To think the level of state involvement many posters expect is bonkers?

Of course I think patents should provide for their children but I don't think children should suffer because they had the misfortune to be born to parents who are unable or unwilling to provide for them. So I absolutely so support having a large state with higher taxes to support this. I think lots of benefits should be universal so that everyone benefits. I support free school meals, free breakfast clubs, free after school extra curricular activities for children, free childcare, extra funding for schools, etc.

Isn't that what Tesco cards and Nectar cards are for??

Someone on another thread suggested two tier pricing at supermarkets should be looked into because some people live chaotic lives 😳

As someone who has no need for the state to provide any of those things for my child as I do it myself, I am still in favour of the state providing plenty of support for children. Bear in mind that the resources different families have, and the quality of parenting between different families varies enormously. You can preach until the cows come home about how parents should be doing and providing all of these things themselves but the reality is that plenty can't or won't and the only hope those children have is the school or state providing for them to slightly narrow the gap between them and their better parented or more resource rich peers.

I am sure lots of people don't actually understand that 'the government ' doesn't actually have any money. The only money they have access to is our money, raised by taxing us, and borrowing.
So all the calls for the government to pay for this or that, or additional funding, can only come from the methods above.

There is a frighteningly large percentage of the population who seem unable to show any level of personal responsibility.

To add a bit more nuance, the state used to take responsibility for a lot of things. Successive governments quietly dropped or privatised them and let poverty increase and infrastructure degrade.

Hence the call for schools to do everything. It's the only institution many people are familiar with and the only one they feel they can influence.

See: schools doing things that were previously done by local authorities, the NHS, social services, youth services, housing.

Can I add healthcare? Many people do take responsibility for their health/ managing healthcare conditions. It's hard can have a serious impact on peoples time/ energy / finances. I also appreciate some people struggle with this and will need state help.
However there are a small number of people who think they can do what they like and expect the state to sort out the mess they get into.
I'm not talking about people who don't realise the impact until it's too late, I'm talking about those who make a conscious choice to ignore healthcare advice, then complain.
(I'm also not talking about those who choose to ignore any advice and accept the consequences,just those have been explicitly told if you continue to do X, Y will happen, and then expect the state to sort out Y when is does).

I agree that schools have far too much on their curriculum already and we expect far too much of schools in many ways. They are there to provide an education and shouldn't be left to sort out wider social issues.

Couldn't agree more, OP. I'm fed up of the "should do it in school" brigade, especially when it is reinforced/promised by politicians.

Unfortunately many parents now view school as being a "service" they are a customer of, a.k.a. low-cost childcare, and not a "duty" they have.

Just look at the level of absences. We never, ever had that level "back in the day", someone regularly missing school was a big deal, you just didn't dare.

One often used phrase is on MN is, "We should be teaching this in our schools."

If we taught everything in our schools thar MNers what us to, there'd never be time to teach anything else.