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

Another unpleasant thread from another unpleasant person. Good for you with your £18 phone contract and your Sun holidays. If you're getting your news from that paper as well as your holiday, that'll explain why you're so lacking in empathy.

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

They must have negotiated the most stupendous deals with their providers if the money that should be spent on kids' school dinners is being used to kit out the parents with Sky telly, a mobile and "etc".

Yes but on one of those sides, innocent children will go hungry.

Because if you’re not the type of person to prioritise feeding your children, or you can’t feed your children, then no amount of others judging you will change that.

ididntmeanit

You’ll get a delete for that, as I did earlier. I knew I’d get deleted, because swearing at someone who makes bigoted and sweeping statements about those in society that struggle to feed their children is absolutely fine, as far as MNHQ is concerned, but you must never ever swear at that privileged poster, because it’s not in the spirit.

@funinthesun19

corythatwas excellent points you make there!

Some people seem to have a real problem with people on benefits having any hint of up to date technology in their house. They should either live in the dark ages and have none at all or pretend they live in the 1990s with very basic phones and go to the library every day to use a computer to apply for jobs. Why can’t they just do that at home?

Most things are online these days and things are on apps on a MODERN phone. You can’t get apps on a Nokia 3310 can you? Job applications, universal credit account, internet banking, zoom meetings, ETC. How the fuck do benefit bashers who begrudge these modern essentials expect people to find and keep a job without a smartphone and a laptop with an internet connection?

Yes, this can actually be a problem even for people on a moderate income, keeping up with tech, between phones for the adults, and increasingly there is an expectation that kids in school are sent with devices as well.

I think the move away from providing in person services by government has been problematic in a lot of ways, government services need to be accessible to all. I also think that in most jobs employees should not need to be accessible at all times, it's an imposition on people's lives.

But as long as that's how things are operated families in poverty need access as much or more to the means to access services and jobs.

Of course parents should feed their kids out of school. But the reality is that some parents can’t (especially now, what with that global pandemic you might have heard about) or won’t. Are you seriously suggesting we just go ‘ah well, tough luck kids, sucks for you to be born into those circumstances’?

I’d love to hear your alternative ideas for how we can, RIGHT NOW, address the urgent issue of children going hungry. I’ll wait.

@goose124

I can see both sides here. My dd has a couple of school friends whose parents are long term unemployed. They're both smokers and one of them was having an annual holiday to Benidorm. If you can afford to smoke, an average habit costs about £50-140 a week to maintain, you can afford basic food.

So you’d be happy to tell their children that they deserve to go hungry as their parents make poor choices?

Yep, Sky tv, mobile, booze, fags!!

It is sad to see the OP go to what I assume adult stage and not know about poverty.

@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

I opened and run a Food Larder which is a little bit different from a foodbank.

Every day I see numerous people who suffer food insecurity and live in poverty due to one reason or another, it’s heartbreaking and many people reply on the payment for school meals during school holidays. It makes life just a little bit easier....

It’s also none of your business if someone has Sky, mobile phone etc - you don’t know if a relative is paying for these things. What a horrible judgemental nasty post. Jeez you’ll be wanting people back in workhouses next!

@Jeezoh

Yes parents SHOULD be able to feed their kids but for a multitude of reasons, many struggle. I therefore am happy for my taxes to be used to reduce the number of children who go to bed hungry. In fact, your post has inspired me to set up a DD to Fareshare so cheers for that!

Thanks for the reminder. I've set up a DD to FareShare too and upped the food bank DD. I'd rather my taxes were going to this then funding paying extortionate consultancy fees, but as the government disagrees, hopefully this will help some people.

No, of course I wouldn't be happy for children to go without food, but I think throwing money at the issue instead of exploring the underlying issues and educating neglectful parents, isn't solving things. On balance I disagree that this isn't being funded, but I understand why and can't understand the frothing fury I've seen about it today on social media.

