Poverty; A Stress on Child Development!

Poverty is much bigger than some people care to realize. My mom was a single mother of 7 and the sole provider for our household.  We lived in a 3 bedroom low income apartment didn’t have much, in fact; I am sure we only had the necessities. I remember many times where my mother had to give us white rice and tuna for dinner because she didn’t have money for a bigger meal, always wearing hand me downs, and simply trying to survive another day. For the most part we were a happy family but we didn’t have much, are special meals would come on the holidays or when there was a family function. New clothes only came when there was money, and toys, well those only came during Christmas or your birthday. Luckily, we grew up in those times where going outside to play was better than being indoors and all our fun came from make believe.

Mexico is a very good example if you want to show how economic cycles and poverty are intimately related. With 40% of the population living below the poverty line and more than 10% in extreme poverty, families living on less than $1.25 per day (Poverties. 2012). According to this website the poverty level has gone done tremendously but we all know this is one stressor that will never go away, not for the United States and nowhere else for that matter.

Unfortunately; poverty in this century can be so devastating. Although we lived in poverty growing up my mother made sure we had what we needed, she also gave us a lot of quality time, and had a big support system. We were all healthy children and believe it or not the foods we ate back then were healthier than they are today. Foods high in sugar, such as; candy, cakes, and sodas did not really exist in our household. One of the major issues in Mexico is that even their water can make them sick because they have inadequate sanitation and drainage systems in the poor communities. These communities only foster an ideal environment for diseases like hepatitis, typhoid fever, dengue fever and other bacterial infections.

The bottom line is that no matter who you are or where you are from, the stress of poverty can be very damaging to both children and adults. Like any other stressor in life, poverty can affect a child physically; becoming malnourished, cognitively; causing delays and possibly speech problems, and emotionally; causing a child to withdraw.

References:

POVERTIES. Economics and Extreme Poverty in Mexico. 2012
Retrieved from: http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-mexico.html#sthash.z4BlzEke.dpuf