AIBU to be sad and shocked by this article?

[LittleDorrit]

Have just been reading this:

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/18/child-poverty-labour-eradicate-promise

and I am shocked by the conditions this family is living in, but in particular how little/what sort of food they are able to afford.

It's not so much an AIBU issue, but just wondered whether others in similarly difficult circumstances think this is typical, or whether the mother could try to buy other types of food (e.g. rice, lentils, etc.) or perhaps be able to afford to spend a bigger proportion of her budget on food... £20 is very little.

Do you not think, bloody hell you should meet some of the people I come across at work lol

But as I said you rather mis read my post, you can apologise now if you like

Oh I obviously work with a better class of people than you.

OK I apologise for misreading tht particular post. It just fitted in with the tone of your other posts on this thread, so was an easy mistake to make...

Yeah you probably do .... I work for the CAB lol

Do you know what, I've been feeling sorry for myself for the last couple of weeks cos our budget is so tight since I stopped working after having ds.

Compared to this family, we might as well be millionaires.

I'm going to go and give myself a big kick up the backside now and go and work out how I can use what I have better, and waste less.

And until I'm TRULY in the position she's is, I'm going to hold off on the judgements. It seems some others should do likewise.

Good post Casserole

Riven I think we could all say that though couldn't we ?

One day we'll look back proudly at them all standing on their own two feet and it'll all have been worth while.

ahhh - Sorrento you 17.11 post makes things clearer about the advice you've beeb giving me about DH (and also the reassurance that my HB would almost certainly be there)

Riven, I'm rather hoping they'll be so grateful for all we've done for them they'll keep us warm

FAQ it's also why I'm quite jaded and cynical, you spend a lot of your time banging your head against a brick wall

Give her time Riven, I didn't realise what my mum went through until I had my own.

"http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

you can get free fruit and veg and milk on the nhs if you are on benefits. i only know this as i saw someone paying for their fruit with them at the supermarket the other day. I think she could be living in less poverty than she is if she claimed everything she was entitled to and was fully aware of all oppurtunities available to her..but given her lack of education and lack of anyone to help, she just struggles on. Its so sad that her children will grow up and almost inevitably repeat this cycle.

I do think its advisable to not have children til you can afford them though...but again, i know it takes education to make informed choices about contraception and lifestyle etc, which again, she didn't have "

I wasn't going to post but well, my fingers are going numb from sitting on them.

Well, we can't afford our DD, not really, not when you write it all down - we scrape by, like many others, we are on tax credits but DP earns and we don't consider ourselves poor. But we technically can't afford to have children - you know what, i have a very good education thankyou very much!

I tend to cook from scratch, not conciously making an effort but just thats what i do - i prefer my own cooking to processed shit. But, sometimes, if i am feeling lazy i feed my DD on spaghetti hoops with sausages! I know plenty of well of people who feed their children on absolute shit!!! There will be people who definately can't afford as much fresh food as their children need but its an individual thing - some people rely on processed foods, others don't.

She should ditch the oven chips and buy potatoes. She should give up the orange juice. If I survive drinking only tap water I don't know why she can't. She should give up the TV so she doesn't have to pay the licence fee and go to the public library instead which is free charge. Quite a few cut backs she could make really.

sorry guys - i have said all the way through that i am not criticising, or judging, that i think she is making a better stab of her lot than i woudl be able to, that i don't blame her for her situation or for her childrens' and that i admire her get up and go attitude to trying to sort herself out. I have not, at any point, said that i am better than her. just so we are clear.

I am not minted, i don't have a billion pounds, nor did i before i had kids, i could do the maths of our household and there;d be big red bits where there ismore going out than coming in. ALL I was saying is that if she was a bit better off educationally and financially, she and her kids would have an easier life.....is that so bad? is that SO controvertial??

ANd there is a difference between having kids when you can't quite afford them, and having kids when you literally have nothing, no safety ned, no suport network, nothing....we need more sex education in state schools and better education available to everyone, not just people who live in nice areas or can pay for it. sorry if its controvertial to think it would be nicer for children not to be born into families that are slightly below the breadline - and that is not said with any element of JUDGING those that does happen to, just that it would be easier for them if it didn't.

oo yes and sorry for bigging myslef up, yes it is in bad taste, i felt a bit under attack and just wanted to explain where i was coming from... and whoever said I was mistaken for putting all that down to luck - I disagree - the family i was born into had aims for me, had money to suport me, had connections which helped me get a good job, sent me to a school which was great, helped me make great friends, supported me blah blah....so that was luck, i can take no responsibillity for it myself, all of that just landed in my lap by being born into my family. I can take not one iota of credit. Same as Louise in the articel can take not one iota of blame for her situation.

xenia - would you get rid of your tv, if you had no computer, no DP, no nights out, no other form of entertainment?

I mean, I like to read, but not all evening.

yes i'd get rid of my tv if it was taking up such a big chunk of my income.

Same here - she has 2 kids, why not read to the kids, play games with them? You don't need tv for that. I was a bit confused though - she gets £136 a week, not including child benefit, so even after paying all her weekly bills (which amazed me - how can she only pay £15 a week for gas and elec?? my quarterly combined bill was over £500!!) she must have more than £20 a week for food?? The bills mentioned in the article only come to half her weekly allowance, what does she do with the rest of it? Personally I would cange things around, even £10 a week more for food would make a difference - my weekly shop is never more than £40 now for 2 adults and a child.
Oh and just for the record, there are people who work and earn less money than that - and they don't get their housing and council tax paid for them. Sorry to be so skeptical but there are things she could do without to be able to buy better food for the kids.

god could you imagine the boredome and loneliness in the evenings when the kids were in bed, no TV, no internet, no going out, only books to read - but you're not very literate so can't manage reading anything that great. Reading, all night, every night.

If you weren't depressed before - you sure as hell would be afterwards!

you might learn to read quicker. you might get loads of sleep. you might be able to turn the heating on.