It is 8.45am and a line of hungry children eagerly await breakfast outside a classroom at Hazelbury primary school in Edmonton.
Moments later a handful burst in, running over to a table adorned with cereals, bagels, spreads, milk and juice. A few grab cheeky mouthfuls as they pose for pictures, before dashing off to finish a satisfying, healthy breakfast.Awww, bless! Poor likkle starvelings...
This is a familiar scene for Carmel McConnell, founder of The Magic Breakfast, a charity that delivers morning meals to children who would otherwise go without.Really? Well, what do these deprived scraps have to say to the nice reporter about this?
A nine-year-old girl, tucking in to a bagel, says: “At home I don’t get time to eat breakfast. Having breakfast here means I have the energy to get me through the day and to learn.”Wait, you don't have time..? I thought you didn't have food at home?
Asia, also nine, adds: “It’s so much better for you to have something good for you.”What, you mean mum dishes up a pop tart fresh from the microwave, and you'd prefer a bagel?
I get the feeling these kids aren't deprived of food so much as proper parenting...
When asked how much she thought it would cost to eradicate child hunger in the mornings nationally by 2020, Ms McConnell predicts £13 million to £18 million a year. “The big thing we need, quite simply, is cash,” she says.
But is it not the responsibility of the Government to support them?No. It's the responsibility of the parents that brought them into this world.
Glad I could clear that up.
When I was going to Primary School, Lo, those many decades ago, I went after scarfing either a bacon sarnie (with one slice of bread dipped in the bacon fat), or a slice of toast and dripping or, on Mondays, a sarnie of cold beef made from the remnants of the Sunday roast. Towards the end of the week it was melted cheese on a slice of toast which saw me start the school-day.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum fed me. She would have been horrified by the thought that some Charity was trying to feed me, it would have been a slur on her abilities as a Mother.
I had my youngest child's school's Homelink Worker offer my son a place at a breakfast club, she was most bemused when I declined the offer on the grounds that unless the parent is working, or physically unable to make a breakfast, then there was no need for such a thing.
ReplyDeleteI suffer from mental and physical health conditions but none so severe to prevent me from supervising some cereal and milk being poured into a bowl! Any child able to use a smartphone, or games console, can make such a breakfast.
Perhaps I should "check my privilege" or something?
Selsey.Steve
ReplyDeleteYup, I was certainly insulted as should anyone who had the means and ability to provide for their children.
How much is a box of cereal and a few litres of milk as a percentage of Child Tax Credit/Child Benefit? (rhetorical question!)
"My Mum fed me. She would have been horrified by the thought that some Charity was trying to feed me, it would have been a slur on her abilities as a Mother."
ReplyDeleteWe abolished shame and independence. Aren't we modern, and better for it?
"...she was most bemused when I declined the offer..."
Her training didn't cover such an eventuality, clearly. That says a lot.
"How much is a box of cereal and a few litres of milk as a percentage of Child Tax Credit/Child Benefit? "
What, use the fag and booze money? Heaven forbid!