NZ Centre for Political Research

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*If a child is hungry the child will get food. If child is obese it may be good. Laurie

*There are services out there that will help, when it is hard to buy food. Education in management would be better than a handout. Jane

*I would be in favour of food coupons being part of the welfare payments and/or instructions in how to manage money. Ineke

*And it should be punished!! Dave

*In my experience as a Social Worker people who don't feed their children well expect to be 'rescued' by the govenment or social agencies and do not learn to curb their wasteful habits or addictions. Pat

*These "parents" should be sterilised. Christopher

*It is all the parents fault, they are the ones who should be going back to school to learn to be a parent, nobody teaches you to be a Parent you learn from your own, & if they abuse so will there kids, get the parents sorted & the problems will diminish. Geoff

*What do you think those banjo players will think. Hunger is one of lifes rituals is it not???? As noted, you cant have Sky TV, cell phones etc, and also take care of your own family. Any way, I have seen a lot of fat donkeys. But I have never seen a fat throughbred. Wiremu

*Definitely in a different way then physical. Clark

*In voting 'yes' I wonder how many families have an income in order to feed their family, but choose to gamble their $ resulting in hungry children. Dorothy

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*Further to Trina's (my partners) comments below. A child may turn up to school without having breakfast and complain of being hungry yet has been provided a nutritious lunch by the parent and also describes a nourishing tea they had the night before - is the child being abused/neglected?? If a child turns up to school hungry yet happily talks to the teacher and/or councillors about their home life, pets and siblings and tells them about the family outings and adventures, and show's himself/herself as being an all together well rounded happy child - is that child being abused?
Talk back radio run a topic on schools providing breakfasts for the kids that need it. Suprisingly they got calls by parents who said they ALWAYS make sure their kids get breakfast at home and were shocked to learn a couple of months after this school breakfast programme started that their children were having breakfast at home then trotting off to school to have breakfast there aswell! The parents were saying that the kids turned it into a 'social' thing for them to do! The parents were absolutely mortified because it made them look like they were terrible parents not feeding their kids. Ken

*Yes, totally. If you can't afford to give kids a good life, don't have kids. You don't have the right to abuse your kids in this manner. Caroline

*Only if no food is offered to the child. Peter

*And feeding kids once they to school, may improve their outcomes short term but it tells them that their family must rely on hand outs, rather than making their parents accountable for their actions Lisa

*Of course and the parents should be punished the same way. Mary

*Why is it the governments fault if parents cannot take resposibility to educate, feed, clothe and house their children. If they cannot provide the necessities of life for their children then they shouldn't have them and certainly not continue to have more. Bernie

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*There is no excuse for so-called poverty in this country - it is just a cop out by lazy parents. And the Govt and Do-gooders have a lot to answer for - they have created a need for food banks, a need for working for families and all the other 'help' they keep handing out to these no-hopers parents. Whatever happened to personal responsibility with these breeders. Carolyn

*Especially if the parent(s) smoke, take drugs, drink, use a mobile phone and have sky TV! Simon

*They can afford smokes usually. Pam

*There is absolutely no excuse for children going to school hungry. Get out of bed and cut a couple of thick slices of bread with jam. Failure to provide is akin to child abuse. Desmond

*If they can't feed them - they shouldn't breed them. Delwyn

*Breakfast for a child costs no more than $10 a week. EVERY family in NZ should be able to afford this. If they can not organize themselves to cost this into their child care equation that $10 per week per child should be deducted from benefit and the child should be fed at school. Peter

*Sending children to school hungry sure is abuse. And I agree that "Families" (households) that can afford Sky TV, Regular alcahol use, and other "adult" luxuries, have no excuse for allowing children to go hungry. I have seen inside some of the households that would fall into this category and it sadens me that there is such a lack of concern for children by so called responsible adults. Trouble is that subsequent governments have tinkered with the system so much, that the wheels have fallen off completely. With all these Waitangi claims, you would think that at least one group would not be in this category? I believe it is otherwise. Neil

