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I apologise. This is a long thread, but I feel it needs to be said. I've read many shocking comments regarding free school meals for children. Some of the most ill-judged from @nickclarkeleave @fromwooton @CornerRadish. So here goes...
I found myself unemployed in March, the 1st time ever. I'm a preschool teacher. Preschools were forced to close but initially couldn't use the furlough scheme because some children receive grants. So I was laid off, along with many others.
I have three teenage children, but not through choice, find myself a single parent. I had an old Huawei phone, a 14 Yr old car, a laptop, a TV, and lived in a small rented 3 bed home (the cheapest in the village). I think you'll agree that's hardly luxury.
I turned to Universal Credit for help. There were quite a few hoops to jump through to prove my situation, which is as it should be. And then a wait of 5 weeks to receive anything. Like all of you I believed it to be generous in the extreme.
The amount awarded to me was just sufficient to cover my rent and reduced council tax. I am hugely grateful for this. It kept a roof over our heads. But it did give me the problem of how to pay other costs. Let's start on food.
Apparently the commenters believe it's because we can't cook. I trained at Cordon Bleu school as a teenager, I'm a very good cook. But it doesn't help if you can't afford the ingredients. The other oft quoted "grow your own" doesn't solve immediate demand. Now we need power.
Power is required to cook. It's also required to power the lights, laptops the kids use for their homeschooling, hot water, etc. One comment was just "shove a potato in a microwave for 8 minutes". So now we need to find a way to pay for food and power. What next? The phone....
"They should sell their iPhones". I don't have an iPhone, I might get £20 for my old Huawei. "Cancel the contract". Cancellation fees on my £9pm contract would have been 97% of the cost of the remaining 10 months. "Cancel Sky"..... We don't have it.....
"sell your handbags and pearls". I shit you not. That's one of the suggestions. My £5 primark handbag might raise 10p. Pearls? I have a toy set from my daughter's old dolls, maybe 5p. I suppose I could sell my wedding ring, but I promised my late husband I'd always wear it.....
Sell my 14 Yr old car? Not much demand in a pandemic. It's also necessary when you live in a rural area. Without it I'd never be able to work. That would be shortsighted. So can you see? I don't live the life of a rich person. Now I suddenly have nothing....
And none of it my fault. This is why there are hungry children. I did receive food vouchers over the summer holiday thanks to Marcus Rashford, and they were a life line. I'm one of the lucky ones.....
I started a new teaching job in September. I'm saddled with debt now because I had to borrow money to keep going for those 6 months. But some might not be finding it so easy to get work. Please have some compassion and abandon your hideous misconceptions......
We are not all lazy and undeserving. We don't have expensive things to sell. We had already cut our cloth accordingly. And above all, it was not the fault of our children. And one last thing. Thanks @RyanGunster for twitter support.
