Exploring children's experience of holiday hunger

2014年为4-7岁儿童推出的普遍免费校餐（FSM）有助于确保我们最年轻的社会成员每天至少获得一顿热营养餐，而与他们的家庭社会经济地位无关。对于8-16岁的儿童，进入FSM需要经过经济状况调查（基于家庭的收入和储蓄），许多贫困家庭虽然需要支持，但没有资格。虽然密克罗尼西亚联邦的儿童在190天的学校生活中有食物保障，但在170天的学校假期中，他们的困境以及低收入儿童的困境可能会急剧恶化，因为学校无法提供膳食（Graham 2014）。有几份报告详细描述了家长对学校假期的恐惧，尤其是暑假，因为那时家庭预算紧张，压力更大，在照顾孩子、休闲和社交活动方面的资金平衡也变得困难。“假日饥饿”指的是儿童在非学期期间缺乏食物。这是经济和政治因素的复杂组合（JRF 2016），目前有300万儿童处于危险之中（APPGH 2017）。食品银行报告说，在学校假期期间，由于家庭难以维持收支平衡，对紧急援助的需求激增。一项调查显示，72%的地方政府议员和官员表示，假期饥饿是他们所在地区的一个重要问题。粮食不安全的家庭可能会对儿童产生重大影响，包括营养（食物数量和质量下降）和非营养（压力、与父母的关系、母亲抑郁、社会排斥感）（Fram， Bemal和Frongillo 2015）。据报道，粮食不安全的儿童会感到羞耻、担忧、悲伤和身体症状，如疼痛、饥饿和疲劳（Fram et al 2011）。关于对教育的影响，据报道，在暑假期间没有可靠途径获得营养食品的儿童返回学校的时间比假期开始前晚了6周（Machin 2016）。五分之四的教师报告说学生饿着肚子上学（Kellogg's 2013），饥饿已被证明对教育成就和表现有显著影响（Belachew et al 2011）。“学习损失”在低社会经济背景的学生中最为显著（Machin 2016）。目前，超过800家英国假日和活动俱乐部为儿童和家长提供社交和食物的机会，这表明从业者意识到更全面的方法对假日饥饿影响的重要性（Mann and Defeyter 2017; Graham et al 2016）。2014年，APP对饥饿的调查敦促政府在学校假期期间延长FSMs，估计耗资1.3亿英镑（APP 2014），但到目前为止，政府的反应很慢。然而，2018年1月，Frank Field议员在议会提交了《学校假期（膳食和活动）法案》，尽管遭到反对，但已同意为试点计划提供资金，允许政府考虑是否以及如何干预（HC 2018）。贫困对儿童主观幸福感的影响在学术研究中经常被忽视（Main 2014）。现在正是进行严谨的学术研究的好时机，从孩子的角度来审视在学校假期里食物不安全的生活是什么感觉，以及这对他们的主观幸福感——他们对自己生活的评价——的影响。先前的研究表明，父母报告的儿童食品不安全状况并不总是与儿童自己报告的情况相关（Fram et al, 2011）；因此，对儿童粮食不安全经历的最准确描述必须直接来自儿童。

Context The 2014 introduction of universal free school meals (FSM) for children aged 4-7 has helped to ensure that our youngest members of society receive at least one hot nutritious meal per day, irrelevant of their family socio-economic status. For children aged 8-16, access to FSM is means-tested (based upon a family's amount of income and savings) and many poor families, whilst in need of support, are not entitled. Whilst FSM children are guaranteed food during the 190 days of school, their plight, along with low-income children can worsen dramatically during the 170 days of school holidays when school meals are not available (Graham 2014). Several reports have detailed parents' dread of the school holidays, especially the summer holidays, when household budgets become stretched and cause higher stress levels and problems with juggling money for childcare, leisure and social activities (APP 2014). 'Holiday hunger' defines children's lack of access to food during non-term time. It is a complicated mix of economic and political factors (JRF 2016) and 3 million children are currently at risk (APPGH 2017). Food banks have reported a spike in demand for emergency aid during the school holidays (APP 2014) as families struggle to make ends meet and in one survey 72% of Local Authority councillors and officers reported holiday hunger as a significant issue in their area (APSE 2015). A food insecure household can have significant consequences for children, both nutritional (reduced quantity and quality of food) and non-nutritional (stress, relationships with parents, maternal depression, feelings of social exclusion) (Fram, Bemal and Frongillo 2015) and food insecure children are reported to feel shame, worry, sadness and physical symptoms such as pain, hunger and tiredness (Fram et al 2011). With regards to the impacts on education, it has been reported that children who do not have reliable access to nutritious food during the summer holidays return to school up to 6 weeks behind where they were before the holidays began (Machin 2016). 4 out of 5 teachers have reported pupils coming into school hungry (Kellogg's 2013) and hunger has been shown to have a significant effect on educational attainment and performance (Belachew et al 2011). 'Learning loss' is most significant in pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds (Machin 2016). Over 800 UK holiday and activity clubs currently provide children and parents with opportunities for socialising and food, which indicates that practitioners are aware of the importance of a more holistic approach to the impacts of holiday hunger (Mann and Defeyter 2017; Graham et al 2016). In 2014 the APP Inquiry into Hunger urged government to extend FSMs during the school holidays at an estimated cost of £130 million (APP 2014) but as yet, government response has been slow. However, in January 2018 Frank Field MP presented the School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill in Parliament and whilst opposed, funding for a pilot programme has been agreed to allow Government to consider if and how they should intervene (HC 2018). The impact of poverty on child subjective well-being has often been neglected in academic studies (Main 2014). This is a timely moment for rigorous academic research which examines from a child's perspective how it feels to live with food insecurity through the school holidays, and the effects it has upon their subjective wellbeing - their own evaluations of their lives. Previous research has shown that parent-reported child food insecurity does not always correlate with that reported by the children themselves (Fram et al 2011); therefore the most accurate picture of a child's experience of food insecurity must come directly from the child.