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Is it healthy, though? I mean, when I was a kid, I would've lived on fast food & microwavable Kid Cuisine if I had the choice.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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maui babe, that's how my cats are about the Target brand food. We get them the "good stuff" occasionally and they just don't like it as much!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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As far as time, stopping at Carter's and looking through the 70% and higher racks takes me no more time then going to Walmart and looking through their clothing section. I buy a few sizes ahead and get very upset when I discover that I need clothes that are my child's actual size. But my Carter's usually has a pretty good selection in their heavily discounted section.
kq- my baby likes dog food a lot, so even if yours eat each other's food, atleast they are limiting their diet to people food (we do not encourage or allow the baby to eat dog food, but sometimes she is smarter and faster then us).
Belle- if you were below the poverty line, why weren't you on Medicaid and WIC and stuff? Your paying into those programs whether you want to or not, so it isn't really a handout. edit to add- no meant to be accusatory, I know several people who don't use those services and was just curious.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Belle- if you were below the poverty line, why weren't you on Medicaid and WIC and stuff? Your paying into those programs whether you want to or not, so it isn't really a handout.
Back when we were poor enough to be on those programs, we consistently ended up paying essentially zero income tax. We were not paying into them.
Of course, we've more than made up for that since then.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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mph- based on people I know, most people are on theses program for a few years and then start making tons of money, so are now paying in a large amount- more then enough to make up for whatever they took out- I din't phrase that well though and probably am still not.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I don't do Wal-Mart here in NV because it is 75 miles away. And, when I am in UT, I won't go because the one in Ogden is on Riverdale Road and I refuse to drive on that poster poser for poor urban planning. But, before you pay too much attention to the above provided web-sites, you need to remember that there is an ongoing labor dispute with WM and a consortium of labor unions. Most of these sites are used, if not sponsored by the Unions. Statements concerning Wal-Mart need to be given the same consideration you give statements about the National Republican Party, posted on National Democratic Party sites. They may well be true. But, you better check closely. (Unless you are a true believer, and chose to believe them.) However, anything you might have heard or read about the abismal design of Riverdale Road can be believed without having to actually drive on it.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:kq- my baby likes dog food a lot, so even if yours eat each other's food, atleast they are limiting their diet to people food (we do not encourage or allow the baby to eat dog food, but sometimes she is smarter and faster then us).
Nope, the 1.5 year old eats the cats' food (and tries to drink their water, too...)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:kq- my baby likes dog food a lot, so even if yours eat each other's food, atleast they are limiting their diet to people food (we do not encourage or allow the baby to eat dog food, but sometimes she is smarter and faster then us).
Nope, the 1.5 year old eats the cats' food (and tries to drink their water, too...)
Well, that makes me feel better. When my sister in law heard that my baby eats dogfood, she became convinced that I am the worst mother in the world. I am just waiting for hers to start walking- they have 2 cats and a dog. Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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A couple, visiting our home once, didn't watch the 2 year old closely. She finshed off the catfood in the other room, then she started to eat the cat. Poor Poncho, to his credit, just yowled, instead of biting. We were able to rescue him, all limbs intact and only very little actual blood shed. In time, she did grow up to be a lovely young lady, with few descernable quirks.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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We definitely would have qualified for WIC, my doctor urged us to take advantage of it but we were young, and insistent on caring for our child ourselves. We also both believed that taking government aid when we COULD make it on our own was morally wrong.
Those programs are there for the people who really need them, and the fact that we survived and later thrived (given that we are, in fact, quite well above the poverty line now) was evidence that we didn't truly need it.
I don't begrudge people who do need it from taking advantage of it, dont' get me wrong. I just think that they need to be last resorts. Had it been a choice between taking government assistance and our child going hungry, I definitely would have. As it was, she never went hungry and we made it through, though by the skin of our teeth.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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While I also chose not to take advantage of public assistance at the point that I qualified for it, I disagree with this statement:
quote:the fact that we survived and later thrived (given that we are, in fact, quite well above the poverty line now) was evidence that we didn't truly need it.
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We signed up for WIC checks for a time after our first son was born. We lived with her mom for six months before marrying and getting an apartment, and needed the extra help.
However, since we were unmarried Teres filled out the form and when it asked how much the father was paying for support she put $50/wk. I was actually giving her my paycheck and she was handling the bills, she just put down how much we were spending on our son. We got through it, got married, and moved on.
Except I started getting bills from the government, wanting me to pay back the amount of the WIC checks. They deducted the amount I "provided" to Teres, but I had to pay back the rest. We showed the rep our income and our bills and said she could have whatever she could find. After running the numbers and finding that we were, at the time, losing $100/mo (assuming we paid everything on time), she settled for a payroll deduction of $10 a week for several years until it was paid off.
So yes, we accepted help from the government. And then we paid it all back. Reluctantly, but we did Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Those programs are there for the people who really need them
I might feel like that if WIC were funded by voluntary contributions.
