Giving Money to Families with Kids Can Relieve Child Poverty

Nearly 1 in 5 American children is officially poor. That’s roughly 15 million kids. But the number living with a significant deprivation——insufficient food, seriously overcrowded housing or a lack of access to medical care due to cost-is actually much higher. According to the latest studies, it’s more like 1 in 3.

A mountain of evidence now shows that poverty can lead to cognitive (认知的) and emotional damage in children. Child poverty is too harmful and punishing to ignore. A growing number of academics believe there is a solution: the government should give monthly cash allowances, without conditions, to every family with kids.

When Michael Harrington’s classic book, The Other America, called attention to America’s general poverty rate of about 25% in 1962, Washington developed social programs that brought the rate down sharply. Valuable policies intended to relieve child poverty have been enacted since then, but they are not enough: 1 in 3 children does not receive the full benefits of these programs because their parents do not qualify for them.

A family with two children receiving $300 to $400 a month per child could improve their standard of living immediately. Money can buy food, heat, coats, eye-glasses and regular doctors’ visits, including transportation, and help pay for childcare. It can also help reduce family stress and help parents provide a psychologically nourishing environment for learning and social development. Studies demonstrate children’s improved educational performance when families are simply given more money.

For far less money-about $100 billion-the number of children living in official poverty could be cut in half. Such a policy would be a humane, practical, efficient victory for a nation too willing to neglect its poor.

How to Enhance Children’s Attention Span

In a world of increased multitasking and smart devices that constantly compete for our attention, it has become harder to keep children on task during studying or house hold activities. Part of this is environmental, put part of it is also a lack of training that is taking place. Being attentive is a skill, rarely an innate talent, and must be cultivated in children for them to succeed.

Eliminating environmental distractions’ can be a smart way to, improve a child’s attention. It’s important to remember that many things in a child’s environment can draw a child’s attention span away from the task or lesson at hand, including surrounding noises, visual messes and internal distractions. Providing an environment that is as free of distractions as possible can dramatically Improve a child’s attention because it means there are fewer things around for the child’s attention span to be divided between. This is also why it’s a good idea to do studying in an area which is not usually used for other activities, such as in the sitting room.

Not being prepared for a lesson also serves as a distraction because it needs a five or ten minutes to gather the necessary materials. Help keep your child organized and make sure all necessary study materials are close at hand before it’s time to start a lesson to avoid a wild goose chase that will break up your child’s attention before the lesson has even begun.

Several scientific studies have linked a child’s decreased attention span to increased time in front of screened devices such as tablets and television, so parents should make efforts to limit over-stimulation caused by these devices to leisure time and keep them away from studying activities. This isn’t to say that children should avoid the use of smart devices, televisions, or video games indefinitely. After all, these outlets provide much-needed relaxation to children and can even help to improve their hand-eye coordination. I strongly suggest that parents should make sure that screen-time is a privilege (特权) , not a right. That is to say, use screen-time as a reward.