Anyone watching Growing Up Poor?

[besmirchedandbewildered]

On BBC3 now.

Tough times, and they are so young :(

[greenplastictrees]

Yes...and it's so sad. Loving Shelby - I just want to hug her! She's trying so hard.

[besmirchedandbewildered]

Glad she has her cooker in place! So crap they get so little in the way of practical support, it's like they're circling the plughole and they just need a hand to pull them out, so shit they don't seem to get it.

[greenplastictrees]

Yes - not having a cooker is awful! :( I feel bad for all of them - they haven't ended up in this situation over night. I wish someone could have helped them growing up.

[besmirchedandbewildered]

Interesting how they've done one for girls and one for boys, wonder how they will be similar / different (obviously unlikely 2 of them will be pregnant at the end of it)

[greenplastictrees]

Oh no...Shelby is pregnant.:( she could have done so well for herself. I'm not saying she won't now but she's made it so much worse for herself.

[greenplastictrees]

I meant to say she's made it so much more difficult for hersel...not worse.

I didn't know the next one is about boys. I'll have to remember to tune it to it.

[besmirchedandbewildered]

I can't imagine how hard that must be, she seems so on her own. I hope things improve for her although I don't see how they would.

[greenplastictrees]

She was back in touch with her dad by the end of the programme so perhaps she'll be able to build a relationship there.

[Darkesteyes]

I missed this. I was watching something else. Will catch up at 12.20. Just seen on Twitter that one of them is doing 30 hrs workfare a week for £55 a week.
So people (employers) are fully willing to take advantage of their situation.

[besmirchedandbewildered]

Won't give you any more spoilers darkesteyes but it is v powerful viewing, definitely worth a look.

[ScariestFairyByFar]

Just wanted to go and get Shelby and bring her home. She seemed like such a good kid. Kind of thought she'd be pregnant at the end after the clip of her saying she couldn't cope with a baby, but hoped I'd be wrong. So sad she didn't get a job she was working so bloody hard.

[Darkesteyes]

30 hrs week workfare for £55 a week in 2013.
I was earning £65 week wages working at Tesco Garden Centre in 1989 when i was 16. Workfare is WRONG on so many levels.

[PaulMichael]

I have no idea why i am on MumsNet i just came here using a Search Engine via Google finding out about the program Growing up poor that i am now watching .
I think Shelby is working very hard to keep herself going and is amazing ... She even earns the same as you would by not working but her choice is to work and i love the budget lists and everything she has done to help herself it is great .
I would happily donate to help this girl and think that other people should to ... she should not be having to live like that when she is trying so hard and i think her job should up her wages after watching this program something needs to be done here we are in 2013 and with a young 16 year old trying to better herself like this with no help from anywhere is just not acceptable in this day and age .!

[PaulMichael]

I am extremely angry at the fact this girl has to live this way because tight employers are taking advantage of her age and desperate needs to live .. What a joke £55 a week and working 30 hours ??
She just opened a savings account aswell this girl is an inspiration to young people .. I can see in the near future this girl will be a successful business women she already has the get up and go mind and a successful lifestyle always starts at the bottom you just have to have the will power to do it and she has it 110% ..
I would happily give my last £20 to this girl , If everyone in the UK was like her this country would be a better place by far .

[PaulMichael]

At the end it says Shelby completed 6 month course getting 55 a week and they did not offer her any more work what an absolute piss take company and the owner should be ashamed .

[Booyhoo]

i watched this too. i was so when i heard shelby saying how she works for £1.something an hour, lives in that shithole, is scraping to save £5 a week and then said how DC is removing HB from under 35's. i mean what the hell will she do? i know this will effect so many more people than just her but it just really struck a chord with me seeing her so happy to make soup and she really is wanting to try and better her situation which she is in through being let down by the adults who were responsible for her! so sad for her and the others.

[Booyhoo]

i agree paulmichael. she has a great attitude.

[Gixer77]

You all seemed to miss the part where nearly all of them were puffing away on cigs, so that's a huge chunk of their benefits down the drain every week. The violent gobby one who pulled the moony sat around moaning how she didn't have any money to go swimming or do anything and when her auntie said to get a paper round she turned her nose up, didn't want to bother. All sympathy stopped right there for me. If she's not willing to do ANY job to get some spare cash in, then she's a waste of oxygen. How dare she sit there bitching about how she can't live on £8 a day yet refusing to help herself at all. The lack of motivation and ambition was staggering and that comes from just being surrounded by other people who have no hope, no dreams, and no spark to make a change in their lives.

I was rooting for Shelby too, she certainly had her head screwed on but then at the end when they said she was pregnant, well that's it - life over for her. I wonder if it was an accident or if she just gave up fighting and saw that a life on benefits would be easier. The other teen who was pregnant - and smoking, nice - banged on about how "it wasn't meant to happen" and how she'd not planned to get pregnant that early - why didn't she abort it? She can barely rub two pennies together, the father was not around, she'd be bringing that kid into a shitty life yet she still went ahead and had it. And they say childfree people are selfish. I pity that little baby and the life it's going to have. Why doesn't Shelby abort her kid? Because it's a passport to an easier life. I can't blame them really, when they are used for £55 a week slave labour schemes or when benefits are more attractive than a minimum wage catering or cleaning job, why not just take the money? These girls were desperate for some leadership, a strong role model, and a scheme that will train them and pay them a decent wage, and above all, give them some hope and self esteem that they CAN break out of this cycle if they have the will and the attitude and a hard working state of mind.

