{"id":2231,"date":"2017-06-28T14:33:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T14:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/index.php\/2017\/06\/28\/on-family-and-poverty\/"},"modified":"2017-06-28T14:33:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T14:33:36","slug":"on-family-and-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/2017\/06\/28\/on-family-and-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"on Family and Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1980s, my husband was an Army cook for the 10th<\/sup> Cavalry. The government considered our family of four as \u201cliving below the poverty line.\u201d However, I\u2019m here to say that though we only deposited $1000 per month in the bank, we did not act like we were in poverty.<\/p>\n

One expert on understanding the effects of poverty on families is Ruby K. Payne Ph.D., who goes to great lengths to inform our nation\u2019s educators on the poverty mindset. <\/em><\/strong>In her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty: A Cognitive Approach,<\/em> she begins with a working definition of poverty.<\/p>\n

Poverty is the extent to which an individual does without resources.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Payne explains the resources \u2013or rather the lack of resources\u2014affect our upbringing<\/strong>. These would include more than the lack financial or physical resources. She lists several other types that could be inadequate, such as emotional, spiritual, intellectual resources, and so forth.<\/p>\n

The situation our family experienced could be called temporary poverty.\u00a0<\/strong> Since I was raised in a family with a middle-class mindset<\/strong> where education and goals for college and career were paramount, our family structure was stable and fervently committed to the children\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n

My husband I tried to keep our family as functional as possible with the resources we had at the time. Though money was low, we weren\u2019t low on love, family time, self-sacrifice and communication. Yet, the lack of financial, medical, and physical resources played a role in our \u201cstory.\u201d<\/p>\n

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If you are writing your <\/em><\/strong>life story, include your backstory or first culture.\u00a0 <\/em>To include this is beneficial to your readers\u2019 understanding of the dynamics of your family.<\/strong> Here\u2019s how Ruby Payne describes these dynamics\u2026<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2026Knowledge of hidden rules, sometimes called mores<\/em>, is crucial to whatever social group or class in which you wish to live. Hidden rules exist in poverty, in middle class, and in wealth, as well as in ethnic groups and other units of people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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To tell YOUR story is to teach your readers the norms, the mores, and practices of your pocket of the world. To the extent the norms worked in your family is the extent to which you were functional.<\/em><\/strong> To the degree that your family scrambled for necessary resources at the expense of some of the family members, that spelled dysfunction.<\/em><\/strong> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As we see in her quote, she used the phrase \u201cwish to live.\u201d Does her word choice suggest that we can choose to come out of poverty and live a different way. I beg to differ with her in that the child in a home of poverty does not possess this power. Only the decision makers in the family may have this power, unless lack of resources force the adult to stay in the lower social class.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s mention two more definitions to tweak this conversation on poverty and the family. She describes<\/p>\n

family structure<\/em><\/strong> as\u00a0the configuration of the relationships within the household,<\/p>\n

and family function<\/em><\/strong> as \u00a0the extent to which a child is cared for and nurtured. The two should not be confused. A child can be in an unusual structure that still has family function. However, when both the family structure and the family function are unstable, then the child suffers.\u00a0 (Payne, page 72)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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In your search to understand your personal history, don\u2019t neglect an interpretation of your family\u2019s structure and function.<\/strong> If you use Dr. Payne\u2019s text, you\u2019ll discover not only your own family setting with new and precise terms, you will also build bridges to other social classes and groups. This endeavor might help to bring the peace on earth<\/em> we desire to see between the races, groups and cultures.\u00a0 Let\u2019s try.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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 <\/p>\n

More Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your Family Setting<\/a><\/p>\n

Family Dynamics<\/a><\/p>\n

Who’s in Charge?<\/a><\/p>\n

Should I fictionalize my life story?<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1980s, my husband was an Army cook for the 10th Cavalry. The government considered our family of four as \u201cliving below the poverty line.\u201d However, I\u2019m here to say that though we only deposited $1000 per month in the bank, we did not act like we were in poverty. One expert on understanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[371,4,8],"tags":[221,219,222],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}