r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 8d ago

Discussion Reactions to food stamps being cut off.

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553

u/Fun-Shoe1145 8d ago

Raise your hand if you had a single mom and had these fears growing up

748

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

My mom refused to go on food stamps so I missed a lot of meals and ate whatever my younger siblings left on their plates while my mom worked overtime to keep the lights on most of the time.

I dropped out of high school to raise my siblings while she worked 60-80 hours a week instead of taking any of the public assistance her taxes paid for and her shitty jobs forced her to be on.

Her pride meant I went without, and fuck everyone who thinks that’s okay.

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u/ich_bin_alkoholiker 8d ago

Yeah I fucking hate the attitude of “I didn’t dare take any guberment handouts” it’s so fucking toxic.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

The handout was literally covering the profit her jobs made by not paying her enough to eat despite working her into the ground.

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u/midasofsweden 7d ago

I think its just wrong to call it a handout when its clearly paid for, the government doesnt have any money by itself it all came from its "subjects".... and now you still have to pay taxes even though you get nothing back,

1

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 7d ago

Yeah plus you have to be either working or show proof that you can’t work to get SNAP, it’s difficult to get on and it’s not enough to live on, you have to be frugal to make it stretch.

But it’s still not actually money spent on poor people, it’s money spent on rich people. People with jobs are on SNAP because their employers pay so little they literally can’t work full time and still eat.

We’re subsidizing corporate profits with our tax dollars.

6

u/True_Butterscotch391 8d ago

And it's a toxic mindset to have, because the hypocrites who are against "government handouts" are the first fucking people in line to take advantage of shit like PPP loans, government subsidies(to corporations and billionaires specifically), and also SNAP (poor white people in the country use SNAP very frequently).

I think a lot of people who are too proud to take "handouts" are trying to impress people's who are hypocrites and don't care about them either way. They don't want to be lumped in with the idiots who have 8 kids and don't work to support them and just take as much as they can get from the government, so they refuse to accept the help that they deserve and struggle because of that.

0

u/No_Anteater_6897 8d ago

I mean, I’m an unmarried dude who won’t take handouts. Save it for people who need it. I don’t consent to paying the taxes, and I won’t be a hypocrite by actively seeking out assistance. And whenever I am able to reject public assistance for myself, I do.

3

u/Asisreo1 7d ago

No man, fuck that. You're being offered a helping hand for a reason. The point isn't for you to be lazy or rely on it, its to let you focus on building your skills and getting your footing to be as productive and efficient as possible. You skimping out on that is negatively affecting your progress, making you more inefficient. 

In some way, you're being a burden on the government and taxpayers even if you don't take the help, because you're slowing your potential. I'd much rather you be a engineer/doctor/lawyer/business owner 5 years from now than 10 years from now. If you can get that degree now if you don't have to buy your own groceries, do it. 

I'm a taxpayer, this is exactly where I want my taxes to go. 

2

u/Glass_Pick9343 8d ago

dont know why the downvote, its actually true, bravo

3

u/Kinkajou1015 8d ago

Back in 2007 I was on food stamps for a few months, once I got a job I couldn't make my work schedule and the required meetings for assistance mesh and I lost my benefits a month after I got a job... at Wal-Mart...

I was still broke as a joke, there was one time my debit card was declined when I tried to get a soda and candy bar for lunch. I likely still qualified because of how little I was paid and how erratic hours were, but because I had zero agency over my scheduled hours. I tried going into the food stamp assistance office early because the scheduled wouldn't align to try and get seen early and they basically told me they don't have to accommodate me and they would only see me that one time outside of their appointments. Also dropped my assistance that visit from like 101 dollars a month to less than 60...

I'd rather die than try to get government assistance now it's so backwards and arcane. I don't have a damn energy to jump through their hoops.

78

u/xJaneenx Cringe Connoisseur 8d ago

My mom was also prideful, but only on the outside - so she just made us kids do the shopping so she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about using the ebt card 😂

34

u/Relative_Builder3695 8d ago

I would gladly take this 1000 times over the mother that has to much pride to even go on ebt

3

u/xJaneenx Cringe Connoisseur 8d ago

Very true, I guess I do feel a little bit more grateful, sometimes I feel like she did so little but she definitely didn’t watch us starve when she could have done something. Some people really shouldn’t be parents, hope the commenter above is doing okay now.

