Essay Sample on Conflicts with Being Raised By Parents Who Grew Up In Poverty

Poverty means being extremely poor, where an individual, a family, or a community has very little or limited possession of material or an income to sustain their needs (Gordon, 2008). There are different types of poverty where one have limited materials, but there is also extreme poverty where one cannot afford the basic needs, which are food shelter and clothing. Poverty affects a huge number of people in the community, which is measured through a poverty line. The poverty line is the definer of a basic standard or quality of life, and Mollie Orshansky, who was a known and celebrated American economist and statistician, stated that every standard family spends one-third of their worldwide income on food.

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Poverty does not mean being jobless or homeless, which can mean too but not in every situation, but it also has a job that cannot sustain or meet your basic needs (Gordon, 2008). There are several causes of poverty, but the main is the economic changes in the country that happen often. Some might be caused by natural and artificial calamities. Other reasons are lack of education, being illiterate, and changes in the environment like lack of rain for long periods, overpopulation and over reproduction, and even diseases and illness (Gordon, 2008).

Types of Poverty

There are several types of poverty, and a teacher by the name Eric Jensen did a study and stated six kinds of them. First, there is generational poverty; in this type of debt, the case is passed from one generation to the next, and mostly it happened because the second generation might lack enough resources, tools, and material that would help them come out of the situation (Eric, 2009). The second type of poverty is situational poverty; in this case and individual, a family or even a community might be stricken by poverty because of some natural causes like the weather i.e., the tsunami, some might be due to illness or loss of poverty. This situation is temporary and changes after a certain period when things get back in their standard states (Eric, 2009).

Absolute Poverty

The third type is absolute poverty, which Eric Jensen's stated that it is not very common in the United States of America. In this case, people live each day as it comes as they have nothing of their own, one in this type of situation doesn't afford any basic needs, and they cannot provide food, clothes, shelter or even water, so they mostly depend on well-wishers and luck to survive. It is the harshest type of poverty.

The fourth is called the relative type of poverty; in this situation people aren't that bad off as they can afford some basic need but not all, the reason for the name relative is because it is close to average living standards of the persons society but what is considered average in one place or country may be very different in another one (Eric, 2009). In a given society standard, a family is relatively poor if they cannot meet or afford the common standards.

Urban Poverty

The fifth is urban poverty, which is mostly in towns and cities, or areas with a large population of people with more than fifty thousand heads. In this areas, there is violence, robbery, noise, or help organizations, and this makes the groups of people get stuck in the poverty situation. The last and sixth type of poverty, according to the teacher, is rural poverty. Rural is opposite to urban poverty as it occurs only in some specific areas. Unlike the urban where it happens in areas with over fifty thousand people, the rural happens in areas with less than fifty thousand people.in this areas, there are few job opportunities and low service access, which leads to poverty (Eric, 2009).

Poverty is poverty, no matter the condition. People living in poverty struggle very much and pass through tough situations due to a lack of resources. People living in poverty struggle to meet basic needs and struggle even more to get out of the situation. It is tough and frustrating to get out of poverty if you cannot meet all your basic needs because that means one cannot save anything to do anything constructive (Blanden, 2008).

Different Types of Parents

No one wishes to live in poverty forever, and whoever who succeeds in getting himself out of poverty never wishes to go back and works in every way to make sure that he never goes back to the situation. Parents who grew up in poverty are very different compared to other parents who grew up in well off and standards families who could afford basic needs and also some luxury. These two people see things differently and have different motivations and view towards the world. In families that are being raised by parents who grew up in poverty, there are many conflicts because of the understanding of life that the parents and the children have.

I had to break down earlier the types of poverty so I can be able to explain the causes of conflicts in families with parents that grew up in poverty. I will major on parents that grew up in poverty but managed to get out of the situation and are now living a healthy life where they can afford basic needs and some amount of luxury and some who are wealthy but in the same category. I will also touch on the families that are being raised by parents who grew up in poverty and are still in debt. In both cases, there are conflicts, but they are very different(Blanden, 2008).

Britain have been in the past few years been concerned with poverty in the country, and it became a political interest and concern to fight poverty because it has adverse effects on both children and parents (Bradshaw, 2000). Tony Blair, who was a prime minister in Britain, stated in March 1999 that the labor government had the intention the eradicate child poverty by the year 2020 and had targeted to have reduced it by a quarter within five years and a half within ten years.

