Free Meals

Iam64

Don't even bother sooziewoozie.

I think I’ll have the day off today - what with threads encouraging nastiness towards women and other groups, intellectually bankrupt comments about MR and FSM and the glories that are our Government, I must have something better to do. A book and music beckon and some baking methinks.

To strike a rather different note and, obviously based on my own previous experience, 'school dinners' were so awful that I'd really hate to have to have another one. I'm sure they're much nicer these days though and based more on what modern children actually prefer to eat.

The difference nowadays is that in our LA at least, children have a choice: hot meal choice, sandwiches and/or salad bar.
There is usually something for even the fussiest eater.

nanna8

Why does the state have to feed children at all? I really don't get it. Must be the only country in the world where this happens. Certainly doesn't here in Australia. It is the responsibility of the parents and the parents alone.

Read

nanna8

Why does the state have to feed children at all? I really don't get it. Must be the only country in the world where this happens. Certainly doesn't here in Australia. It is the responsibility of the parents and the parents alone.

Bit of a throwback to pre-Welfare State days?
Or perhaps you would advocate bringing back the workhouse?
Nobody is denying that there are myriad reasons behind child deprivation but faced with children going without or living off crisps and snacks, now is not the time to have that argument.
Are we really going to return to a Dickensian dystopia of undernourished children suffering because we don’t want to help?
Added to that the heavily subsidised meals our MPs are entitled to, plus an expenses allowance that most people would be glad of as a salary and it is truly a shameful and indefensible situation.

Jane 10 that may be your experience but it’s a bit like saying “I hated school shoes so why should mums in Wales be angry that they can’t buy them at Tesco at the moment?”

Irrelevant I am afraid.

Good post, Maw. You have summed it up perfectly.

I say: Let the children starve, until their parents learn how to look after them properly, which in some cases will be never. ?

Good post Maw.

nanna8

Why does the state have to feed children at all? I really don't get it. Must be the only country in the world where this happens. Certainly doesn't here in Australia. It is the responsibility of the parents and the parents alone.

There were no facilities at all for school lunches at the primary DGS attended so packed lunches had to be provided by the parents. The senior school provides lunches which have to be paid for and I don't think any are provided free.

That is an interesting question, though, which throws up more questions.

Do more children in Australia go hungry as a result?
Is the welfare system better in Australia?
Is housing relatively cheaper so that less income goes on rent or mortgage?

It also throws up the question "Why does the state have to feed MPs at all?" The answer to that, and to the matter of MP's living allowances, is/was that once upon a time MPs were all drawn from county or upper-class families, who had the funds and leisure to give their services to the state for nothing, and to have hampers sent up to from their estates for their meals. The free food and drink and the expenses were to compensate the new breed of representatives with empty pockets, to encourage participation by other classes.
What has happened is that MPs are one of the few sets of workers who determine and vote for their own remuneration - which has led to some notable excesses in claiming for expenses and for a "canteen" serving meals for those members with the most expensive tastes.
Surely this is a suitable time for the House to show solidarity with the nation by cutting back on their own high standard of living, not by taking a raise and knocking back free nosh and booze?

Absolutely Elegran !

Yes.
I've already signed it.

Brought a tear to my eye.

MawB I'm well aware that my post was a change of direction. If all posts had to be strictly relevant to the OP then the forum would be pretty short.
Free school dinners is an emotive subject for a number of reasons. Mine was a gut reaction to school dinners per se.
I don't believe MPs should have subsided meals at all.
Also the problem if hungry school age children is not new. I well remember smuggling biscuits in for the children I saw as a speech therapist in schools in the old days. I thought I was the only one who did it but soon discovered that many of the teachers were surreptitiously bringing in food for them too. Not always the teachers I'd have thought might too!

Oh dear, me too.

Very topical!

I wonder how many people who say parents should look after their children actually have any contact with families who need this level of support or is all their information gained from tv shows. I spent years working with families in need, the reasons for their financial issues were myriad but they included learning difficulties, women escaping abuse, mental health issues, etc, some of the abuse issues stretched back generations. This was the reality. These are the children and families you are saying no to.
As for those who abuse the system. So what, honestly so what? There is abuse of every single system, there are postmen who dont do their job properly, people in offices who take a wage whilst doing very little, even nurses who avoid work, so what? because of this minority do we decide there should be no nhs, no postal services, no offices.

GagaJo Great post (even though I hade to magnify and find reading glasses) it shows one of many reasons why it's so important to give access to these meals.

