Support children’s well-being by providing meals regardless of their parent’s ability to pay. Learn about the impact of nutritious lunches on a child’s life.
Children Should Never Pay The Price
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all essential meals of the day.
We do our best to ensure that all children are getting their daily nutritional needs looked after.
If a child is hungry or asking for food and you do nothing about it, then you must be heartless.
A child is so innocent that we should never turn our backs on them even if we have nothing to offer.
No Money, No Lunch
Could you imagine sitting down to eat your lunch so pure at heart only to have someone take it away and toss it in the garbage?
Approximately 40 students had their lunches revoked and dumped into the trash moments after being served because their parents had not yet paid their cafeteria balances.
Salt Lake City Utah– Yahoo
Ironically, children look up to these people when their parents are not around because they belong to the education system.
Children are nurtured to believe they are safe with educators and will be looked after when their parents are not around.
I can’t even understand who in their right mind in the child nutrition department would authorize this without an actionable plan.
All Children Get To Eat Lunch
Should the students be punished for their parent’s debt?
This is not a situation where the kids go out and order lunch at a restaurant only to have no money to pay, and, of course, they don’t get their lunch.
This is the education system that, in all rights, can revoke the lunches but should have never handled it the way they did.
That was so unprofessional, and I could only imagine how embarrassing and crushing it was for these children.
No one wants to know that their parents, especially children, might not have enough money to pay the bills. They also don’t like the rest of their peers to know either.
It’s bad enough we are doing everything we can to try to stop bullying in the education system, yet the adults can’t figure out how to handle this situation.
No child should have to go hungry even if their parents can’t afford to feed them by paying a lunch bill, but something needs to be done about it.
Student Nutrition Program Ontario
Schools across Ontario, including First Nations, have available meals and snacks in the morning for all children who need something to eat.
The Student Nutrition Program offers school-age children and youth nutritious food through breakfast, lunch, and snack programs.
The goal of the program is to support learning and healthy development. Nutritious food helps kids learn and focus.
Research has shown that students have trouble learning when they are hungry at school.
Financial Education
Children shouldn’t suffer because their parents might have lost or can’t find a better job.
Some parents would feed their kids before themselves to ensure their babies are fed.
Parents in financial distress must settle their debts because they don’t just go away; we must look after them.
It’s important to teach our children about money from a young age and the importance of earning money.
Also, parents should teach children the basics of money, which include,
- A roof over our heads
- Clothes on our backs
- Food on the table
- Love for everyone.
Build Confidence In Children
Parents must raise financially confident children, and like in this case, it may be at the cost of the child where they learn the hard way.
Some of us who hold on to our money tight do so because we may have grown up living with parents who struggled, and others learned how to be wise with money.
Either way, lessons are learned at a young age because children see and hear everything.
I know with a good heart I could never do that to any child, but like I’ve mentioned before, there is no free ride, and no one will care about you more than you.
If anything, I’d bring food for a child in need or do my best to help if I had the resources, but that’s not always the case for everyone.
This was undoubtedly a hard article for me to read.
I hope it encourages parents and others to look at their finances and how, sometimes, not even the system will care if you pay.
When you owe money, you should be ready to lose what you have if you don’t pay your bills.
This is another example of why it’s important to budget money, regardless of your income level or debt.
Tracking Finances
Understand where your money is going and find ways to earn money to pay any overdue monthly bills.
People you owe money to may stop at nothing to get their money, no matter who it hurts, because they only care about clearing the debt.
No emotion is tied to debt, only getting rid of it and moving on to the next person who owes it.
In many businesses, when a bill is not paid, it triggers a chain reaction because the next guy may not get paid, and so on.
There’s plenty to think about, but this situation could have been handled differently.
Understanding What It Means To Be Hungry
I’m not a fan of food waste and do my best to ensure everything gets used up in our refrigerator.
After all, people are starving worldwide.
I’m sure many people who waste food don’t give much thought to what life would be like without it.
Even though the Utah Elementary School issued an apology, the people were so appalled that it didn’t matter.
So, the next time you throw food in the garbage, consider your life if you had no food.
Discussion: How would you have handled this situation if you were the head of the nutrition department?
Please leave any comments or questions below.
Blog Posts Weekly
If you missed any CBB posts from the week, here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading!
- Why I’m not buying your house for sale
- How we cash in on unwanted clutter in the winter
- Are you a helpful grocery shopper?
- How to avoid home-buying mistakes the first time
- Hot and Spicy Sausage and Bacon Tomato Soup
- Will the minimum wage hike in Ontario help?
