Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [122]
It really gets me upset when I go out there and I look for different organizations to help me out with money for the kids, or money for—it’s like they turn to me and say, “You make too much money.” It’s like, “How could I make too much money?” Cause it’s like, I’m just barely making it.
Family finances often have a “zero-sum” nature. For example, when Wendy was in third grade, her mother hired a tutor for her. In order to meet that new expense, $20 per week, Ms. Driver had to walk to work; she no longer had enough money to pay for the bus. When Mr. Fallon’s car breaks down, they delay repairs. School clothes, Christmas presents, and major household items all are purchased on layaway plans. Neither Ms. Driver nor Mr. Fallon has a checking account; they pay bills with money orders. The three extended families in the Drivers’ lives (Ms. Driver’s parents, the family of her ex-husband, and Mr. Fallon’s family) also struggle economically. Ms. Driver’s father juggled two jobs his whole working life. Still, compared to poor families like the McAllisters or the Carrolls, the Drivers have advantages. Food is in ample supply and the children may ask for items when they go to the store. Also, Wendy and Willie are each allowed to request (and usually receive) one expensive item for Christmas (such as a $100 jacket). Ms. Driver squirrels money away for extended family gatherings; Wendy’s Holy Communion festivities, which included a buffet lunch for the entire extended family, cost $1,500.
THE DRIVERS’ WORLD
Just a few days before the field observations began, Wendy and her family moved into a small, three-bedroom house a few doors down from their previous residence. In this almost wholly white, urban, working-class neighborhood, the narrow streets are lined with houses just like the Drivers’. The rows of residences are squeezed so close to one another that they seem like one continuous building. Many of the houses have front porches that come right to the edge of the sidewalk; the porches are small, with only enough room for two chairs. There is no grass. Many residents, including the Drivers, decorate their houses for holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Halloween.4 Children about Wendy and Willie’s ages live right up the street, as do many of the Drivers’ cousins. The girls walk to school together and play together after school and on weekends.
Although the Drivers’ home has three bedrooms and is considerably larger than the homes of many other working-class families, the entire downstairs, which consists of a living room area, a playroom for the baby, and a kitchen, would fit inside the family room in the middle-class Marshalls’ house. The rent is $650 per month. The interior of the house is immaculately kept. Wendy and Willie are reminded to put their backpacks upstairs in their bedrooms as soon as they come home from school, they are permitted to have only one glass in the living room, and they each do chores to help keep the house neat and clean. The family often spends time together in the living room watching television. It is cozy: there is room for two adults to sit on the love seat and for the children (and field-worker) to sit on the floor. Pictures of the family adorn the walls.
The amount of racial diversity in Wendy’s life varies. In her public elementary school, the student body is about one-half Black, and some of the teachers and key school personnel are African American. During free playtime at recess and lunch, however, Wendy plays and socializes with other white girls almost exclusively. Similarly, although there are huge neighborhoods filled with African American poor families not far (about a ten-minute car ride) from Wendy’s home, most of her social interactions involve only whites. All of her relatives are white, all of her immediate neighbors are white, all of the children in her dance class and religious study group are white, almost all of the local shopkeepers and their customers are white, and even