*Welfare State combined with Consumerist obsession has changed priorities FOR EVER. Michael

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*I agree, if families can afford sky tv and cellphones, alcohol and cigarettes, they can afford porridge for their kid's breakfast. If we taxpayers,through the state take over the responsibilities of these families, they will sit back and let us! Wendy

*Priorities people! David

*Yes, every child should be fed. That is what Benefits are for. Benefits should broad by the use of vouchers. Anyway, who cares, NZ is stuffed. Just give the Maoris whatever else they want and let's all just bludge and steal off each other. That's NZ the way the majority want it. From what I can see amongst my friends no one knows what this Government is doing and no one seems to care. I'm just glad my family have all moved to Aus. My son said he might come back for awhile as he would lov to live and work in Kaikoura. I said no, you must not, there is nothing in NZ for you or your family. The Country is screwed and no Government will ever have the guts to say "NO" to Maori. Christine

*But neither avaricious, RACIST moari nor the many other New New Zealanders will understand that their children are more important than their GAMBLING, DRINKING, SMOKING, DRUG TAKING etc etc etc. And, worst of all, the NZ BLEEDING HEART PC crowd will be setting out to make REAL New Zealanders (the ones who actually work and pay tax) pay for their wanton and wastrel ways. Mark

*The same parents waste money especially when they recieve DPB. I feel they should not be given money so easliy. The money should be used to teach parents & they must attend parenting calsses before they get any money. Elsie

*Sending children to school hungry is gross inhumanity and should be an offence! Alan

*There is no reason that any child should miss out on breakfast. I came from a family where my mother was widowed but she always ensured me and my 3 siblings did not go hungry. Less coke and takeaway foods and booze would ensure that most children would have a decent breakfast. George

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*When a child comes to school sans breakfast CYF should investigate circumstances. John

*Especially when the parents are siphoning money into items for themselves - wake up people, getting benefits aint a right its an aid when needed. Use it wisely and take care of the innocent first after all you decided to have kids. Dee

*My daughter doesn't want breakfast despite my nagging! However, failing to provide the necessities including suitable nutrition IS child abuse. How you differentiate the two remains the real problem. John

*At least they are going to school! As long as the parents have not gambled, boozed, wasted the money or fed themselves first then some I am sure some concerned person at school will feed them. Ron

*Every child must be fed correctly by the parents and not by the Govt. Benefits are designed to enable them to do this. John

*Poor budgeting. Wrong priorities. Sonia

*Clearly parents are spending their money, or benefit on booze, gambling drugs etc and the poor kids suffer. Until we have people taking responsibility for themseklves we are in trouble!!! Jim

*We allow any person to reproduce so many people do. The government has wrecked the traditional 2 parent family so some of these people simply could not care less about their children who in turn will also keep this vicious circle going. Colin

*Hungry Kids are unable to learn or be controlled also, making the teachers role even harder. besides it is very cruel. Rick

*Presumably not always able to be avoided, if a family has unexpected bills to pay for doctor or dentist or whatever. So the abuse could be said to be perpetrated by the community which did not care enough for it's low income families to look after them. Hilary

*There is no reason for children to go to school hungry. It is due to the parents being addicted to their own sins that children get to school, or stay away from school. These children grow up to going to work hungry and then buying takeaways for tea, rather than eating a simple home cook nutricious meal . Rawiri

*When the money has been spent on cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, Sky TV, etc., it's not just child abuse, it's plain arrogance. Their children should be taken off them until they are taught how to look after them. Gavin

*Many families who are "poor" spend huge amounts on takeaway food and cigarettes. Feed your children first. Oatmeal is cheap. Beryl

*But only on balance. Geoffrey

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*While benefit money can be spent on alcohol, drugs and cigarettes ahead of food and while uncontrolled child propagation is encouraged there will always be “poverty” in NZ. People who cry there is poverty in NZ don't know the meaning of the word. John

