Blog # 9

The relationship between working poor women’s conditions and children living in poverty are closely intertwined. Children who are currently living in poverty were most likely brought into that poverty because of the poor status of their mother. If the family the child is coming from is poor and the Mother cannot provide for the child they will be born into poverty. This becomes tricky because you don’t want to penalize the child for something it had no control over yet it isn’t entirely the mothers fault either. It is hard enough for single females to find a decent job with a comfortable salary but when you add a child to the equation it makes everything harder. Single working mothers can only do so much; how can they support a child when sometimes they can’t even support themselves?

Looking at charts from the National Center for Children in Poverty shows that the conditions affect the children and the poverty level. The characteristics of poor children in American are close to the same as working poor woman; most are black, Latino, American Indian, and Asian. If you came to this country as an immigrant your chances of being below the poverty level are high, especially if you are a child coming from a single working mother. Another important statistic that I learned from the charts was that the younger the child the higher the poverty; this is because when the child is at its youngest the mother will have minimal experience working. As the child gets older the mother will hopefully acquire more experience and knowledge that will allow her to obtain a better high paying job. Most of these women we are talking about are very young, some even still children themselves. The jobs of these women to try and provide for their families will continue to be a struggle for years to come.

Blog # 8

Urban poverty is a big factor in creating problems for working mothers. All of the mothers in chapter four have the same underlying concern; what will happen to their children in the future. When you grow up in a neighborhood with no one to look up too you become ok with the notion of living in that area for the rest of your life and being ok with the life style you are accustomed too. In most cases poor working mothers in urban poverty areas must resort to unsatisfactory childcare options and they don’t have a choice. It is either crappy childcare or no childcare which results in losing your job. Most of the mothers in these area’s don’t even have the resources to research childcare options nor do they have the time to find the best one, most of the time it is the cheapest, easiest, and most convenient. If woman are in low wage jobs they will not be able to afford the childcare they need and deserve.

The urban poverty area’s are known for greater violence, joblessness throughout the community, abandonment of homes, welfare, poor schools, crime, and drugs.\ Some children’s parents may even be in jail, this is seen more often with the fathers or boyfriends. Poor woman in mixed income neighborhoods do not face all of these problems although they do still exist. Drugs and violence are everywhere you go but these neighborhoods have a better environment and community providing more security to those who belong to it. Mixed communities are able to provide a better environment for children to grow up in along with having positive role models that can influence the children’s lives in positive ways. Chaudry wanted us to see in this chapter that even though when we think we are able to make more money there will always be more things to spend the money on.

Blog # 7

In the third chapter of Chaudry’s Putting Children First we learn about many childcare sources that Julia put her daughter Jacqueline in. Before Jacqueline was 4 she already had 6 different caregivers. In this certain case it was apparent that they were in this situation because the father had left. Julia wanted to further her education although she barely had any time to spend with her children after working. It’s like a catch 22, you need to go back to school to get a better education so you can attain the better job with the better salary, but who is going to watch your children while you go back to school? And who will make ends meet in the mean time. Single mothers below the poverty line are finding it increasingly hard to even find any type of government assistance because of the strict policies they have. Just because someone may be making a dollar more doesn’t mean that they don’t need financial assistance. When people get stuck in minimum wage positions it is hard to get out because the other jobs offered to you are at the same level. It is sad to watch and see some of the things people have to sacrifice purely because they just don’t make enough money to live the life they are in. In one video a man would have to not fill his prescriptions certain months because he didn’t have enough money to pay them because he did not have any type of insurance. It seems that there is something wrong when Americans cannot afford healthcare when they have full time jobs. These people constantly get stuck in corners and seldom have an easy battle. When Julia was able to move to a full time job she lost her government aid, although that’s when she needed it the most for longer hours of childcare.

Blog # 6

After reading the first few chapters in the book, I couldn’t believe how many different childcare options there were and the struggles woman go through to find them. It isn’t as simple as finding the closest day care and dropping your child off. Most working mothers who are struggling to find childcare are not only worries about providing for their children but making sure they are in a safe environment. There are many concerns that come along with being a single mother, having to worry day to day where your child is going to go while you go to your job so you can put food on the table should not be something that Mothers should have to worry about. The concern of childcare adds a lot of stress for the working mother and also greatly impacts the child at key learning points in his or her life. Mothers want to be able to send their children to a reliable day care that they can trust but this is not possible because they are too expensive and government aid is not enough. Because single mothers cannot rely on traditional styles of childcare they have to resort to friends and family members; which can be strenuous and demanding on your relationships. Also stability is a key aspect to this whole picture; a child needs a constant primary care giver in their life. Cases in the book showed the horrors of random strangers watching your children who do nothing but put the TV on to flimsy family members who were not reliable. In 14 states it is legal to practice childcare without a license, which many women have to resort to because it is all they can afford. This is scary to think about. It is quite clear that those women who have low-incomes with children have to rely on unsafe and rocky childcare programs due to the lack of support from government aid. If we cannot help the mothers who want to help better their children, the children will only grow up to live in poverty.

Blog # 5

In the first chapter of “Putting Children First” by Ajay Chaudry we learn the struggles of single mothers trying to raise a family and work in the public workforce. There are many concerns that come with being a single mother looking for child care. The government continues to pass policies to encourage single women to get jobs, but they don’t encompass plans for childcare. It becomes a big problem when your children are not at the age for full time school and you have a job that does not offer child care assistance. What is a single mother to do when she has no one to watch her children, is quitting her job a sacrifice that she should have to make? The mothers who are able to continue to work while raising children end up working more hours than any average employee and still aren’t able to make ends meet. As supported by the video’s even though low income mothers may be working long hours their wages are not high and the cost of living is drastically rising. As women make more money they decrease their eligibility for government aid programs.

In Annette and Aarons story in the first chapter of the book Annette struggles to make ends meet. She tries getting a second job and when she does her expenses increase, when Annette finds a better paying job, her rent increases. This study showed that as we make more money we desire and demand a better style of living, it can be a vicious cycle for those who are close to the poverty line. Chaudry argues that it is the public responsibility to help these mothers who are trying to work but cannot afford childcare. We need government assistance in financing childcare for working woman along with better guidelines for working mothers in these situations.