The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Fowgill Farm on January 08, 2013, 11:18:20 am
-
see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20936420 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20936420)
Why does it seem these days that the authorites have to do everything for some parents......so much so they can't even give their kids some breakfast! ::)
My niece is a school teacher and at her school in a deprived area they do this and they have had to stop parents dropping off and collecting their kids in their pyjamas!!
grr grr...if i can feed my animals they can darn well feed their kids instead of having a new i-phone or sky movies!
Or is it just me?
Mandy :pig:
-
No, Mandy, it's not just you. My kids are over 40 and they NEVER left the house without a good breakfast - on MY time, and from our own money. My husband worked fro teh NHS so wasn't well paid and I stayed at home with the kids - we MADE ends meet!
Another gripe of mine is women going straight back to work after their babies are born, handing them on to childminders, and coming back to work in a brand new car. What's that all about? Why not stay at home with them and enjoy their childhood and have a second hand car instead - I did and my kids never suffered for being in a 6 year old car.
There's far too much of the 'I want it all, and I want it now' ethos these days!
No offence to anyone just my homely opinion.
-
It's not just you Mandy, but unfortunately, it's a fact of our society. And if the authorities do nothing, it's the kids that suffer.
When I worked for Clackmannanshire Council, we introduced a breakfast service in our most deprived schools and I think it is in all primary schools now. It was free to kids on free school meals but we charged parents if they were not. Teachers felt it had a positive impact on attendance, punctuality and performance - hard to concentrate if your belly's rumbling :(
No, authorities shouldn't have to do it - parents should take responsibility for their children and in an ideal world they would (as all animal owners would care properly for their animals) but it's not a perfect world and unless we stop those incapable or unwilling to properly execute their responsibilities as parents, then society as a whole will have to pick up the pieces.
Yes, I'm sure some are just irresponsible and have an iPad and whatever, but a lot are just sad, hapless folk, many with poor mental health and struggling to cope. And some are just poor or have fallen on hard times.
-
Mandy I don't have kids so perhaps my views are a bit one sided but I feel that, like animals, if you choose to have them then it is your responsibility to make sure that they are fed, watered and clean and dry.
There are of course exceptions to every rule where things go wrong for no reason of your own but in general it should be the parents responsibility to do these things and not the local council. If the parents opt out of the most basic of care the chances are that their kids will grow up thinking this is 'normal' and in all likelihood treat their own children in the same way.
-
I also always made sure ours had breakfast, BUT, I see loads of children going off to school with a bag of crisps and a can of something fizzy, now I know I would love that and I bet they do but their parents or carers should not have them in the house to hand out instead of toast or some cereal, although there is bad press now on most of them!!! There is a snack shop across from us now and loads of parents nip in there for food for thier children, thats still better than the crisp option! :innocent:
I worked in a School where lads had been chucked out of main stream schools and breakfast for them was a must, I even liked it!!!
As for women going out to work!! that's hard, many cannot manage even basic payments for rent or mortgage and many couples only come out a few pounds better off after the cost of child care.....I was glad that was not an option for me as a young mum, I did however work but took them with me, I worked in a nursery when the oldest was 3.....A good option is extended family looking after young ones, or parents shareing the care, jobs are hard to come by so being choosy is not always an option.
My mum never made breakfast for me but we always ate something, usually toast.
I could rant on but there is too much to say and its complex, children without modern gadgets and reasonable cars get a lot of stick at school usually, its all snowballed with technology and fashion trends.........wages however have in general not gone up, both of us, when I do work are on a lot less now than 5 years ago!! Just glad its not an issue for me as my children are grown up!!
-
I must add, working within social services, many parents who were not stupid, had no idea of what was good to feed a child, I had to stop a couple from putting loads of salt on a baby's chips!!
Some people think things they like are good to give thier children, just because they like them, they think they are then good parents, a bit like animals, I had to laugh at a women telling me she never gave her dog dog food but it had the same meals as she did, even puddings, now thats not right either but, she thought she was being a good carer.
