Poor Kids

[NearlySpring]

Documentary on BBC1 now.

Sat here in tears watching this show following children living in poverty.

One woman, with 3 young girls all under 8. Her partner left her alone and she is struggling with money. The girls were given a sausage roll each for dinner. They are let out to play on a building site and derelict houses- where the he'll is the mother? Mother comes on saying how she can't cope financially- kids saying they have to miss meals as mummy can't always afford food. Next scene, mother has acrylic nails and a massive dog!

AIBU to ask if she can't afford to feed her kids basic cheap meals how the he'll does she feed a massive dog that is bigger than her 3 kids put together!

It must be terrible to be in that situation but surely you get your priorities straight. Who has a pet if they have no money?!!

And another thing

If a septuagenarian is unable to do her own cleaning etc what the hell is she doing being expected to look after a young child!

maypole was the person who said benefits shouldn't exist because she never needed them but I think it was thesecondcoming who first pointed out that her childcare arrangements were far from ideal. I seconded that. Exploitative.

sheepgomeep what a frigging nightmare! This is how I remember the good ole DWP

Marking place

Sheep i was in council tax debt. When i worked i had to pay £40 per month and wouldnt take anything less. I had nothing left. When i claimed IS they knocked it down to £5 per week as i was on benefits. Ive had crisis loans and 2 budgeting loans. There is only a certain amount in the pot for crisis loans which they are allowed to pay out in a day i think. I know it take ages to get through and if i need one i ring on a morning. Its the same for someone who works. What if they are at the end of the month and run out of money. They cant ring anyone for a loan. Ive never waited for my crisis loan payments. They just give me a time to collect the giro.

I can honestly say they have never mucked my money up and not paid me. I know they stop JSA if you dont sign on and they also reduced my friends money as she failed to attend her lone parent interview. They then kept it like that untiil she rang up. Even when she rang up they took the payment the next fortnight. They didnt stop it all together and she had enough for basics until she got it paid back.

£40 per week

It's an unpopular view generally, but for things like this I am very much in favour of the nanny state. It won't do to just chuck more money at them, and leave them to get on with it, because many of them can't.

I don't mean nannying in an accusing way, but sort of taking people under a more experienced wing and teaching them how to cook and all that stuff. In the long run that would teach them how to be more self sufficient surely.

I've never understood why the Nanny State is always seen as oppressive.

Just watched this on catch up after reading the thread. There are clearly issues with the parenting as others have said and I agree that there is absolutely no need to live in such filth regardless of your finances (damp aside obv.). I've just been left feeling really thankful for what I have though. I spend so much time talking about how we'd like a bigger house but this has opened my eyes to what a lovely clean, dry house I already have with new carpets and fancy John Lewis wallpaper in the nursery. My tiny DS will never have the experience these kids have, thank God - I could have cried at the part where the little girl hopes for a "dolly house" for her birthday and her older sister tells her it's not going to happen .

I've emailed too. I was judging the parents too, however the kids were so amazing I was really touched by the programme. As others have said, Sam and Kayleigh especially. Poor little souls.

If you wish to help these children directly, you can :

truevisiontv.com/blog/details/1147/poor-kids-wanting-to-help

As I have said before, living on benefits is just about possible as long as you have skills and/or support. Some parents have neither and if you add mental/physical health problems or a Social Security mistake (which are becoming more and more common, wonder why) or literacy difficulties or debt all it takes is for one of your major appliances to go on the blink and you end up where these kids are.

For those of you have not had these difficulties, I am glad, I hope you never do, but to judge those who are in this situation doesn't help. What would help is a decent health visitor and a good SureStart scheme. However these are being cut to ribbons by our government, so expect the situation to get worse and soon.

Loss of EMA is going to be a bastard for families in poverty :(

yep, Riveninside it sure is

I had a bit of poor health recently, and I can tell you that if I were single parent I would have been completely unable to cope, money or no money.

I guess it's easy to forget that we're not all at the top of our game all of the time.

Do you know what's really sad? All the kids talked about being bullied because they were poor and having seen the posts here it's not at all surprising. The bullies are obviously just taking their lead from their parents.

Its the sneering attitudes from some people towards the poor that make the problem worse imo

I didnt see an issue p,aying in the street and in derelict hiuses. Its what we did as kids. From 6 or so we roamed the estate and got up to all sorts. Its normal to play out. But i guess the sort of parents who schedule everythinb and ferry kids everywhere would see it as alarming. Its actually pretty normal.

You only have to read threads on here about rough council estate people to know what the attitudes are

No wonder these kids have no hope ,they are written off by many just because of where they live

It sickens me

I agree Riven.

theres nothing quite like an old house/building/shed to poke around and scare yourself silly imagining its haunted!! integral to childhood i think!!

the famous five got away with it for years!!

You know, my family's doing pretty well really. We don't have a lot of money because a lot of it goes to pay for our house. Most of our clothes are secondhand but nice (ebay, etc) and luckily we live in a rural area where fresh local produce is cheap and available. Also we have a large support system of family and friends, and my parents are very handy so our house looks nice for cheap. But if my husband and I split up or he lost his job or God forbid, something happened to him, we'd be living in poverty quick as you can blink.

I wouldn't be able to work because I wouldn't be able to afford daycare for my son. (We don't have nurseries here and you can't send your kids to kindergarten til they're five.)

I don't drive. I could learn (and need to!) but there's no way I could afford a car and insurance.

I work part-time as a 1:1 aide in school. I love it but I make basically nothing, plus am off for three months in the summer and all school holidays without pay. I also work part time in the evenings at a cinema, which is only possible because I have my husband to watch our son during that time and my brother for back up care if I need him. If I didn't have these things I couldn't work at all. I can't afford to go back to school to become qualified for a higher paying job and I can't afford full-time childcare to get more hours.

People say things like "use freecycle" but how can you go pick up a new bed or something that's miles away if you don't know anyone who has a van or something?

I guess what I'm saying is that with a lot of people who are doing well, it's down to luck and not much more. :)

thingumy I only used the words "middle class" to describe my mum and that she had come from a family that was not poor and therefore disadvantaged in the first place (maybe not the best choice of words).

I never said or mean't to imply that working class people cannot manage on benefits.

I dont think its a lack of empathy but if you choose not to work and live on benefits then thats a choice you make. Of course it will impact on finances and the lives of their children but whilst the state allows people to choose not to work it wont get any better.

For those unable to undertake any form of work we quite rightly have state support to ensure rent is paid and money to survive on.

Lack of money is no reason not to have a clean house or ensure children play safely. Upping benefits wont help at all as it will simply encourage more not to work and is very likely not to be spent on what it was intended for.

How can you work if you can't afford childcare? I can because I have a husband who makes good money, but if he fecked off where would I be? Circumstances can change more quickly than you'd think.