*Wow! Trina well said and so true. I agree 100%. Ray

*It certainly is. People can argue that some children WON'T eat breakfast but in these cases the children should be given food to take with them to school to eat later. There is no excuse for not feeding your children and schools should report the parents to the authorities because it is gross neglect. It should not be the State's job to feed children at school and it leads to abuse of the system with some families not bothering to feed their children because they know they will get a meal at school. Parents must be responsible for their children and if not, they should be taken away from them. Single parent families must be actively discouraged. B+H

*There are exceptional cases, but sending a child to school consistently hungry deprives the child of learning initiatives and creates emotional chaos for the child. Parenting classes ought to be mandatory when child deprivation is discovered. Paul

*It is difficult to believe that there are parents who will actually send their children off to school hungry. Frankly they are not fit to have children, and if they can't care for them properly they should be given to people, who are longing for children, who will look after them. Alan

*It shows a complete disregard and indifference towards a child's development. Kenneth

*It is more likely in this day and age to be due to either neglect, or sheer laziness on the parents part. Quite frankly bar having State Intervention into private homes by Gestapo like State servants I admit to having no viable answer. HOWEVER until the Government whatever its political ideology; accepts that only non-transferable food vouchers are the only viable answer instead of financial handouts. Then the "abuse" of our welfare system will continue and increase the cost on the taxpayer. A Statesman leader might have the courage to implement such a policy. This type of however with our present electoral system this type of politician is only found in history books. Brian

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe that sending children to school hungry amounts to child abuse?

*Parents on the dole should get food stamps, not cash. John

*With the welfare system and with food banks there should be no need for children in this country to be hungry. It may be that the carers need advice with budgeting and management of their resources and/or help in making nutritious meals. Martin

*Roger Douglas summed it up when minister of finance by saying he was sick and tired of hearing that families were so poor that children had to sleep in the box that the video recorder came in. I suppose this could be upgraded to the box the 3D mega flat screen tv came in????? Tim

*We have bred a mentality of handing our responsibilities on to others - usually the government, the government has fostered it, and it is being handed on to the next generation. A friend told us that his grandchildren told their mother, "We don't have to eat our breakfast - we get breakfast at school." Christine

*Also providing anything free leads to abuse of the process. Graham

*No responsible parent would send their kids to school hungry. It is a total cop out on the part of the parents - and yes, they are guilty of child abuse. Sue

*It is child abuse and neglect not to feed your children. And poverty doesn't come into it at all. Peter

*There are no excuses for children to go hungry in this country. Simon

*I reckon schools who put on great breakfast clubs are also to blame as they are encouraging parents to let their kids go to school without breakfast. Then the issues get tangled. The bottom line is that parents should feed their kids, not starve them so someone else will provide food. Bill

*Some people are not fit to be parents. Those that starve their kids are in that category. Judy

*I voted NO the question. A one off incident where a child has been dragging their feet getting ready for school and as a result missing breakfast does NOT in my view amount to child abuse. And what about those kids who absolutely refuse to have breakfast no matter what the parent does? I was one of those kids and I still struggle with breakfast as an adult! To tell if a child is being 'abused' you need to look at the WHOLE CHILD - not just pathetic incidences. Is the child showing signs of mal nourishment? How is the childs education? Is the child clean and appropriately dressed for the weather? Is the child generally happy and display behaviours that show confidence, good levels of self esteem, courage and independance etc? This is where I get so bloody angry with the anti smacking bill! Smacking a child on the hand or backside for bad behaviour or dangerous activities is NOT child abuse if that child displays high levels of security, self confidence, self esteem, respect, and general all round happiness in every day life! It is the STATE abusing the kids and their families by accusing the parents of being abusers, ripping the children from their parents arms and into the care of strangers. All that is familiar and gave the child security and a sense of love and place within the family is disrupted and thrown into turmoil! I cannot bear even imagining the anxiety and distress of the children and families who are being seperated and dragged through the system. Child abuse is a very real and sickening issue for this country. Because this is so it does not mean we can go into a public hysteria and loose all common sense! Keep in mind the realities of every day life being a parent but most of all lets make sure we keep things real and in perspective! Trina