Am I the only person who thinks parents should feed their kids outside of school?

[HalloweenDoughnutAnyone]

Obviously it goes without saying I don't want any child to go hungry. But. Am I the only person who thinks parents should feed their kids outside of school?

Just that really.. it's free school dinners. Not free lunch all year round.

I don't understand why people think the tax payer should be paying even more? Maybe, if you can't afford to cover the basics (food and clothing) you should think twice before having a child?

Or should we extend free school dinners, to cover all the food a child needs inside and outside of school ?

I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush but I know people who rely on free school dinners. But have sky tv, expensive mobile contracts etc

@Trailing1

I read a story a few years ago about a 4 year old boy who was abused and killed by his mother and stepfather. What sticks out in my mind until this day was that a teacher saw him rummaging through other kids lunchboxes and the waste paper bin looking for food. I am not sure that meals in school holidays would have made a difference (was the abuse related to poverty or just pure evil, god only knows) but I do believe any support that can be given to these children should be.

People don't realise just how bad it is for abused children in the school holidays. Or how long it takes people to do something.

I'm the youngest of 4. I'm the youngest by a considerable way (my siblings are 11, 9 and 8 years older than me). We were removed by my grandparents when I was 7 when my teacher spoke to my new Head Teacher and said that she was concerned. She'd given me breakfast and a snack every day the year before, but she knew my new teacher wasn't. The Head got involved and we were removed.

All 3 of my older siblings had been in trouble for stealing food from school and other pupils over the years. Both of my brothers had been picked up stealing food from the supermarket in the school holidays twice. Every single one of us was fed by teachers or school at various points.

Not a single person put these things together and thought "What will happen to this kid in the summer/christmas holidays?" for years

Not even when they added it to the picture of smelly kids, poor fitting clothes, no parental involvement in permission slips/parents night/school play etc. Not one. And sadly I don't think it has changed for the better now.

@Fgs1 Okay but why not deliveries of packed lunch to children on fsm. I just don’t see how a voucher will help it’s no guarantee children are getting a meal

A voucher means the vast majority will get fed as the vast majority of poor people feed their children.

Any other scheme will be considerably more expensive and there isn't a chance of the political will for that.

Lyralala, your story has broken my heart. I hope you and your siblings have managed to heal and are in a much better situation now?
I donate to my local food bank, in the hope that it will benefit those families who need it most, but it's not enough is it, more needs to be done.

You can have all of my biscuits

Fair now?

"Maybe, if you can't afford to cover the basics (food and clothing) you should think twice before having a child?"

Sorry.. when i had my kids, i was married to a man with a good job and worked full time, paying tax, for 20 years.

In the intervening 12 or so years since i ha my kids, i've had to quit my job to 'work' as a parent/carer for my disabled child, and my marriage has broken down.. my ExH has also been made redundant and i'm not heartless enough to bankrupt him claiming CM.

What exactly would you suggest i do with my children at this point? Give them back? Put them into Care?

YABVU

Also everyone who lives in this country is a taxpayer one way or another even if they are unemployed or on a low income. PAYE is not the only form of tax, VAT exists and low income households pay a larger proportion of their income in tax in that way. Stop using your status as a "taxpayer" to put down vulnerable people.

If you were happy to use the eat out subsidy and you are begrudging school children a free meal you are an absolute twunt.

How can anyone reconcile it is better to save a few million and have hungry children. We lose almost £120 billion a year in tax evasion but I never see those threads or people getting upset about that

@Trailing1

Lyralala, your story has broken my heart. I hope you and your siblings have managed to heal and are in a much better situation now? I donate to my local food bank, in the hope that it will benefit those families who need it most, but it's not enough is it, more needs to be done.

I have thank you. I'm happily married with 6 children of my own. My siblings have various problems and, sadly, I'm not in contact with any of them. I was lucky. I was only 7 when my grandparents took us so although we had very little (another issue there was my father was ordered to pay £63 a week by the CSA, but never did. It was still taken into account by the benefits people as that was the rule at the time) I was safe and never hungry again.

The food banks do such an amazing job. It's criminal that it's needed by so many people on a regular basis. The only time they should ever, ever be a thing, if at all, is when people are caught out with an expected bill the week before pay day. That they should be needed for basics on a regular basis by families because even benefits do not cover the basics of food, heat and shelter is utterly shameful.