WRT the Asda vouchers, it would cost me £4.20 to do a return trip to Asda, leaving me £10.60 to spend, so it would be more beneficial for me sell it for £13 and spend that on food.

But I know people who "claim" to be skint. Claim school meals. Claim and moan about how low benefits are. 1 family in particular just spent £2000 on a puppy!
Well they clearly aren't skint. Or maybe they are bullshitting about the amount they paid for the puppy, or supplementing their income with webcam work. Or maybe they're outliers or nonexistent, as I suspect the woman able to tax insure, MOT and maintain a car as well as feeding, stabling and insuring a horse on benefits, and the fat smoker with the 50" TV who was the cause of a food bank worker giving up his job, are.

Regardless of your political leanings, i just cannot fathom how any parent (as i assume, perhaps incorrectly, the OP is) can imagine the idea of a small child trying to concentrate at school or trying to go to sleep in bed feeling shakey and nauseous from hunger in one of the richest countries in the world.
That’s the reality of the situation. What parents ‘should’ do is irrelevant at this point. The fact is that some aren’t, for various reasons. it’s our job as decent human beings to prevent innocent kids suffering due to their parents’ problems.

The point isn't whether people should. If they can't or they won't, does that mean their children should suffer for it? Seriously what benefit do you think will accrue to anyone letting them go hungry? Will it teach their parents a much needed lesson?

So sorry when I had children I didn't foresee my life going to shit 7 years later.

Christ alive, how can the OP have got through the past ten years without even a passing thought about the root causes of child poverty?

There’s no trickle-down economics OP and the rich have an increasing portion of the pie. Hungry kids (and their hungry parents) are baked into the system, which is why the Tories are digging their heels in. Everything’s going according to plan 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also my children don't go to bed hungry but thats mostly because I do.

@goose124

No, of course I wouldn't be happy for children to go without food, but I think throwing money at the issue instead of exploring the underlying issues and educating neglectful parents, isn't solving things. On balance I disagree that this isn't being funded, but I understand why and can't understand the frothing fury I've seen about it today on social media.

"Throwing" money at it might help avoid significant numbers of children going hungry - pretty straightforward eh?

@HalloweenDoughnutAnyone

I saw a post of my local Facebook page. Mother was sent a voucher for £15 for Asda, to cover lunches over half term. She SOLD the voucher. Opinions on that? In school you know the kids are getting the food. Vouchers sent home doesn't mean the kids are getting fed!

As I've said in previous posts I know people who have done that. Asda is an £11 bus ride (£5 for an adult £3 each for two children) from here.

Sell the vouchers for £12 and you have £12 x 2 to spend in a local shop. Go to Asda and you have £19 to spend.

@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

Yes you are.

And it still isn't the children's fault.

@goose124

No, of course I wouldn't be happy for children to go without food, but I think throwing money at the issue instead of exploring the underlying issues and educating neglectful parents, isn't solving things. On balance I disagree that this isn't being funded, but I understand why and can't understand the frothing fury I've seen about it today on social media.

And how do you suggest the underlying issues are explored and solved in time for the next school holidays? In the middle of a pandemic.

God imagine being so utterly out of touch with reality and lacking in empathy that you can not understand why this is needed.

OP you sound completely and utterly idiotic. I feel
Sorry for you actually. To be that simple minded that you think food poverty is caused by people choosing sky tv over feeding themselves.

You need education and fast

Well lots of people shouldn't have had kids for a whole host of reasons. Now that they are here though what do want to do? Sit back and allow them to starve? Live on the street? Be destitute? Maybe the parents will think twice? Um....horse is out of the barn on that one. What kind of society would this be if we stood back and let helpless children bear the burden? What kind of person would we be to think that's okay?

No matter whether or not the parents had children when they can ill afford to support them it is not the child’s fault. No child should go hungry because of decisions made by adults.there are also numerous reasons why a family may suddenly find themselves skint so it’s not for us to judge but to help fellow human beings out!