Poverty and Ordinary Kids

Jennifer Sykes is a sociologist at Michigan State University. This is an excerpt from her co-authored book, It's Not Like I'm Poor: How Working Families Make Ends Meet in a Post-Welfware World:

"One summer afternoon, one of us, Jennifer Sykes, visited the home of Penny McPherson, a white twenty-eight-year-old, in a South Boston housing project. [At the time of publication, Penny's income is well below the poverty line for a family like hers, making her eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a tax refund that allocates money to the poor in proportion to how much they work throughout the year. In other words, EITC is a 'work to earn' type of government aid, the most popular form of government assistance in the U.S.] While Penny was sharing with Jen the stories of her financial struggles, the air was suddenly filled with the jingle of an ice cream truck. Penny's four-year-old son ran to her, hand outstretched. She dug deep in her pocketbook and extracted a few dollars, the child ran toward the truck, shouting that he would buy a Superman Pop. Jen paused, curious about why the woman had so easily surrendered several precious dollars for this purpose, given her economic difficulties. Intrigued by how expectant the boy seemed when asking for the money, Jen asked, 'Does he get that often?' The mother revealed that this ritual was repeated at least a couple of times each week in the summer. 'And it's even worse,' she told Jen. 'I have a box of these same Superman Pops in the freezer, right now. I buy them in bulk at BJS so they're only $.30 each. Costs him $2.50 at the truck!' When Jen asked why she would spend much more for the same treat at the ice cream truck, the mother replied, 'For the experience...I want him to feel like an ordinary kid.'"

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