I now places have been set up to educate parents and carers but not sure if its going in or not, extended family has gone in lots of cases, where the children sit and watch granny cook of help mum or dad to cook, too much time trouble and mess for a lot of working parents, I also used to be suprised how many children did not take part in any type of "dirty" play!! see....I told you I had a lot to say!! I have tons and tons more!
-
I don't think its anything new that children get malnourished.
Mt mother has just retired as a teacher, and started off her career in Salford, where she is from.
She has told me that some kids would have chips from the chippy every night and that was probably the only time they got fed - other than milk and school dinner.
So, it isn't all about 'modern parents', sadly it has been going on since forever - it is just now that we are choosing to feed the kids breakfast, which can only be a good thing.
-
If the parents opt out of the most basic of care the chances are that their kids will grow up thinking this is 'normal' and in all likelihood treat their own children in the same way.
Thats part of the problem...children having children, grandmothers aged 30! its frightening but there are many in society who see having children as their only meal ticket or way of getting money. What has the benefits system created? Benefits were supposed to be a means of getting you by in hard times but now they're a way of life for many, a very vicious circle indeed. :(
very disturbing.
mandy :pig:
-
I know some parents who are well off and don't clothe or feed their kids properly because they're too busy doing their own thing, business or hobby - kids coming out with t shirts in freezing weather etc, they don't get a proper breakfast or evening meal - like they're supposed to look after themselves. I think its very sad, some parents forget their kids are kids. And that is from people who can afford to do that but are self preoccupied and forget to.
I can see an argument for giving kids breakfasts in school and it helps them, but it gives the parents even more of an excuse to not take responsibility. It also makes children more 'affordable' as someone else picks up the tab and that's not good. There isn't an answer to this. There might be a lot wrong in society these days but at least we're not in Dickensian times when children starved to death and died from illnesses they shouldn't have.
-
I know some parents who are well off and don't clothe or feed their kids properly because they're too busy doing their own thing, business or hobby - kids coming out with t shirts in freezing weather etc, they don't get a proper breakfast or evening meal - like they're supposed to look after themselves. I think its very sad, some parents forget their kids are kids. And that is from people who can afford to do that but are self preoccupied and forget to.
yes i agree that at the other end of the scale some kids seem to be a necessary accessory and suffer because of it.
Guess i was lucky and just had a good upbringing by my parents despite funds been tight we were always fed and warm.
mandy :pig:
-
Cannot believe it!!!!!! If the teachers notice a child forever hungry they should call social services and see whats going on at home never mind encouragement.In my day you were responsible totally for your child before school start , now teachers and schools are free baby sitters and transport providers. I really do despair at what society is becoming, each generation becoming more dependant on the Government and too lazy to even cook properly. How many parents see their kids off still in their dressing gown giving the impression to the kids they should still be! Or how many actually get up and dressed to give the kids a good impression of routine and starting the day properly. OOh I could rant on.
It is a real shame on the authority that they have come to this, it should have been nipped in the bud at the first signs of neglect.
-
Cannot believe it!!!!!! If the teachers notice a child forever hungry they should call social services and see whats going on at home never mind encouragement.In my day you were responsible totally for your child before school start , now teachers and schools are free baby sitters and transport providers. I really do despair at what society is becoming, each generation becoming more dependant on the Government and too lazy to even cook properly. How many parents see their kids off still in their dressing gown giving the impression to the kids they should still be! Or how many actually get up and dressed to give the kids a good impression of routine and starting the day properly. OOh I could rant on.
It is a real shame on the authority that they have come to this, it should have been nipped in the bud at the first signs of neglect.
I hate to break it to you, but neglect like this has been going on since anyone can remember - I am the first generation of my family to have grown up outside inner Salford (well, with the exception of those that came from Ireland in the 1920s) - My grandparents could tell you similar stories, drunken parents, starving children. And yes, in their day there was less dependency on the state, but then, more children died.
