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

Re the amount of people (not just here) that say it's not the government's responsibility to feed children - I'm fairly certain that 9 months ago not one person would ever have said they saw the government paying the wages of 9.6 million people for six months. Fairly sure that was never the government's responsibility before Covid either.

£20m this would cost. Get some perspective - this is actual pennies for the government. Leaving aside the moral perspective, the fact the government would politically alienate almost the whole political spectrum (even Nigel Farage 😳) and choose this hill to die on for such a relatively minuscule amount of money just shows me they're even madder than I thought.

@Hamm87

Sorry we are a one a one wage house my wage dropped but we were not entitled to the extra money even though my income dropped to 600 a month because we get working tax but someone on benefits got the extra 80 a month off the government plus is 1 child an extra 60 a month for food plus all there rent paid little council tax to pay so no child should go hungry but it should be a fair system

What extra £80? I didn't get anything extra.* HB (or the housing element of UC) does not cover all the rent for the vast majority of renters. So the shortfall has to be made up from elsewhere. My 2nd child definitely costs more than £60 per month! They need more than just food you know.

If your wage has dropped why aren't you entitled to more TC? Have you phoned them and asked? My TCs went up when my wages went down.

*I do know about the £80 but not everyone got it . I certainly didn't.

Sorry did I answer wrong? Was I supposed to vote tory or something?

A scheme where cafes/restaurants/community centres can be subsidised for providing a hot meal to children during holidays is a start.

To get to the root, parents neglecting their children by starving them should be intervened. If a parent was hurting a child physically it would be investigated, no different with neglect. Investment in services to deal with these issues would be far more beneficial than just saying "here, have a voucher and get on with it."

Yes some people fall on hard times but there are alot of people having children who can't afford them. The sense of entitlement is growing all the time. Times have changed but not necessarily for the better.

@Rubixed
I know they are there as I pass on the way to to the supermarket to look for the 'whoops' labelled food for our dinner.
Often my DC's friends are banging on the window waving their fries as we pass.
Half the school is in there and yes, these are non-working families and/or those claiming disability. True.

Stop the rent increases, get more social housing back, increase minimum wage, tax the rich, help the poor get into better work scrap the universal credit and give every a set amount of money each month then you only get taxed on your wages

I think it is a lovely idea and it should have been approved. We are talking of families hit by job losses, furlough, maybe local shops closed, maybe issues with transport...all this adding up it may well mean that they struggle to afford food. And if the benefit system was perfect, their income would be topped up accordinly, but we all know we just had cuts on this. Surely you have noticed the price increase in the food bill, on top of this.
It would not cost us that much to ensure the children have food till we get out of the pandemic, and other adjustments like wages can be done.

Back in the 70s and 80s growing up parents got child benefit and that was it. Wh do people want and expect so much more now. No such thing as free school dinners in the holidays etc.

@dottypotter

Yes some people fall on hard times but there are alot of people having children who can't afford them. The sense of entitlement is growing all the time. Times have changed but not necessarily for the better.

Urgh urgh urgh. Whose sense of entitlement exactly? The children who are going hungry? Them? FFS this thread makes me sick

To get to the root, parents neglecting their children by starving them should be intervened.

Jesus Christ. It must be heaven to live in your little world where shades of grey don't exist.

Do you really think this is to do with parents deliberately starving their children?

£20m this would cost.

£20m per week.

@CherryCocktails

Sorry did I answer wrong? Was I supposed to vote tory or something?

A scheme where cafes/restaurants/community centres can be subsidised for providing a hot meal to children during holidays is a start.

To get to the root, parents neglecting their children by starving them should be intervened. If a parent was hurting a child physically it would be investigated, no different with neglect. Investment in services to deal with these issues would be far more beneficial than just saying "here, have a voucher and get on with it."

Why would you subsides cafes instead of giving out school meals? That doesnt even make sense!

