Hungry kids and shitty views

[icequeen34]

I apologise as I'm sure there are already threads on this topic. But I feel so so sad and angry today, not only about Marcus Rashfords campaign to feed hungry kids over the holidays being rejected. But some of the horrible views and justifications being spouted - mainly the old 'lazy parents need to take responsibility for feeding their kids' remark. Some utter twat was saying poor families should grow their own food because 'it's not hard' and another Tory MP claimed the blame lies with absent parents (as if his leader isn't one of those).

These are terrible comments from privileged people who clearly don't understand the lack of time, money, outdoor space and education needed to grow your own or shop more savvy. But even in the cases of the worst most lazy parents, why can't people see that the children shouldn't be the ones to suffer? It really boils my blood especially when MPs get so much in terms of expenses for food.

Sorry for the rant I just feel very disappointed and upset today.

*I think it’s fair to separate the two issues out. As a society, we should fund or provide free food for the children who need it, regardless of why they need it, because it isn’t children’s fault for their family circumstances, and it’s the morally correct thing to do in a benevolent society and a wealthy country.

We can still also say that, except in a minority of cases or as a one-off because of temporary money issues, if a parent isn’t feeding their child breakfast and lunch then they are a shit parent. A box of value cereal, a couple of litres of milk, a loaf of bread, a packet of sliced lunch meat, a cucumber, a couple of bunches of bananas and a packet of biscuits and there’s breakfast and lunch for a couple of kids for a week right there for little more than a fiver; no cooking skills, education or fuel required.

It’s one of the reasons I had to leave a long career in social housing, because the idealistic viewpoint I had when I began was slowly eroded away by the reality of working with people who refused to sort themselves out and thought it was somebody else’s job to pick up the pieces.*

I agree with all this.
And I think it’s natural some may want a rant about the shit parents every now and again, without being accused of wanting the children to starve and/or being told you’re deluded because there are actually no shit parents and it’s all the government’s fault.

@Pumpertrumper

I’m torn on this. As a child who grew up on the breadline I don’t think that families should ever be left without the basics. Children should never go hungry.

My issue is that children also shouldn’t be fed utter crap at the expense of Joe tax payer as it just dumps money into a vicious circle creating adults who are poorly nourished and also badly educated about diet.

In my opinion a bigger ‘initial investment’ should be made to educate low income parents how to shop well, cook from scratch and make the best choices for their circumstances and budget.
What needs to happen is for people to be treated as individuals not numbers.
What’s your living situation?
What cooking/washing facilities do you have available?
What local food stores do you have?
Are you able to get there?
Do you have internet access?

Lots of considerations. I honestly believe that if families were equipped with the fundamentals to do better and help themselves 2/3 would!

The big problem is what we’d do with the 1/3 who don’t actually care and don’t want to make the effort but complain they don’t have enough to feed their kids on takeaway pizzas. No it’s not the kids fault but how do you help a child whose parents don’t care 🤷‍♀️

What a good post this is , was saying it at work today

Teach kids about money , cooking , actual life skills

It really isn't a shitty view to wonder why some parents are short of the price of being able to turn on the microwave or a kettle.

And nor is it fair to accuse those questioning it-after all UC has just gone up-to want to starve children to death.

It's these hyperbolic arguments that allow others to say , well it's all just bollocks, isn't it and to not worry any more about it.

Far better to not allow extreme example to make an argument.

As a teacher I can vouch for the fact that the majority or children who come to school with no breakfast is not down to poverty, but chaotic homes. Parents let the children go to bed too late so that they get up later (to give them a lie in) and then don’t have time to give them breakfast.

Of course we give them breakfast, the children deserve it, but to be fair they are so tired from no routine that breakfast makes not difference to their concentration or behaviour anyway. I teach in a very leafy area so probably this is not representative of deprived areas but that is my personal experience.

@Pumpertrumper

I’m torn on this. As a child who grew up on the breadline I don’t think that families should ever be left without the basics. Children should never go hungry.

