To feel a little bit resentful in paying for school dinners

[sississy]

While other parents have it for free?
Or should I be just grateful I can afford to pay it?

Maybe I am answrin it myself aren't I?

totempole
Scotland has decided to keep borrowing basically.
They are paying for the free meals with higher taxes on those children when they grow up

wow some people on this thread are so jealous of poor people

lyingwitch
when the checkout operator holds it up high and says quite loudly "is this one of those immigrant vouchers" the WHOLE SHOP knows
but most of the shop sympathised with the checkout lady, not the asylum seeker so nothing was done

I like the voucher/sliding scale ideas. It could help those that are earning just a tiny bit too much for FSM etc.

LyingWitch, 100% vouchers and no cash at all wouldn't work.

Comparing it to when I use my Tesco clubcard vouchers at the supermarket, I usually have to add a bit of cash to make up the exact amount of shopping.

Maybe a card system? Card is topped up by x amount each week, then used as a debit card. But the system won't allow alcohol or tobacco to be paid by the card?

Thinking about it some more, people would also need a bit of real cash to pay for things like bus fares. Presumably people on benefits are allowed to use public transport.

Asylum seekers with the vouchers were not allowed to buy fruit juice (they could have squash) no magazines, no sweets, no alcohol, no cakes
it was offensive to watch a busybody in London saying that they could not buy a magazine about their home country.

On the other hand, for some people stigma may be the kick up the arse they need!

I remember our school cook at primary school so fondly.

She knew exactly which families were struggling including ours and often made sure that we got a little bit extra on the plate and sometimes she'd catch certain children later in the playground and say she'd got some leftovers and if we thought our mums could use them to pop round to the kitchen at the end of the day. There were always half a dozen of us always the same families. At the time we were given to believe we were doing her a favour as it saved her throwing it out. She never one made us feel it was charity or indeed anything but us being helpful to her though I'm sure our parents knew.

Wouldn't be allowed now no doubt for health and safety reasons.

Was very sad when I heard she'd died a couple of years ago :(

I used to have a bus pass... I had to buy it once a week and that was it. Why would it be a problem? Of course people on benefits can use public transport... what did you mean by that?

Voucher/card, either system would work equally well, I think.

TalkingPeace... I see what you mean about the checkout operators but, if vouchers were in common use it really wouldn't happen because everybody would be aware of them/what they do with them.

There isn't a perfect solution but there has to be something fairer than this.

faintpinkline... She sounds like such a lovely, genuinely kind woman.

A voucher system would control what people can and can't do. I assume that there would be some allowance for travel. Maybe not enough to run a car but to use the public transport.

Would everyone get a bus pass? Some won't need a weekly pass, they'll only use it once or twice a week.

Everyone needs a bit of cash in their pockets. A voucher system can't cover every eventuality. Maybe everyone should be able to have 10-20% in cash.

well the least they can do it make all the kids on free school meals sit at a seperate table.

Thats what they did when i was a kid. It really taught us little scroungers a lesson. Made absolutley no difference to our parents and whether they could afford school dinners but it must have made the other, paying, parents feel better.
It had the added advantage of making us easier to identify so the dear little scamps from the hard working decent homes could take the piss out of us.

Perhaps thats a compromise OP?
That way the kids dont starve but there is still some sort of punishment. Would you feel less resentful about children being fed then?

lolz

I do sort of see where the OP is coming from, although of course would never begrudge a child in need of a free meal having a free meal.

Someone I know was getting free school meals for her DS for 3 years whilst a student. Which was fine but she really was living the life of riley, buying clothes constantly, driving in a new car, clearly not in need financially. Her DS got to do all the after school clubs for free too, which was a bit irritating for some that couldn't afford for their DCs to do any and then this woman's DS was doing everything from football to cookery club to drama, all for free. Again, I wouldn't begrudge the child having these things but I can see how some feel it is unfair.

Back to the old vouchers again.