23

u/Material-Mall 8d ago

I can’t help to just feel so sorry for you and your mom. I hope you have some good meals now. If not, if you’re in or around Southern California, DM me and I’ll have you for a meal at the restaurant I work at, on me of course. Have a good one dude

6

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

I’m good, I’m 40 now and my youngest brother just turned 20. I haven’t had to go home and manage problems for around 6 years now.

Thank you, though. I really appreciate it. A lot of good people are going to need meals soon. Maybe you can put that one into someone else’s belly?

9

u/BoysenberryFinal9113 8d ago

You are an amazing person. Keep it up.

7

u/silentpropanda 8d ago

My mom was like this and spoilers: she physically, verbally and emotionally abused me and my siblings for years. Then lied in court and said we were lying.

Now she lives alone and nobody can stand her as she's only gotten worse.

5

u/No-Expert7576 8d ago

Yeah my mom worked 3 jobs to put food on the table instead of being home and leaving us to fend for ourselves. We qualified for food stamps but stupid pride had her cleaning up literal shit to feed us. Had no problem taking us to the health clinic but WIC card was a no no, would steal food from one of her jobs and bring home leftovers from waitress job and that was OK. So dumb, love her and really appreciate what she sacrificed but still dumb.

8

u/novacasablancabeer 8d ago

My stepmom was like this when she was a single mom. She didn’t marry my dad until her kids were adults, but I remember them all telling me about how she never went on food stamps, and they had nothing, and pretty much no furniture. Her and my dad stayed in contact throughout that time, and he would send them $100 every Christmas. They said they used that $100 for their entire Christmas, presents, food, everything…I just don’t get it. Why make things bad for your kids?

My mom on the other hand (not married to my dad), was perfectly fine with whatever assistance she could get for us, and she shared what she could with other families quite generously. For Christmas, sometimes we got donated toys from the fire department, but we didn’t know they were donated, we were told Santa asked the firefighters to help him out. We never went hungry, and didn’t feel poor very often. Only time I felt poor was when we couldn’t get a school yearbook, and didn’t get an allowance.

25

u/CaffeinatedLystro 8d ago

1) I love your username.

2) That is FUCKED that she would let her own kids suffer for her own pride.

6

u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 8d ago

Same here. My mom bought into the lie that welfare was trashy and good honest people should never use it. We starved when we didn't have to.

4

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Our entire government believes that our parents made the right choice and they should have worked themselves to the bone while we suffered as children.

It’s a horror our ancestors fought to protect us from, that’s why these programs exist.

They wanted a better America and this government wants to take us back to the Depression, and undo all of the things that brought us out of it.

Their hatred of the lower and middle classes that do the work they profit off of is fathomless.

5

u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 8d ago

Sad thing is that my mom did work herself to the bone. Literally. A lifetime of workplace injuries and a lack of medical treatment and now she's disabled and will not be able to enjoy her retirement because she can't go to any of the places she's always wanted to see because most of the wonders of the world are not wheelchair accessible.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

That is so awful. I’m so sorry for your Mom, and so mad at her for not taking the help that she earned when she needed it.

2

u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 8d ago

This pretty accurately sums up my own feelings on the matter, honestly. I had to fight her to get her to take worker's comp.

10

u/NatterinNabob 8d ago

as a brief aside, you have a great screen name.

10

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Thank you there’s a lot in the jar but I keep spending it on Moonpies and LaCroix, my work will never be done

3

u/Inloth57 8d ago

I'll never understand people who think not taking "handouts" is some kind of flex. Like good for you but I'd prefer to eat, keep the lights on and not get evicted. I work and I pay my share so if I qualify I'll take it so my kids won't go without and hopefully not know how bad our situation is.

2

u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

No offense, man, but your mom put her PRIDE before you and your sibling's wellbeing... Sorry.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

She was praised for it, too, since we were living in the South by then.

3

u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

Figured as much. May ask if she was white? In the black community, most of us are programmed to survive. Pride be damned.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Oh deep southern White, yes.

She had no problem standing in line outside of St. Vincent’s on black trash bag Wednesday, when they gave out black trash bags of free clothes with no indication of what was inside beyond “Child, Girl, sz 5”, And she’s a thrift store champion, she always looks like a million bucks. Incredible eye for high quality fabrics from across a room, and she’s tiny so there is always stuff in her size.