-
I can see both sides to this. Why shouldn't the parents look after their kids properly. However, if they aren't, the kids are suffering so a little help, goes a long way.
However, are we making it too easy for them to be lax in their parenting? I wouldn't dream of sending my son to school without breakfast....although I have forgotten to give it to him in the past (very embarrassed), but it wasn't a school day.
It just seems to easy for some part of society nowadays, to be lazy and disinterested. I think that attitude needs to change overall.
Helen
-
There is another side to this. Parents who have to work just to make ends meet, no choice. they will be glad of the breakfast clubs. Getting kids up early in the morning is hard enough but at least if they are having something at school that is better than nothing at home because they were not up on time. I was lucky that my job fitted around my kids so feeding them before school was never a problem. I had to work as my first husband gambled and often there was no money from him even for the basic things. Now having a family is almost a luxury. Kids are expensive and the days of mum staying at home is almost in the past or childcare makes going out to work like a 2nd mortgage.When I was a child most mothers did not work that is rare now and not because everyone wants too much out of life but due to life being costly. Ask yourself this, could you pay your bills and feed your children on £18.000 a year. I have friends who have to do just that.
-
I think breakfast clubs are a great idea, if parents have to go to work then children are not always ready to eat, later however they are, and at least at a school they can offer good nutrition whereas at home grab something quick can mean empty calories.
Re working mums or dad, Its not always natural to be a good parent at all, so, with nursery, and help re things like Tax credit the child can have a slightly better chance of getting a good start, I know just how expensive a nursery is, I have done nanny work and everything re child care....I must add, just because you are a parent does not make you good.
The last point, like others have said, its not a new thing but it seems more common, as is divorce or split families, and laws of who looks after your child do not always help either.
Maybe soaps and TV programmes are a good way of education parents and people re food, I know they tackle some interesting things and I think more people take notice.
When I worked with disabled family's, support groups offered loads of help re child care and so did parenting classes...not a bad idea....Oh and I forgot, anyone who rings social services with a concern will have it investigated, I know as I have taken my turn on the phones, anyway, most of the complaints will be sorted quickly and the child kept an eye on, But, there are so so many children at risk, priority is getting to the more serious cases of neglect and abuse and like everything else, there are not the funds!!
-
I can see both sides to this. Why shouldn't the parents look after their kids properly. However, if they aren't, the kids are suffering so a little help, goes a long way.
However, are we making it too easy for them to be lax in their parenting? I wouldn't dream of sending my son to school without breakfast....although I have forgotten to give it to him in the past (very embarrassed), but it wasn't a school day.
It just seems to easy for some part of society nowadays, to be lazy and disinterested. I think that attitude needs to change overall.
Helen
They should look after their kids properly, but the sad fact is they don't.
I think that there is a probable correlation between the wealth gap between the richest and the poorest and this kind of thing. If you take, say the 60s the wealth gap was narrower than it is today, higher income tax for the wealthy, lots of a former generation had been killed in a war so jobs were plentiful (in fact, we had to import labour) - as an ex miner I spoke to once said; post war, if you couldn't find work here (I was in Pontypridd when I had this conversation) you really didnt want a job. Compare and contrast this with say, the 1920s and today (I think the wealth gap is approximate post wwI and today - although I am prepared to be corrected). High levels of unemployment - it is only a tiny minority of those out of work who don't want to work. Even where there is work, in say a supermarket or a call centre, the minimum wage is not a living wage and it can be immensley frustrating to be working full time and still not have enough money - I've been there, and I guess many give up.
Its a straw man saying 'but today they have sky TV and mobile phones' - you can't eat either of those things, its relatve. In the old days they had pubs, street bookies and gambling dens. Its the 'circus' part of the famous 'bread and circuses'.
