Free breakfast club-offensive government campaign

There is sometimes a theme to people’s threads.

How nicely idealistic.

Don’t be obtuse. The OP is referring to HOW the service is being marketed, rather than the fact it exists.

And I agree. It’s very tongue-in-cheek for a government branch that is massively in crisis.

Well the husband still need to buy the kid breakfast - and needs jailing if not.

Have you ever tried shoving a 5 year old back up your chuff after losing your job or your husband has left?

How'd that go?

Maybe those who can’t afford to feed children shouldn’t have them? Personally I don’t see why the tax payer has mop up shit choices by people unable to balance their books. Yes it is patronising, but I guess they think that’s their market? The stupid and the ill equipped. Children should be fed by their parents - that’s the core job.

I see it at our school. The kids of the poorest parents are being fed all this shit, while the better off kids have parents who can afford to work part time/flexibly/wfh and are arriving at school having had porridge and fresh fruit, eggs and home made sourdough toast.

I should think millions of comfortably off children are still eating cereal and UPF bread before school. Less than half the adult population is switching to low / no UPF.

What false advertising

By the time most people get to an airport and check in times etc, there's no way you're taking that many flights to spain.

Nah Bluey is fine

Yeap. The time I put the TV on and realised I was watching Bluey on my mine, was a parenting low point.

Right - so having a daily breakfast clubs which allows slightly earlier drop off makes life much easier vs having to arrange all sorts of elaborate plans and negotiations with work because you can’t physically drop your child off then get to work on time…!

I don’t mind if people use it to work but why that rubbish list?

Look if someone is daft enough to make their kid go to breakfast club purely because “the government says so” then what can you do. I doubt that happens much in reality.

It’s a joke - it’s explaining how much time you can ‘get back’ over the year.

Most breakfast clubs are for about 30 minutes in the morning, and the very vast majority of parents will be needing to get to work - and this makes their day cheaper and easier vs having to organise additional private childcare for every weekday.

OP why are you so upset about mothers having jobs? Because that’s what it comes down to for you isn’t it?

how does your family juggle two jobs and primary school aged children, getting everyone to the right place in the mornings inc commutes etc?

Not the op but most people i know have an arrangement where both mum & dad work either flexibly/part time or from home at least 2 days a week, so a parent can drop the children in the morning 4 days out of 5. That leaves one morning, which most cover with a grandparent, a childminder or a swap with a friend. Our school has quite an early opening time which makes it easier.

Listing things you could do instead of having breakfast with your child (while the child eats processed toast and jam or cereal at school instead of sharing a family meal)

Starting the day by sitting down at the table together to enjoy a "family meal" made from scratch is not the reality for many, many families.

The poster is daft, but so is thinking that a family meal is the alternative to breakfast clubs when that's simply not the reality for most people who are juggling getting kids to school with trying to get to work on time.

My friend works in a massively deprived area (in Scotland). She brings bread with her to school so she can make toast for the kids who come in having not eaten anything since school lunch the day before. It’s a good thing.

Honestly all this stuff worries me. The food kids are fed in all these settings gets worse every day, with very little fresh fruit and veg, hardly any protein and a reliance on cheap, long life, over processed carbs.

I see it at our school. The kids of the poorest parents are being fed all this shit, while the better off kids have parents who can afford to work part time/flexibly/wfh and are arriving at school having had porridge and fresh fruit, eggs and home made sourdough toast. School dinners are abysmal, the catering companies can't provide enough calories on the budget so include confectionery (despite guidelines against it). Again the better off kids are sent with much nicer pack ups from home.

It will create a social divide between the kids subjected to this, who will grow up less healthy, and those who aren't.

The focus should be on helping parents work part time hours (and encouraging employers to allow this) that balance family and work. This is economically a good thing too as it means people stay in work rather than quitting to become a SAHP.

Agree. I'd rather have breakfast with my child than stick her in a noisy portacabin and add an extra hour onto her already long day.

This campaign is to ensure children living in poverty eat before learning. Making sure basic needs are met.
I know it’s stereotypical but I would assume the majority of people who are off to work would be feeding their children.
(I am aware there are lots of hard working people who are struggling to feed their children)

There is no need for people to constantly look for things to be offended by

The implication in the poster is that you could spend your mornings with your child watching peppa pig rather than having to make them breakfast because BC will do it.

If the campaign was about enabling parents to work then that would be one thing, but it isn’t. It essentially implies that parents are wasting time feeding their children so why not let someone else do it so they can have time to themselves.

Nothing wrong with breakfast club for parents who need to go to work. But the campaign is offensive.

Oh FYI the kids who really need these clubs ie the ones from deprived households aren't going to be dropped at school an extra 45 mins earlier! Ask any teacher, these are the children who are barely dropped off much before 9am, they aren't going to suddenly be dropped off at 8am!
Parents who are organised enough to get their children to school at 8am are usually the ones who are also organised to give their own children breakfast.