To think this school trip is badly misjudged

[MaoamAddict]

Have name changed as the situation is very specific. DC is in year 1 at a lovely school, but we've just received notice that a school 'trip' will be taking place to a local food bank. The school have asked for us to pay for transport (not a problem) and have gone on to say that the children will be packing food, handing out food parcels and seeing behind the scenes of a large local food bank.

We live in a middle class area with a minimal number of DC on pupil premium but there are certainly families within school community who are on the breadline and may have used food banks. I think it's fucking crass for the school to be using a food bank as a spectacle?! We donate weekly financially and feminine hygiene products, but the school don't seem to have thought this through at all, what if one or more of the DC in the 3 year 1 classes have visited that food bank?! How do I word these concerns without being 'that' parent? Or AIBU and overthinking?

The 'trip' is designed to fit in with a superhero topic at school - the food bank volunteers are being framed as the superheroes (tenuous link?) the food bank volunteers are amazing, but this feels wrong on so many levels.

My post before was trying to think of the people that use the food bank

There is lots of other ways the message can be taught and amilliom other excursions they l could go on

Dreadful idea - treating the food bank users as if they were animals at a zoo.

I disagree. I volunteer in a food bank. I’m one of the few people who volunteer at ours who aren’t also users of the food bank. They are a really special group and they would be quietly really touched in some school kids came to visit.

I’m teaching my kids (like I hope most others do too!) that there is nothing shameful in families using a food bank but there is everything shameful about an over privileged tax dodging government who forces increasing numbers to use one.

(And yes they’ll likely just be sorting and packing rather than meeting clients)

@MaoamAddict I understand what you are saying but I think it’s a great idea. Young children learn by doing. The children in receipt of pupil premium are not necessarily food bank users, which I think shows perhaps a degree of lack of understanding though I acknowledge your generosity with your time and money in helping others, you sound like a really engaged member of society. However, you also sound like you do a lot more than others do and on that basis I don’t think you can assume that the majority of other students are as aware of how other people do go without. It’s important those children are educated about what is happening in wider society. Young children love to feel grown up and that they are helping. I think that makes it a really positive way to engage them in this issue. I went to a school in a very deprived area and most of my classmates were on the breadline. Charity and helping others was still at the centre of our education. It’s so important now given the gulf in living standards that continues. It’s empowering and helps children understand how people working together can achieve change in a way they can understand

I think similar to you. Just doesn’t quite feel right. More like a making a jolly trip to somewhere that is a desperate place for the people receiving the parcels.
A trip to behind the scenes at a supermarket and making up parcels at school with food chosen there sounds more appropriate. It would be difficult for these who use a food bank. Imagine if a parent of another year group used the food bank during the day and went during the visit.
The trip would even be more appropriate if just in small groups.

Very odd choice for this age group. They aren't going to get nearly as much out of it as an older class would, nor will they likely be particularly helpful!

That's how it feels to me. If I was using a food bank the last thing I'd want is a gaggle of kids gawping at me. Ditto being made to feel like part of some kind of 'Look, kids, this is how poor people live and aren't you lucky you're not them?' kind of exercise, which it easily could if handled clumsily.

I went to pick up a food parcel for a person who couldn’t get it themselves. There was another Mum from school there who I knew by face.

I also remember the fundraising schemes in school like everyone had money to give the starving children in Africa - I didn’t have any to give so felt awful.

my worry is that if I was a vulnerable person using a food bank, I wouldn't want to see 90 5-6 year olds there for a school trip like it was entertainment?

I agree. I thought food banks operated in confidence? Hopefully the food bank staff will keep the kids behind the scenes.

It's not 'the lives of others' if one of their school pal's parents who they know from the school gates turns up to pick up a food parcel.

I've no issue with a food drive for the food bank or a trip to pack parcels and do a bit of the leg work. But the privacy of the foodbank users must be protected. That's not me 'projecting' that its shameful, that's a recognition that some users might feel that it's shameful, or at the least something they don't want broadcast across the school yard.

I can't believe anyone would think it was ok for 5/6 year old children to hand out food parcels to people who are quite likely at their lowest ebb. Completely inappropriate. If I was unfortunate enough to need to use the food bank and saw a bunch of kids there, I would be absolutely mortified. I'd probably walk away - if I could afford to wait a bit longer for my family to be fed. Awful idea.

Maybe this is a weird view on trips like this, but... I don't like the idea of food banks etc being normalised for kids. Like its teaching them from a young age that it's all just part of life. That its normal for thousands of people to rely on donations to feed themselves, even if some of them have a fulltime wage coming in. It isn't normal and it isn't a great thing. Better for the government if they brainwash them early, I suppose.

And yes, I have relied on foodbanks and electricity grants.

I agree with those who feel it’s inappropriate, you can’t just rock up at a food bank it’s actually quite a stressful and embarrassing process and then on top of that imagine arriving and find yourself a source of interest for a group of children on a school trip!

Some who said it’s not a poor safari is right, they are not thinking of the service users, they are using them.

Hmmmm that maybe reflects more about how you feel about food bank users though. That it’s shameful. A friend of mine co-ordinates food banks for a nationwide charity. They are always looking to engage children. Children on a very instinctive level understand what is fair and what’s not and that sharing is good. They don’t bring a level of judgment with them. Also young children bring joy with them, seeing a happy young child helping out really could brighten someone’s day during tough times.

I think it's fucking crass for the school to be using a food bank as a spectacle?!

I wouldn't see it like that- the kids aren't doing this for amusement value as such, it is educational about something that happens in the world. Most of them won'tve been to a foodbank (even if parents have used one, they won't usually have brought their kids along) and even less will know what they volunteers do/how it's run.

Can they not be protected a bit longer from the realities of poverty? They’re 5 and 6, do they really need to know that some people cannot feed themselves or their children? It seems an unnecessary burden to place on the shoulders of such young children. A visit to a bread / chocolate/ factory , local city farm sounds more appropriate.

It IS fucking shameful that food banks exist in our wealthy society. It is totally, completely, shameful. That's not a projection of shame onto the people that need to use food banks, but FFS let's not be normalising this for the generations to come. We should all be full of shame.

There’s an awful lot of sanctimonious twaddle on this thread about how using a food bank isn’t shameful.

I would feel ashamed if I had to use a food bank, and I would not want a bunch of school kids there learning about the ‘less fortunate’.

I think there’s an episode of Horrible Histories where they say that rich Victorians used to get guided tours around the slums. It’s that basically, isn’t it?

Also young children bring joy with them, seeing a happy young child helping out really could brighten someone’s day during tough times.

@Eyerollcentral Unless they've had their kids taken off them or something like that.

@MaoamAddict I think it'd depend how it's done. If the kids were just behind the scenes it wouldn't be so bad.

But what if a parent from the school happens to turn up to get their parcel? :( I can imagine their kids maybe getting bullied then if the other kids recognized them.

The children living in poverty can’t be protected from it. I don’t think this will be scarring event for these children. Hopefully it will be positive, make them appreciate that everyone does not have what they have but that everyone can help each other out. That’s a good lesson for children to learn early.

Omg. They're not going to have all the kids stood around waiting to watch people pick up food parcels. Safeguarding is a thing. Confidentiality is a thing. If it wasn't appropriate then the food bank wouldn't accept school trips.

OP, if you have concerns go and speak to the school. The end.

The kids are going to be handing out the parcels!!!

You're right, the children won't be watching the parcels being handed out ... they will be the ones handing them out. Says it right there in the OP.