-
our schools have a breakfast club and have done for ages but because of the distances our kids have to travel to school they have to leave early in the morning, just after 7am so I'm delighted the kids can grab something to eat when they get in before classes start. plus I think the bus drivers are happier too as they have to go over some pretty bumpy roads so the instances of travel sickness have dropped.
-
have you ever thought that it might just be that some parents have NO money?? this country is standing on the brink of serious poverty, it is impossible for 2 adults and 1 child to live on the £115/week they would get on benefit.
this is why the use of foodbanks have soared, whilts osbornes buys his bloody paddock.
-
our schools have a breakfast club and have done for ages but because of the distances our kids have to travel to school they have to leave early in the morning, just after 7am
That's the main reason we have a breakfast club. A lot of them (including me ;)) are on their second breakfast by the time they get to school. My school is mostly farming folk, so they generally feed their kids :thumbsup:
At previous schools though, the kids might not get breakfast because the parents had already gone out to work, as well as those that had completely feckless parents.
-
Rosemary hit the nail on the head...
Some children get themselves up and dressed and the older sibling takes responsibility for the younger children, making sure they get to school hopefully in time for breakfast. Their parents are probably sleeping off the nights before excesses. Drugs and alcohol dependant parents as well as parents with mental health issues do not prioritise their children and their children's needs. This is why we need breakfast clubs
-
how can you possibly compare parents with mental health issues with drug addicts?
that is fundamentally wrong on all levels.
you wouldnt compare a parent with chronic arthritis with a drug addict so why compare someone with a mental illness?
-
how can you possibly compare parents with mental health issues with drug addicts?
that is fundamentally wrong on all levels.
you wouldnt compare a parent with chronic arthritis with a drug addict so why compare someone with a mental illness?
:thumbsup:
we've been discussing this tonight over dinner (all my children fed & watered :relief:) and with the benefits cap being announced and child benefit being restricted/means tested etc is this what's being used to set up & subsidise the breakfast clubs? seems a case of taking from Peter to pay Paul as my granny used to say :-\
-
::) ::) , its funny that people think just because some people have a health problem they also have poor parenting skills....a little bit of a generalisation perhaps :innocent:
Its funny how we all assume things, I remember that Jamie Oliver programme about School dinners and I was shocked, women who worked their had no idea of some foods other than turkey twisters.....I am surprised and have been surprised as I said initially, I worked with all sorts of families, some had no idea what to feed a child and I can think of many many rich and intellectual people who do not really care, they just have the money to give to the children to go off to school so many of them buy snack foods such as chips etc....
Its a bit like anything, it covers all abilities and classes of people, the only people that come off less badly are those with money or nannies, they can dish out dosh whereas, families who are struggling find it very tight indeed.....take a look at the cost of a box of cereal? ??? ? I stopped serving breakfast as I used to spend a fortune to get little profit.
I think the breakfast club is great on all levels!!
I wrote that a bit quickly due to cooking my dinner, but, we all are unaware of reasons others have for how or what they do, generaly the amount of people are equal to the amount of reasons why!! :innocent:
-
Unfortunately, lifestyle choices and health issues do sometimes mean that parents donot always prioritise their children's basic needs of having breakfast or any meal at that
-
you cannot compare a 'lifestyle choice' with an illness.
how much money do you actually think we are talking about, its peanuts!
its a simple equation, the poorest in our society are subsidising the tax breaks for the rich. the disabled, the mentally ill, the people living in deprived areas are having their incomes reduced at a far higher percentage rate than the rich. who are being given 5% back on their income tax.
simple maths. 65/week jsa - 15/week heating 15/week rent contribution, 5/ week (approx) council tax contribution, leaves <5/day for food, transport clothes etc, how is this 'maintaining a lifestyle' i know lots of people without work who want to work, there are NO jobs, none of these people have sky tv no landline etc. its a bloody con, the government has pushed a line of skivers and scroungers which is simply not true. and some on this forum are suckers enough to fall for it from their ivory towers. get a grip, do some research. this is your country, and theirs, do something about it, as i keep bloody saying, write to your mp, lobby the government, the burden of reponsibility is yours.
