Parents should provide kids with breakfast

12:00pm Friday 18th January 2013 in Letters

I WAS very sorry to read that Councillor Derek Killingworth was having to give up his role as Chairman of the Trustees of Bewdley Youth Cafe, through ill health.

The youth cafe is a marvellous place for the children to go when the schools finish at 3-30pm, until 5pm or 6pm, when their parents get home from work.

But I can’t understand why he needs to get up at the crack of dawn to supply breakfast for the children.

Surely their parents could make a nice family breakfast in the comfort of their own homes before they go to work, rather than send the children out in the cold and wet at least an hour earlier to get it at the youth cafe.

Mrs PAT JONES Severn Side North Bewdley

Comments(13)

HowardM says...
1:33pm Sat 19 Jan 13

But the facts of life are not like that! I was Chair of Governors at a local school for 3 years where 40% of pupils were entitled to free school dinners - they also had access to a Breakfast Club! If you asked some children what they had for tea when they got home it was often "nothing" or "a packet of crisps and a can of coke!" So they only ate at school.
A "nice family breakfast" isnt on the radar for loads of children, including in parts of Bewdley, and the facility provided by the youth cafe is a godsend for many youngsters to start the day.
I have great respect and admiration for the work Derek Killingworth has put in over the last few years and I am sure his contribution to the bettament of life for some young people in Bewdley will be greatly missed.

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Gobby Robby says...
5:00pm Sun 20 Jan 13

Pat Jones illustrates the ignorance many people have in this country of how many people unfortunately live.

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WM2012 says...
10:16am Mon 21 Jan 13

It is a sad fact that the times we live in Child poverty is on the increase in our area, it was stated in the Shuttle last year how our area had a high child poverty issue, we at the Simply Limitless charity have seen this first hand as we are running the national initiative "Make Lunch" to feed children who's parents are struggling to feed their children often sacrificing food for themselves.

Children who receive free school meals in term time, what happens in the holidays when the school is closed? We open our centre in Kidderminster and advertise out to the schools in our area that families can come down and get a hot meal everyday for free, last year we supported over 82 families and were supported by local businesses and charity raised funds and then actioned by volunteers down at the centre.

I understand Pat's concerns as it seems incredulous that in the 21st century Children are still facing the same issues of poverty, but as we say we're passionate about meeting the needs of those who struggle.

Come the school holidays in February we will be opening again to meet that need.

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Cynical Sid says...
11:55am Mon 21 Jan 13

It’s not about poverty; it’s down to BONE IDLE parent(s) who can’t be bothered to give their kids a bowl of cornflakes or a slice of toast. If you can’t afford to feed them, don’t have them. I’m not talking about sitting in front of a roaring log burner in a warm house eating organic bacon & free range eggs followed by filtered coffee. I’m talking about a simple bowl of cereal that costs £1.00 or a loaf of bread for .60p.

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Gobby Robby says...
5:56pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Tory Cynical Sid hits a new low. There was a soldier's wife on the TV the other day who was having to use food banks due to her financial circumstances while her husband was fighting for scum like Sid in Afghanistan.

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Cynical Sid says...
10:53pm Mon 21 Jan 13

What’s that got to do with parent(s) who can’t be bothered to feed their children in the morning?

Oh wait … funny how I served as a Soldier for 9 years in the Parachute Regt. You? Thought not.Throbber.

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Gobby Robby says...
11:13pm Mon 21 Jan 13

It's basically the same thing & you've attacked those directly before aswell. Parachute regiment? That's some fantasy, you must be really riled. Result. I bet the closest you've got to a parachute jump was a forward roll for your grade 4 BAGA certificate at Middle School. Lol. Cynical Sid in the Paras, funny :-)

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walkerno5 says...
9:40am Tue 22 Jan 13

There is however more to children not being fed than the income level of their family.

While treating the symptom, given its seriousness, is imperative, the problem will not be solved without going to the root - and if there are children in families with similar income levels for whom breakfast is provided by parents, we do need to consider what other circumstances are in play and seek to address these, rather than simply blaming levels of monetary support from the government or taking Cynical Sid's tack.

Cynical Sid is happy to blame "bone idleness" and therefore dismiss a whole raft of other potential issues causing these problems.

These could include servicing ridiculous levels of debt that will never be repaid, addiction, serious mental illness or other disability, a sense of hopelessness short of mental illness but still debilitating, the bone idleness you perceive Sid is not as simple as you would like it to be.

All of these problems need considering and looking at, but in the meantime let's get the kids fed shall we?

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stour67 says...
9:42am Tue 22 Jan 13

I bet these kids have mobile phone's games consoles tv's in there bedrooms etc,my mum worked every day ,i was out at 6am every morning del papers,all over burlish early 70's before i went to school and still had breakfast which i cooked good english bacon eggs , and walked over a mile to get there never late , there just lazy and cannot be arsed to get up early what's stopping them getting there own,and if you cannot afford to feed them don't have them,when i was born you did not get benefits for the first child.

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walkerno5 says...
10:31am Tue 22 Jan 13

Stour67 can you say the same about all of the children you went to school with? All were well fed and clothed, no neglect, no poverty?

What a truly prosperous and utopian time the early 1970s must have been.

However, let's deal with the here and now, where we do have a real set of problems (that must have simply invented itself in the last few years), rather than a vague nostalgia for a set of perfect circumstances for all (that never existed).

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Jon D says...
11:17am Tue 22 Jan 13

Looking back with rose tinted spectacles is perfectally natural, everyone does it but that doesn't make it true. I remember doing a playscheme in the 1990's and some brothers in the scheme were locked out of their house at dinnertime with no lunch every day. Poor b*stards, they went on to be junkies. Some people (Sid & Stour) might say they were lazy, I suppose they could have gone and shoplifted or mugged someone for it.

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FranOb says...
8:36pm Tue 22 Jan 13

In the real world there are families, apparently not in poverty, where actual hidden poverty means the kids need breakfast clubs. There are also families where the level of dysfunction means that kids don't get fed!
At the end of the day it is the KIDSwho are important so let's stop **** please!

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harryurz says...
5:37pm Sat 26 Jan 13

Don't forget the youth cafe not only provides a meal or snack at times of the day, it also provides a valuable social centre for young people of an age where otherwise they have nowhere to go. i.e. Too young for the pub, too old for after-school clubs.

Get well soon, Derek.

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