I agree, that may be true in some cases, but let me give a different scenario, Gwyneth.
Husband commits suicide, barely literate mother takes on three cleaning jobs at the minimum wage (that's all she could find) to keep a roof over her head and feed her two boys.
Doesn't smoke or drink, just wants to do the best for her family. She was a broken and exhausted woman and so grateful for what little help she got.
Should someone like her, be denied support over the school holidays?
I was a free school meals child, who got a clothing grant to pay for the very expensive school uniform for my convent grammar school, where the nuns had no conception of what real poverty was. I felt so ashamed of being the poor girl, who had to stand up in the class every day and say I was a free meal. My mother had to swallow her pride and claim for those meals. I never told her about the humiliation I experienced.
My father started work at ten years old, as a van boy with a laundry and had to retire at from his job as an ambulance driver due to chronic ill health.
My mother, a highly qualified nursing sister had to give up her job to look after him. There was no attendance allowance etc in those days. The only income was a invalidity benefit, he was too young to access his pension.
They neither smoked or drank.
Not every parent of those who get free school meals, drinks or smokes.
I hope now you can understand why I am so passionate about this. Not everyone sets out to sponge off the state
As they say, Walk in my shoes or even better, my mother's shoes.
