To think that some people are NEVER bloody happy??

[playanotherone]

So in the last week the U.K. government has announced that they will;

1. Put 1billion into a school "catch up" fund

1. Continue on the free school meal vouchers over the summer!

YET NOW there's people on Instagram going mad because apparently the government has "very quietly" removed the schools fruit and veg scheme!!?

Surely we Cannot expect the government (tax payers) to provide all of these things and apples and pears is surely not the priority right now!!

YANBU OP.
Some people are professional complainers - or 'butwhatabout'ers

Everything is a problem. Solutions presented? BUT WHAT ABOUT X?!

I think we're seeing a mentality which has been bubbling away for years and years and suddenly it's all surfaced at once.

If you can't afford your children, don't try and make it someone else's fault. If you can't buy them bloody apples??? Are you shitting me??

People make mistakes, people have unfortunate life events happen to them...but where is the personal responsibility in all this?

So let's bow in to all these demands and let's keep paying money out by the time they need it paying back its the younger genertions who will have too. So let's just call it the Government credit card - borrow it now to get your fruit and beg paid for now and pay it back later.

Working genertion now have been complaining about all the years of austerity to bring the debt back down - this is what we are handing over the next generation.

So welcome to your life young generation - this is what you can look forward to!

People just won't buy it though 🤷‍♀️

When my daughter was young the supermarket used to donate healthy breakfast and fruit to the school so her schools breakfast club was sponsored by sainsbury's her snack was sponsored by Tesco

Have they stopped the fruit for children scheme?
Evil bastards!

And if people just won't buy then quite frankly they are poor parents

To be honest I find that quite sad. That fruit at school might be the only fruit a child has.

Poverty and disadvantage is much more complicated than buying a bag of fruit at Aldi. I agree with a previous poster, if you’re on a very very limited budget buying a loaf of bread and couple of tins of value beans Is going to provide more meals than the equivalent money spent on fruit. They’d also last longer and probably be more filling.

but if they getting free school meal vouchers or whatever they are called then why do they need even more

I think there will be some children whose parents simply won't buy fruit and veg so wouldn't get it at all if it weren't provided in school. Getting them used to eating it helps them make better food choices when they are older so well worth it IMO.

I'd be interested to know what research has been done on the benefits of the scheme.

Possibly there are poor parents @cyclingmad but I'd pay a bit more tax for the child to have some fruit. I'd do that before I'd say "you have no fruit or veg in your diet because your Mum and Dad are shit and no one else cares"

@playanotherone - I don't disagree. But when trust is lost then nothing is right. Anything becomes a battleground.

@cyclingmad

but if they getting free school meal vouchers or whatever they are called then why do they need even more

This is for during school time when the vouchers are no longer available

If it's an EU benefit of course they will not be paying people voted to leave

Children do still get fruit with their school meals if they have them

This thread highlights how little some people understand poverty. I know a girl who has a chocolate spread sandwich for lunch every day, that’s it. A loaf of bread is 49p and a jar of chocolate spread is 99p in Aldi. Not everyone has £3.59 spare to spend on fruit each week. It’s all well and good saying you shouldn’t have kids if you can’t afford them and in an ideal world I would agree, but we don’t live in an ideal world and the only victims of that mentality are the poor children.

Has this scheme actually been stopped in England as i can't find out by googling..I've tried.

For me, It's not the cost that's an issue, it's that sitting with other children there is some peer encouragement to try different fruits and veg which I think is really helpful. Certainly my (reception) child has become less fussy since starting school meals, and if this is scrapped I hope her school will continue it funded by parental contributions

I just can’t believe that people would moan about free fruit for kids.

If fruit and veg is so cheap why can’t the govt pay for it?
Give with one hand whilst taking away with the other.

I agree that some people live in extreme poverty, but on a voucher thread the other day, people were defending their right to spend their vouchers on posh coffee, wine/alcohol and a treat time in Marks and Spencers! These threads just don't fit together somehow.

Fruit and veg trying sessions have been used a lot in poorer schools for longer than this scheme, but funds to schools are so tight a lot just don't want to spend any more.

I've found that if there's one thing that parents love and are all really good at, it's complaining.

@mollypuss1
Hear hear.

Funnily enough I have a vivid memory of an article written about how the fruit and veg given to the children through that scheme wasn't good enough and parents jumped on that bandwagon too!!
@mollypuss1 I understand that a lot of ppl are in dire poverty and there's food banks available to those in need obviously. But I think for a lot of ppl they could opt to get their own fruit and veg if they wanted.

I would’ve loved a fourth child, I really wasn’t done after my third.. love being a mother and carrying a child.. but ... I knew I couldn’t afford a fourth.... it would mean a new house a new car.... I can afford my 3... but I had to stop...
why then do those who can’t afford 1 or 2 continue to have babies? Birth control is free in our country..
I do get a little upset that my tax money pays for someone who can’t afford their children while I have to make the decision not to have another child.. and would never expect anyone else to pay for them...

I'm an infant teacher and I think the scheme is a huge waste of tax payers' money I'm afraid. The quality of the fruit and veg is often very poor, the size of them is minute and the waste is shocking. I'd regularly throw four or five bags of ten fruits/veg straight in the compost bin every Friday. A manky, grey, unpeeled piece of carrot is not going to encourage any child to eat more fruit and veg. Some children refused it every single day. It doesn't work unfortunately. If anything it could put children off eating fruit and veg.

@Slimmer2018 sorry, where was it mentioned that larger families are disproportionately in receipt of free fruit and veg?

I have five children. Please be assured that your taxes are not feeding them fruit, veg or anything else.

@saleorbouy

TheSandman As a mobile nuclear deterrent Trident is good value in terms of defence spending, as a nation we don't spend much compared to other nuclear countries on defence. With the threat from superpowers nations being very real at least we have a significant and real deterrent.

Let's all have guns then, just as a deterrent.

@Ohtherewearethen that doesn’t mean a free fruit scheme isnt valuable it means that way it is being delivered isn’t working. We always give fruit in the groups i do with children (mainly donated from fare share type schemes) and its always earn. Of course a kid wouldn’t want a manky carrot but they shouldn’t be offered that, they should be offered decent and fresh fruit.

@Slimmer2018 by that same token someone with one child or no children might not be particularly happy about paying taxes to cover education or healthcare for your 3 children.

@Slimmer2018

I would’ve loved a fourth child, I really wasn’t done after my third.. love being a mother and carrying a child.. but ... I knew I couldn’t afford a fourth.... it would mean a new house a new car.... I can afford my 3... but I had to stop... why then do those who can’t afford 1 or 2 continue to have babies? Birth control is free in our country.. I do get a little upset that my tax money pays for someone who can’t afford their children while I have to make the decision not to have another child.. and would never expect anyone else to pay for them...

Taken up mumsnet because you've been banned from twitter, katie?