Free school meals - WHY

[MrsSpringfield]

Could anyone help me articulate an argument as to why children from lower income families should receive a free school meal 5 days a week.
Why it is beneficial?

There is a mum on my class watsapp group, from another country originally, who is basically saying they shouldn't provide kids with FSM and that it's not a high priority. (The school have temporarily stopped serving food. It's a primary school. ) She says where she's from they don't do it and they shouldn't do it here either.

I am so inarticulate I don't dare respond in my own words... but noone else has said anything and I feel I ought to stand up for FSM!!

I think in one of the richest countries in the world its embarrassing that anyone here needs fsm.

But I thing we should address the employment, health care, and financial reasons behind why we need them vefire we remove them.

Families shouldn't have to live the way they do. Especially when both work.
Absent parents shouldn't be able to fuck about with maintenance amd/or get out of paying anything at all the way we do.

I think there's alot to fix

Or is it like my cousin in the USA who is a teacher and feeds those kids out of her own pocket

Oh the school would give them toast or something! Usually because lunch has been lost/forgotten. There just is no history of schools catering, although there used to be milk.

I'm torn on this one as, generally, I agree, it's pointless to argue with an idiot, especially on a massive WhatsApp group. However, some remarks need to be refuted out loud, even if all it does it provide solidarity with those who feel unable to speak up. I think I'd respond once (sorry, don't have a witty response for you, I'd just be factual) and then let it go.

Some people have queried what happens in countries without free school meals. There was nothing like this (still isn't) in the country I grew up in. I don't remember anyone in primary school coming to school without lunch, and it was what would be considered a working class area. However, I do remember my mother working as a teacher in a different area where a large number of children came to school hungry, as there was no food at home for breakfast, and they had no packed lunch. There was no official safety net to support those kids. If they had no food, they went hungry, they didn't learn because they were hungry and they lashed out because they were hungry. My mother and another teacher set up a breakfast and lunch club, got local companies to donate food and did the cooking themselves. Whilst there will often be individuals who step up and take on more responsibility than they're required to, my view is child hunger is a wider social issue and should be managed by the government (in the form of free school meals etc).

When I was teaching, we had a number of the FSM kids who only ate at school.
the parents had a whole list of problems, one family for example, mum was an alcoholic.

Those particular children were undernourished and tiny for their age. The dinner ladies used to give them extra and it was the only meal they ate.

I also was a governor at a school where there was no kitchen, and FSM was a packed lunch. They spent a lot of time trying to find a way to provide hot meals as some of the FSM kids only ate at lunchtime.

Not all FSM kids are in such dire straits, but many of their parents are really on the poverty line, and struggle to feed their kids.

What would I reply to her?
I am so sorry that you grew up in a country where poor children were not looked after and some children went to bed hungry. I am so glad we live in a place where society cares for the poorest and makes sure that children don't starve.

I don't think I could bring myself to engage with such an idiot I'm afraid. Other than to tell her she's being extremely narrow minded to have not considered that some children are neglected at home. They won't get a decent packed lunch. There are countless other valid reasons in fact I can't think of one reason children shouldn't get FSM.
Maybe she's feeling a bit defensive over how things are done in her home country and this has made her realise that things were far from ideal in her own childhood? Some people think that because they struggled, everyone else should.

In an ideal world, we shouldn't have free school meals because all children would receive adequate food at home and nice healthy packed lunches. But at least this country acknowledges that we don't live in an ideal world, food poverty is real, and now even more people have lost their job so it's literally vital for some children.

@MrsSpringfield

She has posted an image with easy packed lunch ideas. And saying it's not hard to to a packed lunch.

I feel the point is being missed. How do I politely/ articulately say not all kids get fed at home

She clearly has no idea about poverty, low income and how children suffer the most in this setting. I don’t understand why you need help to say to her that not everyone can, or chooses to feed their children three decent meals a day. That may be because they’re living in poverty and struggling, because they lack the parenting skills or because they have other priorities, other than their children’s wellbeing.

And some countries actually don't care as much as we do about hungry children.

I wouldn’t bother responding like everyone else hasn’t - people like her will never understand that for some children a school meal is pretty much the only decent meal they’ll get everyday.

I come from a country that doesn’t do school meals and everyone had their own packed lunch. I was at school up until 1991 and I don’t recall if some kids didn’t have much to eat at lunchtime but undoubtedly there was.

THE CLASS WHATSAPP!?!?!?!?!?!

Don't reply. Well, maybe a private message is you actually like her!

That's REALLY going to backfire on her!

Leave her to it! Let someone braver respond. I doubt anyone will bother. But she has possibly just committed social suicide!

And some countries actually don't care as much as we do about hungry children

I dont actually think we do care about hungry kids .

I mean individually we do obviously but as a society I'm not totally sure.

Fsm is a band aid on a broken leg. Take poverty for instance, a huge factor in why kids need fsm. So the answer is to strip education of funding ? Cos just what kids who are hungry and dirty need is to fall further behind in class of 34 where every year fingers are crossed they can cope well enough to not have to refer a child for assessment ..

Would we penalise single parents by sanctioning them because they can't be at the school picking their kids up and across town at the job centre at the same time.

Would we refuse more women than men the ability to work from home when as we have seen since March its perfectly possible in more jobs than first thought but yeah we need to pay for wrap around care and make it to the office for an arbitrary 9.00 start..