CBB At Home And Blog Updates
It’s been a busy week around the CBB household, with frequent trips out and attending to appointments and work-related issues.
It will be nice this weekend as we attend a birthday party for a family member, and we get to eat lots of birthday cake and goodies while being around our loved ones.
I was planning a trip back home this year, but we’ve decided to hold off on the journey until maybe next year.
Our mortgage company called the other day and tried to get us to switch since our current provider no longer accepts renewals.
I didn’t want to say anything to the guy on the phone, but it’s been a long time since we will be officially debt-free as of April 2014 once the mortgage is paid in full.
The exchange rate has done so well I am hesitant to move the money now but just like back in 2007 when I should have moved it I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
You never know when the rate will go up or down, and it’s a money risk you take.
I’m just happy to see it jump up as high as it is for now, and we’ll see how that will affect our Net Worth next week when I post the numbers.
Mr. CBB
Making A Difference
Today, I bring you my online friend Erin, a personal finance blogger, over at Broke Millennial.
Hi Mr.CBB and Fans!
I go by the moniker Broke Millennial (which I’m sure speaks to many of my generation), but people have been known to call me Erin.
Currently, I reside in the Big Apple, where I pay too much in taxes and constantly look on Zillow at all the significant, fancy places I could afford if I had just left the most fantastic city in the world.
After a late-night conversation with a friend, my site started over a year ago.
She desperately wanted to quit her desk job to pursue a career in acting.
I encouraged her to chase her dream, at least for a while, because she was young, had no dependents, and was debt-free. It sounded like the perfect combo.
It was no surprise that her fear was money.
She said money scared her, and each month, she just hoped she had enough to sustain herself, but otherwise, she ignored her financial situation.
Then it clicked.
Lots of people behave this way!
As a long-time lover of all things related to the almighty greenback, I decided to harness my love of writing and natural inclination for sarcasm to create a place for other millennials to learn about finances.
I hope Broke Millennials can increase financial literacy in my generation (but no age discrimination; Gen X, Boomers, and Gen Z are welcome).
-Erin
Google Search Terms
Every week, thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they searched online and found my blog.
Here are a few of my favorite searches that may have brought you here and you’re reading this right now.
- Do men usually cook?– I suppose if they want to eat or the buy take-out but whether they will cook for you is s a different story.
- Getting a dog while in debt- Is not smart
- Where is no-name ketchup made?– In the no-name ketchup factory, of course.
- Finding items in a dumpster rather than returning them- Lol. I shouldn’t laugh, but I bet it happens everywhere. Then people wonder why prices go up. We can’t keep screwing the system to make a buck. It will always come back to haunt us.
That’s all for this week’s edition of The Saturday Weekend Review #57– Should kids go without lunch for their parent’s debt?
Have a great week, and catch me here again next Saturday for more updates.
-Mr.CBB
Related articles
- The Saturday Weekend Review #48: How your name can affect your salary
- The Saturday Weekend Review #49: Managing the kid’s Christmas list
- The Saturday Weekend Review #50: Should rich kids get off easy in the legal system?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #51: Extreme couponing 16-year-old and the holidays
- The Saturday Weekend Review #52: Should pricing errors be honored?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #53: Do you know your household debt ratio?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #54: What to do in the winter that won’t break the bank.
- The Saturday Weekend Review #55: Do you expect to get a retirement farewell party?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #56: Could I live in a 420sq ft apartment?
I am all for teaching children financial responsibility and for paying my bills, but I have to say that the lunch story disgusts me. The sad truth is that , currently, a great many North American children are going hungry through no choice of their own or their parents. The number is rising steadily.
Throwing children’s lunches away because their parents can’t pay for them is symptomatic of the same thinking that has reduced social services in Canada and drastically cut access to food subsidies for people in need in the US, and this despite statistical proof that these programs are among the least abused of all programs on which our governments spend money. It’s symptomatic of people who blame the poor for being poor rather than helping them find the means to move forward .
Of course there are those who take advantage of social assistance, but they are few. Of course we should all try to do our best to be self reliant and to teach our children to be self reliant too. Sadly, it is not always possible to do so. So many circumstances can lead people to poverty, not least of them being having been born poor to start with. We need to stop judging the poor for being poor and recognize that those living in poverty face a far steeper uphill climb than those with more advantages.
Refusing poor children food is not going to help them, nor will it “teach their parents a lesson.” These kids, most especially, need to be assured at least one good meal a day so that they can better concentrate on their studies. Without this nutrition, their struggle to rise above their situation becomes even more difficult.