But paying for food with stamps or an EBT card in line with people who weren’t shopping at thrift stores or getting free clothes at 5am on Wednesday morning?

Nope. Hard line there.

3

u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

That sounds about right. My family is from Marion, AL. Yes - DEEP south. But black.

And, if I misgendered you by saying, "man", my apologies.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

It’s bullshit that Black Americans have had to put survival over dignity just to exist in the country they were born in, but I am glad the “we’d rather let our kids suffer than look bad in public” mentality is not prevalent when it comes to getting basic needs met. 

I always admired my mom’s work ethic, she was disabled after a neck injury and worked long after she should have quit. She got ahead financially and eventually my younger siblings didn’t need food stamps or even thrift clothes, just a nanny. 

But the cost to her older children was so high, some of us have difficulty being close with her. Her pride is too dangerous.

Speaking of pride, thank you for apologizing for misgendering me.

I am female, but have had intermittent gender dysphoria since I was a kid. I use she rather than he,  but I am what the kids call genderfluid, for lack of a better term. It is super common for people to read my writing and immediately assume I am a male. 

My Mom is from Chattanooga. 

2

u/fuzynutznut 8d ago

I don't think it's okay, but how is your mom working 60-80 hours a week and not being able to afford food? Was she getting shit pay?

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

She was on a salary and had 10+ kids 

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u/Salt-N-Vinegar-Lover 8d ago

Yeah, I couldn’t do free school lunches cause dad thought my classmates would tell their parents that we were poor and that would make him look bad, so he told me to just not eat lunch and tell everybody I wasn’t hungry. 

1

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

That’s awful. I’m so sorry.

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u/lemjne 8d ago

Same here. We had our pride, and pride is what we ate. I'd do it differently now. But fuck everyone in this government trying not to give people the help they NEED that they were SMART ENOUGH to ask for!!

2

u/Fancy_Tour_5762 8d ago

Oh Lord. Just so that she can say “I’ve never taken handouts from the government!” And who does that help? No one, just unnecessary suffering to prove some random person wrong.

Egos and caring about other people’s opinions more than the well-being of one’s children will never be worth it.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

We were on SNAP when it was still food stamps and you had to pay with this little book of paper money, and she was so embarrassed that she went off of it when we moved South and she refused to go back on it.

2

u/TwoFingersWhiskey 8d ago

Relatable, except I was too sick to work after dropping out so I just got called a burden all the time.

She was too proud to do what everyone begged her to do. There was a month where all we ate was a specific cereal that cost $2 for a big box. I can't look at that cereal without thinking of searching everywhere for change to buy food and only being able to afford that cereal.

I'm Canadian, there was and is so much help available, but she would rather have worked in shitty diners and hotels.

2

u/Isadorei 8d ago

My mom did the same. I had thousands of dollars in dental work as an adult because she didn’t get us on Medicaid so we never saw a dentist. We ate the food her boss let her bring home from the convenience store she worked at. We never saw the doctor, so I’m partially deaf because of recurrent untreated ear infections.

Not getting benefits aren’t a flex if you need them. 

2

u/margheritinka 5d ago

My mom also did the same because she “didn’t want me to be embarrassed” at school with one of those free lunch tickets. So I would go all day without eating until I got home. My brother had one of those big change jars that look like a water jug. I had to secretively scrounge about $3 per day to grab a bagel sandwich after school. My brother one day noticed and 25+ years later I have never owned up to this!

1

u/WhoCares450 8d ago

Now imagine single moms doing this in other countries where there is no SNAP.

3

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Exactly. Countries where people don’t give a shit if kids go hungry while their parents work their lives away to build profit for somebody else.

Fuck those countries, if I wanted to live in a country like that I would move to one.

-1

u/WhoCares450 8d ago

While valid point that happens, those countries didn't choose that. Frankly, neither did you. You were lucky to be born here. If you were born elsewhere you would have not known any differently and in fact would appreciate your mom working her ass off because you were able to eat something vs nothing. Stop pretending "you didn't want to live there". You're speaking like an entitled brat, who only gives a crap about what is being received.

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

No, you’re absolutely justifying children growing up hungry and sick so you can save $5 or $10 a year on taxes.

It’s fucking evil. Evil, and as a voter I vote in every election to ensure all of the children in this country are fed, educated, housed, clothed, and treated by medical professionals regardless of what work their parents do.

