Seasonal Poverty
The greatest shame of this season is that not everyone can enjoy it.
“It isn’t much of a holiday for me. Christmas is a sad season when you’re poor.” Says Charlie, a fictional elevator operator, to a rich tenet. Charlie’s sentiments are painfully relatable for some 37 million Americans living under the poverty line and potentially so for thousands more as the pandemic rages on. Christmastime is marketed as the time for indulgence, celebration, and extravagance, so the poor and familyless tend to enjoy the festivities from the outside looking in. Charlie is a character written in a 1949 short story by John Cheever published in the New Yorker. The story starts off as a stunning critique of the lack of charity of the wealthy but then evolves into a cautionary tale. Charlie receives gifts from the pitying tenets, but in the end, he feels guilty and instead gives them away. The 1949 New Yorker understood that Christmas is only festive for those who have much, but like many, make the mistake of claiming the poor just need to be generous, because that’s the true “Christmas spirit”. In reality, Christmas is a litmus test for our economy, we can see how the most underserved survived the year by simply reading letters sent through the Operation Santa program. And with that, we should be more sensitive to the harm the holidays pose. Christmas is a damaging time for mental health because it demands that everyone participates in the spirit of consumerism regardless of their ability to do so. Cultural concepts, such as the “naughty” and “nice” list, and a man who gives gifts ubiquitously, only serve to teach parents to stress about not disappointing their children and teaches children that there is an inherent flaw about them when they don’t get what they want. So we must, first, examine how Christmas poses a threat to mental health. Then how holiday marketing targets self-worth/self-esteem; in order to, finally, reframe how we think about the holiday season. Because with season’s greetings comes seasonal grieving.
“Christmas is a sad season when you’re poor”
2020 was the most unequal holiday season in decades. The pandemic exacerbated poverty and worsened the conditions of those who are already low income, whilst the National Retail Federation projected that upper and middle-class families will be spending at a record high. Unfortunately, as we enter into the second holiday season in a pandemic, 2021 will be no different. A Deloitte report about the state of the holiday season finds that low-income families will be spending 22% less this year than in previous years. Mind you, they define low-income families as those that make less than 50k, which is nearly double the federal poverty level for a family of 4. Additionally, those who reported that they wouldn’t be doing any shopping this holiday season (n=11.5%) more than doubled from the previous year (n=4.9%). Nonetheless, middle and higher-income families will be spending 15% more than in previous years.
Certainly, increased consumer confidence and one of the largest gift spending averages in recent years for middle and upper-class families indicates the economy is steadily normalizing. However, this holiday season proves that it is only working for the benefit of those who are already well off. This will be one of the worst Christmases for 16.1% of children and their parents. The stark difference between tax brackets and their abilities to participate in the mass consumerism of Christmastime has dire consequences for the mental health of both parent and child. Children will compare their holiday experiences, meaning those who had to “sit out” of the holiday festivities will feel isolated and irreconcilably different from their peers. Parents will have to work harder than ever to prevent this.
Initially, Children’s self-esteem is inextricably tied with the gifts they receive. The Santa Clause narrative goes as follows: there is a charitable man who delivers a gift to every home on Christmas Eve. He determines if one is deserving of a gift depending on their behavior throughout that year, is the child “naughty” or “nice”. This is a ubiquitous cultural phenomenon in America as between 83-85% of 5-year-olds believe in Santa. For the 1 in 7 children in poverty, Santa will be delivering fewer or no gifts. Considering that 71% of children living in poverty are children of color, Santa Clause’s visit (or lack thereof) can be one of the first indicators of racial difference as kids begin to notice their whiter and more well-off peers have received more gifts than they have. This causes poor and black and brown children to believe that Santa does not visit them at all because something about them is inherently “naughty”. Parents are put into an awkward position. They must either allow their children to feel unworthy or they must explain why they can’t have everything they want for Christmas and thereby put the stresses of finance on the child.
Because parents are aware of this reality, their self-worth is also tied with how good of a Christmas they can provide their children. Parents would much rather work themselves to the bone to provide a perfect-enough holiday than present their children with harsh information about their socioeconomic standing. It is no surprise that the American Psychological Association finds that 38% of people feel their stress, anxiety, and/or depression increases around Thanksgiving time and continues until after the New Year--directly because of financial burdens. This has two negative effects.
First, children begin to adopt the stressed and neurotic attitudes of their parents. Research shows that children who see their parents handle stressors with ease and grace develop better emotional management skills than those with neurotic parents. Children tend to adopt their parent’s burdens and do their best to help alleviate or mitigate their parent’s financial troubles. In the archives of the United States Postal Service, one can read previous letters sent by children to Santa through the government-sponsored Operation Santa program. In them, you’ll see an overwhelming amount of children asking that Santa, instead of bringing gifts, bring money for struggling parents. One reads, “Dear Santa ... My wish is money for my (sic) parents. $100 dollars would help us a lot. They are having a rough time with the bills.” Christmas is the one time where children should be allowed to forget the realities of life. Children should be allowed to live, if even for one month, in a world of whimsy and magic, where fat men ride reindeer-drawn sleighs bringing merriment to all.
Second, parents engage in riskier behaviors. Supplement company, Morning Recovery commissioned a study in 2018 that finds the average American doubles their alcoholic intake during the holiday season, and 69% will over-indulge. 36% of Americans report that drinking makes them feel more depressed during the holiday season, and so attempt to socialize and subsequently drink more, to kill the bad feeling. It’s no surprise that alcohol-related deaths are highest this time of year.
Christmas has long been touted as the time for generosity. But those who don’t have the means to be generous must watch the festivities from the sidelines at best or beat themselves up over it at worst. Our collective generosity this year should manifest, then, in advocacy for democratizing Christmas. Below are some solutions we have generated at Saffron Trust.
Nationalize Christmas shopping. The Christmas marketing season is one of the strongest seasons of economic activity, and Santa Clause is at the forefront of ads. Christmas narratives of generosity and Santa Clause are here to stay, so the government ought to ensure that everyone can get in on the action. At the end of the year, parents should get a $100 credit per child to pay for gifts. So Santa won’t skip anyone, and no child has to feel unworthy.
Specialized Grantmaking. It should be the responsibility of philanthropic organizations to offer seasonal grants to 501c(3) organizations. Government agencies should take the lead by designing grants for holiday day programs that allow for children of all backgrounds to intermingle and celebrate the holidays together, no matter their means. Not only does this help destroy the inherent differences children feel between themselves and their peers around the holiday season by giving them equal experience, but it also shields them from a much more stressed home environment for as long as possible. Parents can work without worrying about watching their children.
Christmas is a wonderful season. Parents can be ravished by their children’s joy from receiving gifts. And kids can have free range in their imaginations; conceiving of things they want, of sugarplum fairies, and of a North Pole toy factory. The greatest shame of this season is that not everyone can enjoy it, despite how hard it is to avoid the hubbub of marketers. The mental health consequences demand us to be a bit more generous and think of our less well-off neighbors.
