General Chat

Dried bread? At least they could have made banana sandwiches for her, I used to love them as a child.

I'm pretty sure that any of us, parent or not, would have paid for that child's meal. Possibly the catering staff felt very sorry and embarrassed about it, but if the meals are pre-ordered and delivered, then there was probably no spare food in the kitchen - not like the old days where the school kitchen had a pantry store. It does sound as if it was not the first time this had happened. Perhaps this woman will now get her act together and set aside her daughter's dinner money as a priority every week, as most of the rest of us would do. In eighteen years of standing at the school gates waiting to collect a child, in a poor area which had plenty of single mums, I can honestly say I only ever knew of one child who was neglected - and Social Services were already well in evidence as soon as he started school. All the other single mums managed to take and collect their children, and provide them with a lunch box - ok, maybe rubbish, but they had at least made an effort, as someone says above. Poor little scrap - and all the other children whose parents do not care enough for them. OC

has somebody said they are entitled to free meals when on tax credits? I thought they were not. Ann Glos

Brenda, my thoughts entirely. My son's girlfriend has a little lad, not my son's and they don't live together, and she was on benefits, in a council flat. Now little lad is 6 and in full time school she has started working part time, encouraged to do so by DSS office, who promised her she would be so much better off etc and quoted certain amounts of money. Instead, this girl has to find most of her rent, her council tax, afterschool care costs etc etc and is barely any better off and is able to spend less time with her son. She was messed about so much by the benefits people, her rent got in arrears before the whole situation was set up, and she was threatened with eviction!!! Luckily her mum got on to the council as she was so upset and couldn't do it, and she now has to pay extra to clear the arrears that were caused through her trying to better herself! This government couldn't organise a p*ssup in a brewery!

My daughter runs the breakfast club at the local school and some of the children are from families who are on benefits. Some days a few of the children will say Mum has no money today but she will send double tomorrow . She was taken to task about this by a young newly graduated young man who was shadowing her to see what her job actually entailed .( government funded) He was of the opinion that the kids shouldn't have breakfast if they hadn't brought the money She told him that the mums would send double money but he was still dubious He was amazed when the kids brought the double money in The Ofsted inspector told her she should put the prices up because she didn't make much of a profit He wouldn't listen to reason that if the prices went up it would mean that some of the children wouldn't have breakfast at all. because their parents are on benefits and the families who have a child in every class wouldn't be able to afford it Like one mum says it's cheaper for the kids to have school breakfast than it is for her to give it them at home Bren

Regarding the Tax credit. The government changed the way they paid people on Income support so they now receive Child Tax Credit plus income support. These people are eligible for Free School Meals. Working Tax Credit is a different thing entirely and people receiving this aren't entiltled to free school meals. As for the mother of this child I think she needs a bit of structure to her life. Why can't she save the money from the previous weeks allowance so the child has it on a Monday. My youngest is 13 yrs old and I still get up with her to see she eats properly before school. Tracy

I fail to see that it is cheaper to send a child to a school breakfast club instead of feed it at home, at the moment Poundshop are selling Quaker Oat Hoops at would you believe £1 a box! You can buy a loaf of wholemeal bread for under 60 p at Iceland and baked beans are not expensive yet beans on toast would give a good start to anyone's day. More likely many parents can't be bothered, but I know from my own experience that some kids won't get up, my son is an owl like me and finds mornings difficult, it wasn't that he didn't want to go to school, so if there had been a breakfast club where he could chat with his mates while eating a meal, that might have been an incentive for him. These mums don't know they're born these days, so much help available before and after school etc and often financial help with it too, and they still can't do the right thing.

PP I was just thinking the same as you - Lidl's sell weetabix type cereal for less than £1.50, and it is fine - I know cos I eat it! If you have three or four children, I can't see it would be cheaper to pay someone else to give them breakfast. My own daughter would not eat breakfast when she got up, so I made my own flapjack thingies, with cereal and dried fruit and powdered milk etc, and she took a chunk of this to eat on the school bus. It required a bit of forward planning and careful shopping though - something which seems beyond these mums. OC

I think the idea that Jan's Dad had is great............. Use the family allowance Maybe some of the family allowance should be of better use if after a certain age it was given to the schools to ensure that every child has a good dinner each day................... Now some kids may prefer sandwiches but that could be accomdated surely with the portion of the family allowance been used I think it is a great idea........... Perhaps the lady in question in this thread should put aside her family allowance that she recieves for the school dinners instead of using the excuse that her Tax Credit didn't come whilst Wednesday There is after all more than one way to skin a cat Joanne

I have always believed in the theory that you should not criticize somebody unless you have walked a mile in their shoes. We don''t know that this lady bought expensive Christmas presents which she is still paying for, we don't know that she smokes, we don't know if she has offered a packed lunch to her child who maybe refused it. In fact all we know are the details given in the article. I have a feeling that she may need help to organise her money or she may be very clever and simply be trying to get out of paying. I don't suppose we will ever know as the newspapers are good at throwing a story at you and not following it through. I notice it is also in the mail today so it must be the sort of story that sells papers! I just hope that, if it is practical help she needs she gets it and that the little girl gets a hot meal every day in future. Thanks you all for your input. Ann Glos

There are three sides to every coin.