-
here is the actual figures from the government.
just to make it a bit easier...
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fem/nsfr-final-291112.pdf (http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fem/nsfr-final-291112.pdf)
-
We manage on a small wage, very small on occasions but its only us and the dogs, I look at food costs in the supermarket and wonder how families manage? Meat is very very expensive as is veg and fruit.
I should diet but remember wanting a quick fix while out shopping and thought a punnet of cherries but they were nearly £5 at that time, then, I saw a bumper pack of 12 crisps for £1!! Now when my children were very young I would go to the market to shop for veg and fruit and buy them to nibble on now its cheaper to buy crisps or chips!! whats going on???
-
We think feeding infants from a can or a jar or a packet is normal
We think asthma and eczema are normal
We think ADHD is normal
We think subsituting food for poisons is acceptable
We think poverty is a myth
We think sub par parenting skills are normal
Most terrifying of all is we can't see that any of this is linked ???
How can anyone NOT be depressed when this is our world at the moment.
Of course most younger parents can't look after their children properly, they have been systematically lied to about how to look after themselves for the best. Most people in my age group can;t feed themselves without McD's or Subway.
Gaming for hours on end, no socialisation no fresh air.
Kids are even getting RICKETS!!! Vitamin D is synthesised by our bodies with exposure to sunlight. How is it possible that children are not outside for the 20 minutes a day that is all that is needed to produce enough Vit D to prevent it???
:tired: :tired: :tired:
-
and young parents ie below 25 have had their housing benefit capped to approx 60% of their rent. the difference comes out of their jsa, no wonder they cant feed their kids ffs.
-
and young parents ie below 25 have had their housing benefit capped to approx 60% of their rent. the difference comes out of their jsa, no wonder they cant feed their kids ffs.
Oh my gods :o :o
The 3 months I claimed JS I got £54 a week, I can live on that because I live in a truck and forage alot of my food. A packet of nappies I have been told is nearly a tenner? so you are down to £44 without eating a crust if you have a lil one not on the pot yet ???
Most younger people haven't even been taught the skills to be able to begin coping with abudget like that. AFAIK they don't even teach cookery at school anymore.
Our kids (and the children of society are all 'ours') can no more cook than I can wire a house, because neither of us have been taught how to!
What seems obvious to us is a closed book to most, but hey keep em dependant and keep em under control eh?
-
There isn't an answer to this. There might be a lot wrong in society these days but at least we're not in Dickensian times when children starved to death and died from illnesses they shouldn't have.
ummm really? maybe you should get out more.
you know what theres so much in this thread i could pull apart and shred, with evidence, that im gonna have to raincheck. just looking at the bigotry and intolerance and narrow mindedness in some of these posts knocks me sick. ive done allright for myself but my car blew up on xmas day and its cost me literally every penny i had to put right, and half of this months rent. im officially skint, got nothing left for emergencies, i have been penniless before and can cope but there are 100s of 1000s of people out there who dont know where their next meal is coming from, before you judge them as selfish or inept walk a mile in their shoes, try seeing how long £30 will last you, i bet its not even a day, let alone a week, for months on end.
this is my last post on this thread, so feel free to continue without being reality checked.
cw, bang on. im out.
-
I honesty think none of us know just how hard it is unless we are or have lived it . Voluntary work helps, me and my husband worked with homeless, the biggest sort of shock i got was the amount of once happy, well off, intellectuals that, had hit it hard, often break up of marrages, etc etc, then found themself homeless...living and being treated so totally differently than they were used too, and I do know there are some who are homeless that choose that freedom but not many or maybe I am wrong. In the current and foreseeable economic climate, things are going to be much much worse, a lot of people will never be able to afford to live in their own home, even rental is expensive and housing benefits will only pay so much if anything. I think I have a wide and varied insight into all sorts of peoples life's, working with both very rich and very poor, only money divides them, but that divide makes a huge huge difference, money brings freedom and better choices at least.