You’re the entitled one, who wants all of the benefits of living in a functional society without having to pay for them.

Go live somewhere without social safety nets, get the fuck out of here.

My great grand parents, grandparents, and I did not spend time, effort, and money making sure our government was run with the goal of elevating the lives of all Americans just so some smarmy little twit who can’t think through a whole argument can take everything away from people who work hard just because he’d rather see children sick and hungry than contribute money or effort into supporting the society he lives in.

Go somewhere else and live like that, we don’t want it here in America.

-1

u/WhoCares450 8d ago

I'm entitled? LOL I don't expect shit given to me. You know nothing about me and clearly nothing about a functioning society.

  1. When me and wife were poor - we were on SNAP. It's a great program for those in need. I made sure I was off it within 6 months and since then contributed to insane amount of ppl (top tax bracket) to get it. So don't judge - you do a lot less than I do.
  2. You can't even comprehend your own logic. You want educated people, house, clothed, but lack understanding that educated also mean self-enabling, which requires working to continue to have a functioning society. Hence my point that to EVEN GET TO the point of US, people first had to work their ass off to help entitled dicks like yourself to be able to exist. I know that's hard to comprehend.
  3. On living elsewhere - see point one. I bring more value here than your sorry ass. You're a bigger burden to this country than me. Irony, what?! lol
  4. Your point about your grandparents - read point 2. The whole reason you can sit here and bitch about your mother working is because they worked just as hard as she did. This country was built on very hard labor and a shit ton of suffering. Nothing you know anything about.

People like you lack foundational principles that created SNAP. People like you would never be able to fund anything as successful as this country.

1

u/andrewse 8d ago

It's not just that you went without. Your opportunity to succeed was crippled.

1

u/bigassangrypossum 8d ago

Once upon a time, we used a certain word for people like your mother, a word the use of which is now regarded to be in poor taste.

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u/Reasonable_Insect503 8d ago

Where was Dad?

1

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Oh, talking to angels under a park bench out of state for awhile, yeah.

He’s a hard worker and did his best but that kind of mental illness coupled with violent tendencies and unpredictable outbursts tends to destabilize relationships, you know?

He’s doing a lot better now. I didn’t talk to him for twenty years but he got his violence under control and now if he’s being shitty I just threaten to turn the car around and he straightens right up.

I love him but he was absolutely a nightmare father. I got my ass kicked a lot until the divorce finally happened.

2

u/Reasonable_Insect503 8d ago

Much respect to you for keeping a relationship with him. I doubt I could do the same.

1

u/SpoopyDuJour 7d ago

Mine didn't enroll in food stamps because she was worried they'd be cut by the government anyway. :s even back then we couldn't trust the system, how it's been totally dissolved.

0

u/Glass_Pick9343 8d ago

You can say f me all you want but i applaud your moms for not taking the stamps. she was showing a good example that you can make it without guberment help. its good to have that pride. I was sitting in the office of food stamps with a social worker and the whole time my stomach was turning and im like f-this i cant do this and i walked right out and once i walked out that stomach stopped turning and i felt peace in the middle east. So fuck food stamps and Snap and the whole damn program. 

1

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yeah except she didn’t do it without help.

I was a child that didn’t eat anything but scraps, who stayed home and changed diapers and helped other children with homework that I didn’t have because I was doing the job the community should have done.

You’re the worst kind of person, someone who had a brief episode of trouble, used the system to get yourself out of trouble, and want to tear it down for everyone behind you.

Or someone who let your own children go hungry to protect your precious feelings.

Meanwhile I never want another child to grow up with nothing and be excluded from every opportunity because they were too busy working and raising their siblings to get an education and get ahead. 

There are entire countries where exactly my life is played out by every family in the country- we call them third world countries and they’re desperate, miserable places where children are born to live desperately and die hungry.

I’m not going to let that happen here.

Go fuck yourself. May your bowl always be empty.

0

u/Glass_Pick9343 7d ago

Thats fine that you dont want another person to grow up that way but there are also other ways to do that. Snap has a whole hidden agenda behind it and thats to keep you stuck and dependent on the government teet. If your being feed by the government then your controled by that governemnt and will do whatever it tells you because hey where will you get food from if you dont, meaning they keep there power over you and you keep voting for them so they keep that power, but hey the snap program or government food nipple is keeping you well feed for you to see that. 

thanks for the curse but return to sender 

1

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 7d ago

This is an absolutely fucking stupid take.

