Through my own eyes : single mothers and the cultures of poverty / Susan D. Holloway [and three others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holloway, Susan D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Welfare recipients--Massachusetts--Boston.

Welfare recipients.

Single mothers--Massachusetts--Boston.

Single mothers.

Poor women--Massachusetts--Boston.

Poor women.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Shirl is a single mother who urges her son's baby-sitter to swat him when he misbehaves. Helena went back to work to get off welfare, then quit to be with her small daughter. Kathy was making good money but got into cocaine and had to give up her two-year-old son during her rehabilitation. Pundits, politicians, and social critics have plenty to say about such women and their behavior. But in this book, for the first time, we hear what these women have to say for themselves. An eye-opening--and heart-rending--account from the front lines of poverty, Through My Own Eyes offers a firsthand look at how single mothers with the slimmest of resources manage from day to day. We witness their struggles to balance work and motherhood and watch as they negotiate a bewildering maze of child-care and social agencies.For three years the authors followed the lives of fourteen women from poor Boston neighborhoods, all of whom had young children and had been receiving welfare intermittently. We learn how these women keep their families on firm footing and try--frequently in vain--to gain ground. We hear how they find child-care and what they expect from it, as well as what the childcare providers have to say about serving low-income families. Holloway and Fuller view these lives in the context of family policy issues touching on the disintegration of inner cities, welfare reform, early childhood and "pro-choice" poverty programs.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Empowering Strangers

Chapter 2. Fourteen Poor Women, Fourteen Rich Lives

Chapter 3. Motherhood in Poverty

Chapter 4. Conceptions of Children's Behavior

Chapter 5. Cultural Models of Child Rearing

Chapter 6. Discipline and Obedience

Chapter 7. Cultural Models of Education

Chapter 8. Negotiating Child Care and Welfare

Chapter 9. Teachers' Views of Preschool

Chapter 10. Lessons from Listening: Strengthening Family Policy

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674038745

0674038746

OCLC:

1281967785