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.

There certainly used to be archaeological excavation jobs you didn't need a degree for - in the 80s it was one of the things Manpower Services got people doing and when I did it for a while in the 90s there were quite a lot of non-uni-educated ex Manpower Services people still doing it. So it may not be that ridiculous.

I don't really know. Perhaps in her area there are non-graduate archaeology jobs that would pay enough to support her kids, but the careers adviser is likely to have knowlege of this.

My dad knows who's hiring and who isn't around here anyway.

Another problem will be oversubscription in desirable jobs such as librarianship (and presumably archaeology). It's a great job if you're lucky enough to get it, but they have vastly more applicants than places (round here anyway).

my entire house is like a tip atm, i have sky tv , no fancy pants hd one tho, and shockingly enough i have a widescreen tv which is years and years old

i might be one step from damnation though because i have a coffee table which is quite long and they can snack from that

"You don't get a good education, so you don't get a job. It's all down to money."

i think thats a massive cop out, i left school with nothing but have made a good life for myself.

as for the mess!if she can't afford cupboards she could get some cardboard boxes from the supermarket/shop.

and buying oven chips! good grief get some rice and pasta you wally!

I wanted to be a lawyer when I was at school but my careers advisor (at grammar school) told me to set my sights lower. Fortunately I ignored him.

but i only got the coffee table a couple of weeks ago because my friend was skipping it

i went to grammar school too, but had to turn down my college place as my mother was sick and i had to get a job to support her

Sorry, does anybody here think that the careers adviser should have told her to become an archaeologist?

On what grounds are they basing this? Just because she fancied it? How can anybody here know if she is appropriate for the job, or if there are opportunities in her area?

She has two kids and didn't finish her nursery nurse training anyway.

IIRC you can be a 'digger' for ever if that's what you want. The pay is appalling, the prospects are poor and it's fairly casual. And jobs are often in remote parts of the UK which would be hard to get to. IME it was mainly students in the summer hols, postgrads and the retired who did it.

Interesting work sometimes. Most often back-breaking, muddy and a little bit tedious I'm afraid to say.

Not ideal with young children.

No I agree it's unlikely she'd have found a job in it Morris - even people with degrees don't usually manage it.

Too true kathy, too true!

and I agree it;s not going to be compatible with kids! but this was before she got pregnant.

Thanks ormirian. I'd have guessed something like that. Let's face it, lots of jobs that are instantly desirable require newbies (graduate or not) to work for peanuts or for free just for the opportunity to get their foot in the door.

So, not ideal for anybody planning a family soon unless they have support.

fio, what kind of job do you mean?

Can you give an example of a job that would pay enough for her to support two kids, but not require lengthy study?

Careers advisors can only work with the jobs available and the qualification level of the client.

In regard to the food question, if she has a frozen pies she has a freezer, if she has a freezer she can make food out of the fresh food, freeze it and then it won't go off.

Her whole mess is down to lack of education. surely the gov't must see if they spend the money on education they are less likely to have to spend the money on income support.

You mention feckless fathers...

But what about the son of the girl in the article? Everyone is super-speedy to pity the kids, but soon enough that child will be a young man and probably a feckless father himself.

After all, he has no dad, no granddad... Why would he suddenly feel the necessity of forming a nuclear family? He has no experience of such a thing.

How many of you criticising her choice of food and way of life live in Bristol or are familiar with Hartcliffe?

This is typical of what I have seen in my job - families living like this isn't unusual. What is admirable is that unlike most she is standing on her own feet and doing the best she can by studying and providing for her children.

I doubt that anyone has told her about freecycle.