Shared with permission from the author:
Dear Gavin and the DfE,
Thank you for writing to me again. To be honest, I almost missed it, what with it being 5.50pm on the last day of the apocalypse, I mean Term 1.
You had previously confirmed that my school would receive 43 devices in the event of a local lockdown. I see that this allocation has now been reduced to 9. This is helpful thank you. I couldn't work out how to distribute 43 devices across a three form entry school.
Please can you confirm, is it ok if we raffle the 9 laptops and use the funds raised to pay for a week's vouchers for pupils who are eligible for free school meals? I'm not sure if you are aware but some children suffer from holiday hunger, which means they can't thrive. Oh sorry, I should have said, hunger is when your body needs food.
If there is any money left over from the laptops, I promise to use it towards the costs of additional cleaning. We had been assured of some Government funding to cover cleaning, what with school being open during a pandemic. Actually, old chap, would you mind looking into where that promised money went?
I read this week that a delicious £31.00 meal can be snapped up in a Parliamentary restaurant for just £3.45. What a bargain! I do hope the meals are special cause that £27.55 could buy nine days of vouchers for a child entitled to free school meals.
Please don't rush to reply. As we approach the Christmas season, I can see that you are very busy playing a pantomime villain. That cheeky chappy Marcus Rashford must have been keeping you on your toes too. It seems the MBE didn't shut him up, it's just turned him into Bob Geldof! As you know, we're not really allowed to sing in schools but, if we could, teachers, leaders and school staff everywhere would deliver a rousing rendition of Do they Know it's Christmas? Unfortunately, we'd be singing about children in the first world, not Ethiopia.
Anyway, it's time I checked my emails. It's hard keeping track of all the disappointments and u-turns. Please get back to me about the raffle idea.
Sleep Well

Stephenmarra

GagaJo Great post (even though I hade to magnify and find reading glasses) it shows one of many reasons why it's so important to give access to these meals.

If you tap on it, it should come up in another window and you can then enlarge it, Stephenmarra

GagaJo. - thanks for the poem, which I'm afraid brought tears to my eyes. I spent my working life working with families like the one in the poem. I'm still in touch with some of the children, some now in their late 40's and without exception in full support of the campaign to provide food throughout the year, for those who qualify for FSM
They, like me, find it hard to believe children still go hungry, as they did.

Volunteers, small businesses are stepping in where the government has failed.

There are posts on my FB page where small cafe owners, pubs etc, who must themselves be struggling at the moment, are offering free lunches to local needy children.

Iam64

GagaJo. - thanks for the poem, which I'm afraid brought tears to my eyes. I spent my working life working with families like the one in the poem. I'm still in touch with some of the children, some now in their late 40's and without exception in full support of the campaign to provide food throughout the year, for those who qualify for FSM
They, like me, find it hard to believe children still go hungry, as they did.

My time in Northumberland schools (and Suffolk actually, also pockets of great deprivation there) was illuminating. I have many times given students food, money and even sanitary products out of my own pocket. I have a vivid memory of one girl I 'lent' money to for lunch, never expecting to get it back, paying me back a couple of weeks later. Bless her. Lovely girl.

I even had a homeless student once, years ago. The Welfare Officer did nothing. Eventually, I took her to the Homeless Officer at the council and after another 2 or 3 months, she was housed (after she turned 16). Officially, the parents responsibility. That didn't help her, living on the streets. Having to beg for sofas to sleep on.

Like many posters here I have worked in schools where I have witnessed children living in extreme poverty. I have seen situations where the children are poor because of drug/alcohol/gambling addictions. People up to the eyes in debt, sometimes because of poor decisions and choices, sometimes not. There have been people left suddenly and unexpectedly poor through job loss, sickness and death.

Whether the poverty is the parents 'fault' or not, one thing was always the same, the children suffered, sometimes hunger, often stigma and almost always in life chances and opportunities.

We are the 6th richest country in the world. None of our children should be suffering hunger and it beggars belief that successful people, getting expensive meal and drink subsidies themselves can vote against giving poor children a free lunch. I am also at a loss to understand, as we all pay the same percentages of taxes, why Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's poor children can receive this subsidy but not England's poor.

I do understand that all of the help given out during this cv crisis is going to have to be paid for, but if businesses
could be heavily subsidised by government during the Eat out to Help out scheme, why can we not subsidise the poorest children amongst us? When I had a £16 steak during the EOTHO scheme, it cost the government £8. Feeding hungry kids is a lot cheaper than that.

In my naivety I used to think that MPs were there to support the interests of their own constituents. Blyth Valley, one of the poorest areas in the country, returned a Conservative MP to parliament for the first time in its history at the last election. I wonder how this MP thought he was supporting the interests of the area he was paid to represent when he voted down the Bill to feed poor kids? He should enjoy his own subsidised meals while he can, I doubt he will see a second term in office. [Sorry for the long post. I have never made a political point on Gransnet before but I am so astonished at this particular Bill's rejection, voted down by comfortably off people who enjoy all sorts of subsidies themselves, that I felt I had to post. No personal axe to grind; I do not live in the area I used as an example but I did used to teach in it)

Terrible grammar at the end of my post Not 'I did used to teach in it' Should have said 'I have taught in it'