Child Poverty and Child Well Being
Is Child Poverty the same as Child Well-being?
Introduction: Poverty is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. The fact that it is present even in developed countries is appalling. It becomes even more difficult in these times of economic uncertainties. There are many causes for poverty. Mismanagement of a country’s natural resources is one among many and when it is paired with the unpredictability of climate change and environmental disasters there is not much any administration can do other than damage control. The section of society most affected by poverty is children. Even though poverty passes through various layers of the society children are the worst hit because they are the most vulnerable. This essay shall look at the concepts, Child Poverty and Child Well-being and try to understand the relation between these two if any and the differences among them.
It is important to understand what the word ‘childhood’ actually means. It does not simply mean the time period from when a baby is born to when it becomes an adult. It refers to the quality of life of a child and how those years have helped a child to fully grow and reach his or her potential. A child who has been forced to do sexual labour or to take up arms will not have any childhood per se. Children who are deprived of basic necessities like education, proper sanitation, and a shelter are also robbed of their childhood. It is only when a child nears adulthood that cultures across the world start having expectations about them. It is therefore universally understood that childhood is a time span when the child must be allowed to play, develop and mature. (Bellamy 2004)
Poverty has been considered as a situation where a family is financially unable to satisfy its basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Though this seems like a satisfactory explanation it fails to ignore the various dimensions of poverty and does not focus on the actual problems. Even though reducing poverty has been
Introduction: Poverty is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. The fact that it is present even in developed countries is appalling. It becomes even more difficult in these times of economic uncertainties. There are many causes for poverty. Mismanagement of a country’s natural resources is one among many and when it is paired with the unpredictability of climate change and environmental disasters there is not much any administration can do other than damage control. The section of society most affected by poverty is children. Even though poverty passes through various layers of the society children are the worst hit because they are the most vulnerable. This essay shall look at the concepts, Child Poverty and Child Well-being and try to understand the relation between these two if any and the differences among them.
It is important to understand what the word ‘childhood’ actually means. It does not simply mean the time period from when a baby is born to when it becomes an adult. It refers to the quality of life of a child and how those years have helped a child to fully grow and reach his or her potential. A child who has been forced to do sexual labour or to take up arms will not have any childhood per se. Children who are deprived of basic necessities like education, proper sanitation, and a shelter are also robbed of their childhood. It is only when a child nears adulthood that cultures across the world start having expectations about them. It is therefore universally understood that childhood is a time span when the child must be allowed to play, develop and mature. (Bellamy 2004)
Poverty has been considered as a situation where a family is financially unable to satisfy its basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Though this seems like a satisfactory explanation it fails to ignore the various dimensions of poverty and does not focus on the actual problems. Even though reducing poverty has been
References: Gentleman, A, 2009, Child Poverty statistics: how the UK compares to other countries, The Guardian, 11 September 2009, viewed 28 March 2010, http://www.guardian.co.UK/news/datablog/2009/sep/11/child-poverty-statistics-UK-countries