Hungry kids

[Kiwififer]

I had limited options on leaving school. This was a coal mining town and I left a few years after the strike to give you the background.

Anyhow my options were to go on a YTS which was just a way of parking kids with no jobs, the forces, move, sell drugs or go on the dole. That was the reality of my town back then, I was lucky in that I had parents who give a shit, so I moved. I also know folk in my year that did all the rest and I sometimes think the only difference between them and me is pure luck and nothing else.

So the ones that stayed became stuck in a way. They had kids who went to school but by that time, what was the point of learning as there’s no jobs and no point. For the adults, drugs and alcohol are a way to dull the pain and misery of it all so the kids are already watching everything around them fail, parenting skills are becoming less and less. They in turn have kids and you can see where this is going. That is the reality of so many not just in my town but all over.

As for taking kids off of parents, it is a last resort. Social work consider this to be a last resort in all cases, kids don’t want to be put into care no matter how bad it is at home. Child services are also being slashed to the bone, the system is falling apart in a lot of places. None of this is the children’s fault, I’m simply trying to give folk a picture of how things have gotten to this stage and how difficult it is to rectify it.

My folk fostered kids for 20 years. I’ve witnessed the carnage first hand, I also work alongside a young person’s community mental health service. It seems the easy solution to say ‘take the kids away’ but it’s not that easy and the wider solution is much more complex as all our problems are.

I will bow out now. I’ve said my bit and I am away to have lunch.

[Frnc]

remove hungry children.

That would cost a heck of a lot more than simply feeding them.

[PreppingSu]

My current role in education involves working with children under 5. The school is the midlde of 2 polar opposite communities. Lunch time is always interesting. The working families (white collar etc) tend to purchase a hot dinner from us at £2.38. It's standard school dinner stuff; stodgy but hot and filling. We have have access to free fruit and free mk so all children have that. Those families in lower paid jobs or receiving benefits tend to send in a packed lunch. I estimate that the packed lunches cost in the region of £3-4 due to the highly processed, pre-packed food in them. Some children have nothing 'fresh'. We have started going through the lunch boxes and popping in a piece of fruit.

I don't know if it's pure laziness or through lack of knowledge/education that this happens. And it doesn't matter what I do; parent chats, signposting to Change4Life etc , it doesn't change.

Some of the children get early years pupil premium so extra money for us. It works out at 17p per hour, so generally £2.55 per week. If they get this we often pay for a hot dinner for them twice a week. We subsidise £2.21 of that.
Many pre-schools are doing similar things.

What I'm trying to say is, there is no reason why children should be going hungry. Parents either need to change the way they do things to ask for help.

It's when you see interviews on the news with parents saying they can't feed their kids and they have salon done nails, big TV and I've seen one kid have a whole big tin of beans on toast! I only have 1/2 a tin..... I heard a reporter on the news saying kids were starving. NO THEY ARE NOT! Many are still overweight....

I could go on but I need to go and face the day!

[Mad Scientist]

Some people live in areas that are a “food desert” that is, their home is not within walking distance of a decent food outlet. If you’re disabled/can’t drive/ can’t afford to fix the car it isolates you and even acquiring healthy food becomes a monumental task. People need to team up and car share, maybe form supper clubs. If you’ve had to move far away from family to find work then get made redundant or become sick or you have hostile/indifferent neighbours it must be very isolating. My brother lives a long walking distance from the nearest supermarket and can’t drive so we car share and do one huge shop together every fortnight. It would very difficult for him to walk back from the store carrying heavy bags of food. If something happened to me it would be really tough for him. He could order stuff online of course but the general point is the mechanics of getting food can go downhill very rapidly.

[Kiwififer]

Some people live in areas that are a “food desert” that is, their home is not within walking distance of a decent food outlet. If you’re disabled/can’t drive/ can’t afford to fix the car it isolates you and even acquiring healthy food becomes a monumental task. People need to team up and car share, maybe form supper clubs. If you’ve had to move far away from family to find work then get made redundant or become sick or you have hostile/indifferent neighbours it must be very isolating. My brother lives a long walking distance from the nearest supermarket and can’t drive so we car share and do one huge shop together every fortnight. It would very difficult for him to walk back from the store carrying heavy bags of food. If something happened to me it would be really tough for him. He could order stuff online of course but the general point is the mechanics of getting food can go downhill very rapidly.

When the Greek economy collapsed, something called ‘Cookisto’ came out of it. Greek families made extra home made meals to sell to students and folk struggling, it was a way to make a few extra euros and to help feed folk.

It was plain cooking as my Granny would say but it kept a lot of folk fed and besides, who doesn’t love proper home cooked meals?

[Sneddle]

Doing that in the UK would mean having to register as a food business.

Who needs to register?

A food business is anyone preparing, cooking, storing, handling, distributing, supplying or selling food.

https://www.gov.uk/food-business-registration

[steptoe]

I was not going to post on this but i am bored and waiting on wales scoring lol .
Now to hungry kids yes i do understand some people get caught out loose their job or whatever and then struggle the thing i am most mad at is that these people get over looked because like my wife and i they do not know how to play the benifit system like some who are born in to it and then knock out kids to get more and more , i know people will say but it is a persons right to have kids yup it is but they have them with out giving a thought to how the hell they will look after them .

