Growing up on the "other side" of town

Depending on where kids grow up plays a big factor in the kind of teenager and adult they become. Most children of affluent neighborhoods have the money to go to good schools, have more opportunities, and their parents can spend more time with them. Children of poor neighborhoods do not have that luxury because they go to the public schools close to their homes and their parent/’s are working all the time to provide for the family so they don’t get to spend quality time with them. In reality these children are raising themselves with the help of the streets as well. We need to focus more on those children who grow up in poverty because we seem to forget about them and let the system take care of them.

A child who grows up in a poverty stricken neighborhood sees a lot of bad things happen than children who grow up in more affluent neighborhoods very rarely see. For example: robberies, shootings, murders, drug abuse/dealing, domestic violence, and arrests. I am not inferring that well off kids do not see this but impoverished kids see it almost on a daily basis. Seeing acts of violence like this have a really big impact on a child’s life. Maybe not at first but the more they see it and grow up with it they begin think it is normal and become desensitized to the violence that will most likely become the same violence in that teenagers life. According to Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice and Law by Larry J. Siegel and Brandon C. Welsh researched adolescent poverty and state that, “Poverty hits kids 18 and under the hardest: More than 15 million adolescents and children now live in poverty…these children are deprived of the life opportunities available to kids growing up in affluent households” (6). Looking at those numbers of children in poverty is sad and alarming. Since children only make up “24 percent of the total population but make up 35 percent of people in poverty” (6) it really puts in perspective how underprivileged and under cared for many children are. The government or someone needs to see these statistics and say enough is enough and help these kids. It may not seem like that big of a problem but it really is. A child should not have to experience such extreme poverty, and it affects them as a person in the future. These children loving in poverty most of the time end up being the homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, or become a criminal. Most of the time they become the really violent criminal.

Teens are already risk-takers as it is, but thrown in “little or no adult supervision and increasing independence these teens are more likely to be involved in risk-taking behaviors” says Susan Wile Schwarz “Adolescent Violence and Unintentional Injury”. Another factor that fuels teenage violence is the environment that they live in. For affluent teens they receive above and beyond the basic needs of growing up which is a stable family life, money, parental supervision, and opportunities. A teen of poverty sees that a well off teen gets what the want, and they become upset and ask themselves why don’t I have a better education, more money to buy things with, or parents who have enough time to spend with me? The teenager feels it is unfair and takes matter into their own hands so that they can acquire these monetary things. They begin to deal drugs and join gangs. They deal drugs to attain money and they join gangs for safety and a mock family. To these troubled teens a gang offers false hope and acts as a parent who “guides” them and “teaches” them about life. The deeper these teens get involved in dealing and gangs the more lost and violent they become. For these teenagers who grow up in poverty life seems hopeless and becoming a part of a gang and being violent is the only way, but there are other ways and programs to help them.

According to Susan Schwarz the most helpful prevention programs are after school extracurricular programs. Programs such as athletic teams, boys and girls of America, clubs, basically any kind of activity to keep teenagers busy after school so they don’t get involved in violence and crime. With an athletic team the teen can get out all their aggression and energy there. Other programs can help them with their homework and someone to look up to. Mentors are also a good way for them to stay out of trouble and have a young adult guide, help, listen and offer advice. A mentor is someone that the teenager can count on and is consistently there for them. A wise professor of mine Professor Gary Lowe said, “Children don’t necessarily need love, but consistency”. A mentor offers that stability and consistency for them and makes the teen feel like they are not in this alone but have someone to lean on and not just people always telling them what to do and how they are bad.

Although not all children who live in poverty become violent their chances of becoming violent later on in their life are higher than that of a child who grows up in a more affluent family. To make sure that the children growing up in poverty are not forgotten about we need to make sure that we keep providing after school programs, money towards educating parents and kids on decision making, and drugs. And lastly these teens need an adult/mentor to look up to and guide them through school listen to them and show them that they can rise up through their unfortunate situation.

Works Cited

http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_890.pdf

Siegel, Larry J., Welsh, Brandon C., Juvenile Delinquency, Theory, Practice and Law. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2012, Belmont, CA.

Gary Lowe, Professor of Criminal Justice, California State University of Sacramento