5 ms·

We don't have children starving in schools

by NavinF 3y ago

woodruffw 3y ago
As of 2021, roughly 1 in 8 children in the US experience food insecurity[1]. [1]: https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunger-facts https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunge...
- ensignavenger 3y ago
  "food insecurity" is not the same as starving.
  - kkielhofner 3y ago
    You would probably have a different perspective if you were in that situation, especially as a child. EDIT: Downvotes for compassion, HN is rough today!
    - ensignavenger 3y ago
      I grew up in a household that would qualify. I know exactly how I feel about it having experienced it as a child.
  - anon____ 3y ago
    If 1 in 8 kids experiences food insecurity, then it's likely that there are at least some, maybe 1 in 100, who are starving, however you define it. Also, there are two kinds of starvation: in one case the quantity of food is insufficient, in the other its quality is. Eating fries with soda in great quantity every day could still starve a growing kid.
  - safety1st 3y ago
    I was wondering how 1 in 8 children could be experiencing food insecurity in a nation with a 40% obesity rate, and what food insecurity was exactly, so I poked around in their methodology a little. https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/Map%20the%20Meal%20Gap%202022%20Technical%20Brief.pdf https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/M... Happy to be corrected if I'm misreading this. But if I understand correctly, they go into it on page 8, and there are basically two ways they calculate food insecurity. The first is a weighted average of variables that are unrelated or indirectly related to food - including income, race and disability rate. The second is self-reporting (basically asking households if they need more money for food). Hmm.
    - Workaccount2 3y ago
      I've seen this before, you end up with a bunch of overweight households reporting that it's too expensive to maintain a 4500 calorie a day diet.
    - kkielhofner 3y ago
      It's paradoxical. Historically wealthy and high status people were "fatter" and had pale skin. It signaled that you had ready access to food and didn't work outside. Now high status people are thin/muscular and have tanner skin - cheap and quick food is terrible for you and it signals you have the time to workout, pay for a trainer/gym membership, go on vacation to sunny destinations, aren't chained to a desk/working retail, can pay for and have access to high quality and fresh foods, etc. More and more high quality and healthy food is expensive and/or requires more time to prepare and plan. If you're shuffling between multiple minimum wage jobs you're often eating fast food all day because you either can't afford or don't have time for anything better. Then start looking at food deserts[0]. Stop at a bodega in a poor neighborhood that serves as the only food source around and prepare to be shocked at the absolute garbage they have available that's still covered by SNAP. [0] - https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts
    - larkost 3y ago
      My kids go to a school where the majority of the kids are somewhere around poverty level (easy to be under there in Silicon Valley if you are not an engineer in tech). I absolutely believe the administrators when they say that the meals some of the kids get in school might be the only ones they get for the day (by far not the majority: those are hard working parents, dedicated to their kids). And watching how much hand-holding is needed for some of the families on the pre-school-year paperwork day (back to school night) I am fully convinced that the worst-off kids are likely to wind up without food if their receiving it depends on their parents filling out forms. And I want to be clear that the kids I think might be on the edge are not (in most cases) there because of neglect. They are there because living here is more expensive than their parents can afford completely, despite working long hours. That is a condemnation of a society that mis-appropriates the wealth (like on Engineers like me). Yes, it is a waste of money that my kids (kids of a Silicon Valley Engineer) get their food for free, but looking at the alternative (kids going hungry), is it really that much of a waste?
  - woodruffw 3y ago
    I’ll be sure to let the kids know!
macintux 3y ago
It's not pretty right now. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/03/1173535647/schools-ended-universal-free-lunch-now-meal-debt-is-soaring https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/03/1173535...
- 1234letshaveatw 3y ago
  blanket free lunch is disgustingly wasteful and a terrible solution for needy children. It is like buying a new car whenever you have a flat tire. I can feed my own kids, I don't need them picking up an extra slice of pizza every day for fun and throwing milk and plates and disposable utensils in the garbage. Ask any lunch worker about the additional garbage and waste it generates. The correct solution is to remove the barriers stopping children from getting free lunch- stop requiring parents to sign up for it. If a lunch aide feels like a kid needs food, they should be able to sign them up without anyone having to know about it or consent to it. Let the schools give kids in need double lunches if they want them and/or something to take home with them. Double down on the kids in need, don't force it on everyone.
  - RankingMember 3y ago
    Are there any stats/citations that back up your assertion that kids who bring their own lunches in universal free lunch states are wasting food en masse? > a terrible solution for needy children The kids who previously weren't getting fed are now getting fed, aren't they?
    - 1234letshaveatw 3y ago
      The tire got replaced too. Who cares if we are killing the environment because of lazy policymakers right?
      - RankingMember 3y ago
        I don't understand what you're saying here.
  - 3y ago

