Over 16 million children live in poverty in today's America, often hiding in plain sight. In filmmaker Jezza Neumann's PBS-aired Frontline documentary, the kids tell their own stories of what it's like to be poor in an affluent nation. Often this means losing their houses, not having three meals a day (or hot showers), separating from friends or missing school as they move from one shelter or motel to another, collecting cans to make a little money, and coping at a young age with family stress and struggles. The children note how fast things can change: the loss of a parent's job or health coverage can result in a quick fall through the cracks from middle class into poverty. In school, some of the kids belong to a "nutrition club," a euphemism for a program to distribute food to feed children over the weekend (even so, fewer vegetables and fruits—coupled with an abundance of cheap junk food—increases the dangers of childhood obesity). Although parents try to manage with a strategy of "struggle, survive, and smile," the economic woes produce stress and depression, which leads to yelling at the kids. And not attending school regularly is a recipe for career failure (in the words of one 14-year-old, "my life is almost over."). Offering a reminder of how hard it is to find a path out of poverty, Poor Kids powerfully shines a spotlight on an urgent problem that should be a national priority. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)
Poor Kids
(2012) 60 min. DVD: $24.99 ($54.95 w/PPR). PBS Video. Closed captioned. ISBN: 978-1-60883-832-5. Volume 28, Issue 3
Poor Kids
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