Parents skipping meals to feed kids

Almost one-quarter of parents have had to borrow money to feed a child in the past year, new research published this week has found.

This is up from 16% in October 2022, and 11% in January 2022 while the research also revealed that 41% of parents said they had skipped meals or reduced portion sizes so that their children would have enough to eat, an increase of 12% since last year.

21% of families have had to cut back on children’s activities to afford food and one-quarter of parents have had to reduce spending on medical costs, up from 17% a year ago.

One in four (27%) said they have never had to make cutbacks to afford food, down from 36% last year, and from 57% in January 2022.

These figures were included in the latest annual Barnardos and ALDI Ireland Food Insecurity Research launched on Tuesday.

The research found that food insecurity in families with children is worsening.

Parents cutting back to feed their children

The Barnardos and Aldi research shows that even more parents are cutting back on their own food, borrowing money for food, relying on food banks, and cutting back on spending on other household activities, including clothing, household bills, medical costs and children’s activities.

Cost of living worries

More parents are worried about their ability to provide their children with sufficient food, as families continue to struggle with cost-of-living pressures.

45% of parents are either always or sometimes worried about having enough food for the family. This is slightly up on last year (42%) but has more than doubled since January 2022 (19%).

Of those parents who are worried, half (50%) are “stressed”, more than a quarter (26%) say they feel “guilty” and 17% are afraid to ask for help.

Attitudes to meals and food choices

The results show that over the past year, there has been an increase in focus from parents on providing healthy eating options.

Almost nine in ten (88%) say that healthy or nutritious food is important in their decision-making (up from 81% a year ago).

More than three-quarters (76%) of parents say that their family always or mostly eat a main daily meal together, and more than nine in ten parents (92%) aim to have mostly home cooked meals.

In terms of food preparation, five in six say they mostly cook meals from scratch (83%) and a similar number (82%) mostly or always include fruit or vegetables in their meals. 94% of parents say they aim to give their children fresh fruit and vegetables every day.

Living in households experiencing food insecurity can be damaging to children’s health, well-being and future development. The charity said more needs to be done to guarantee no family struggles to have access to sufficient nutritious food.

Barnardos is calling on the Government to:

• Continue progress of rolling out hot school meals programme within schools

• Pilot out of term time/weekend provision

• Provide additional supports to families on low income

• Food Insecurity Action Plan

• Additional needs payments

Suzanne Connolly, CEO of Barnardos, said: “The results in this survey reflect what Barnardos are seeing on the ground every day. Parents are being faced with difficult decisions to make for their families more frequently than ever. A lack of nutritious meals has an impact on the emotional and mental well-being of both child and parent for a long to time to come. Because childhood lasts a lifetime, she added.

Niall O’Connor, Group Managing Director of Aldi Ireland said: “As we celebrate three years of collaboration with Barnardos, our shared mission has never been more important. We believe that no one should face the dilemma of choosing between affordability or quality, nutritious food. Aldi, as a family retailer, has consistently advocated for accessible and wholesome food.

“We remain unwavering in our partnership with Barnardos, as ALDI works towards its goal of making food poverty history. To deliver on that, we have pledged to raise €2 million for Barnardos by 2024. We are making significant strides towards that target, with over €1.5 million already contributed through staff, store, customer, and community initiatives since October 2020,” he concluded.