[user104658]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Parents' priority should always be to provide the best possible lives for their kids, and food is always part of that.



But that's not always possible without help when it comes to unprivileged families. Free school meals schemes exist for a reason, and should always be honoured all year round, in the form of food vouchers when the schools aren't on.

Indeed. Prioritise over ALMOST everything else, yes. Sadly the number one priority for pretty much every family has to be housing costs, before anything else, because a full belly isn't much use without a roof over your head.

Things also get complicated fast e.g. plenty of people need their own transport for their job, so again, car and fuel costs then have to be a priority or the situation gets even worse.

And lastly of course the elephant in the room; its not the kids fault if their parent is irresponsible, or an addict, or just plain selfish. "They shouldn't have had kids if..." is such a moot captain hindsight statement. They DID have kids, and what her or not the adults involved "should have had them", the kids themselves don't deserve to suffer for those mistakes.