Child poverty is one of the most harmful factors for children's development. Growing up I observed how it can severely hinder a child if not handled appropriately. In the article “Poverty as a Childhood Disease” by Perri Klass she highlights some of the difficulties that children living below the poverty line would face, such as not having enough food to eat, clothes to wear or the amount of cognitive stimulation they would need . to enable them to be better students. Poverty is comparable to a genetic disease that is inherited through generations until someone or something intervenes, or until someone breaks the cycle. Poverty has plagued my family's life for many generations. My mother and father both grew up in rural Jamaica, where you made your living from farming. My grandfather owned many acres of land, but that didn't stop him from living in Jamaica. When we returned to Jamaica, my mother not only owned a bar but also sold the crops she would grow. My father was in America at the time and could only support us minimally because he worked in a grocery store and also wasted his money on alcohol. With the little monetary support she received, my mother had to support four children with clothing, food and education. In Jamaica, because you have to pay for school, it can be difficult financially to send three children to high school, but somehow she made it. Living in a house with two bedrooms, one used for the bar and the other for living, my older brothers passed the first obstacle. Getting high grades in school and only needing to work when they were older and wanted a taste of freedom. They are proof that poverty doesn't have to cripple your cognitive development if you treat it from the start. My older brother, because of the foundation laid by my mother, is not a professional nurse with a nice family living in America