What's your definition of child poverty ?

[ivanava]

This thread was started approximately a year ago. I think we are becoming even more conscious of child poverty in our society on hearing more about malnutrition and the increasing need for food banks. Yet the government refuse to accept its related to their welfare reforms. Well what else is creating it then?

 

Malnutrition a public health emergency, experts warn.http://www.channel4.com/news/malnutrition-health-emergency-dwp-british-medical-journal

 

Poor priorities and money management by some parents.

[999tigger]

Broadly described as a child living in a household whose income is 60% or less than the average wage .....

 

Well in that case , most people of my age group were brought up in child poverty ! Second-hand clothes , second-hand Christmas presents ( yes we knew they were , but would never have kicked off about it for fear of hurting our parents ).

 

We were brought up properly . Showing love and providing childhood boundaries and freedoms were the greatest gifts my parents knew how to give , and material goods were an irrelevance . So how on earth can the new Archbishop dare speak about child poverty in purely material terms ? I'm not particularly religious , but I think us "plebs" could teach these arrogant religious figures a lesson in humility and basic humanity ??

 

I thought the definition of relative poverty was less tha 60% of the MEDIAN wage, not average.

 

Do you understand the difference? It is also RELATIVE.

 

There is a diffeent definition for absolute poverty.

[Olive]

I agree that having good and loving parents are riches indeed, and can make a wealth of difference in people's lives. I also grew up in similar circumstances and never considered myself poor, but then everyone around me lived similar lives and I wasn't aware of any other lifestyle.

 

Today however, that is very different to the point of people having their noses rubbed in it. People are judged these days by what they have rather than who they are. Indeed it could be argued these days that people who are poor because they are honest and decent are seen as mugs.

 

I also think children today suffer from having two parents who have to work constantly to make ends meet.

 

Times have changed, and definitions of poverty have changed. I think there is also spiritual poverty in a great many families which has nothing to do with religion.

 

This post really chimes with me Anna. It's always been the case that money talks, and wealth equals power, but it saddens me that people with wealth are somehow also held up as being "better" than anyone else - they're successful at making money, therefore they are great people and we should listen to what they say. We've ended up in a world where people like Simon Cowell have massive influence, for crying out loud!

 

There are lots of ways of being "successful" as a human being, lots of ways of being talented, not all of them will make you rich, but that seems to be the only thing that our society values. Actually, I do wonder if being very good at making money actually makes you less successful in other important areas (being kind, clever, generous etc?). Slightly off topic...apologies, but I guess in a terribly unequal society, where everyone is judged by how much money they have, then relative poverty does become relevant as well as absolute poverty.

[Anna B]

Loving parents aside, I do think that one of the major problems with child poverty, relative or absolute, is lack of opportunity.

 

I know someone is going to say that they rose up from humble beginnings, good for them, but they are probably a product of the most egalitarian periods we've ever had; the post war era of social mobility. Sadly those days have disappeared almost overnight.

[truman]

Loving parents aside, I do think that one of the major problems with child poverty, relative or absolute, is lack of opportunity.

 

I know someone is going to say that they rose up from humble beginnings, good for them, but they are probably a product of the most egalitarian periods we've ever had; the post war era of social mobility. Sadly those days have disappeared almost overnight.

 

With more kids having the chance to go to uni. than before how can you say there is lack of opportunity?

[Anna B]

With more kids having the chance to go to uni. than before how can you say there is lack of opportunity?

 

University is no longer 'free' and tuition fees of £30,000 is putting off a lot of working class people, especially as there's no longer the guarantee of a graduate job at the end of it.

 

Yes, I know they don't have to pay it back until they're earning a certain amount etc. but it is still off putting to a lot of people who are averse to 'debt.'

 

Then there is the disadvantage of not having the right sort of contacts to help you get that sought after job. Or being able to afford to do an internship.

 

Sadly, getting on, and then up that ladder is about more than just going to university.

[truman]

University is no longer 'free' and tuition fees of £30,000 is putting off a lot of working class people, especially as there's no longer the guarantee of a graduate job at the end of it.

 

Yes, I know they don't have to pay it back until they're earning a certain amount etc. but it is still off putting to a lot of people who are averse to 'debt.'

 

Then there is the disadvantage of not having the right sort of contacts to help you get that sought after job. Or being able to afford to do an internship.

 

Sadly, getting on, and then up that ladder is about more than just going to university.

 

Why should people be unwilling to invest in their own future...? You talk about contacts..uni is a great place for making these..are you saying a kid form a poor family is incapable of making friends with others...you're doing your usual thing here of talking people down....

[WeX]

Broadly described as a child living in a household whose income is 60% or less than the average wage .....

 

I don't understand why politicians do not realise the folly that is using a percentage of the average salary to mean a child is in poverty. I suppose what does not get reported is the actual term is "Relative Poverty" but most news reports miss off the first part and focus on the word "Poverty".

[Cyclone]

I thought the definition of relative poverty was less tha 60% of the MEDIAN wage, not average.

 

Do you understand the difference? It is also RELATIVE.

 

There is a diffeent definition for absolute poverty.

 

Median is a form of average. So no, I don't understand the difference.

 

Were you assuming that average meant mean?

[buck]

I was born and raised in Brightside in a two up, two down terraced house which had no hot water and an outside toilet. We were just coming out of the Great Depression and my father worked as a fettler at Brown Baileys Steel Works in Attercliffe for four quid a week. There was always food to eat, I got new clothes every whitsun, just like every other kid on our street. I married "above me". My Father in Law owned a detached house in Greenhill, with a rose garden, a telephone, inside toilet and bathroom. I was also accepted by them even after I lost my wife many years later. They were not snobbish but many of their neighbours were. One neighbour told me this was where the best people lived, I said back to her " No, Ellie, not the best, just the richest."