MAIN POINTS
(from interviews)

1. Children would grow up healthier and with less stress

2. Happier parents = happier kids

3. Positive impacts for multiple generations

4. Less competitiveness

5. No poverty related stigma

6. Children would be safer and feel more secure

7. Many fewer children would be living with abuse

8. Less pressure on children to excel in school just to
ensure they can make money as adults

9. Youth more able to plan forthe future;
less feeling of hopelessness

10. Youth would feel society cared about them; less attraction to gangs, less aggression

11. Children would be better nourished and more able to learn

12. More ability for children to learn about their culture

13. Potential for more sports, arts, recreation and contact with nature

14. Children and youth less manipulated by corporations when
families are stronger

15. Many fewer children would be left in unsafe situations
where they could be abused

16. Babies could get more time and attention from less stressed out parents; babies could breastfeed longer

17. No more destruction of the family from poverty and
poverty related child apprehension

CHILDREN - Quotes

Children wouldn't feel so pressured from a young age that if they don't do good in school, they will end up being a homeless bum on the street. I probably wouldn't be going to school fulltime, I would only take courses I was interested in. Right now my friends feel like they are going to be such failures, just a few people have a set plan, all the rest feel all this pressure from their parents to grow up and be rich. If there was a GLI, it would take a big weight off their shoulders. At first they would want to rest, but you can only do nothing for so long before you get bored and want to do more activities. -Kyla

Children are directly affected by the happiness and the environment of their home. So if they have a mom who is stressed out, hasn't got enough money to buy them new shoes, is barely making it day-to-day, has barely any food in the fridge, that gets changed with a GLI. -Linda

[Poor] children, they don't get to have recreation because they can't afford it. That's half the reason why they hang around the streets and get in trouble. The criminal element will always welcome them. Poor kids feel excluded from the fun things that are going on. Costs of poverty to children are extremely high. Parents and kids know that the government doesn't give a damn about them. -Mary B

The stress of poverty can change even the best mother in to a raving lunatic. GLI is a wonderful idea, and we need to have it, because the long-term benefit will far outweigh the short term costs. -Suzanne

Children need to have enough of everything for their childhood, especially food and vitamins to grow well. Other necessities are to be in groups with other children, sports, recreation, and ways to develop their talents in childhood. Women have to be protected because usually they have children. GLI would mean women would be protected; it is very important. -Lyudmila

The most important thing that a child needs is guidance from mothers. Mothers are the backbone of society, and mothers do not have a place in this society. They are never recognized for the amount of work they contribute to society, and it is really, really sad. Society as a whole would be better-off if mothers were given supports. I've always had to work, but resent that, because women raising children is a full-time job, and it should be looked at with respect and honour. Women are raising the next generation, and if they don't have the tools, it just creates more problems than it's worth. -Bernice

People don't have kids because they fear for the future. -Focus group, Jan. 13, 2006

Kids are the ones that are really hurt by the way we do things. They are third class citizens. Women are second class, but kids are third class. To have GLI would benefit children enormously. -Olive

It would be better for mothers; it will provide security and help to raise their children. Children will have more opportunities to explore the world and do more after-school activities, and the mothers will be able to afford activities which are right now very expensive: art, sports, music. -Eva

The cycle of poverty and the abuse that goes with it.... If there is a way to combat that, and this sounds like it will, then it's worth it. For that alone, just to save children from cycle of abuse and poverty-that is enough to get this going! -Rachel

If you have GLI, you can do part-time work and can take more time to find trusted caregivers. -Sol

It is the children that are going to benefit from this. The stigmatization, knowing you are coming home to an empty house with no food and no fire to warm yourself-that is a very bad thing for the long-term for the children. There is also anger with kids that comes from poverty. They don't value things and they destroy things because they feel hatred from the community. They don't really care. -Perpetua