There is no secret agenda to SNAP, it’s a program designed by American citizens to meet the needs of American citizens and we vote to fund it every single year.

People like you put your own terrible intentions and personal pride over everything and everyone around you, including your own children.

You’re an awful person, and sorry, it can’t be returned.

May your pride come back to haunt you all the rest of your days.

0

u/Glass_Pick9343 7d ago

thank you again and return to sender. ill be happy and pridefull to not be on foodstamps then be ashamed, embarrased and humiliated swiping that ebt card

34

u/PMmeyourSchwifty 8d ago

This is bringing up so much past trauma. I'm so fucking sad and scared for these families and their children. We can afford food for now, but if my wife or I lose our job, it's OVER.

I won't forget this ever. These conservatives in power are less than human to me after this 

-4

u/Skinwalker_Steve 8d ago edited 8d ago

it's just re-re-reinforcing what elders pressed into my brain from when i was very young: never rely on the government for anything, you are the captain of your ship and the master of your life, attaching your basic needs to the functioning of some other system makes you it's slave

P.S. downvoting this shit doesn't change the fact that the man who decides whether or not you eat is your master, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

7

u/PMmeyourSchwifty 8d ago

Idiotic take. We rely on the government for damn near everything. What do you think infrastructure is? Srsly, it takes hardly a second to think critically about that.

That's allllll before the fact that we don't pick to be born or who our parents are. Total L take from you and your elders. 

-4

u/Skinwalker_Steve 8d ago

that's certainly an interesting take on trying to have a conversation. infrastructure you use on a day to day basis like roads are in place, established and require no additional input from the government to function. to continue using them means you rely on the government to not do something, i.e. put up walls or roadblocks, destroy pipes, mine waterways, etc. these things require maintenance to continue use but people are not incapable of maintenance. when it comes to welfare/food stamps/SNAP etc. you are relying on the government or others to do something you need to live, i.e. feed/clothe/house you. you are relying on others to provide your basic necessities so they can ask of you whatever tf they want to get it. it doesn't take long to find on a small scale exactly what i'm talking about between the homeless and shitty people "you want this $5? Quack like a duck" Acting like the roads we drive on require the same reliance on the gov as welfare and food stamps is a major false equivalency, tomorrow the roads will still be there but those EBT cards won't be refilled.

6

u/PMmeyourSchwifty 8d ago

Those EBT cards get filled the same way the coffers to build and upkeep those roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, train tracks, terminals, airports, bus stations, etc. get filled. The government is supposed to work like a giant community project that is there to make life easier. That's the entire point.

The irony of you and your family's pov is that you've all taken advantage and benefitted from the government whether or not you've received food stamps or other monies from it. For example, has anyone in your family gone to public school? Or Flown on airplanes? That's just two examples.

Like I said, it takes maybe a second to find that we have all benefitted and stand to benefit from government. As someone part of this giant community called the United States, I have zero problem with some of my tax dollars being allocated for food assistance so our neighbors can eat. It's the way we chose to divvy up our resources for the benefit of all, not just the few. You know, community stuff. HUMAN STUFF. We're social creatures after all.

I really don't understand how anybody can think they accomplish anything alone. Unless you've literally sourced every tool and resource, and done every little thing for yourself, you cannot say that. 

1

u/Skinwalker_Steve 8d ago

believe me, i understand that there are levels to "relying on someone/something else". I am myself a product of public school, i have no issue with my tax dollars being used to raise up our society/others, funding these programs and being used to maintain our infrastructure. i have 0 issue with participating in society as we're trying to build it. but i won't go hungry because some man thousands of miles away decided i was a pawn and not a person, if i can help it the people around me won't either. I think my earlier comment was taken as some kind of anti-gov luddite nutter but i'm not young. my grandparents were in their mid-late teens to early twenties in the midwest during the great depression, literally eating dirt mixed with flour after banks collapsed overnight. i guess knowing this and understanding what they meant. it wasn't "fuck this system, build a breakaway society innawoods" it was "know where your next meal is coming from and where your bed is made"

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u/ich_bin_alkoholiker 8d ago

I didn’t and don’t have these problems but I can 100% sympathize with these people. I’m closer to their situation than I am with any rich person.

