poverty on child development during my time teaching in a small town with limited resources and high living costs. Even families receiving state assistance often struggle to make ends meet. In my work, I have encountered many children for whom the school environment serves as their safe space and primary source of reliable food. While not all schools or teachers have the capacity to provide the level of support, I was able to offer within Special Education, my team and I found ways to support all students, whether it was providing snacks or helping with basic essentials like a broken jacket.
One of my greatest challenges in the school system was the lack of priority placed on the social and emotional needs of children living in poverty. Many of these children struggle to fully engage with their education on a daily basis. Taking the time to listen to them, offering a snack, or simply being present and supportive can have a lasting impact on their lives. We are aware of the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) scores and the profound impact they can have on children. Connecting with families and children, providing resources, and offering support could truly make a world of difference in their lives.
Ben Woods
Great post Christine! This is a touchy yet extremely important subject. It’s wild how children feel when they grow up in poverty. From the looks of the chart, children may have just as intense feelings as their parents. I think it’s great that we have a chart that outlines some of the feelings children have when they are poor. I can almost guarantee the parent(s) are doing everything that they possibly can to give their child the best of the best but are having a hard time. Children in poor or wealthy class need to have a good support system at school. It’s amazing how much impact a teacher can have. I remember my history teacher made me feel excited to come to class and kept us all engaged in the content. He was so passionate about us learning about history. I ended up failing his class but I think highly of that class because of him. I came across this video on YouTube some time ago and it’s pretty cool to watch how the teachers react to their former students thanking them. https://youtu.be/0sfdDHlrHf4?si=a8ycvAp4jT3P0weK