Anyway, one thing for sure, crime, drug use and violence is certainly going to increase for sure!!
-
It makes me very depressed because I can't see a way out of it.
The government and ALL parties seem to think capping benefits to a 1% increase for three years is OK because working people are not getting pay rises. 1% of not very much isn't vey much; 1% of a lot is a lot. So the poor just get poorer - the price of a loaf is the same and goes up by the same amount whether you are on benefits or earning £50k a year.
-
It makes me very depressed because I can't see a way out of it.
Same here.... and I won't even get into this discussion...
-
You hit the nail on the head there cw , dependant and under control.
It has been going on for many years now .
As Tony Benn says " a nation of sick people on pharma drugs are easy for the government to control " fit and healthy people who can think for themselves , are a nightmare , for they wouldn't stand for the crap that the corrupt corporate controled government dishes out .
You only have to listen to the shite people repeat about the unemployed , disabled etc to see that the 'control' is total .
My father , dead now , was in the army from the 40's to the mid 60's and he 'taught' new recruits to be soldiers .
Well as he told me , they didn't teach them , they broke them and then rebuilt them as they wanted them ie do as they were told without question .
He told me how this was done , and it all boils down to the system and total control .
This same system is used in schools .
Indoctrination from the beginning , it is a very succesful training system .
The basics are still in force now , but the wheels are coming off the system fast now , due to the out of control , utter greed , for money , power and control , of big corps , bankers and the government .
The only way corrupt government can keep control of so many people , is turn them on the weaker among them , ie the unemployed the disabled etc . This is exactly what has been happening .
Hitler did exactly the same with the German people , turning them against the jews , the disabled etc . History repeating . Ian Duncan Smith even said on tv ,"work brings freedom"
that was the phrase that met the jews at auswitz death camp .
It is clear where these bastards are heading .
What isn't quite so clear is , will the people allow this to continue ?
-
I have been in the position where money has been not so much tight as non-existent. When my ex and I had our spinning and weaving workshop, we had just borrowed money to self build a workshop rather than using a room in our house, when a recession hit. Despite being on the highest possible rate of the then Family Credit and having no mortgage or rent to find, in the winter when customers were thin on the ground, I often had just vegetables to eat because I couldn't afford to buy meat for all of us, so my sons and their father had most of it. A chicken would last us most of the week and I would make meals out of next to nothing. I foraged for food and we collected drift wood for fuel. I never bought myself as much as a magazine because there wasn't the money to spare. I made myself clothes out of curtains that I had been given because I couldn't afford to go to a jumble sale and get myself something when most of my clothes had worn out. I have even made my own tampons because I had cotton wool and sewing cotton in the house but no money for extras like sanitary protection.
How people are supposed to manage when their benefits are being cut is beyond me. What do they say when their children come home from school asking for money for school trips that all their friends are going on? And when a lot of these young parents have never been taught how to cook cheap but nourishing meals that those of us born in the post war years when rationing was still on, learnt by watching our mothers make them, how are they supposed to do it?
On the subject of breakfast clubs, my daughter had to work to support herself and her three children when her partner walked out on her and she had to finish maternity leave before she wanted to. Breakfast clubs mean that she could get to work early and then finish that bit earlier so that she was home in time for the children. They enjoyed the breakfast club, not because it meant they were fed, because she always did feed them and very healthily at that, but because they had a chance to play with their friends before school. She pays for their breakfasts because she is working and because they want to have breakfast with their friends, not because she can't be bothered.
In an ideal world, mothers (or fathers) would stay at home until the youngest child started school but these days, apart from how much it costs to get by these days, what chance would they have of getting another job.
I have friends who are in the library every day it is open looking on the internet for jobs. He is a qualified engineer but all he keeps being told is that he is too qualified, they want apprentices that they can pay a pittance to, not a man in his forties who would expect a living wage.
