Teachers feeding hungry children

Pork pies are good food. A child with a pork pie in its belly isn't going to feel hungry and not be able to concentrate at school.

Is it time to re-introduce free school milk? My dad was unemployed in the 30s There were no school meals in primary school(went home for lunch) but l loved my daily bottle of milk. Always had porridge for breakfast -and still do.It sets me up for the day.

There are still free school meals and many schools run a breakfast service. FSMs are not what any of us would call filling. More like a light snack if you are a teenager. More like a light snack if you are me actually - I have tried them.
When I was a teacher at least the hungriest kids could get seconds and a full stomach once in the day.
It is easy to blame the parents instead of the system. Specially if one has never lived on a depressing council estate on miserable benefits while juggling with other major problems like an inability to get work, mental or physical illness or being forced into low paid work with hours that do not work well with getting the kids out of the house and so on. I understand that giving up smoking is very difficult, even if everything else in your life is hunky dory.

There is a case for parent education. Schools which feel they have to provide a breakfast club could usefully set up informal courses on nutrition and cookery. I feel sure that there is more ignorance than negligence. I am also fairly sure that these are the same mums that I see with small children consuming bags of crisps (and, in one case, quite a large pork pie!) in their buggies. How much porridge could you make for the cost of a bag of crisps?

They probably smoke as well!

My Father was disabled and as there were not the benefits then as today money was very tight but we always had breakfast, usually porridge, free school lunch and a cooked meal in the evening. I would like to know what the budget is of these families. I'm not saying it isn't difficult for a lot of families but find it hard to believe they cannot give their children a bowl of porridge in the mornings.

Oh, I wasn't 'resourceful'! I was taught how to get my own breakfast at an early age and told to get on with it. I did. So did my siblings. I remember my youngest brother aged ten making Readybrek porridge for himself. I remember it clearly because he had had peritonitis and was terribly thin after the illness, but the bowl of porridge he had was ENORMOUS! He got warmer and warmer as he ate it too.

The thing is, my parents not only provided breakfast food, but also taught some early elements of how to be independent. In other words, they did their job as parents properly.

I agree with Bags I'm doubtful that these children aren't given breakfast through lack of money. Even the poorest people on benefits etc can afford toast and marg for breakfast, many supermarkets do their own brand of cereal for under a pound. It could be the fact that Mum hasn't bothered to get up in time. A lot of children nowadays aren't as resourceful as Bags was in getting their own meal.Especially if they are still in primary school. As for lunch money - I thought there was a free meal for children whose parents were on a particular benefit. Or has this been stopped. I went to a state school for the last 2 years of schooling here and I used to keep my lunch money to spend at our local Youth Club and other activities. I'd take an apple and a few biscuits telling my mother that it was for elevenses.

Been looking at some of the responses to the article. Quite a few responses wonder why parents can't provide a bowl of cereal and milk, or some toast, or porridge. None of these are expensive. I went right through school having a bowl of cornflakes and milk for breakfast every day. My parents weren't poor, but their parents had been and yet they had always been given breakfast at home too. At least, my dad was until he got into his teens and couldn't be bothered to get up early enough to both eat breakfast and get to school on time. I bet there's still a lot of that going on.

By the way, from when I was eleven and starting secondary school, I got my own breakfast and left the house before my mother even got up. Well, she was drinking coffee (made by dad) and preparing herself to face breakfast with my three younger siblings.

I have a few doubts about the numbers quoted in the article. I fully agree that children need breakfast.

When situations such as this are known to be happening ie children not getting enough to eat why on earth isn't some of the vast amounts of money being spent on things such as The Queen's Jubilee, The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games being channelled into getting the children fed. I am not opposed to the Jubilee or the Olympic Games, I enjoy both. I do think however that children going hungry should come first in these bad economic times.

Doesn't it just! Whatever the political stances of those who will, no doubt, criticise the parents or hold the last government or the one before etc. responsible, children must be fed properly. It is their entitlement.