My issue is that children also shouldn’t be fed utter crap at the expense of Joe tax payer as it just dumps money into a vicious circle creating adults who are poorly nourished and also badly educated about diet.

In my opinion a bigger ‘initial investment’ should be made to educate low income parents how to shop well, cook from scratch and make the best choices for their circumstances and budget.
What needs to happen is for people to be treated as individuals not numbers.
What’s your living situation?
What cooking/washing facilities do you have available?
What local food stores do you have?
Are you able to get there?
Do you have internet access?

Lots of considerations. I honestly believe that if families were equipped with the fundamentals to do better and help themselves 2/3 would!

The big problem is what we’d do with the 1/3 who don’t actually care and don’t want to make the effort but complain they don’t have enough to feed their kids on takeaway pizzas. No it’s not the kids fault but how do you help a child whose parents don’t care 🤷‍♀️

This is just such a huge problem that spans so many fields though - lack of education, desire, literacy, ability.... the very basic starting point surely though is making sure children don’t go hungry. It’s not an all or nothing.

We are living through a world wide pandemic, people who were already on low incomes are seeing incomes reduced this is not just people on benefits but working people to.
We need to stop demonising the poorest most vulnerable in society.
Imagine the wealthy questioning why you don’t have six months wages saved for emergencies and why they should pay for your furlough? Asking why you haven’t saved and taken responsibility for yourselves instead of covering your wages we should teach you all about saving and budgeting.
It’s patronising and callous. This government in this country bail out the wealthy and waste money on projects to make each other richer yet people are really up in arms about feeding kids during a pandemic!

Hasn't £26 BILLION of furlough and other support money been claimed fraudulently?

Jeremy Vine mentioned this today but its all ok because its a tory government wasting our money, not Corbyn.

@thecatsatonthewall

Hasn't £26 BILLION of furlough and other support money been claimed fraudulently?

Jeremy Vine mentioned this today but its all ok because its a tory government wasting our money, not Corbyn.

No it wasn't. The estimate is about 3.5billion. Which is considerably different sum with no difference in how disgraceful it is.

I absolutely agree that hungry children should be fed. My issue is that it’s a multimillionaire with lots of multimillionaire friends who is asking other people to stump up the funds!

@MilkLady02

I absolutely agree that hungry children should be fed. My issue is that it’s a multimillionaire with lots of multimillionaire friends who is asking other people to stump up the funds!

So is it a government problem or not?

I bought peat, seeds, pots and grew 8 runner bean plants and got a total of 4 runner beans - not much to feed you family with..

@Munchkin08

I bought peat, seeds, pots and grew 8 runner bean plants and got a total of 4 runner beans - not much to feed you family with..

I said this either on this thread or one of the others but I grow the vast majority of our fruit and veg. The start up costs were astronomical. It’s unreliable because how much crop you get is very weather dependent. You need a lot of room. You also need to be able to either cook pretty much immediately what you’ve grown OR somewhere to store it AND/OR the ability to freeze or refrigerate it. It’s also seasonal.

I’m a keen gardener but its taken a long time to build up the kind of knowledge I need to mKe it work. I’ve never been successful in the many many applications I’ve made for an allotment. It takes loads of time.

Suggesting that people just chuck some carrot seeds in the ground as an escape from food poverty just makes you* look so, so stupid. Embarrassingly stupid.

*not you, obviously, but ‘one’ didn’t look right.

@thegreenlight, its so cruel to deprive small chidren of sleep.

@contrmary

A large part of the problem is that the fact it is being pushed for so hard by an overpaid, spoiled footballer. It doesn't sit well with many people that such a privileged person is demanding these changes. Talk with your Premier League mates and get them to agree all professional footballers' wages above £1000 per week go to feeding kids, then we'll have a think about what the rest of us can do.

