Effects of Hungry Holidays on Children

Andrew Forsey’s report entitled “Hungry Holidays: A report on hunger amongst children during school holidays” discusses the issue of hunger among some school children during holidays and the heroic undertakings by local activists to abate this problem. Its primary aim is to address the government and the general public and alert them on horrific consequences of hunger amongst children during the school holidays. Forsey finds out that about three million school children risk missing daily meals during their holidays. According to him, getting rid of this menace is not a responsibility of individual community members or volunteers, instead it belongs to everybody and much more so the government (Forsey, 2017, p. 3). However, I beg to differ slightly and recommend for an alternative measure of combating the issue at hand. Inasmuch as government takes a lead in thwarting hungry holidays, it is worth noting that children during school holidays are left under the care of their parents and guardians and as such they should be adequately empowered economically to help the local government reps in controlling this problem.

This article touches on different subject matters pertinent in comprehending the problem of hungry holidays. It looks at its extent, causes, impact, and a blueprint on how it can be easily abolished. Besides, the report explores different forms of hunger among children, types of provision in place to address them as well the cost and sources of food for projects that seek to solve this issue. Forsey in this report attempts to prove how hunger-stricken children are at a huge jeopardy and what the local government in collaboration with other community members can take a lead in resolving the problem.

CRITIQUE OF THE REPORT

The writer of this article has done a splendid work in uncovering the hungry holidays and how hunger affects children’s health especially when they are off their routine school times. Forsey emphasizes that despite the fact that a country like Britain is among the richest in the world, the problem of hungry holidays has been given little if attention. I concur with him that this subject matter should not be left in the hands of the few interested parties rather it should be taken as a responsibility of everybody (Lynn, 2012). In point of fact, the author succeeds fully in demarcating the issue at hand and even goes an extra step and tries to pinpoint some limitations of those projects put into place to tackle the menace of hunger holidays. However, just like most of these prior projects, Forsey report does not explain in deep the role parents should play as a measure to end hunger during holidays. Needless to say, most of the affected children come from poor backgrounds where their guardians can barely afford a meal in a day. So what is required is full empowerment of these parents to ensure that they have the means to afford adequate meals for their children while at home during school holidays.

CONCLUSION

Britain in its yearning to combat hunger holidays, should purpose to empower the children’s financially. We have seen that most of the hunger victims come from underprivileged backgrounds where the parents are earning less than a dollar a day (Lambie-Mumford, 2017). The government in collaboration with other bodies like NGOs can take an initiative and provide them with opportunities and/or teach them how they can be financially stable. This strategy will go a long way and entirely resolve this problem once and for all.

References

Forsey, A., 2017. Hungry Holidays: A report on hunger amongst children during school holidays , s.l.: All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger.

Lambie-Mumford, H., 2017. Hungry Britain : the rise of food charity. Bristol: UK Policy Press.

Lynn, H., 2012. How To Stay On Any Diet! Fight The Fat Monster & Win! : 101 Tips And Tricks To Help You Lose Weight And Keep It Off.. Cork: BookBaby.