I dread to think how this country is going to end up.
-
I can see both sides to this
My Nephew is a teacher and at his school they have breakfast club and also after school club, I agree with it to some extent but I do not agree with some of the parents that send the kids, they drop the kids off for breakfast and as soon as the pubs are open they are in there all day long. They then collect the kids after the after school club half cut !
-
how can you possibly compare parents with mental health issues with drug addicts?
that is fundamentally wrong on all levels.
you wouldnt compare a parent with chronic arthritis with a drug addict so why compare someone with a mental illness?
One might say that addiction is a mental health issue.
Dont leave the discussion - you were talking a lot of sense.
-
When my kids were we I hid from the milk man so I wouldn't have to pay for the next week's milk all at one go, then just bought it day by day from a shop as we needed it. Another time I told him we were going away and wouldn't need milk and bought it daily again.
As a treat I once bought my daughter an ice lolly and cried when she let a stray dog lick it as we were walking home, so don't tell me life wasn't as hard 35/40 years ago. :rant: It never stopped me looking after MY kids and MY husband well!
I have no sympathy with shargars! Mental issues can be faked!
-
As a treat I once bought my daughter an ice lolly and cried when she let a stray dog lick it as we were walking home, so don't tell me life wasn't as hard 35/40 years ago. It never stopped me looking after MY kids and MY husband well!
I have no sympathy with shargars! Mental issues can be faked!
I have sympathy for their children though - and it is the responsability of a civillised society to look after them.
And even if you did look after your kids etc - many didn't, are those kids to be condemned to a life of malnourishment?
My point about the income gap had, by its nature to be a generalisation - many people today are comparatively worse off than they were 50/60 years ago, yes.
What about people who aren't faking their mental issues, because they clearly exist, probably more so than the fakers....
-
I would like to clarify that the only comparison I made with people with mental health issues and drug and alcohol dependants is that sometimes they don't put the needs of their children first. NO OTHER COMPARISON WAS MADE! I absolutely stand by this as I work with their children on a daily basis and I see first hand the damage caused. I hope the comment about bigotry, Intolerance and being narrow minded was not aimed at me as in my line of work, I do not consider myself to be any of these, in fact the complete opposite is what I would like to think I practice.
Getting back to the original post , yes breakfast clubs are needed
Mojo
-
I could go on as long as you HGL but here is just my twopenceworth.
Having rasised five girls and been a teacher in an area of the UK known for its high rate of teenage pregnancies......I have seen a complete range of parenting styles.
I was thankful that all my girls completed school with no babies in sight (the first baby is only due now from my number 4 at 25) Many carrer girls cannot/donot contemplate carrer breaks (however short) untill their 30's....and that can bring its own problems too.
Our primary school only ran a breakfast club during SATs (external exams) at the time. As well as the nutrition it helped to make sure all children were awake well before the exam started and helped them all feel special. t was not only the financially deprived children that had no or little food in the morning.
-
I think I said that parenting skills are nothing to do with money, it's just easier for people with money..... I remember a friend who's mum was a very wealthy, the family had to look after them self as mum was a heavy drinker, bread & jam on Christmas day.
the sad fact is, some people will always take more than they need and some people will always get left out, nothing new.
-
okay, i relent.
speaking from my own experience ill tell you now what the problem is. there is a whole generation of people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they had everything on a plate, the whole financial system was rigged to cause an artificially high property market, so from having a modest 2 bedroom cottage worth 50K they were suddenly able to release 250K of capital, this then grew into a trading market whereby these people got richer and richer, and the country got more and more into debt to pay for it.
now that bubble has pretty much burst but instead of these rich people being asked to pay it back it is the poor. because the government dont want to lose the votes of the rich.
the method the government is using is to turn these rich and less rich people against the poor , the mentally ill, the disabled, so the rich dont feel so bad when they see the reality of this country. they have someone else to blame instead of themselves. hence nobody complains about bloody osborne.