An ‘overpaid spoiled footballer’ who does a ridiculous amount of charity work and donates, long before this, maybe because he knows what it’s like to come from a poorer background with a parent that struggled. And at 22 he’s doing a bloody good job of giving back.

‘ My mum worked all day every day when I was growing up to make sure I had at least one meal on the table every night. I needed breakfast club and free school meals otherwise I didn’t eat until 8/9pm. Not every child is fortunate enough to get that evening meal.’

He doubled every donation to FareShare.

2019, Rashford set up a Christmas campaign in order to support the biggest front-line services for young people experiencing homelessness. He personally delivered 300 boxes to Centrepoint. He went with his mum to make sure people got what they needed.
He also did the same for a charity in Saint Kits where he has family.

Something else this ‘spoiled footballer’ has done that s quite frankly awesome.

In February 2020, Rashford received a letter from a young fan, who invited him to be a judge at his school for a poetry competition.
“Dear Marcus Rashford, please will you be our judge for our World Book Day poetry competition?” read the letter.
“The deaf children in Manchester will write poems. Please can you pick your winners! And give our prizes if you can? Please let us know if you can before Feb 7th.”
After agreeing to judge the competition, Rashford then started learning sign language in preparation for the meeting the kids.
The England international has vowed to hand out the awards in person when the current lockdown restrictions are lifted.

In my opinion a bigger ‘initial investment’ should be made to educate low income parents how to shop well, cook from scratch and make the best choices for their circumstances and budget.

Teach kids about money, cooking , actual life skills

This sounds a lot like Surestart. We had a local Surestart centre, until the Tories stopped the funding.

I think the old adage “it’s expensive to be poor comes I to play here.

I grew up poor in a communist country which at the time was going through a civil war. I was raised by a single mother in a one bed flat. My mum worked in a factory not making much. There was no such thing as benefits there when I was young. No government support.
I never went hungry. Whatever little money my mum had she made sure my sister and I had enough food.
If my mum managed that in those circumstances I don’t understand how parents here can’t do it.
However, I do support giving children free school meals as it’s not their fault.

Yet they get voted in time and time again I don't understand the mentality of these Tory voters

I think food vouchers that make up meal plans are the best way forward for short term hunger. Vouchers with recipe cards and step by step how to cook. No one is going hungry, appropriate nutrition is being given & people are learning to cook.

Pasta bake, cottage pie, risotto, stews, fish and veg etc. Nothing exotic, caters to all tastes, simple to make, plenty of fruit veg and whole foods.

Vouchers could have a say £5 per week treat component to spend on whatever, biscuits squash, non necessities.

If children are still going hungry after that the problem was never money.

No it wasn't. The estimate is about 3.5billion. Which is considerably different sum with no difference in how disgraceful it is

It looks like £26 billion in total of fraud and monies which will never be repaid.
www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/07/fears-grow-over-uk-firms-ability-to-repay-covid-business-loans

Either way, it makes not paying for FSM during holiday time, petty and mean spirited.

Which is the Tory party from the year dot.

It looks like £26 billion in total of fraud and monies which will never be repaid.
Quite understandably in many cases since the businesses never got fully back and now many had to shut down again and sadly many will never manage to reopen again.

Huzzah for the Truth Teller! Eatsleepread, the only person with the guts to tell it like it is and STAND BY her unpopular opinion.

Except of course that her opinion couldn’t be more popular; it’s widely shared by those who govern the country.

Fools with rather stupid opinions are rarely lonely. You must have realised this by now.

Personally I have such views to largely come from the older generation whose children have long grown up and left home.

Interestingly the same older generation that are children are sacrificing their futures for in order to protect them from covid.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

It looks like £26 billion in total of fraud and monies which will never be repaid. Quite understandably in many cases since the businesses never got fully back and now many had to shut down again and sadly many will never manage to reopen again.

Why lend money to a failed business? what happened to that money?

If you are right and furlough fraud is 3.5 billion, then 22.5 billion has gone to businesses never to be seen again.

Not quite sure why you are defending this.