What is the root cause that causes children, in 2020, to experience food poverty?

You’ve already been told - the idea of hungry children is now so widespread, in Britain, in 2020, that we couldn’t possibly investigate every single hungry child on the off-chance they’re being deliberately starved over being neglected due to an entire spectrum of needs - ability, literacy, addiction, or any of the many, many reasons that would cause a child to be hungry.

But you know better, you know the root cause, and free school meals isn’t where we should start. So we’re all ears, what’s the first step?

The parents sense of entitlement. Alot of people have no intention of standing on their own two feet today from the off.

@dottypotter

Back in the 70s and 80s growing up parents got child benefit and that was it. Wh do people want and expect so much more now. No such thing as free school dinners in the holidays etc.

We don’t even get child benefit, so speak for yourself in terms of wants/expectations. It’s irrelevant though. Even if the parents are choosing to spend their money on flat screen TV’s and goats, that’s not the fault of the child.

@dottypotter

Back in the 70s and 80s growing up parents got child benefit and that was it. Wh do people want and expect so much more now. No such thing as free school dinners in the holidays etc.

But the cost of living was in line with wages. 1 wage was enough to pay the bills. Its not anymore. Plus we do need more these days. Internet and a device to access it on are considered essential these days, especially if you have dc at school! Even more so the last few months!

I completely agree. If someones situation changes due to mental heath, physical health, a pandemic or whatever they should invent a time machine go back and not have their children. Anything else is irresponsible.

@dottypotter

The parents sense of entitlement. Alot of people have no intention of standing on their own two feet today from the off.

And who suffers when no help is offered? Children. Children children children.

Subsidise cafes/community centres etc as in a voucher scheme where they can be redeemed for the childs meal during school holidays.. that way you know the child is getting a meal..

Back in the 70s and 80s growing up parents got child benefit and that was it. Wh do people want and expect so much more now. No such thing as free school dinners in the holidays etc.

That's not correct. I remember being sent to the post office with 2 books by mum. One for child benefit and one for 'family income supplement'.

@Clavinova

£20m this would cost.

£20m per week.

Fair one- my error. Even so, even factoring in half terms x2, and 2 full holidays at Christmas and Easter, it still works out at 1/5 of the eat out scheme.

I have never seen a Tory government as heartless and cruel as this, and I can remember the Thatcher years.

Each week something more appalling is done.

I'm scared for when Scotland leaves because we will be then forced to have the Tories forever, and they will be able to continue to do whatever they want, as they have been doing now due to their overwhelming mandate.

@CherryCocktails

Subsidise cafes/community centres etc as in a voucher scheme where they can be redeemed for the childs meal during school holidays.. that way you know the child is getting a meal..

We already have a voucher scheme! It relies on people being able to get to a place where they can spend the voucher, and only the voucher, no extra costs like bus fare, on enough food to feed their families. It doesn’t work for everyone.

You don’t know what you’re talking about, and still arguing for kids to be shafted. Shame on you.

Yanbu, too many people expect everyone else to pay for them. There needs to be more personal responsibility and less grabbiness

@YellowBeryl1

Yanbu, too many people expect everyone else to pay for them. There needs to be more personal responsibility and less grabbiness

Yeah, those hungry kids need to take some personal responsibility and stop being so grabby.

@CherryCocktails

Sorry did I answer wrong? Was I supposed to vote tory or something?

A scheme where cafes/restaurants/community centres can be subsidised for providing a hot meal to children during holidays is a start.

To get to the root, parents neglecting their children by starving them should be intervened. If a parent was hurting a child physically it would be investigated, no different with neglect. Investment in services to deal with these issues would be far more beneficial than just saying "here, have a voucher and get on with it."

You do realise that the vast majority of children who are hungry in the holidays are hungry because of poverty, not abuse right?

Given the damage caused to Covid rates by the Eat Out scheme you really think we should be encouraging whole families to go out during the holidays?