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Poverty in early years essay
Poverty in early years essay
Poverty in early years essay
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Fish Crate Christmas
This is the time of year I like to sit back and take a visit to my earlier years when times were really tough.
When I was a kid, we were so poor; the people on Welfare were considered better off. My father usually got laid off from his bricklaying job around this time so things got really got tight.
We had coal and wood burning stoves to cook and keep warm. My grandfather would go to the fish market and get old crates to chop up for firewood. My Grandfather always cut extra wood to sell so he could buy our turkey. Meanwhile, my brother and I would take our wagon and go to the coal yard to buy a bag of coal for 60 cents.
My family would never accept charity from anyone so we were left to our own resources.
My Mother and Grandmother would buy a crate of celery and go door to door selling it. My brother and I would run errands for the businesses uptown to make money for Christmas gifts.
On the day before Christmas, my Great Grandmother would start the cooking and baking. Everybody in the family had a part to do.
In my thoughts, I can clearly smell once again the delightful smell of the cookies and that wonderful turkey. I can feel the warmth of that old coal stove, and most of all, I can still feel the warmth of the love within the family.
Right up the alley from my house, was the Zion Lutheran Church, where the Boy Scouts sold Christmas trees every year. Somehow they always had one too many and they would ask us to take it off their hands.
My Father, brother, and I would sit for hours changing light bulbs trying to find the one that was bad in the string of lights from last year. After much frustration, we finally got them to work. Then we finally felt like it was really Christmas and we promised each other that somehow next year, we would get new lights.
Around 4:30 P.M., my brother and I would head up the street to the Woolworth five and dime store to buy our presents. There were the oversized ties that nobody would ever wear and the hair pins that would sit in a drawer for years to come.
But everybody was happy to receive the presents because a lot more went into buying them than just money.
of the family such as going out and trading for more food in places other than the
It is a commonly known fact that a large percentage of Americans are living on and relying on welfare, which is a government program that provides financial aid to individuals or groups of people who cannot support themselves. Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of assistance offered by the government, which include healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The type of welfare and amounts given depend on the individual, and how many children they have. There are many people who honestly need the government assistance, but there are also many who abuse the privilege.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder with symptoms of obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions, such as cleaning, checking, and counting. OCD is linked to other disorders such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and experiential avoidance disorder (EA). OCD and ADHD have similar effects in children being that they both lead to procrastination when trying to complete simple tasks. People with OCD and EA both have consistent negative thoughts but the same treatments can be used for both. The neurobiological link between OCD and ADHD says “Obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are two of the most common neuropsychiatric diseases in pediatric populations. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies suggest that partly similar executive functions are affected in both disorders” (Brem et al. 175). OCD and ADHD are very common especially in children and they both have similar effects. People with obsessive compulsive disorder put themselves through a lot more ...
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy raised the current welfare payments and renamed the program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Kennedy allowed states to require work in order to receive welfare, but didn’t require it. Kennedy also laid out the new goal for welfare in America, it was to “end poverty, not just alleviate poverty” (Background: Time for a new Approach). Kennedy said welfare should be “a hand up, not a hand out." Welfare continued to change...
at the orphanage, I was able to help build a sidewalk and a garage for
Bank of America states, “Our mission is to offer lending and investment products that; Serve low-and moderate-income individuals and families; Improve underserved low- and moderate-income communities; Create sustainable practices for the long haul” (Bank of America). In 1904, the CEO, Giannini, of Bank of Italy took some risks by issuing character loans, which was later acquired by NationsBank. This risk paid off...
Christmastime was always a magical time of year for me. The beautifully decorated shopping malls, with toys everywhere you looked, always fascinated me. And the houses, with the way their lights would glow upon the glistening snow at night, always seemed to calm me. But decorating the Christmas tree and falling asleep underneath the warm glow of the lights, in awe that Santa Claus would soon be there, was the best part of it all. As a child, these things enchanted me. Sure, the presents were great, but the excitement and mystery of Christmas; I loved most of all. Believing…that’s what it was all about. Believing there really was a Santa and waking up Christmas morning, realizing he’d come, as my sleepy eyes focused on all the fancily wrapped presents before me.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disease that a lot of people suffer with in society especially young adults. While it is not a disease that is deadly, it does affect the victim in every day aspects of their life and can ultimately control their lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as, “… a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over”. The thoughts that individuals have when suffering through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder cannot be restrained and really can disturb the individual. Thoughts or actions that people may have can range from worrying about daily occurrences, such as washing their hands, to having thoughts of harming people that are close to them. People tend to have these reoccurring compulsions because they believe by doing them or thinking them, they will either prevent something bad from happening or because it eliminates stress that they have. This disease can last a lifetime and can be very detrimental and disabling to how one lives their lives. Individuals can start to see signs of OCD in either late adolescence or even early adulthood and everyone is susceptible. When it comes to classifying this incurable disease, there is much debate on whether or not it a type of anxiety (Abramowitz, Taylor, & McKay, 2009). It is important to be able to understand this mental disorder since so many people are diagnosed with it. While there are treatments for OCD, there are no cures yet. Treatments could range anywhere from taking prescribed medication to just going to therapy and counseling fo...
My mother was a simple cook. She prepared foods she'd been raised on, plain Southern fare-rice, gravy, sliced tomatoes, turnip greens, cornpone, grits, eggs, chicken and dumplings, pot roast, ham, field peas, lima beans, potato salad, stewed okra, pumpkin pie, salmon balls. We didn't have fancy casseroles or lasagnas or spaghetti, and nobody had ever heard of a burrito or an egg roll. I didn't know what an artichoke or a parsnip or kiwi or papaya was-certainly had never taste them. We drank sweet iced tea and sometimes lemonade.
We spend the day baking cookies, making fudge and preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. The children love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa Claus brought for each of them. They get so eager to decorate, that it is hard to restrain them.Decorating for Christmas is so much fun. My father always draws a new background scenery, for the Nativity scene, that he displays, every year. He, my brother-in-laws and my husband start with the decorations for the outside of the house and the front yard.
Ever since I could remember, I have spent Christmas at my grandmother’s house, a house which is full of comfort, warmth, and happiness. At Christmas, I have always been able to escape the cold and dark real world allowing myself to truly enjoy just several moments in time. These moments have left impressionable memories from my childhood making Christmas a holiday that is special to me and my family. It is a time for my family to get together, share stories, laugh, and even cry.
Christmas is my favorite holiday because it is the time of year that everyone should spend with their family and friends loving them unconditionally. Every Christmas, my family and I, on my mother 's side, join together on Christmas Eve to be able to spend time with the ones which we love. Considering that my family loves to eat, my grandmother cooks a ginormous feast! My grandmother loves to cook, but on Christmas she goes crazy. She cooks dressing, corn, potatoes, macaroni, green beans, sweet potato casserole, and my favorite pecan pie. After making sure everyone gets enough food, we all join in the living room to share stories and open our presents. My cousin, Brady Parker, always finds a way to make
frogs, and fish. We would go to the pond to catch the tadpoles and fish. When night
My dad and sister watched television, my mom crocheted, and I worked on my Kinderbuch for German class. As usual, everyone but me fell asleep. At 10:30, we packed all of our things into the back of the Tahoe and pulled around to he front to return the keys.
When I think back to the days when I was a child, I think about all of my wonderful childhood memories. Often I wish to go back, back to that point in life when everything seemed simpler. Sometimes I think about it too much, knowing I cannot return. Yet there is still one place I can count on to take me back to that state of mind, my grandparent’s house and the land I love so much.