We don't have children starving in schools

by NavinF 3y ago

We don't have children starving in schools

As of 2021, roughly 1 in 8 children in the US experience food insecurity[1]. [1]: https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunger-facts https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunge...

ensignavenger 3y ago
"food insecurity" is not the same as starving.
- kkielhofner 3y ago
  You would probably have a different perspective if you were in that situation, especially as a child. EDIT: Downvotes for compassion, HN is rough today!
  - ensignavenger 3y ago
    I grew up in a household that would qualify. I know exactly how I feel about it having experienced it as a child.
- anon____ 3y ago
  If 1 in 8 kids experiences food insecurity, then it's likely that there are at least some, maybe 1 in 100, who are starving, however you define it. Also, there are two kinds of starvation: in one case the quantity of food is insufficient, in the other its quality is. Eating fries with soda in great quantity every day could still starve a growing kid.
- safety1st 3y ago
  I was wondering how 1 in 8 children could be experiencing food insecurity in a nation with a 40% obesity rate, and what food insecurity was exactly, so I poked around in their methodology a little. https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/Map%20the%20Meal%20Gap%202022%20Technical%20Brief.pdf https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/M... Happy to be corrected if I'm misreading this. But if I understand correctly, they go into it on page 8, and there are basically two ways they calculate food insecurity. The first is a weighted average of variables that are unrelated or indirectly related to food - including income, race and disability rate. The second is self-reporting (basically asking households if they need more money for food). Hmm.
  - Workaccount2 3y ago
    I've seen this before, you end up with a bunch of overweight households reporting that it's too expensive to maintain a 4500 calorie a day diet.
  - kkielhofner 3y ago
    It's paradoxical. Historically wealthy and high status people were "fatter" and had pale skin. It signaled that you had ready access to food and didn't work outside. Now high status people are thin/muscular and have tanner skin - cheap and quick food is terrible for you and it signals you have the time to workout, pay for a trainer/gym membership, go on vacation to sunny destinations, aren't chained to a desk/working retail, can pay for and have access to high quality and fresh foods, etc. More and more high quality and healthy food is expensive and/or requires more time to prepare and plan. If you're shuffling between multiple minimum wage jobs you're often eating fast food all day because you either can't afford or don't have time for anything better. Then start looking at food deserts[0]. Stop at a bodega in a poor neighborhood that serves as the only food source around and prepare to be shocked at the absolute garbage they have available that's still covered by SNAP. [0] - https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts
  - larkost 3y ago
    My kids go to a school where the majority of the kids are somewhere around poverty level (easy to be under there in Silicon Valley if you are not an engineer in tech). I absolutely believe the administrators when they say that the meals some of the kids get in school might be the only ones they get for the day (by far not the majority: those are hard working parents, dedicated to their kids). And watching how much hand-holding is needed for some of the families on the pre-school-year paperwork day (back to school night) I am fully convinced that the worst-off kids are likely to wind up without food if their receiving it depends on their parents filling out forms. And I want to be clear that the kids I think might be on the edge are not (in most cases) there because of neglect. They are there because living here is more expensive than their parents can afford completely, despite working long hours. That is a condemnation of a society that mis-appropriates the wealth (like on Engineers like me). Yes, it is a waste of money that my kids (kids of a Silicon Valley Engineer) get their food for free, but looking at the alternative (kids going hungry), is it really that much of a waste?
- woodruffw 3y ago
  I’ll be sure to let the kids know!

macintux 3y ago

It's not pretty right now. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/03/1173535647/schools-ended-universal-free-lunch-now-meal-debt-is-soaring https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/03/1173535...

1234letshaveatw 3y ago
blanket free lunch is disgustingly wasteful and a terrible solution for needy children. It is like buying a new car whenever you have a flat tire. I can feed my own kids, I don't need them picking up an extra slice of pizza every day for fun and throwing milk and plates and disposable utensils in the garbage. Ask any lunch worker about the additional garbage and waste it generates. The correct solution is to remove the barriers stopping children from getting free lunch- stop requiring parents to sign up for it. If a lunch aide feels like a kid needs food, they should be able to sign them up without anyone having to know about it or consent to it. Let the schools give kids in need double lunches if they want them and/or something to take home with them. Double down on the kids in need, don't force it on everyone.
- RankingMember 3y ago
  Are there any stats/citations that back up your assertion that kids who bring their own lunches in universal free lunch states are wasting food en masse? > a terrible solution for needy children The kids who previously weren't getting fed are now getting fed, aren't they?
  - 1234letshaveatw 3y ago
    The tire got replaced too. Who cares if we are killing the environment because of lazy policymakers right?
    - RankingMember 3y ago
      I don't understand what you're saying here.
- 3y ago