I'd be happy to pay a higher tax to ensure all primary school kids got a hot meal as for some it's the only hot meal they will get due to one circumstance or another.

I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush but I know people who rely on free school dinners. But have sky tv, expensive mobile contracts etc

How do you know they get free school meals? The fsm kids get their food in the same way as everyone else in the canteen so how the hell do you know?

And how do you know what tv package and phone package people have? 😂

I don't even know if my best mate has sky tv or what she pays for her mobile and yet here you are the font of all knowledge about other people's finances

This is such an unbelievably short-sighted view. Pathetic.

Maybe if Britain didn’t have such a huge level of income inequality that has increased child poverty and in work poverty then there wouldn’t be a need for sticking plasters. However the current government and likely the OP don’t want to give up some of their wealth to make a fairer society for all. This is about children being fed. Children are part of our society and they don’t choose their parents. So whether you agree with the lifestyles of the parents or not surely you can see the children as people who are deserving of the basic right of enough food to eat.

@happinessischocolate because everyone on benefits has sky TV and a goat of course! I pay for mine with the asda vouchers I sold to my step dad. I'm currently watching it while my children look sadly at me asking why there's no dinner.

And for those who don't get sarcasm, ^ that's it. I don't have sky TV and my children are loading the dishwasher having just had dinner.

Wouldn't a better idea be to make up food boxes of rice, pasta, tins, veg/fruit etc. Like a hello fresh box with some recipe ideas and get them delivered to the school for the parents to pick up? I've been behind someone in asda using their vouchers for 10 pepperoni pizzas. That was you know the kids are getting the food, its accessible and healthy and nutritious.

@fashu

Wouldn't a better idea be to make up food boxes of rice, pasta, tins, veg/fruit etc. Like a hello fresh box with some recipe ideas and get them delivered to the school for the parents to pick up? I've been behind someone in asda using their vouchers for 10 pepperoni pizzas. That was you know the kids are getting the food, its accessible and healthy and nutritious.

And who covers the cost of the parents getting to and from the school? Not everyone is in walking distance of their child's school.

And the facilities to cook nutritious from scratch - how do we get them to the families that don't have it?

@lyralalala, but most do live in a walking distance to the school and that would mean the kids actually get a decent meal. The kids go to that school normally?

It's a shame we don't take this further and provide free school meals for all children in education. And why not address the obesity problem while we're at it?

Vegetables are so cheap, as is some fruit. Rather than dish up fatty slop in the school canteen, why can't basic life skills be introduced as part of the curriculum and teaching children to prepare balanced meals (which they then eat) be built into the school day. It's as important to know how to take care of yourself as it is to be able to read, write and do maths.

We have a growing obesity problem and something needs to change. Children can manage basic recipes and food preparation from senior school and should learn these skills as a daily necessity (with ingredients provided).

@lyralalala that's why you would include recipe cards. I'm not talking about making a biryani from scratch. Simple nutritional meals.

Parents should feed their kids, people shouldn’t have kids unless they can afford them (and the majority on benefits do have kids whilst on benefits rather than later falling on hard times). But once the kid is here they need their needs met, no child should go hungry -benefits should be awarded so they can only be spent on certain items. Landlords should be paid directly again, there’s many shit and useless parents out there but also many families trying their hardest to survive, I would rather ensure Every child is fed and 50 parents get a free ride, than no parents get a free ride and 50 kids starve

[quote fashu]@lyralalala, but most do live in a walking distance to the school and that would mean the kids actually get a decent meal. The kids go to that school normally?[/quote]
Many kids don't walk to school. That's why school transport has been such an issue in the return to school

[quote fashu]@lyralalala that's why you would include recipe cards. I'm not talking about making a biryani from scratch. Simple nutritional meals.[/quote]
And they can be made in a microwave in a bedsit can they?

Or with very minimal cooking time to not increase gas/electric costs?

@HoneysuckIejasmine

You are labouring under so many misapprehensions that I honestly don't know where to start.

Absolute agree What the hell is op talking about?

Daily fail journo me thinks???

@lyralalala well then there could be a way to arrange for you to pick up from the school closest to you in exceptional circumstances. The point I am trying to make is that vouchers don't work. Kids might not get a decent meal even if their parents have a voucher.