Healthy school lunches should be funded by government for all under 12 year olds?

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Healthy school lunches should be funded by government for all under 12 year olds

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Reasons To Disagree

Is it not the parent?s responsibility to feed their children properly? Would efforts not be best directed towards helping parents look after their children, i.e. help families to help themselves rather than encourage dependence on the state? Attractive parenting skills classes at local schools or teaching children to make their own, low cost but nutritious, lunch may have a better long term effect.

It is the parents responsibility to feed the child - not the gummints. Every time the gummint takes over a responsibility it is giving the message - "DON'T BOTHER DOING ANYTHING - WE"LL DO IT FOR YOU!"

Fat chance - just let the education ministry fund the education properly. Unfed children is a social problem not an education problem.

While ensuring all chlidren are feed, clothed and well looked after it is a dangerous step to transfer this responsibility from teh parents to the state. Like many functions, the state should not step in unless there is a need and not simply provide theeh need for all regardless

always catering to the few who don't want to cope or can't be bothered , lets them off the hook again . We are soooooooo soft .

Parents need to nourish their children and if they don't then take them to task for it. To the person who calls the govt soft - if they did step in they would be accused of interfering. I get a bit fed up with the govt being used as a boogie man who is blamed for everything bad in this country. While you can't penalise kids for their ignorant parents - you can educate them about nutrition so the next generation is not wasted. Feed the kids who need it - give schools discretionary funds for it but don't feed them all.

It is their parents responsibility to provide them with a lunch, If the children dont like them they will probley just throw them away

come on parents!! whats up? Take responsibility for your children and FEED THEM...I'm sure you can replace the alcohol and ciggys for a loaf of bread...that would still give you some money left over for some marmite!!

It is one liberty to choose which food he wants healthy or unhealthy. the govt is just trying to inforce more law that are not effective and end up limiting the freedom of New Zealanders.

parents should be feeding their kids or not having them in da 1st place

parents make fat kids and they should be judged looked down apon and held accountable

healthy eating school poor eating at home will not work

Reasons To Agree

This is a good idea. It will ensure that children of the poor will get at least a few decent meals per week, and for all children, this could help stem the obesity trend. This would create part time jobs for unskilled people in all towns that have a school. The government could subsidise some domestically produced foods more than others, which essentially would be a boost for local industry. eg using NZ grown fruit versus imported fruit.

its cheaper to buy a can of coke than what it is to buy water, cheaper to buy fish n chips then a healthy meal, and cheaper to buy lollies than health snacks..so yes if the govenment wants to have a healthy country then work it out becasue people cant affored to live like that!

It may not be the government's responsibility but unless they are prepared to penalise bad parents (and they will never have the courage to do that) then children are going to arrive at school hungry, making them disruptive and retarding their ability to learn. School lunches are a fixture in the UK (though the menu ought not to be followed here!) and most parents there still feed their kids at night.

It's those damn commies in the government again! The gall of this question! Everyone should have to make it on their own! I mean, I got beaten with a strop every day and had to go to school hungry, but I've turned out to be a very good penal officer!

Unless the parent chooses to buy their kids' lunch.

this should happen to all under 18 year olds!!!!!!!

So if parents are too lazy, ignorant or just plain uncaring, the kids suffer? Is that just the way the cookie crumbles? They can't tell what is healthy and not. As they eat healthy food they will become used to it, and it will become second nature.

Reasons for Remain Neutral

An unbalanced question devised to stir an emotional response. There is an inequality within society wherein there are those who genuinely find it difficult to provide for their families. Those families that just do not provide for their children whether they can or no cast long shadows over those in genuine need - but should their children be punished for this? It is a simple reality that a hungry child cannot learn. A child that cannot learn will not learn what it takes to raise themselves from poverty. I agree that healty lunches should be funded for children but this does not in fact go far enough - Access to all junk food and soft drinks should be banned entirely from schools so that those choldren whose parents simply send them to school with money cannot then fritter it away on "food" that has little if any nutritional value and adds to their learning ability in only the smallest way better than being hungry. Is funding food another "opt out" for people? Definitley. However, many of these parents have already opted out and, again, why should the children suffer for this? There is no absolute yes no answer to this because nothing is a solution. Will feeding them work? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe for some and not others. That is better than the situation we have now where none are benefited by being hungry. As with any theoretical position the only proof is in the testing.

Im on the fence here... parents SHOULD provide good food BUT often they dont... so school should provide food BUT that takes away the parents choice... hard to go either way.

My View

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