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.

That article is one of the most depressing things that I have read in a ong time.

Ballonslayer I have a widescreen Tv, and freeview, a dvd player, DAB digital radio, all mod cons. But we got them before the JSA before we lost our jobs.

I can agree with you if she was a drug taker and beat her kids left them to go hungry but she doesnt.

My aunty on the other hand should be shopped as she is on incomesupport, 2 kids, drug user loves Bacardi for breakfast etc..

And she gets more than me in benefits,yet she spends it on Weed not her children.

Ppl like this need to be put in prison not this poor woman.She just needs guidance and someone to give her a chance in a job. even if its stacking shelves.

Marla- If she doesnt pay these charges back to Lloyds they just get bigger and bigger ( I know, I had to pay back £750 a few years ago)

As I said before, many mothers don't put the name of the father on the birth certificate.

And if a bloke moves in with someone, his name won't be on the rent book.

Sadly for many young men their contribution (apart from the 2-minute one!) is not valued.

And her HV can refer her to a nursery for free childcare. I know someone who has had this done.

Echoing what so many other posters have said - where's the daddy?

Hot dogs - yeuch.

At ds's school lunch (hot meal, pudding, drink) is £2.20 and seconds are available. Think that is pretty normal. Would have thought that any school lunch would taste nicer than tinned hot dogs tbh.

Poor girl

I cried reading that article

I have been where she is now and tbh it doesn't get much better when you get a job, once you have paid childcare costs..IF you are lucky enough to find childcare.

IMVHO not only should the father be found blah blah did anyone notice the countries with the lowest child poverty levels are the ones that encourage fathers.. with better paternal leave packages from birth so they can bond with their children and feel as much a part of the childs life as the mother.. Also may help to create a feeling of responsibility..

FFS if either one of my DS' grew up and left their children knowingly to suffer this sort of life i would seriously disown them.

Chellesgirl, who the hell are you confusing me with?

Where have I said this woman should be in prison FFS?

I am the one who was criticising someone else's post as I thought (incorrectly) that THEY were saying this poor girl was wasting money by having telly.

Perhaps you misunderstood my sarcastic post. Nevertheless I am at the person you have assumed me to be.

Please read my posts again FGS. There are not many of them.

Can I ask

Does the photograph in the article actually show this particualar person? Is it an article and then the photograph has been taken else where?

Why are there so many threads on MN about people not being able to reduce there shopping bills from £80+ per week for a family of 5 and this girl is feeding her family of three on £20 per week.

This girl doesn't have the money to bulk buy at a supermarket and therefore make things cheaper for herslef, she doesn't have a freezer or perhpas the knowledge to cook in bulk and make things from scratch.

As for the father he is taking the food out of the mouths of babes, by not funding their childhood in any way.

I think someone hit it on the head when they said it would help if, when you were in this situation, someone sat you down and told you all the things you could do / places to go for help / everything available to you - which they don't. She seems quite isolated, and you need people around you who can give you information, either professionals, or people who have gone through it. Between everyone on this post, there have been loads of suggestions, many of them from people who have been in similar situations - but she doesn't seem to have loads of people around her to give her such advice.

I see there's a newish looking TV priorities straight as per usual.
You could give some people £500 a week to live on and they'd just eat more shit, smoke more and die sooner.

She is poor. Her children are being brought up in poverty. Some of us may have had it hard too but that doesn't alter those simple stark facts.

How does she know what to do with lentils if all she has ever cooked/eaten are frozen chips and pizza.
How does she know about freecycle if she a. has no computer, b. isn't middle class and sort of eco-aware.
How can she do without a mobile when there is no phone in the flat. My SIL only had a mobile for years because her phone got cut off all the time.

I think there is a bit of MN bubble of reality here

Sorrento, I don't even think that's a picture of her house.

And how do you know that someone didn't give her a tv?

Perhaps you'd prefer her to sit night after night staring at the 4 walls that she is unable to escape

How dare she be so poor

I don't understand the maths in the article, but assume that she is living on £20 a week.

It was the stuff about education that pissed me off. The girl herself was open and honest but the writer of the article has flung in quite a few assumptions.

So she wanted to be an archaeologist but was told it was unrealistic as it would require going to uni which presumably she wasn't on track to be doing. And this is reported as the teacher 'stamping on her aspirations'???

Speaking sense is more like it. Too many kids already have ludicrous and pointless aspirations based upon a fantasy career or becoming famous. My dad is a careers adviser and he says the main part of his job is bringing down kids aims to something that is actually achievable in the real world.

The article goes on to say that it isn't fair that richer kids do better at school than poorer kids. As if somehow you have to pay the teacher to teach you well. You don't. Teachers are superb as a rule at being fully 'inclusive' and making sure that anybody who wants to learn will be encouraged, regardless of income.

What no teacher can do is to transform a child who comes from an anti-education background into a child thirsty to learn.

It is lazy of the writer of this article to imply that the reason that poorer children do worse at school is purely becuase of money when in fact it will more often be about home background and educational aspiration.

This girl wanted to be an archaelogist but then decided to be a nursery nurse then got pregnant. That's her choice, but it sounds to me as if she had limited her own aspiration.

I love how we're all so eager to redistribute her budget for her, when she's clearly budgeting to the last penny.

Yes, there's stuff she can do. It would be fabulous if someone could tell her that. She sounds clever, driven, and absolutely bloody knackered. I grew up on benefits, in an estate close enough to posh houses for my mum to supplement our income by being a cleaner, and it's soul-sapping.

I got out because I got an education, pretty much. She hasn't had that privilege, but she's doing remarkably well.

I agree with expat, I'd like to see feckless daddy-o squaring up to his responsibilites.

i dont have a table and i am surviving on benefits