Relative Poverty

The leader said that relative poverty, which I stated earlier as not being able to meet the average living standards, had negative results in the families. He was driven by the fact that poverty poses a disadvantage, and inequality between children and access to material is also minimal as compared to children that are from wealthy families (Bradshaw, 2000). It has been stated that in the country and also acknowledged that bringing children out of poverty is a country's investment towards human capital. In relative poverty families, there might be conflicts between the parents and the children due to misunderstanding (Bradshaw, 2000).

The relative poverty families might be living in the same neighborhood as the average citizens who can afford their basic needs and a little luxury. In such a situation, children may find it very hard to understand how they can't afford certain things that fellow children can afford until they grow a little older to understand (Gulati,2008). This inequality brings conflicts in families due to misunderstanding, and sometimes it might get to blame game between the parents as they may tend to think they are not doing enough.

Causes of Conflicts

Every kid wants to be like the other kid. Whenever they see them with something new they want it, they might think that their parents don't love them enough when they are unable to purchase certain kind of stuff for them because they can't afford them, but the children might think the parents are refusing to buy it for them. This kind of conflict may lead to stressful kids and parents. The parent that grew up in poverty thinks that the kid should understand the situation because he grew up in the same location, but it might take time.

Such a parent have other duties that he should perform with the little he has all for the good of the family, but the child might not see that. Children are known to compare themselves because it is normal for them to show off their new toys or brag about their dads or mothers(Gulati,2008).

In the case of a parent who grew up in extreme poverty understands how it is to lack and would never want the same to happen to their children. Parents must make sure that their children are comfortable and get all the basic needs and a little luxury. A parent who grew up in poverty is mostly an economist. Such parents are rigorous on their children on their spending and lifestyles. People who were once broke are said to be very careful with their spending to prevent them from getting broken again.

In this situation between the parent and the child, they see life differently and have different visions and dreams towards life. Conflicts might come up in circumstances in which the parent thinks that the child is okay because they had a harsh upbringing than them, forgetting that the situation s different and the people they interact with are different. The parent might not see the need to do a sure thing for the child because it was normal when they were growing up, but that might be hurting the children. The bad relationship may be born between the children and the parent and might lead to the children keeping everything to themselves(Gulati,2008).

Conflicts might also get worse when the parents try to force a particular lifestyle or culture that they don't agree with due to the different worlds they come to. The children might not have any clue about how being poor is and would like to live like all their rich friends. There are a lot of conflicts and arguments between the children and parents about the spending of money and what it should be spent on. Parents who grew up in low-income families might want to teach their children how to persevere in harsh conditions, how to spend money wisely as well as how to make money, and mostly how to become humble.

Limiting some resources to children when living in a lavish neighborhood may lead to conflicts and arguments because children want to feel absorbed in the social group that they are in. Trying to explain to the kid why certain things are not necessary in life is very difficult. The kid has seen just one condition in his or her life, and the type of thinking that both of them have is very different.

The kid might be very exposed to his or her age as compared to the parent at that age; hence, the parent might have little knowledge of what is necessary to them. The parents might show their love differently because of their different situations as growing up, and the children might interpret it differently, which leads to conflicts and even sometimes dysfunction in the family(Gulati,2008).

Being exposed to poverty for a long time, a child's personality in development becomes affected. This may affect the child even in their adulthood because of the stress that one had passed through which poverty is a significant influencer. The changed personality in the adult may affect their parenting and even lead to family dysfunction(Gulati,2008). To prevent more conflicts in the family, the parents should have a mutual agreement and be on the same understanding to be able to talk about issues before talking go the children. Agreements and knowledge of situations and the family culture reduce conflicts, but when the family is broken, there are more and more of them.

One parent should not be against the other to solve the issues. Being raised in a low-income family might affect how one runs his family. In low-income families, everybody at some points vends for the family, and it might seem like a normal thing. Parents who lived in low-income families don't expect their children to always wait upon them to do everything for them at the children might find it unfair since the parents have money(Gulati,2008). There might be conflicts in how much the children expect of their parents and what the parents are willing to do for them.