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

@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.

Are we going to provide bus fares for the families to get to the places they can spend the vouchers?

You do realise that cost is one of the major the reason they opted for vouchers over hub schools providing meals? By the time you add on staffing costs, building costs and accessibilty costs it makes the schemes much, much more expensive.

I always post this TED talk on threads like this in the hope that at least 1 person watches it and learns something

@Powerchewings

“ 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.*

huh? Am I misunderstanding your post, or are you saying mine shows a sense of entitlement? I merely pointed out that not all "benefit claimants" got the extra £80. I didn't claim I should have done.

Bus fairs. Ffs. If I was getting a free meal, and according to the government I'm in the low income bracket, I'd be bloody grateful. Is this what it's come down to now?

I grew up so piss poor and wouldn't have dreamed of being that cheeky when someone was giving something for free!

Ah but here you are, benefits, UC, 2 kids you can’t afford, FSM, vouchers you scam and sell on.

@CherryCocktails

Bus fairs. Ffs. If I was getting a free meal, and according to the government I'm in the low income bracket, I'd be bloody grateful. Is this what it's come down to now?

I grew up so piss poor and wouldn't have dreamed of being that cheeky when someone was giving something for free!

Ah, not enough gratitude from the non-deserving poor?

You’re an embarrassment.

[quote CakeRequired]@CherryPavlova

Maybe you should also re read my post. Or do you think it's fine to deliberately starve a child too even when you can afford food?[/quote]
Don’t be silly. It’s never acceptable to abuse anyone. You suggested this was a norm rather than an exception.
The usual cause of poverty is insufficient money. It seems blindingly obvious but we, as a society, prefer to turn poor parents into monsters, suggesting they are all incompetent or feckless. It’s easier to be hard around the level of benefit if we forget many in work need economic support and use food banks. Far easier to vilify and even criminalise those struggling with insufficient money.

I’d much prefer ever child was planned and reared in a committed, enduring relationship with adequate monies earned to meet their every wish. That’s unrealistic though - and ever was. We used to send the poor to workhouses. Now we want to starve their children or stigmatise them with a voucher labelled ‘bad parent/ hungry child’.
Better by far we pay more tax and give an adequate income to all.

@Powerchewings

Ah but here you are, benefits, UC, 2 kids you can’t afford, FSM, vouchers you scam and sell on.

Scam and sell on would you prefer it if I binned them? They still cost money to whoever paid for them. At least they get used this way. A £15 voucher is a bit useless if it costs me £6 to get there.

Send me a time machine and I'll go back in time so I either don't have children, or don't have a mental breakdown leaving me too ill to leave the house most days.

Or fix the broken cms system that means their father gets away with not paying a fucking penny.

I'm classed as poor. 🤦🏼‍♀️ If someone was giving me something free I wouldn't be moaning about bus fair!

Many people were perfectly able to adequately feed their children prior to the pandemic and are now struggling. Some people have had children but have always struggled to feed them. Either way, kids going hungry to prove a point to parents is not ok. Kids being punished because parents prioritise sky TV or the latest iPhones is not ok. We are talking a couple of pounds per child per day. Direct your ire at the £7k per day our government is paying consultants for the abomination that is Track & Trace.

I think you are being horrible OP. I would not begrudge paying more to stop a child going hungry. Hope you don't get a nosebleed from your ivory tower.

@CherryCocktails

I'm classed as poor. 🤦🏼‍♀️ If someone was giving me something free I wouldn't be moaning about bus fair!

And yet here you are, moaning about children being fed and the root cause you can’t identify and your genius idea of vouchers which already exists.

I suppose I could put my kids back, but it hurt enough getting them out when they weighed 7-8lbs. One is now 4 inches taller than me, and the other 9inches taller... so guess they're here to stay

YABVVU these people also are or were tax payers too. We don't all like everything that our tax money goes towards but there are at least 100 wasteful things to complain about before hungry children.

@CherryCocktails

Bus fairs. Ffs. If I was getting a free meal, and according to the government I'm in the low income bracket, I'd be bloody grateful. Is this what it's come down to now?

I grew up so piss poor and wouldn't have dreamed of being that cheeky when someone was giving something for free!

But people wouldn't have the money for the bus would they? The voucher is £15/week. If I had to get me and my child to school in the holidays for a meal each day it'd cost more in buses than that.

Why don't people understand basic economic realities such as some people have no money

@Theformer, yes to chasing men who don't pay for their kids!! That and high rents to greedy landlords!

@CherryCocktails

Bus fairs. Ffs. If I was getting a free meal, and according to the government I'm in the low income bracket, I'd be bloody grateful. Is this what it's come down to now?

I grew up so piss poor and wouldn't have dreamed of being that cheeky when someone was giving something for free!

I grew up very poor. I decided it wasn’t the life I wanted, but I rarely felt gratitude for others unwanted cast offs that we were given to make the donor feel better.

If you want people to feel grateful they need to be given more than a soup kitchen ticket designed to single them out as failing. Gratitude is indicative of a slightly paternalistic attitude of good people supporting failing bad parents.
Civilisation and an advanced society might see children being fed as a basic right. It should be the norm that parents can afford fruit for their children, that the gas/electric has sufficient money to coma meal. That children have a coat and a bed.

@Thepumpertyepumber I'm not moaning about children being fed? I was one of the people in lockdown feeding children during holidays...

I would much rather my taxes were spent providing free meals to children living in poverty than £650 million being p"ssed away on half priced Nando's. The point of whether the parents are unable to afford to feed their children or are able but prioritise their spending elsewhere is irrelevant when the end result of a hungry child is the same.

[quote CherryCocktails]@Theformer, yes to chasing men who don't pay for their kids!! That and high rents to greedy landlords![/quote]
The government is happy to pay high rents. They subsidise property owners through the benefits system then criticise benefit claimants for the costs.

And you can't pursue poor men for childcare costs. They don't have any money either.

One of the appeals of UC is it masks the vast amounts going to landlords. Almost all of the UC bill is housing costs. The amount of disposable income is very low.

What a vile point of view. Sadly all too many people - including most Conservative MPs - agree with you.

[quote CherryCocktails]@Thepumpertyepumber I'm not moaning about children being fed? I was one of the people in lockdown feeding children during holidays...[/quote]
Yes you are - you said you didn’t vote labour because they use sticking plasters (free school meals) over getting to that root cause you still can’t identify.

Also they’re not grateful enough to afford a bus fare.

Embarrassing.

I've never been a labour voter period. I'm for free school meals, 100% so I don't see your issue?

@CherryCocktails

Bus fairs. Ffs. If I was getting a free meal, and according to the government I'm in the low income bracket, I'd be bloody grateful. Is this what it's come down to now?

I grew up so piss poor and wouldn't have dreamed of being that cheeky when someone was giving something for free!

It's not bloody free if it costs you money to collect it though. That's the sodding point.

If someone could afford £5 per adult and £3 per child per day on bus fares they wouldn't need free lunches would they?

You really, really don't get it at all.