Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that breakfast clubs shouldn't be free?

183 replies

Undercovamutha · 22/02/2010 13:24

I have just found our that our local school's breakfast club is free of charge. Apparently this is due to an initiative that is designed to ensure that children (especially those from low income families) eat healthily at breakfast time, and learn that breakfast is an extremely important meal.

I totally agree with this BUT my DD is not from a low income family (although we are by no means wealthy), and the reason we will need the breakfast club is due to work/school start times being difficult to manage. When I was asking the school about how the breakfast club works, they admitted that ALL the parents who send their children to the club do so for the same reason as I will be. Therefore, it is not doing what the funding is there for.

Now I DO NOT want the breakfast club to close as it is essential to me and many others, but surely it should be acknowledged why it is actually in existance - which is not to ensure low income kids eat well, but to ensure that working parents can drop their kids off at 8!

Whilst I haven't exactly got pots of money to spare, I certainly wouldn't mind at the very least paying the cost of the breakfast.

OP posts:
Mumcentreplus · 22/02/2010 14:13

Children centres are for ALL parents to have an single access point for services relating to children,families and childcare..

edam · 22/02/2010 14:15

Sadly there are families that send children to school hungry. Before breakfast clubs came in, I knew teachers who bought food for children themselves.

Feeding those children at school is a practical solution. If you get angry and say 'it's up to the feckless parents', it's the kids who will suffer.

ConnorTraceptive · 22/02/2010 14:16

I agree with you. As someone who ran a heavily subsidised breakfast club I can tell you that that places were mostly taken up by those NOT being targetted by the goverment. Believe me if people could see the the amount of funding that goes in to schemes like this that fail to reach those it's suppossed to they'd be disgusted. Unfortunately it becomes a bums on seats excercise and as long as boxes get ticked then it seems to not matter if the initiative to is suceeding.

The way these schemes are monitored mean that there is no way government can eatablish who is actually receiving these very costly services

edam · 22/02/2010 14:17

When ds was born we were living in a Sure Start area in London. One of the really positive things about it was that you got a mix of backgrounds - at ds's baby massage class there were well-off Mummies and the very poor, people who would never have come into contact with each other under normal circumstances.

Poshpaws · 22/02/2010 14:17

I work for HS and we have been given that task in our LEA to ensure that low income families access Children's Centres because in the main they were set up for them. That's not to say other families cannot use them.

Sorry if I made your mind boggle!

Mumcentreplus · 22/02/2010 14:20

If the parents are truly as well off as you state then they would have a nanny or some such surely? not trying to ponce free childcare..

most of those parents are just working people who have somewhere safe to leave their children while they rush off to work like a crazy person!! and its free for once a taxpayer is actually getting something back that relates directly to them and their family! ..not some sneaky 100 grand a year earning cheapskates!!or is everyone in your area well off high earners?..

swanandduck · 22/02/2010 14:22

Would a good solution be to have a subsidised breakfast club and run a pay your way breakfast club alongside it for working parents. Parents could decide for themselves which one they want to apply for and the children would all be given breakfast together in the same room with none of them aware of who is paying and who isn't. Yes, you would still get some freeloaders who do not need subsidised meals for their kids opting for the subsidised club. But you would also get a majority of parents who would use their common sense and pay for the breakfast if they know they aren't really the target family for the state subsidised breakfast.

MillyR · 22/02/2010 14:22

The misunderstanding on this thread seems to be that low income families don't work.

swanandduck · 22/02/2010 14:23

Mumcentre
No one is saying the parents are well off, nanny hiring types. Just not low income parents for whom the scheme was intended.

twotimes · 22/02/2010 14:24

I agree with you Millyr

amber1979 · 22/02/2010 14:25

That was the point I was trying to make MillyR.

memoo · 22/02/2010 14:26

I think that the OP may be worried that she may be classed being a low income family. Think there is a bit of snobbery going on!!!

twotimes · 22/02/2010 14:28

so swanandduck, it wasn't what was intended but has ended up being a valuable source for parents who need it? Again what's the problem. I had to stop working last term because I was earning £60 a day as a full-time ta, got £40 for tax and had to pay £30 childcare. Would I be classed as well off?

dittany · 22/02/2010 14:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

twotimes · 22/02/2010 14:30

sorry should say £40 after tax

Poshpaws · 22/02/2010 14:30

Ok, have I misunderstood the op?

I thought that the op was complaining that well-off parents who use the breakfast club should not be getting the service for free, as it was set up originally for lower income families to access it for free.

Or is op saying that everyone should be paying, including those who would find it very diffcult?

dittany · 22/02/2010 14:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mumcentreplus · 22/02/2010 14:33

No worries Posh it does that alot lately!

I understand your point swan..

Mumcentreplus · 22/02/2010 14:34

what is well off??

swanandduck · 22/02/2010 14:35

twotimes there's a difference between a valuable resource for parents who don't have 'time' to give their children breakfast and people who don't have 'money' to give their children breakfast. I don't understand your second point. If you feel you qualify for the scheme, that's fine. What isn't fine is parents who know they don't but avail of it anyway even though there is, as the OP rightly said, only limited money to go around which will run out if the scheme isn't properly controlled. And I really don't think it is appropriate to be throwing personal income figures around and trying to imply that posters are saying that they begrudge you the free breakfast. The OP was making a bigger overarching point, with which I agree.

Poshpaws · 22/02/2010 14:36

Ok, ok not 'well-off' but 'those that can easi;y afford to pay'

C'mon, cut me some slack

MillyR · 22/02/2010 14:39

I don't think these clubs are set up for people who don't give their children breakfast because they can't afford it.

They are set up for people who don't give their children breakfast for many different reasons, and those people are frequently on a low income.

GypsyMoth · 22/02/2010 14:42

i agree millyr.....further down the thread a very ignorant poster even said,of benefit claimants 'so they would have more money for tins of stella'.....hmmm,snobbery,and....jealousy?

FioFio · 22/02/2010 14:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

amber1979 · 22/02/2010 14:45

Not to mention the fact that you'd have to get up earlier for these clubs. Speaking as a person who hates getting up in the mornings, why would you do that if you're unemployed? Cornflakes and milk are not that expensive! It's those who are working, but on low pay who are going to benefit most from this club.