To believe that providing free meals for children

[Completelyfrozen]

Is not enough!
I hear people saying that children shouldn't go hungry and I wholeheartedly agree. It is a travesty in 2020 that any child goes hungry, regardless of the reason behind it, but is that where our responsibility as a society ends?
I want to live in a society where children are provided with a hot meal every day.
A warm dry bed to sleep in at night.
Warm clean dry clothes.
Facilities to wash and brush their teeth.
Warm dry shoes.
An adequate education.
Opportunities to play and socialise.
A safe environment to grow up in.
A home free from damp or mould.
I want to live in a society where adults have access to hot water and washing facilities so they can keep themselves and their children clean.
What can we do, as a nation to address these issues so that children have their most basic requirements met?
YABU - Providing one hot meal per day is enough and parents should provide the rest, despite their circumstances. It is not the govts responsibility to provide anything more.
YANBU - Providing one free meal a day is just the start but as a society, we need to do much much more to ensure children are provided these basic needs and if the parents cannot provide these basic items for any reason, then the govt has a responsibility to step in and provide them.

Parents who work should be able to provide. Even when DH and I were both working, we struggled. That's what's not right!

YABVU.

So the parents should have zero responsibility, then?

I do believe that you should provide for the children that you choose to bring into this world.

Of course we need a safety net for those who are going through hard times, but to say that it's up to the taxpayer to provide x y and z for however many children you choose to have is not acceptable imo.

@caringcarer really nothing like your user name at all.

@BooFuckingHoo2 Just correcting the misinformation you were putting out there earlier on the thread. You were benefit bashing, all mock confusion, ‘how can they not feed their kids on ALL that free money’ crap- can’t stand attitudes like yours so yes I’ll point out the misleading figures when I see them.

I think you mean Council Tax Reduction not CTB. You’re getting muddled again.

We need fair wages and an enforced cap on private rent costs

We had this type of thing many years ago.

It led to few places on the market to rent and the ones that did come up you were grateful that the place was mushroom free.

I knew one guy who rented a cupboard all through university

@CiderJolly but at least that way EVERY SINGLE child would be Guaranteed a decent meal everyday. There will be no chance of feckless parents taking handouts and not using them for the purpose for which they were intended, the food will be going straight to the child. Money wise something has to give , we can't just keep forking out for everything all the time! Also another source of funding would be for MPs to lose their subsidies and big business paying their fair share of tax!

@wewillmeetagain but what about the parents who are feeding their children properly though careful budgeting and cooking from scratch etc? What if they rely on that Child Benefit? Would you say that’s fair to take it way and give them a boxed meal each day instead?

Ben Bradley on news night made a valid point in saying that funding given for FSM needs to be targeted to families most in need.

There must be better ways.

I agree @Pixxie7 but how is such a thing worked out?

Op I agree with your post as yes no child should ever go hungry but in some circumstances, I think we need more social services to tackle this issue. Why aren't kids getting hot meals? Why aren't kids sleeping in warm clean beds? Why aren't kids getting warm dry shoes? Maybe it's because their parents neglect them more than poverty? Some benefits should be given out as vouchers that could only be spent in supermarkets (no alcohol no cigarettes) and housing benefits definitely should be paid directly to the landlord. Of course more should be done but the benefits system was suppose to be a safety net not a way of living, hence why it was abused for decades and now the people who genuinely need it can't survive on it due to the caps.

My mother was on benefits and we struggled but we never went hungry and our basic needs were always met. We never had the nicest furniture, we never did paid activities, we never had the nicest clothes but we were fed, cleaned and well looked after. I grew up in a rough area and went on to Uni, got a bursary to do my masters and now work in a very good field. So there was opportunities and still is today. My mum knew how to cook, she never prioritised her nails or fake lashes or tattoos she used her benefits to feed us and keep us warm. She went back to work when our youngest started school and that's when we had a bit more of a comfortable life. My mum always pushed us to do well in life.

It's such a complex issue because it's not fair on those children, but you're damned if you give more because raise a generation that will always expect this and you're damned if you don't as children's basic needs aren't met.

How do we actually do this though OP? Maybe some kind of workhouse but with all mod cons? Maybe some kind of care home?

If you think everyone on benefits puts their kids first, just look at some of the Hinch obsessed idiots on social media who spunk £100s on cleaning products and other nonsense and then can't afford clothes or shoes (or presumably food) for their kids.

@mercutio12
Of course we need a safety net for those who are going through hard times, but to say that it's up to the taxpayer to provide x y and z for however many children you choose to have is not acceptable imo

You are suggesting that the state helps the deserving poor but not the undeserving, so what happens to those not helped?

A very Victorian view of poverty and one that ends up with crime, the workhouse & pauper graves.

However, yours isn't an uncommon pov so likely to happen within the next 10 or 20 years.

A workhouse @HappyDays10101 fucking hell shall we just send the kids up the chimneys too?! I’ve heard it all now.

I think the state should pay out huge "benefits" to the child free or those with just one child as an incentive for more people to create less pressure on the planet and the system

@jasjas1973

A healthy pair of adults should not be relying on benefits to feed their children. There are plenty of jobs out there - Aldi are hiring, warehouses etc. Of course there should be support for those who genuinely can't work, but I don't know how it got to this point where healthy people are given free handouts for years and people like you are horrified at anyone who questions it.

Of course not. My point is that the OP is basically saying we should institute our daily lives. If that’s going to happen, how dies she propose it is all administered?

all CiderJolly@ he has proposed it is done at a local level. So possibly using data from social services, schools, nurseries etc. must have some idea about children who are suffering. What I liked about his proposal was he emphasised the need to adopt a holistic approach to the causes rather than just dish out money.

all GoldfishParade good idea 😂

@soffiee I agree. I grew up with parents earning less than min wage now, no benefit top ups then. I never went hungry (though occasionally they did) but a lot of our stuff was second hand. Both parents didn't buy any clothes for years at a time, I remember my dad cutting the cuffs off his old shirts to wear them for his manual job. They didn't drink, didn't go out, we didn't have holidays. But I was always fed, clean (bath daily without fail!) and loved. Plus they gave me huge self belief and ambition.

I would completely support part of benefits being paid as food vouchers, or online credits with Tesco or wherever, that could only be spent on food. It feels like that would go some way to ensuring there is food available for these children.
I know someone will pipe up and claim that's demeaning or whatever though.

Actually it's not just poor parents whos kids go.witjput a hot meal. One of my school friends was always around my house during school holidays, her parents were quite well off, certainly richer than my parents and she was an only child. My Mum always cooked a little extra and my friend appeared some lunch times and stayed until dinner time. Bit by bit she revealed her Mum did not cook at all and she was told to make herself a sandwich or eat an apple. When my Mum learned that she cooked for her everyday of school holidays. During term time she had school dinners every day. Her Mum could afford to, but could not be bothered to cook. When Mum made cakes she always put some in a tin for my friend to take home. I hardly ever see my school friend as we live far apart but she lives in same town as my Mum and up until my Mum died she kept in touch with my friend who used to pop in for coffee and cake with her sometimes. She always says if your Mum didn't give me hot meals I would not get one on holidays.

I know I sound like a DM reader - I get 2300 ish take home as a primary teacher with lots of years' experience and a RG degree and PG. Colleagues younger than me get something close to UC amount. I know lots of teachers who take on waitressing etc to make their rent. It's crap after 4 years of university and the debt involved.

Not OK.