If we really cared about kids...

Free school meals are a very well targeted benefit. You put cash in parents' pockets, there's the possibility it's not spent on the children. Every penny spent on free school meals improves children's nutrition, ability to learn and future life chances.

It's good value for money, basically.

Kids don't get lunches where l come from but l still think its a good idea, imagine struggling to feed your children.
We need more Marcus Rashfords.

I once has a home carer shout at me, completely out of the blue, that we are a stupid country because we give medical care to people who have just arrived here.

Fact is people are from different cultures and see things differently. She was a lovely young woman but in her eyes we are a stupid nation who encourage the worst types. Nothing I could say made any difference to her.
I gave up and changed the subject.

We may think we are a kind nation other people see us as weak!

I hate that kindness is seen as wekaness :(

It sums up everything wrong in the world to me

As a foreigner I find it really weird that FSM is even necessary. To me it is a sign of overall neglect if parents can't properly feed their children and I wonder if they should even be/stay their parents in that case. It seems to me that FSM isn't the solution to the original problem, but just a way to make sure that the victim (the child) isn't hurt as much by whatever the original problem is.

Having said that, just taking away the meals would hurt those vulnerable children the most so isn't an option at all. It would be better if the source of the problem gets acted on.

As a child, you do not get to choose your social economic status you are born into and there is nothing this child can do about it. A free school meal for a hungry child should never be considered a luxury, they are not fault here. Our system should protect the most vulnerable and these children are one of the most vulnerable. Their growth and brain development depends on it.

It's sad to see how privileged this woman must be to not see the need for this. I am privileged myself, never had to go hungry a day in my life but some people just don't see the issue if it's got nothing to do with them. It's sad, very sad.

They were the highlight of my life as a kid. I grew up in poverty and we lived far from shops with no transport) also didn't have a fridge as no electricity) so providing a packed lunch 5 days a week would have been a stretch both financially and practically. We had a tiny kitchen with a two burner cooker and tiny oven, so meals weren't very exciting.
School dinners were amazing and they even had puddings!

It really is probably best just to let her make a fool of herself and get no response, I imagine the tumbleweed that has so far greeted her frothing has only wound her up more. But I do understand the wish to make the case for fsm, because as you say, lots of other members of the group may be claiming them and feeling rubbish now.

As a foreigner I find it really weird that FSM is even necessary. To me it is a sign of overall neglect if parents can't properly feed their children and I wonder if they should even be/stay their parents in that case.

Stop wondering. The vast, vast majority of families who qualify for FSM would prioritise feeding their children if FSM were taken away, but they are on such low incomes that doing so would mean some other essential would not be paid for.

My parents are from another country. Father arrived here when he was 16 and worked from the day he arrived and contributed his taxes. I live this country and everything they provide for me. They take care of the vulnerable, homeless and sick as well children. I'm grateful to be a part of such a society that doesn't shun the poor but helps them because they are part of a society. These children are our future hope. The children that FSM are not at fault of the situation they were born in. Their education is a right and they can learn without being nourished so this country feeds them. My dad had an employee who died with young children and as a result his children were free school meals. I remember handing my toys and clothes to them. The two sons now are medical professionals, one is a GP and one is a consultant cardiologist! Why? Because this country supported them and now they are contributing members of a society that have families who are also working to contribute. P.s his one of his daughter's is a nurse and has worked in the depth of COVID!

Even if she doesnt care about the human aspect If we don't support our younger generation we are pushing them and their future generations into a cycle of poverty which more of a burden on the country.

How could your heart be happy saying children should be fed? Have she ever seen the look on the face of a hungry child?!

She seems like a loser. I wouldn't even bother speaking with her. Waste of time

@rorosemary

As a foreigner I find it really weird that FSM is even necessary. To me it is a sign of overall neglect if parents can't properly feed their children and I wonder if they should even be/stay their parents in that case. It seems to me that FSM isn't the solution to the original problem, but just a way to make sure that the victim (the child) isn't hurt as much by whatever the original problem is.

Having said that, just taking away the meals would hurt those vulnerable children the most so isn't an option at all. It would be better if the source of the problem gets acted on.

Words fail me. Why do you find the need to include the fact that you're a foreigner? It implies that you think there aren't children not being fed properly at home in your country. I don't believe that.

I'm from the country that generally don't do free school meals too.

I really think free school meals are one of the great thing in this country. No children should be hungry.

As a foreigner who choose to live in this country by choice, I think it's very rude to push opinions and compare what it's like in other countries.

FSM are so important .We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world .yet so many people are struggling to provide basic food for their DC.This impacts their education ,well being and general health immensely!

As a foreigner I find it really weird that FSM is even necessary. To me it is a sign of overall neglect if parents can't properly feed their children and I wonder if they should even be/stay their parents in that case. It seems to me that FSM isn't the solution to the original problem, but just a way to make sure that the victim (the child) isn't hurt as much by whatever the original problem is.

There are very many reasons why some parents struggle to feed their kids, poverty and neglect are not the same thing. Given the very poor outcomes for children in state care, I’d rather fund nutritious food for children than remove them from their parents

If you’re going to answer I’d simply say “we provide FSM because we have as a society decided that feeding children is a good thing” and leave it at that.