We can do so much better for those in need with so little cost to ourselves!
This story made me sick to my stomach. I am a mother of 3 and if this was to happen to my kids I would be choked! No matter what the parents bills may be, the child should never suffer for the parents mistakes.
I agree with what Beth Anne has said…. I am really disgusted by this.Who ever thought it was OK to waste food like this needs to re-think their priorities.I am sure something could have been worked out so these kids got fed if somebody had sat down and actually thought about it beforehand. I have known teachers that bought clothes and food for students when they knew the parents couldn’t.Most schools in my experience have a slush fund of sorts to help kids pay for things like field trips that are used as part of the curriculum. I have used scrap yarn to knit mittens for my daughter to take to the daycare where she works for the kids that don’t have or forgot their mittens that day…..beats having them freeze their fingers!! She will also take clothes including winter wear, that the grandson has outgrown to work for the kids to wear there.
My grandson is now in school himself (JK) and she pays for his milk order, pizza days and a hot lunch. Unfortunately a couple of these came due round the same time but she is working with the school to stagger the payments according to her pay schedule. He gets what he needs and he knows that Mommy is the one making sure he does. Needs are met but wants are discussed. People that work in daycare centers don’t get paid all that great so her money is tight but she is careful with it. His needs come before hers every time.
First, I want to start off by saying, this situation could have been handled a lot better.You give the parents a chance to slowly catch up on their debt, or you just stop providing a lunch.Then contact child services, and tell them, the child isn’t being provided for.
When I was in junior high (grade 5-9) , back in the 70s, we had about 400 kids in this school. Almost everyone bought a lunch,except about 6 kids. These were the ‘poor kids’. Sometimes they brought a sandwich, or if they didn’t, the school gave them a free lunch.I don’t think anyone had a problem with that.
Now, we have generations of people who have a completely different mindset. They are ‘entitled’ to everyone giving them free stuff. Their priorities are all skewed. They are not concerned about food and shelter. If you walk into their house, you will see empty fast food and soda containers. Smoke and alcohol remnants everywhere. Game systems and a newer flat screen tv. They constantly move from apt to apt, after eviction.
How do I know this? As a landlord, we see this all the time, when we must evict them, and clean up after them. Some people think there are only a few people like this, who are ‘down on their luck’. The ones I see, have been on it for years, keep popping out children, and their parents are on assisstance also.
There are 2 ways to break this cycle. One is to stop providing welfare, and make families responsible again. The other is to remove children from these homes, as these parents refuse to provide for.
Sometimes to help a child, it is to give the parents a good shaking.
I’m sorry if I come across as harsh, but sometimes you need Tough Love.
Sorry- but that is highly judgmental of you.
My mom is on welfare. She worked for 35 years before she became permanently disabled. Her medical bills ate up her savings. And she was left penniless, homeless, and full of debt. Receiving public aid is the only way she is able to survive and eat.
My brother and his family are also on welfare. They do not own a big screen tv, three cars, or move from home to home. He’s a construction worker who has had a hard time finding work. The winter has been long here and because there is no work, he uses welfare to help pay for his children’s food.
My friend had her baby at 21. Her partner passed away a year after. She is on welfare. It’s the only way she survives.
The fact that you judge an entire community of people on welfare by what you see as a landlord is harsh and unnecessary. Welfare is not just given to those who abuse it- but to an entire world of people who actually need it to survive. Tough love does not work when you cannot get employment, cannot afford to feed your children, cannot afford birth control, etc.
And if you knew how badly the foster system is in need of homes, you would probably wouldn’t assert that poor families should have their children taken away.
The only entitled thought belongs to those who sit in their tower and pass judgement on those who are fallen.
I almost fell out of my chair when I read about that story. I was so shocked that they would take away CHILDREN’S food and toss it in the garbage. It’s wrong on so many different levels. The kids are certainly innocent and I can’t image how humiliating it was for this kids and how hard it was to go through the rest of day, not only feeling embarrassed but also hungry. There had to have been a better way to handle the situation that didn’t result in those kids not being able to help. Most school systems have a free meal program in place to help and I know some kids rely heavily on that meal as it may be the only meal they get that day. I absolutely believe in teaching kids to handle money and for them to face the consequences of THEIR decisions. While kids do bear the consequences of some of their parents’ choices as well, in this instance, they certainly did need to. Thanks for the mention. I appreciate it Mr. CBB! Hope you’re having a great weekend!
I’m more than just a little sick after hearing about food taken from in front of a child and deposited directl into the trash. Money is important, yes, but there are better ways to handle these t hings.