Children Living in Transition

There’s a scene in this book where a parent tries the “do you want another whupping” approach to a misbehaving 9 year old, in trouble both in and out of the classroom. They’re living in transitional housing, and the mother hates it when the social worker tells her not to use the traditional “smack in the behind.” But as you can guess, neither way  works, because the parent is fed up with the kid’s misbehavior, yet she’s too angry to take advice.

This book blames the problems on bad parenting more than on being homeless. Research shows that depressed mothers are more likely to use corporal punishment, and race can be a factor. Though poor white parents are just as likely to use slaps to discipline their children, angry black parents may see it as a “me versus them” issue when advised not to use hitting.

There’s a chapter on working with families to change the parenting styles, but some more case studies would be in order. Earlier book have covered these topic; I remember seeing similar problems discussed in Jonothan Kozol’s book Rachel and Her Children back in the early 1990’s, so you can see how things haven’t really changed in 25 years. Lack of mobility is a problem, and if you have no family to depend on for mutual support, that makes things a lot worse.