As for housing benefit being removed for under 23s - good. Kids should be forced to stay with their parents unless there is a history of abuse, why should they move out and get a paid-for flat? I didn't leave the nest till I was 24 when I could finally afford to rent, I never felt a sense of entitlement that I should get my own place at 17 and let the state pay for it. This underclass of prolific breeders who lack intelligence and parenting skills are bringing up generations of demotivated underachievers who think the world owes them a living, and we just can't afford to pay for their lives anymore. When their kids turn into hopeless cases they blame anyone but themselves and their parenting.

[Gixer77]

It always amazes me that they never seem to be motivated to escape the sink estates and the poverty, to me that'd be the biggest motivator to work hard and earn a decent crust then get the hell out. The rot starts with the schooling and if they leave with no qualifications then that's the start of the downward spiral. Training course are available and charity schemes to help them learn skills but they have to want to get out of bed and put some effort in, and their upbringings just seem to lack motivation or ambition.

My life has purely been motivated by simply not wanting to have the stress and worry of being skint and scrimping and saving for every little thing, plus to have all the nice things that I dreamed about. I wasn't bright at school and pulled average grades. No 6th form, no A levels, no Uni. I went to secretarial college. Upon leaving I was trapped in the "good quals but no experience" so I took temp admin jobs and claimed dole inbetween assignments. I went to a night class and learned HTML and started building websites for people on the side, then landed a job as a programmer. I now work back in Admin 4 days a week and run a web-based business on the side. All this I achieved by getting off my arse and working for it. Mum didn't really encourage me and even said that my business venture was just "a fad that I'd get bored with soon", but that just made me even more determined to succeed. Life is comfortable and I have no money worries but things could always be better and I'm still trying to grow my business and get into outsourcing some of my manufacturing.

My motivation to never be financially insecure is still driving me, but my mortgage is still a millstone round my neck. What galls me is that if I was made redundant and couldn't meet my mortgage payments, the State would not step in and cover the payments until I found another job, and I'd lose my house - despite being a hardworker and tax contributor since the age of 17. Yet these girls who have never paid into the system get money and flats thrown at them very easily. Yes it's a shitty flat but it's still a roof over their heads - they're not told to just go back home and get on with their parents, and their parents aren't told to sort their shit out and look after their kids.

And before anyone asks, I do not read the Daily Mail :P I actually wondered if the DM had produced and directed this programme :D

[impty]

I watched this. It was heartbreaking. When I was at Uni I worked out that my income was less than someone on JSA. But it was only for a few years, I had great role models, I had support from parents. Crucially I could work and top up my income. These girls need to earn a certain amount to pay for HB, council tax etc as they lose this if they work as well as the cash they receive.
Shelby's employer's took the piss how they sleep at night I don't know.
It's very bleak. I suspect the reason there's little ambition to leave is because its a rare person who manages to. Feeling mildly depressed would seem to be the norm.
As for the smoking well as saint students we all smoked too. As proper grown ups we all stopped. I would bet the poorer you are the more likely you are to smoke... not sure about why.

[PaulMichael]

Gixer77 i do agree about the cigs with the rest of them but shelby was not taking the benefits all though it is probably wrong to be smoking at her age she was working herself and not taking from the state so what she was buying was her choice really ... She could earn that from the state what she was working for but her choice was to work ... ( Many people smoke and get them paid by tax payers but this young person 16 years old was working for her cigs and supporting herself and was doing nothing wrong at all .

[PaulMichael]

I do agree with everything Gixer77 says about the violent one no motivation really but this is mainly due to her upbringing she is just a child and adults play the big part in there life and is why they usually turn out that way ...
But i cannot say one bad word about shelby she worked for everything she had supported herself and lived as an adult at the age of 16 ... Getting pregnant was a mistake as she was so young but knowing this girl she has her head screwed on so much she will probably make a better job of it than most young people and all though it is sad she got pregnant and ruined her chances of becoming something good with her great attitude towards life ... I can't see this bringing this strong minded girl down still i believe she will still go on to lead a successful life even with the child.

[PaulMichael]

Gixer77 i do not agree with having benefits stoped for people under 23 when there are people like shelby willing to make a start for them self .. She is 17 years old earns £55 a week and is trying hard to help herself rather from taking from the state so why shouldn't us adults give these young people a little bit of help and move them forward in the right direction ?? It is the young people that will work the country after all in the future .
She earns £55 a week and that will not cover the rent there so housing benefit is a must ... If anything the benefit should be given only to people like this girl shelby trying and working .. Ones that do not work should not get it but the ones that are atleast trying should get a little help as they are young and trying to better themselves !

[TheSmallPrint]

I watched this programme and my heard bled for Shelby, she seemed such a sweet and hard working girl who was being taken advantage of by her shitty employers. I had slightly less sympathy with the other two mainly due to attitude but I suspect this is mainly due to the environment they have been raised in?

I also agree with the smoking, Shelby spent a quater of her budget on cigarettes, yes she didn't have many treats but given the choice between eating or smoking I know which I'd choose. Then again I've never been a smoker so maybe the addiction to it at 16 / 17 is stronger than I imagine.

[TheSmallPrint]

Think it will be interesting to watch the boys one.