Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [89]
At school, the racial balance shifts. As noted earlier, Lower Richmond, which is part of a large urban district, is racially integrated: about one-half of the students are white, as are most of the teachers. Most of the administrative staff, such as the yard duty teacher and the cafeteria ladies, are white. Some of the teachers’ aides are Black and most of the bus drivers are Black. Harold’s third-grade teacher was an African American woman; this year, his teacher is a white male.
Ms. McAllister tells the African American field-worker interviewing her at the start of the study that she does not know of any Black or white children at Harold’s school who have been treated unfairly because of their race. Although clearly aware of people who “act stupid,” Ms. McAllister, unlike Mr. and Ms. Williams, does not express concern about the impact of race on her children’s lives. Instead she stresses the importance of proper care for children in general and is especially critical of adults who “do nothin’ for their kids.”
GUIDING NATURAL GROWTH
Ms. McAllister, like Ms. Williams, strongly believes that parents should provide good care for their children. Unlike Ms. Williams, she defines that care in terms of natural growth. That is, she stresses the importance of parents providing food, shelter, clothing, and good supervision. Ms. McAllister is a block captain for her section of the housing project. Among other things, during the summer, she controls the “sprinkler cap” for a nearby fire plug that project residents may use on hot summer days. With the cap on, the fire hydrant releases a spray of water that is safe for the children to play in. She criticizes the way other parents in the housing project handle this and other child-related activities:
They have five fire plugs over there. They are rowdy over there. They had three of them on yesterday full blast . . . These people don’t do nothin’ for their kids. They’ll [the kids] leave at nine o’clock [in the morning] and come back at four and not tell their parents where they went. (Shakes head, disgusted.)
Although Ms. McAllister does not actively intervene in her children’s daily lives, she does meet what she identifies as her parental obligations. Thus, even though it requires taking the bus, she attends parent-teacher conferences. Similarly, although she is not personally comfortable around health-care professionals, she takes Harold to the doctor for a physical so that he can attend Bible camp. On very limited funds, she manages to buy sufficient food for her nephews as well for her own children. She makes dinner. She arranges for Harold’s father to take him shopping when he needs new clothes for camp. Sometimes, she simply “hangs out” with the children, watching them play basketball and joking with them.
Ms. McAllister also emphasizes that she does special things with her children: “In the summer, I’ll take them on a picnic on the blanket.” And,
We always go [to the zoo] on Valentine’s Day cuz that’s when the kids get in free. We go like four or five times a year, summertime, too. I like goin’ down there in the evening time on Wednesday where you’ve got less kids and it’s nice.
Another demonstration of Ms. McAllister’s commitment to good care for children involves a difficult decision she had to make. After prolonged difficulty with her twin sister, Jill (before the study began), whose cocaine addiction interfered with her taking proper care of Halima and Monique, Ms. McAllister called the Department of Human Services (DHS) and reported her sister’s neglect. She explains:
FIELD-WORKER: Who called DHS?
JANE: I did. I got tired of it. Halima was having an asthma attack and she don’t come back for four hours. I got tired of it. I called DHS six or seven times that day. I got tired of my kids watching them. Lenny and Lori and Harold