Children's views on living in food insecurity
A new report finds that children have a good understanding of the importance of healthy diets, and are very sensitive to the household tensions that can arise when money for food is short.
Many children in Britain grow up in households where there is not always enough money for food, or where providing food is a source of anxiety.
A report commissioned by the Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland, based on interviews with children, describes children's own experience of these problems.
The children understood the importance of having a healthy, balanced diet. They were also aware that money made a difference to the type and amount of food eaten, and that the adults around them were affected by their ability to provide food.
They also had views on who was responsible for ensuring that families had enough to eat - their suggestions included politicians. Solutions to the problem included making healthy food more affordable, redistributing money, and supporting foodbanks – though not all children felt that foodbanks were ideal, with one child expressing this as ‘living is more important than surviving.’
This became the title of the report, which is available here. Find out more here about Sustain's work on food poverty.
Published Friday 21 October 2016
Food Poverty: Millions of people in the UK struggle to get enough to eat. We’re working to change that through people-powered projects and campaigns that tackle the root causes of food poverty and ensure everyone has dignified access to healthy, affordable food.
