Be authentic they said

It was the end of March 1977 my mum was returning home in a taxi after taking my nan for her birthday dinner. The taxi driver said to my mum he had seen a car crash in a ditch on his way to pick her up and asked if she minded if he stopped on the way back to check.

Mum naturally said yes, as the taxi drew alongside the ditch she discovered it was my dad's car and he was inside what was left of it bleeding to death. Mum spent the last few hours of my dad's life at his side as they cut him out of the car and then as they finally got him to A&E he died within seconds of getting there.

I was 9 years old and dads death was the straw that broke the camels back and was, after my brush with death when nearly drowning at aged 5, the start of my journey with Complex PTSD and for the next 7 years I would learn what it was like to grow up in childhood poverty, holes in my shoes, second-hand clothes, nights at home without electricity when the 50 pence ran out in the meter and free school meals which my mum had to fight tooth and nail to get for us.

Despite being made to wait in a separate line to the other children and our meal ticket colours being a different colour to show we were the free meal and also the "poor kids"... free school meals were vital and meant we had one full hot meal every day. It also meant when we got home and found that if mum had, had to make a meal for two stretch 4 ways because the money had run out at some point in the week that we had not gone too far without.

I was very fearful of everything after my dad's death and fear of not being fed was one of them, the constant strain and stress I could see on my mums face and how it hurt her soul to have such limited resources. Fearful of what stress might do to my mum, some nights I would sit at the side of her bed and watch her breath while she slept to make sure she stayed alive. Food and not feeling able to look after us I am sure claimed part of my mums soul, as it will now other mums who are affected by this policy.

I wrote this because I see on LinkedIn and Facebook pleas for people to sign the petition to have the government keep up the free meals for kids. I urge you to sign this despite the humiliation some might face to get their free meal, because humiliation is better than starvation and I can speak with authority that the kids need your help. I had it easy compared to the kids of today because despite being poor 1977 was a simpler time, simpler because I wanted a push bike not a ￡1000 iPhone and ￡300 trainers (because back then trainers were called plimsols and they came in black or white), thats not to say current poor kids are all about the possessions just what you have to provide for the average child now is just off the chart when it comes to costs and the minimum needed to fit in. So please sign the petition.

Out of the mouth of babes...

Taken to mean children speak the truth and here if the children affected by this decision not to fund them, could speak for themselves they'd surely tell you not to take the food out of the mouth of babes.

If we lose our children innocence we lose authenticity at the same time. This is proven by Dr Gabor Mate a world authority on drug addiction and his work has led us to know that childhood trauma is at the route of addiction. He never met a female addict in 20 years who was not abused as a child. Our mental health tolerance is getting weaker not stronger as we evolve, Covid 19 has show how having to stay at your own home for a few months can damage your mental health.

Food abuse through lack of it will be seen in 10-15 years in the mental health of these young adults. I know because I medicated my anxiety by eating as an adult, shit comes on top my brain goes best eat now in case there is none later. It still does post Complex PTSD recovery I just learned to catch that more and is still a work in progress.

A child is authentic in what they do and what they say and when faced with choices they have no control over like being born, being born poor, not having enough food they have to disconnect with their authentic self and are told to do so by the adults coping with impossible stress, of course, the adult does not use these exact words. It will be the words of we have no food so what do you want me to do? Or I promise you there will be food tomorrow but please stop crying today.

Children disconnect as they cant make adult choices like they can't take a job at Tescos to earn money at 5-10 year self to pay for food, and so they compromise themselves their wants and needs and they disconnect with their authentic self in the process and some never reconnect. At a time when the world is waking up to being authentic, on LinkedIn at least, we can't allow these children to lose their authenticity.

So one more time, please sign the petition, and the next one and the next one and the next one...

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/554276?fbclid=IwAR0P4WAthoAEQyexEiAOsp0xr1_GFds5hZFMjo_HpQkttJzXmFABoMu4R8E