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

@Pumperthepumper then you know best 🤷‍♀️

@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.

School dinners in the holidays were a thing for part of the 70s (and the late 60s).

There was no evidence of cases caused by the Eat Out scheme, there has however been a significant spread since the kids have been back at school.

I'm quite heartened by the numbers of posters who can see the simple fact that children have a right to be fed, and the state should step up when individuals struggle.

By the way OP 'tarred with the same brush' is a racist expression which relates to 'a touch of the tar brush' which was a pejorative term for mixed race. Look it up.

What's the average income to classed as living in poverty?

[quote CherryCocktails]@Pumperthepumper then you know best 🤷‍♀️[/quote]
I know better than you, certainly. You’ve made an embarrassment of yourself here, do a bit of reading up.

£20m is nothing though. The subsided bars and restaurants in the House of Commons cost us £8m

,@Pumpertopumper in your opinion yes. Meh 🤷‍♀️

Isn't this a temporary measure due to the economy being rubbish due to the past few months?

It won't be forever.

I mean this in the nicest possible way, OP, how does it really affect you if poor people have T Vs? As for iPhones or laptops, try managing to improve your lot in life without internet! The days when internet was a luxury are long gone

[quote CherryCocktails],@Pumpertopumper in your opinion yes. Meh 🤷‍♀️[/quote]
No, by anyone’s standard. You’re arguing against feeding children for your own reasons even you can’t articulate. That’s embarrassing for you, although not as embarrassing as your lack of compassion.

When have I ever said children shouldn't shouldn't be fed in holidays? 🤨

“ Urgh urgh urgh. Whose sense of entitlement exactly?“:

Here we go ... exhibit A

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.*

@CherryCocktails

When have I ever said children shouldn't shouldn't be fed in holidays? 🤨

When you said we should tackle the root cause, without knowing what that root cause was.

@CherryCocktails

What's the average income to classed as living in poverty?

The poverty line is defined as 60% of the median income in the UK, adjusted for household size. Households earning below that percentage are classed as in poverty.

Of course they should - but millions of people are about to become unemployed thanks to Covid, and will really struggle. Especially when many of them were poor already.

And poverty doesn’t end in the school holidays - all that happens is that poor children barely eat enough. I’ve never understood why we only give FSM in term time- if you accept the principle that poor children need feeding, then they need feeding all year round, not just when they’re in lessons.

YABU.

Well, as long as your kids are alright and you can afford to feed them, that's all good then, isn't it @HalloweenDoughnutAnyone? Doesn't really matter if someone else's kids starve to death (probably because their parents are enjoying their Sky TV too much to bother to feed them)? Nah, didn't think so...

I can't believe someone could hold such outdated, mean-spirited views, at a time when us Mums really should be supporting each other, not trying to make people feel like shit parents when they're trying desperately to scrape together enough money to feed their children. There's a pandemic on, I think perhaps that fact might have passed you by? Unsurprising, considering just how short-sighted you are on this issue.

@pumperthepumper I've never said children shouldn't be fed during holidays. I said the voucher scheme is to much of a band aid with no guarantee of success that children will get their meal.

www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/R170-Living-standards-poverty-and-inequality-in-the-UK-2019-2020%20.pdf

An interesting read around poverty. It has worsened due to devaluation of sterling due to Brexit. That means it’s going to get worse. Whoever could have predicted that?? Those voting for Brexit may well have scored a terrible own goal but that doesn’t mean that they, or their children should be starved for lack of compassion.

We used to put children up chimneys and into mills to sweep under the looms. I’m not sure that the ‘there never used to be support’ argument holds much water. We are better than that, surely?

We survived by scrumping and foraging. Picking/stealing cauliflower, potatoes, apples, plums from local farms. Scavenging winkles, cockles, whelks. Growing tomatoes, onions. Buying on tick. Collecting nuts from the woods. Eating ghastly stuff. Toast and dripping was a meal. Spam tins that cut your fingers. Not the best way to feed the nations children.

[quote CherryCocktails]@pumperthepumper I've never said children shouldn't be fed during holidays. I said the voucher scheme is to much of a band aid with no guarantee of success that children will get their meal. [/quote]
But you can’t come up with a better solution, or even clarify what you mean by ‘root cause’. And your solution to guarantee success was to give the vouchers to cafes.

@BigBadVoodooHat

Goady twattery, OP, and you fucking well know it is.

No it isn’t, none of us want to see hungry kids, but thanks to feckless parents that is always going to happen FSM out or inside of school and I’m actually not on board with funding FSM for kids actually not in school.

I’m actually not on board with funding FSM for kids actually not in school

Do kids need less food on non school days then?

No, not give the voucher to the restaurants/cafes/community centres but make them redeemable in them. Then you know a child is getting a meal rather than a voucher being absorbed into a supermarket shop.

We were working through lockdown in the holidays giving the families food hampers but that's not a long term solution for us.

@CherryCocktails

No, not give the voucher to the restaurants/cafes/community centres but make them redeemable in them. Then you know a child is getting a meal rather than a voucher being absorbed into a supermarket shop.

We were working through lockdown in the holidays giving the families food hampers but that's not a long term solution for us.

Oh god, it’s the same fucking thing. Do some reading.

What a unique and interesting viewpoint. Someone should found a whole political party based around it. Or even start a newspaper.

I am shocked and ashamed by the ignorance and lack of humanity on this thread. Some of the comments are hateful. Particularly shocked that there is so little understanding of the impact of people already on minimum wage being furloughed and made redundant because of the pandemic. I can't imagine what it must be like not to be able to feed my children. Whatever the reason, it is not the children's fault. Hopefully those who care about the welfare of these children (and can afford it) will be making extra donations to foodbanks this week.