as far as drug addiction and mental health is concerned, of course there is a correlation. however, in my experience a small MAJORITY of all the druggies ive met (and ive met lots....) are basically selfish, they are spending their lives doing exactly as they wish, and guess whos financing it all, yup, those rich mummys and daddys who are planning to leave them their 'estate' these people know they are going to inherit, so do nothing, they dont need to. here are your skivers and scroungers, they are the product of a spoilt society, they live in propertys paid for by the state, they claim whatever benefits they can. waiting for their trust fund or for their parents to die.
lets not forget, these drugs come from somewhere, they are an investment used by the rich to get richer, there i s enough documented evidence about who actually supplys these drugs, look at how heroin production under the taliban was nearly cut in 2001, then the troops went in and heroin production soared again. if our governments wanted to stop the drug trade then they could, they dont because its an income generator.
there is little or no rehab centres in this country, addicts are just given more drugs.
there is no resources for mentally ill people, yup, theyre just given more drugs.
i know lots of p[eople with mental health issues, it affects 1 in 4 of the population, so i would imagine theres quite alot of people on this forum......
i wouold bet that the majotrity of those kids going for breakfasts are from parents who are out at work, i know of a 'rich' family, 2 kids, both parents out at work all day 6 days aweek, kids borught up by a succession of nannies, kids go to private school, the familys property empire growing, these kids are ill behaved, selfish screamy little gits, the next generation of rich druggies.
here is the problem. a generation of takers, who want everything and dont care who they hurt or ruin to get it. sound familier? i just call them torys.
-
I know a very rich man...who has a very dodgy life..... :innocent: yet I see his stuff all around me..........I say no more otherwise I WILL be in deep poo.......you name it, he does it...... :innocent:
just before I sound like a know it all, sorry, I know very little but experience a lot in regard to vulnerable people, mum a psychiatric nurse so my early years were spent around mental health, nanny and nursery work, then school work with mainly Dyslexia and behaviour support, very naughty boys and a few girls, fostering, drug and alcohol counselling, support worker in all fields of social work, residential, child protection, .disability etc and youth work, homeless, offenders and eventually, elderly......rich, poor and get buy......what I observe is, there are them that have, them that take and them that do not care.......just as we are all different, we all need to survive somehow and since I spend so much time with dogs I find more and more similarities.......
just watch if any free thing is given out, it will be the people who are least needy who get the most....pack leaders get most .
:relief:
-
Mental health issues, that'll be me then, I have agoraphobia and am bipolar.
Re mental health there is no support for mental health problems, it's woeful. I'm lucky I've got private health insurance and if it wasn't for the Priory wouldn't be here now, how people survive with nhs care is beyond me, I know when I'm down, and that's not down as 'normal' people know it, I can only just function, but I still function, buts hats only through 9months of cbt two full days a week (I think the nhs s something like 6 2hr sessions with a two month waiting list to put it in perspective), oh and yes happy drugs are provided
Mojocafa, agree re not putting kids first, the problem though is you can't put anything first, wihout help you just sit in a pit of despondency and despair, you can't even move, and if like me, your considering or indeed trying to end it all, not feeding the kids is pretty much secondary on your agenda. I have a supportive family and help, hw single parents manage I've no idea.
The other thing to note is that kids can be the cause of mental health problems, especially depression, so any help, wether it be breakfast clubs or not IS needed, it doesn't matter so much what the reasoning behind a decision is as to what the effect is on the recipient and if any knock on benefits occur, feeding kids = good thing, no matter why
As for the breakfast issue, the local school has done it here for ages, not down to food, down to attendance, when the breakfast club was introduced the truancy rate when right down
-
This has turned into a ranting topic by certain parties who have [personal axes to grind so i'm locking it
Thank you for all your comments.
Mandy
-
Mental health issues, that'll be me then, I have agoraphobia and am bipolar.
me too, ptsd (yes it does exist) and m depression. ive been waiting for cbt for nearly 6 months.