digger
Child hunger in First World countries exists despite the social safety nets for parents such as, welfare, food banks, charities of various sorts,etc.
Are parents of such children not responsible for the welfare of their very own kids ?
12 Answers
Jenn
A little of both I am sure. I can only say I wish there was a free breakfast or lunch at schools when I was growing up. I was the kid that never ate. Not that we would have been eligible for govt assistance. Just irresponsible selfish parental figures..
| 12 years ago. Rating: 13 | |
doolittle
I don't care as long as the kids get fed. Sometimes Breakfast is the only meal they get cause their parents earn just above the poverty line. Our system is broken. I don't want an innocent kid to have to starve (not that one meal a day is nearly enough food).
| 12 years ago. Rating: 12 | |
lambshank
zorro
I will take a turkey and cheese sandwich, apple juice, little bag of chips any day over the crap they serve at school. Oh, but the food police said thats not healthy and took that little girls lunch away from her making her eat a school lunch . Chicken nuggets . remember the good old days when they made lunch at school , Now its all processed garbage, but its healthy they say. There is nothing progressive about it.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 12 | |
Ann
20 million US children rely on school programs to keep from going hungry. There are many reasons for that, . In most cases parents have been victims of this recession. I think its a good program and dont mind my tax dollars beeing used for school breakfast programs or lunch programs to feed these children. Its for a good cause.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 10 | |
Bob/PKB
Having worked as "The Lunch Lady", a substitute teacher, and a relief person in the cafeterias around my school district, I'm even more opinionated on this than I am on everything else.
Zorro is right about the food being processed crap. Frozen this, that, and the other thing. The actual kitchens in half the schools are closed and the food is trucked over from the few that remain open.
Secondly, the portions are ridiculous. Government requirements suggest that a kindergarten-aged child (5-6) be given a portion of spaghetti (for example) that would feed a full-grown man. I am not making this up. The waste in one day at one school would feed half the school for the entire week. At one of the schools, a guy was picking up the wasted food and taking it home to the porcines he was raising. He had the principal's blessing and cooperation. At least the food was being put to use. It was soon learned that the wasted food had to remain wasted and the food remained in the trash.
The point of feeding children whose parents are unable (for whatever reason) to do so is admirable. There is something wrong with the system, though; of that there is no doubt.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 9 | |
I believe in fixing problems first and asking questions later but there appears to be no real effort at going after deadbeat,irresponsible parents.
THAT, I have an issue with.
Part of me feels that as long as "someone" steps in to rescue the children without getting the parents to get their heads out of their ......, the problem will continue.
I don't blame the children, but children learn what they live. If they live with parents who don't take responsibility for their own welfare, what does the child learn? Now it's a choice...be like mom and/or dad, or make my own way in the world.
Perhaps the biggest culprit in the "you owe me" mentality is the interfering bureaucrats who never go into the trenches to see what is really going on and feed the idea that "you can't make it without my help".
Shootah
eggplant
I feel that parents should be responsible for their own children. It's not anyone else's job to feed their children. If parents fail to feed their own children they should be prosecuted.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 7 | |
jhharlan
ed shank
Ed1530
I heard of a little boy who could only get rice and gravy for breakfast when his school was not open. He never thought much of it until the other kids found out and kidded him something terrible. So many people at least in the States go out of their way to take advantage of government programs and are always looking for a way to increase their benefits. I really do not see how anything that would be long lasting can help these children and their children until there are some kind of limits placed on breeding.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 5 | |
eloninete
