Free school meals and summer holidays

[McNewPants2013]

I was thinking about this today.

I will have an extra £10 per week dude to not paying for school meals, but if people are entitled to FSM I can see many families struggling to provide these extra meals at home.

Do you think that school canteens should open or the parents get extra money to cover the shortfall.

[AudrinaAdare]

All of the five children across the road where I used to live were podgy and pasty looking. The child closest to DD's age once told her that the entire family took the piss out of her her wanting to eat something other than reconstituted meat and chips every night in order to lose a bit of weight.

That poor kid didn't have a chance. I'm not, as someone suggested, saying that such children are swept away into care, but surely some sort of intervention could be funded?

[Bogeyface]

Happy Yes the parents need support, but why on earth do you think that in the meantime the children should suffer? As a PP said, should they go into care? There are not enough foster parents as it is and it is widely accepted that life in care is horrific. As another PP pointed out, care costs far more than the few quid a day that it would cost for a decent meal for those children.

And suggesting that someone with real learning issues can be taught to budget is laughable. My son has Cerebal Palsy. It affects his mental processes far more than his physical abilities. He cannot process numbers, at all. That part of his brain was damaged during his birth, there is no teaching in the world that will change that. Should he not be a parent? Should he he never consider having children because of that? He is fantastic with children, when I was very ill in my last pg he did the majority of day to day stuff that I couldnt do and my husband couldnt take time off work to do. He can cook, clean, do washing, is a marvel when one of the kids is ill and I need an extra hand, but can he shop? physically yes, but he pays far more than he should. Can he budget? Not at all. If you gave him £100 and asked him to make a shopping list it could come to £300 or £5 because his brain simply doesnt work properly in that department.

He has me, his friends, his siblings, we support him. But what if he was a single parent who didnt have us? That is reality for some people, they do the best they can, but if their best aint that great why on earth should their children suffer for that?

[Bogeyface]

Quip You do have a point but the point of this thread is that there will be many children going back to school thinner, that doesnt worry you? At all?

[SuperiorCat]

What an utterly depressing thread, people begrudging hungry children one free meal a day.

Much as some MNers deny it, I know from having worked with families in very deprived areas, that there are parents who prioritise spending money on alcohol / drugs / designer clothes / acrylic nails etc for whatever reason, while their DCs don't have a winter coat / proper breakfast, but these are very much in the minority. None of this is the child's decision, or fault, and they should not be going hungry as a result.

FSM are a very effective way of ensuring that the money is spent on feeding the child, the parents have no control over it and cannot divert funds elsewhere.

[AudrinaAdare]

If the family I knew had been given extra money over the summer the mother and bf of the week would have bought even more drugs and been even more life-threateningly neglectful to the children. And you can still buy booze and dags with government vouchers where I live so I don't see how that would help. My own sister bought sodding bottled water for her dog to drink but says any fruit for the DC is too expensive!

[AudrinaAdare]

Superior you may have worked with neglectful families but I have worked with AND lived amongst them for forty years. They are not very much in the minority in my town.

[OhThePlacesYoullGo]

Ok; I am not against the idea of providing some kind of free meal scheme during the summer for FSM children - whether the need is due to lack of budgeting skills, genuine need, illness or whatnot.

Nonetheless, someone earlier in the thread mentioned buying cheaply at the end of the day at ASDA and was 'shouted down'. If you can't get to ASDA, that still leaves you with pretty much every other supermarket. I have been doing this for years now (taking the bus there), buying whatever is marked down, whether that is £0.25 for a bunch of bananas or bread for £0.15, chicken breasts for £0.50.

There are other cheap options. Since uni, I buy one (now two) of those bowls of fruit & veg from one of the street vendors for a pound each week (they are usually one kind of vegetable or fruit, but they have always let me swap stuff around and make a mix if I asked).

I also buy big bags of rice/pasta from the 99p store.

My point is that while of course there are plenty of reasons why families may struggle and their kids should not suffer as a result, this does not mean that the suggestion that it is possible to live of even a tiny food budget and eat well should be ridiculed as being uninformed and unrealistic.

[Bogeyface]

Audrina it has been said that FSM isnt about money, it was the best way to put food directly into a hungry childs belly. Many people have said that rather than cash or vouchers, which as you rightly say can be misappropriated, some sort of Free Holiday Meals scheme could be started.

[Bogeyface]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1800785-The-great-british-menu-food-poverty-AIBU

I started this thread because while I abhor the fact that some people have less than £15 a week to feed themselves and their child, I felt that basic cooking skills might help. I have lived on the absolute breadline, deciding between heat, light or food, so I thought I was well placed to comment. I was wrong. I still believe that cooking skills would help, however I was educated on that thread to think about the fact that not everyone has transport (public or otherwise), not everyone lives within schlepping distance of a supermarket. I suggest you nay sayers read it, its very enlightening.

[Bogeyface]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1800785-The-great-british-menu-food-poverty-AIBU

[TabithaStephens]

Sorry but it is a parents responsibilty to feed their children. The more services the state provides, the more irresponsible behaviour from parents. If parents aren't feeding their kids, the fault is there's not the governments.

[AudrinaAdare]

I'd support that because in the short-term, the children need to be fed. Same as me with my desk-drawer. I just had my back up because of the assumptions that all people on benefits don't know that summer is coming and plan accordingly.

Mind you, I've been here six years and plenty of people seem to have Christmas steal up on them so unsuspectingly that it's late December before they realise that some small presents and a special meal needs to be planned for, so I shouldn't be surprised.

[Bogeyface]

Sorry but it is a parents responsibilty to feed their children. The more services the state provides, the more irresponsible behaviour from parents. If parents aren't feeding their kids, the fault is there's not the governments.

So you would see a 6 year old little boy go days without a meal and walk away?

[chocolatespiders]

I do think this should be looked into. For lots of children on free school meals it could be the one and only meal they get everyday and to have that missing over the summer, Easter, Christmas etc is upsetting.

[ImNotBloody14]

How very enlightened of you tabitha- where did you gain your wealth of experience relating to why some children aren't fed properly?

[Bogeyface]

Imnot on the politics board where she, oddly enough, is all in favour of the Tory flavour lollipops.

[PresidentServalan]

Surely if you can't afford to feed your children then that is a bigger issue? Presumably the adults eat at some point? What about 9p tins of beans etc, is that really outside of people's budgets?

[annie987]

6 out of the 7 children in my class who receive FSM have parents who smoke.
I know this does not apply to all FSM parents but it is true of the section tgst i see and I find it very hard to feel sorry that these parents cannot feed their children if they can afford to buy cigarettes.

[annie987]

And 3 of the 7 children also had IPads for Christmas!

[PresidentServalan]

Tabitha I agree, it is not down to the Govt to feed children, it is up to the parents. Your children, your responsibility.

[ImNotBloody14]

Annie no-one says you should feel sorry for the parents, it's the children we'ee talking about here! Children who have no say at all in whether they get dinner or not

[annie987]

So if I chose to spend all my wages on fast cars and drugs and not feed my child then the schools should open to do it for me?

[Bogeyface]

president and what if they dont?