I hate this on MN.
I love MN, I really do but every time I read this sort of shit it makes me want to leave.

I live on benefits, I don't work.
I can't work, I have brittle asthma and am registered disabled and receive ESA. ( and DLA, but that's not an out of work benefit)

I had a hospital appointment today, with one of the top asthma specialists in Scotland. He's added in two new medications, on top of the four a day I already take, and I need more lung function tests and a bone scan.

Yes, I have a brand new (motability) car, and I have sky (as of last weekend), and we eat well at home, because I can cook.

Why should I have to have vouchers?

Why can't I be trusted with money?

(Cue loads of people saying, 'oh, we don't mean genuinely disabled people, just those making it up and my friend's Dad's cousin, and people who have 25 children').

MrsDeVere, the OP's resentment stems from the woman she knows who gets FSMs and is... driving a car and sometimes just to go to the corner of the street, taking 3 holidays a year, working cash in hand while claiming benefits(benefit fraud and tax evasion), working as an unregistered childminder(breaking the law). Oh, and she charges more than the OP for her services and isn't very good at it.

So for some bizarre reason parents are paying a crap, unregistered childminder £2.50 an hour more than a registered one.

NettoSuperstar... my comment on the vouchers really isn't applicable to you and people like you, you know - the ones who do look after their children, make sure their needs are met.

Unfortunately, there isn't a massive pot of money in endless supply and there are significant numbers of people who buy stuff that isn't for their kids. How is that fair? We're bloody lucky that we do have a fall-back system in this country but for all those who say "if you think it's so great, go on benefits yourself"... imagine if the current amount of people on benefits doubled, tripled - how long do you think the money would last?

It's not about greedy bankers and tax haveners; there's a limited amount of money and that's it.

This thread was about school meals and being able to afford them. People who can easily and those who receive them free don't need to think about them - the people who work and can't afford them aren't as lucky.

Why should I have vouchers? I am a carer, I look after 3 disabled children and a disabled husband, I have as much right to choose a bottle of wine, as you do. And do you know what, on occasion, I do. How dare you suggest what we should and should not be allowed to spend our money on. Perhaps if the government paid a decent working wage to people like me, we'd be given a bit more respect for what we do, but no, as it is, we're branded feckless wastrels because we're on benefits.
Thanks.

What's your solution then, Dawndonna? BTW, has anybody actually called you a feckless wastrel?

I live in a London borough which provides FSM for all children. It does annoy me a bit because the schools have a very mixed intake, there are some £1m houses nearby but also council estates. Effectively those on the estates are charged through their council tax to help give children of millionaires free meals. It does mean that the quality of the meals are better, though.

I have no problem with children receiving FSM. However, i do sometimes feel a bit pissed off about the fact that some parents are choosing to buy booze, cigsetc and yet claim not to be able to afford school dinners. We are very fortunate in this country, my next door neighbour comes from Nigeria and says that if you don't have money to feed your children , they don't eat.
She can't believe that some people in this country put themselves before their children.
I really can see where the OP is coming from

forehead - but it remains horribly unfair to punish the children of people like that - it is not the childs fault what their parents spend their money on, and I could not watch a child go without food through no fault of their own. I am glad and happy that some of my tax goes towards paying for FSM.

And I am a Tory fwiw. I work in a school and part of my job is FSM admin.

September
your borough are only doing it for primary and were already at 30% FSM
so the incremental cost was lower
and there are only 74 schools, as against several hundred here in Hampshire

forehead
read this
www.economist.com/node/21547771
nutrition in the developing world is a significant barrier to growth - and malnourished children grow up into less productive adults
FSM is therefore a no brainer

I just feel that parents do this because they can get away with doing this,
I have three children who have school dinners and i pay about £130 a month for free meals. If people like myself chose not to pay for school dinners there would not be enough money in the pot to pay for school dinners.
I know that iabu, but i feel a bit resentful about forking out this money
every month.