But since I'm not given a choice as to whether or not to contribute to WIC, I'm not going to feel bad for not being discriminating as to whether or not I accept government assistance when I qualify.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I probably could have qualified for some forms of government assistance a few years ago, or at least unemployment. I never tried. I guess it would not really have been stealing (by my moral code) to take it as I had paid in before losing my job, but I was younger and had much firmer convictions about any sort of government assistance than I do now. Besides, I would have just spent the money I received (or saved) on cocaine anyway. I still think welfare is morally wrong, and theft, but oh well. My tax dollars are spent on much worse things than helping people who need it, or even those who don't need it. I just blew the last few thousand in my savings account on drugs, got my calories from cheap beer, enjoyed having no responsibilities whatsoever for a couple months, and had a job within a few days of making a serious effort to look for one.
I'm still proud that I never went on welfare, but if I had to do it over again I would probably have taken unemployment as I had paid into it with my own money for two years before that.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:and had a job within a few days of making a serious effort to look for one.
Well, you're very lucky. We've had periods when my husband was out of work up to 5 or 6 months at a time, despite looking diligently (like, looking for work became his full-time job.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Danzig: I'm still proud that I never went on welfare
I'm not. I'm glad it never got bad enough that I didn't have a choice, and very grateful that I had other resources to fall back on. But that was good fortune, not something I have anything to be proud of.
OTOH, I am proud to say I have never used illegal drugs, nor overdone alcohol. That is something that I did make the right choices about, so I do have something to be proud of.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Well, I didn't exactly get the same type of job had had or wanted. My old job had been at a call center making $20/hour, my new job was cooking for $7/hour (at first). Now I was a single (very young) adult with no dependents, so I do realize I could afford to take a lower-paying job than someone with a spouse and/or children. But I think far too many people refuse to go work at McDonald's or Pizza Hut or wherever and then look for another, better job. Personally I would prefer to cook in sit-down, local restaurants because the conditions and pay are usually better, but you can bet if I had to I would be asking, "Do you want fries with that?" Maybe a restaurant job doesn't pay enough to support a family, but any income is better than no income. And I have met people who were raising children on a cook's pay. I just discovered I liked the freedom of the industry, and have spent the last 2.5 years working in kitchens.
I feel I have a reason to be proud for not going on welfare. I know more than one person who, after getting fired for whatever valid reason, decided to try to get unemployment or disability rather than look for another job, at least until it ran out. I wasn't fired from the call center; I was laid off when they realized they could pay Indians a fifth of what they paid me. I could have gotten unemployment, probably quite a bit of it. But I did not. Sure, I screwed around for a little while, but not on anyone else's (or even my own since I did pay in) dime. I did have to go without for a while- once my savings got really low it was a choice between food or drugs, and I made a conscious decision to compromise with beer, even though I think I would have been eligible for food stamps.
I dunno, I was just raised to believe that you should always pay your own way. If I had had kids I would have done things a little differently, yes. Certainly I would have gotten food stamps if I had to, but then I would also have started looking for a job immediately instead of taking a two month vacation, and obviously spent what money I did have on food and not beer.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Danzig: Now I was a single (very young) adult with no dependents, so I do realize I could afford to take a lower-paying job than someone with a spouse and/or children.
Yup. If the pay isn't enough to cover the cost of childcare, it's worse than no job. And if it's minimum wage but interferes with doing what is necessary to get that better job, still not much gain -- if any.
quote:Originally posted by Danzig: I feel I have a reason to be proud for not going on welfare. I know more than one person who, after getting fired for whatever valid reason, decided to try to get unemployment or disability rather than look for another job, at least until it ran out.
Yeah, so do I. So? If it meant you were actually eating food, that sounds like it would have been a better option.
quote:Originally posted by Danzig: I did have to go without for a while- once my savings got really low it was a choice between food or drugs, and I made a conscious decision to compromise with beer, even though I think I would have been eligible for food stamps.
Beer was a compromise? >_<
quote:Originally posted by Danzig: If I had had kids I would have done things a little differently, yes. Certainly I would have gotten food stamps if I had to, but then I would also have started looking for a job immediately instead of taking a two month vacation, and obviously spent what money I did have on food and not beer.
Sadly, it's not obvious to everyone. And to be brutally honest, I have my doubts about you. If you can't take good care of yourself, why are you so sure you'd take good care of kids?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Yes, it was a compromise. It has a decent amount of calories, so I wouldn't starve, and it has alcohol, so I would stay sane. As far as I'm concerned, while my heavy use at that period of my life may have been bad for my physical health it was good for my mental health. I gained a lot of new perspective, and I'm honestly quite a bit happier (and have been so for the last two years) since that period than before. I should add that while I still use intoxicants, the amount is significantly less than that summer and keeps going down... not because I am trying to quit, or even want to quit anything but cigarettes, but because I just don't want to use as much. Priorities change, but at the time that was one.
And I don't think I would be a good father at all, for many reasons, but I would damn well try to be if the situation arose. That two month period was the longest in my life I have been without a job since I started working at 18 and a half. I have a lot of growing up to do, but I have always worked, usually worked hard, and I would absolutely be able to provide for the basic needs of any children I had. I am not saying I would be a good parent, I am saying I would at the very least meet the bare minimum moral standards required of parents. Even if it meant swallowing my pride, breaking other moral standards, and accepting welfare to feed my children... but I would rather, if remotely possible, work to provide for them and if I was lucky possibly impart some sense of work ethic to them. (Not saying that people who depend on welfare to feed their children have no work ethic, just that I would want to set as good an example as was possible, and working is part of that.)
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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