UK Child Poverty Rises

In a year, the number of children in the UK living in poverty has risen by 200,000.

The world has more than enough food to feed everyone in the world, and more than enough resources to provide clothing, shelter, education and healthcare to everyone. For that reason, any social or economic system that denies children the right to food, clothes, shelter, education, and healthcare is seriously flawed.

We may not have the ability to fix those fundamental flaws in our society that have made some weasels rich at the expense of the rest. However, we can counter this social corruption by doing whatever we can to ensure that all children get a great education. With a great education, these children can grow into capable adults who can not only escape the poverty trap, but also can fix the fundamental flaws in our society.

The Effect Of Family Poverty On Children

A few different organizations collaborated to research the effect of family poverty on children. The study took an in depth look at 70 low income families from both poor neighborhoods and more affluent ones.

The study took place in England, but I believe it can tell us the general effects of poverty on children everywhere.

Unsurprisingly, the study showed many problems and troubles for families living in poverty, all of which negatively impact children. The study found that children generally felt ashamed and stressed over their poverty. Even young children would hide their own personal needs to avoid stressing their parents further. Many children were bullied by other children in relation to their poverty. Poor parents reported a high level of behavior problems, and poverty had a severely negative effect on the children’s emotional well-being.

The study has shown me some of the ways poverty disrupts children’s development and deprives them of equal opportunity. That results in a poverty trap, in that many of those poor children will end up in poverty as adults due to their poor childhood.

You can discuss this post and the effects of poverty on children in this thread in the World Hunger and Poverty Forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

Stop Leaving Children With Poor Parents

Many parents could provide their children with much better lives. These parents could create an enviornment more conducive to personal success for their child. Many of these parents live in poverty, and thus force their children to grow up in poverty.

Children who grow up in poverty have a much greater chance of ending up in poverty. We call that the poverty trap. These children go to lower quality schools. They lack good role models. They sometimes have to quit school to take care of their poor families. They grow up around violence, drugs, and other horrors. Born and raised somewhere else, these same children would not end up poor.

Poverty-stricken parents who let themselves fall into poverty and do not try to escape poverty have sentenced their children to a life of struggle that will likely include a lifetime of poverty. That seems like a very bad form of child abuse to me.

I wonder if we might want to come up with a way to remove these children from these poor homes. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a place to put these children. The state already has more unadopted children than it can handle.

Whatever we do, we need to find a way to get children away from parents that let themselves fall and remain in poverty.

Please note, I am not talking about parents who live in poverty but try to get out and try to take care of their children. I am talking about the apathetic, lazy, and neglectful parents who choose to not fight their hardest to get out of poverty. For example, consider the unemployed drug-abusing mother who does not even try to get a job, despite the horrors poverty does to her children.

If you have any suggestions on how to solve that problem, please post them in the Hunger and Poverty Forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

Consider Donating and Volunteering Later Too

Thanksgiving has just passed and the December holiday season has already begun. Charities and hunger relief organizations see a massive influx of donations and volunteering during these holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Unfortunately, the rest of the year, these same organizations usually need much more volunteering and donations, especially the volunteering because extra money can be saved.

Whether or not you choose to volunteer or donate during the holidays, I suggest you make a promise to yourself to donate or volunteer another time during the year. Maybe choose a random day way off from the holidays and write it in your calender as a day to volunteer.

At the risk of sounding like a slogan, let me point out that the needy are not just needy during the holidays.

Have You Ever Been Homeless?

Have you ever been homeless? If so, please tell us about it and consider answering these questions about being homeless for a school project at the following URL:

http://millionsofmouths.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=259

To answer the questions, you will need to register and log in at the forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome. Please do it, as the questions are for a school project. Even if you have not been homeless, feel free to provide your thoughts about the questions.

Let’s Compete in Poverty Eradication

On Saturday, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus urged political leaders from different countries to compete in the eradication of poverty.

Poverty in Bangladesh has been falling by 2 percent per year thanks to the genius efforts of Yunus and his Grameen Bank. Yunus started the Grameen Bank with the help of self-help groups of poor people. The bank provides microloans to poor people, mainly women, which helps them start or reinvigorate their own small businesses. This enables them permanently escape poverty.

Yunus aims to half poverty in Bangladesh by 2015 and eliminate it by 2030. He says that then he wants to setup a poverty museum so that the younger generation knows what poverty is all about.

Yunus amazes me more and more every time I read or see more about him.