The article “Good parenting key to breaking cycle of poverty” by Nicole Letourneau and Justin Joschko in the Toronto Star highlights the importance of strong relationships between children and adults in low-income families in Canada (Letourneau & Joschko, 2013). The article is significantly critical in the essence that it exposes the dangers of families suffering poverty not building a strong relationship with their children by particularly not giving them the necessary attention. In hindsight, the article depicts how extensive and sensitive alienation can be experienced while also revealing its prevalence to be witnessed across various issues. Alienation is thus witnessed in the article in a complex manner with its consequences revealed even at a later stage of the children’s growth in their adulthood. For instance, while children who received better and sufficient attention from parents and caregivers went on to be a success, those that lacked better relationship repeated the same cycle of poverty in their lives.
The above-highlighted article notes a situation that serves to offer evidence to the possibilities that can emerge should children raised in conditions of poverty lack proper relationships with their parents or responsible caregivers. Being raised in poverty comes with a wide range of consequences most specifically economic and social consequences. Children in such conditions most often suffer from significant amounts of health issues, have inadequate education and are usually more likely to experience poverty as adults (Letourneau & Joschko, 2013). The vulnerability to this cycle is however attributed to the lack various factors such as discipline, parental attentiveness, depression, and life stress that all rotate around the lack of attention. When there is the lack of a strong relationship, the children tend to feel indifferent thus seeing no need to rise above their status like their counterparts who receive better attention compared to them (Gornick & Jäntti, 2010). The fact that some caregivers deem merely meeting the basic needs of the children to be overwhelming further aggravate matters seeing as the children’s emotional and intellectual needs are left empty. Thus, the long-term development of the children is influenced going forth to trigger untold damage.
The article, in essence, manifests alienation in the sense that it notes the lack of attention given to children while also revealing the dangers of the aspect. For one, while being children, thus viable to be offered proper attention and care that is aimed to both mental and emotional growth, the children from the low-income families are neglected in matters attention. Also, despite the fact that there is the evidence that children given effective attention stand to succeed in the future, some caregivers still do not see the need to build a strong relationship with their children. As such, the children in such low-income families do suffer not only financial poverty but also relational poverty which is tantamount to alienation. Nonetheless, Albanese (2010) in “Child poverty in Canada” nonetheless credits the development of such can of alienation of children to the increasing poverty levels in Canada that have forced parents to dwell more on providing basic needs thus neglecting other needs that the children may have (Albanese, 2010). Further, it encouraged indifference in the children since they felt odd compared to their other counterparts that received maximum attention from their guardians. The effects of the kind of alienation evidenced in the article cannot be underrated since they go further to influence the lives of the children in their adulthood. In effect, the children are made vulnerable to many situations among them being stagnancy in their financial growth such that end up also being poor in their eventual growth. The children, in essence, grow to be faced with many challenges such as poor housing, low wages, and insufficiencies in job security.
In conclusion, while alienation can elicit feelings of indifference, it can also encourage further worse developments. The fact that some children in low-income families in Canada are alienated against by not being offered the prerequisite attention deemed crucial for the growth of children encourages the children to feel less worth of better development. As such, the children who grow in such a condition of alienation emerge as adults affected by their stages of growth thus growing in depression and reclusiveness to also have a poor financial life on most occasions. It thus suffices to highlight that alienation if not managed can influence the life of an individual at extremely negative levels.
Bibliography
Albanese, P. (2010). Child poverty in Canada. OUP Catalogue.
Gornick, J. C., & Jäntti, M. (2010). Child poverty in upper-income countries: Lessons from the Luxembourg Income Study. In From child welfare to child well-being (pp. 339-368). Springer Netherlands.
Letourneau, N., & Joschko, J. (2013). Good parenting key to breaking cycle of poverty. Toronto Star.