I think we need to get back to the if you have thme you look after them , sorry but my mum worked night shifts my dad was on the buildings and use to do odd jobs at weekend they had 3 kids before me but we never ever went hungry funny that , these days people do not care and just think oh hold the hand out same with all these gofund me and alike but that is another thing i hate .

If you have the kid please be sure you can look after them and as i say yes people can get caught out loose their job but again they do not get the3 help , we need to stop the benifit life style , i am ranting but i love the people on benifits with 2 cars nice bmw and another car and they have 2 holidays a year hmmm i just do not understand how they can do it .

[GeeGee]

I was not going to post on this but i am bored and waiting on wales scoring lol .
Now to hungry kids yes i do understand some people get caught out loose their job or whatever and then struggle the thing i am most mad at is that these people get over looked because like my wife and i they do not know how to play the benifit system like some who are born in to it and then knock out kids to get more and more , i know people will say but it is a persons right to have kids yup it is but they have them with out giving a thought to how the hell they will look after them .

I think we need to get back to the if you have thme you look after them , sorry but my mum worked night shifts my dad was on the buildings and use to do odd jobs at weekend they had 3 kids before me but we never ever went hungry funny that , these days people do not care and just think oh hold the hand out same with all these gofund me and alike but that is another thing i hate .

If you have the kid please be sure you can look after them and as i say yes people can get caught out loose their job but again they do not get the3 help , we need to stop the benifit life style , i am ranting but i love the people on benifits with 2 cars nice bmw and another car and they have 2 holidays a year hmmm i just do not understand how they can do it .

People on here are preppers their kids / grandkids wont be hungry ...the prepping kicks in and most of us have tried to make sure it all rubs off on our kids
I've said it before but the low income working families are the majority here suffering heating or eating ..in my area of west yorks
Daugher number 1 cant afford school meals too expensive for her 3 so its packed lunches but the school the kids are at are strict very strict and many a time a lot has been confiscated and handed back at the end of day in evidence bags for whatever reason ..crisps a pie a flask of soup ( kid may burn herself) and seeded bread in case any other kids allergic ..fair enough their rules ..no cakes or chocolate allowed either ...granddaughter number 1 is a tad annoyed at that
The school my son has taken on provides breakfast and again he says the low earning working class who are frozen out of free school meals are struggling ..they dont confiscate as it may be the only thing the child has to eat one had a chicolate bar that was it so the child got to eat it ..
And regardless of how the parents spend their money unfortunately there's hungry kids
Daughter in law has taken in fruit and snacks out of her own money to her class as she has several in there who are struggling..again frozen out of free meals yet on a low income
Perhaps the parents make a big tea for them to .make up for it I dont know
But its happening out there ..it shouldn't be ..but it is

[Ara]

Back in the day I was a "lunch-time supervisor" at my sons' school. I was horrified by some of the packed lunches sent in: A 6" piece of baguette (no filling or even butter on it) or 2 bags of crisps. That particular mum had no money problems but a seeming lack of awareness about healthy food. Other children had enough to feed a navvy in their lunch boxes and parents wondered why half of it came home again. Sometimes I despaired.
On the other hand the website www.frugal.org.uk gives some very good cheap recipes including its 25p meal.

[steptoe]

e]

People on here are preppers their kids / grandkids wont be hungry ...the prepping kicks in and most of us have tried to make sure it all rubs off on our kids
I've said it before but the low income working families are the majority here suffering heating or eating ..in my area of west yorks
Daugher number 1 cant afford school meals too expensive for her 3 so its packed lunches but the school the kids are at are strict very strict and many a time a lot has been confiscated and handed back at the end of day in evidence bags for whatever reason ..crisps a pie a flask of soup ( kid may burn herself) and seeded bread in case any other kids allergic ..fair enough their rules ..no cakes or chocolate allowed either ...granddaughter number 1 is a tad annoyed at that
The school my son has taken on provides breakfast and again he says the low earning working class who are frozen out of free school meals are struggling ..they dont confiscate as it may be the only thing the child has to eat one had a chicolate bar that was it so the child got to eat it ..
And regardless of how the parents spend their money unfortunately there's hungry kids
Daughter in law has taken in fruit and snacks out of her own money to her class as she has several in there who are struggling..again frozen out of free meals yet on a low income
Perhaps the parents make a big tea for them to .make up for it I dont know
But its happening out there ..it shouldn't be ..but it is

Hi GeeGee oh i know it happens i worked for the council in the building game for many years and i have seen it first hand , this is why i get so annoyed , we in this country have enough to go round so why not share like you say kids get stuff sent home .

I do not know but do they still teach cookery in school and stuff like that because i rmember my niece use to cook some lovely stuff to bring home to us when she use to come to us after school because her mum and dad were working .

I just wish they brought back free meals for all and the milk but then i guess they say someone earning 150k a year does not need it but someone on 20k does but i guess like the benifit system they have to draw a line but it just feels like the UK as a whole is becoming a 3rd world country .

We helped out many who can not afford food but again i wish everyone did a little something , long life stories but we use to do free computers to children of low wage or families on benifits and also to the disabled but well people started to take advantage so we in the end had to stop it , when you have a woman come claiming her child is bisabled because of a broken arm and she was driving a top of the range range rover brand new less than 3 months old and more gold than a jewelery shop well as i say we just felt used .

I don't think it is just going to be children going hungry and cold this winter

Oh well rant over sorry i just wish people in this world would share but human nature in some says why should it , the rich at the top