On Children and Poverty and Following the Science

So today MP’s vote against extending the Free School meals offer into holidays.

I cannot begin to describe how angry this has made me. It may just be that it is the straw that’s broken the camels back but honestly, I don’t think so. Because you see its really touched a nerve. The sense of injustice. The sense of complete and utter impotence that a child feels when the world around them and everything in it is beyond their control. To imagine that there are children in this, the 6th wealthiest economy who through no fault of their own are so low on the list of priorities of those whom they are supposed to look to for leadership. How can that even be?

But it’s worse than that. Their parents are lazy. Spongers. Waiting for handouts. “ They just need to work hard like everyone else”.

Circumstance is everything.

When I was growing up in 70’s Manchester, as new arrivals to this country, my Dad worked shifts and my mum worked from home so she could look after us. They made ends meet, working hard to put food on the table and start a life from scratch. They had the benefit of living with family until they could afford deposit on their own house and when they did eventually find a place to call home, both worked night and day to make sure we had what we needed to live a modest but frugal life.

If a global pandemic such as the one we are living through had hit at that point, both parents would have lost their income and would not have been covered by any schemes currently available.

Would we have been hungry? Probably not as I’m pretty sure they would have gone hungry themselves rather than see us in that position.

Would I be in the position I am now? absolutely not.

As educators we all learn about Maslow’s hierarchy of need and so without the basics of food, shelter, warmth and emotional safety we know children do not thrive. Surely this is also the science we should be following?

We can eat out to help out

We can provide laptops for home learning

We can provide funds for “catch up” so that a system that already disadvantages the most disadvantaged can be seen to be “recovering”

But we can allow children to go hungry?

This is not just about food. This is about dignity, respect and compassion from one human being to another. Let’s not dress it up any other way.