Worrying About the Economy? It Can Affect Your Kids, Too

For several years, I’ve been studying how economic conditions influence the day-to-day lives of families. It’s easy to forget that feeling insecure in one’s job or convinced that inflation is running rampant can not only put a caregiver on edge, it can also change many aspects of family life, mostly for the worse—although in some rare cases, also for the better.

First, the bad news. In my work with families living in economically turbulent communities where boom and bust economies are the norm, children are likely to experience their parents and caregivers as often stressed and unavailable emotionally. Working multiple part-time jobs, or endlessly anxious when one will be laid off is not good for a parent’s mental health or ability to respond to a child’s needs.

It’s no better if they’re languishing at home unemployed and emotionally burnt out. Stuck in the rut of financial stasis, unable to move ahead with one’s career and uncertain about when, or even if, one is going to realize one’s life dreams (a bigger home? a special vacation?), folks can become generally ill-tempered, anxious, or emotionally exhausted (and often all three). It’s easy to forget that a changing economy changes the mood inside a family as much as it changes individuals.

In my research, it wasn’t just the emotional climate within the family that was changed by an uncertain economy. The physical world also looked different for kids. It’s obvious that a family without an income has trouble feeding itself, but for many middle class homes the change is more about what toys are in the garage and whether the family has the income to enroll their child in an expensive sport like skiing or horseback riding, or whether the child can buy the latest fashion in sneakers. These might sound like trivial matters, but for a child who enjoyed these privileges, the loss can leave an enduring emotional stain that makes the future look less predictable and the present less happy.

If there is any upside to economic volatility it is that sometimes children report that a parent struggling in a depressed economic market can become a bit more available and a little less stressed by the daily grind of running to work and then taking children to daycare and activities. Though it is a lousy way to find calm, some children in my studies tell me that when the economy goes bust, their home lives are actually better, even without the expensive toys.

In an ideal world, parents would have the supports and time they need to be attentive to their children during both economic booms and busts. To achieve that quality of life, we will need to rethink how we support families at multiple systemic levels, enabling the conditions necessary for family resilience. Here are a few ideas:

When economies are bust, ensure that someone is checking in on the children of parents who have been the most affected by job losses. That means providing teachers, religious leaders, and community members with the tools they need to connect with kids and help them get the attention a distracted parent may be unable to give.

When economies are booming, invest in building the social supports and community infrastructure (like parks and recreation facilities) where families can gather at little or no cost during economic busts.

When economies are going bust, help children find the consistency they need to remain optimistic about their future. If they were playing a sport and their family can no longer afford to enroll their child, look for a philanthropic solution to help the child whose life is about to be disrupted. If there is a way for schools and municipalities to help children remain in their same community, with their same peers, no matter what the economy is doing, children are more likely to weather the stress their family is experiencing.

There are likely dozens of other strategies. They all focus attention on the needs of the child even as their parents and caregivers deal with the economic stress of a changing labor market.

An economic downturn may feel beyond our control, but its impact changes how children and parents interact, making it difficult to feel supportive at a time of increasing uncertainty and stress.