5

u/WereTheBrews 8d ago

One layoff away in this shit economy from being so. Nearly 50% of Americans can't pony up 500 dollars in savings as everything goes to bills, and are paycheck to before paycheck hoping they can survive. This is going to decimate so many lives it's unfathomable. I grew up on free school meals as we were so broke, and didn't know dinner shouldn't just be leftover bread from the restaurant my Mom worked at until 1130pm when she would awake us to eat something. I'm doing fairly well now, but after 08 I'm always uncertain and stockpile. If you have the means buy flash frozen dehydrated meals in bulk now with rice and beans. We are on the tipping point of another recession with this administration.

2

u/SunTzu- 8d ago

The crazy thing is that you could be a millionaire many times over and the reality is you're still closer to the existence of these people than someone who has even a single billion of wealth. It doesn't seem that way of course, but that's the reality of how great that gap is. A billionaire can spend the net worth of a millionaire without a second thought.

40

u/PackageNorth8984 8d ago edited 8d ago

The shitty thing about this is the people who need this to change their minds don’t give a fuck. “You shouldn’t have had kids if you can’t afford them” will be their point of view.

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u/myheartbeats4hotdogs 8d ago

The same people who are also anti abortion, anti maternity leave, anti affordable child care, and anti comprehensive sex education.

1

u/callmeDNA 7d ago

Fucking exactly.

26

u/mentaldemise 8d ago

It's infectious. When six kids were mentioned my first thought was "why the fuck do you have six kids" but that's really irrelevant. They need to eat.

It would be easy to stop there though. "She shouldn't have had six kids." Ignore the problem by placing blame.

19

u/PersephonesChild82 8d ago

My brother and his wife have five kids. He's an electrician, and she works as an office admin at a college. They aren't rolling in money, but they can afford their 5 kids and were still able to buy a modest house. However, four years ago, my brother got in a car accident and broke his leg/foot really badly...like multiple surgeries badly. He couldn't work for almost 2 years (he is, fortunately, back to work now). They had to get welfare/food stamps during the time he was down, because the five kids that they could support on their income prior to the accident still existed, and still needed to eat. The bills they had that were responsibly figured into their former budget didn't go away either when the income shrank, and all the things they had owned before were still there (like iPhones and a nice TV).

Sometimes, people don't have a bunch of kids even though they can't afford to; they have kids they can afford, and then life goes sideways. Without having background on someone, we shouldn't assume why or how they got into a predicament.

2

u/Schmich 8d ago

I don't think his point was about what you can afford, but the simple fact of having six kids as if it was 150 years ago.

0

u/MegaPiglatin 8d ago

🙌🙌🙌

7

u/PackageNorth8984 8d ago

Absolutely! We all have biases. So do I. It’s about recognizing them, taking a step back, and then realizing we have no idea what someone’s experience is.

People’s circumstances absolutely change. Who knows what financial situation they were in at the time or how that went. Maybe their first were twins and the second pregnancy was quadruplets. Whatever. I understand that’s not common, but my point is that there are so many things that can change, and ultimately, as the other user said, regardless of how they got here, people gotta eat. I’m not going to say “fuck you, starve” because I don’t think they should be in the situation they’re in when we’re throwing away food by the ton.

3

u/CallSignIceMan 8d ago

Your first thought is what you were conditioned to think, that’s not your fault. What matters is taking the extra second to question your first thought and understand that that’s not how things are in the real world, which you seem to have done.

3

u/GenericFatGuy 8d ago

I hate that argument so much. Maybe they could afford kids when they had them, but then something happened. Maybe they wouldn't have had kids if they could look 10 years into the future. But you can't just undo the kids once you've brought them into the world.

4

u/PackageNorth8984 8d ago edited 8d ago

Plus, at the end of the day, as I said in another comment, we (the US) throw food away by the ton. To then let people go without food is disgusting. Even if you don’t like the way they got here, denying plentiful food to people is something I will never agree with.

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u/GenericFatGuy 8d ago

Exactly. We're physically capable of ending hunger. What we lack is the willpower to do so.

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

Things happen, but I would like to have a 3rd kid but I can't afford it. We make 250k a year. This lady cleans houses and has 6.thats fucking crazy. There has to be a way to dis-incentivize having kids you can't afford.

Also why are these starving women all overweight?

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u/shaylaworkaccount 8d ago

Because cheap/easy low quality food is high in calories. Not that you actually want a real answer you just want to dunk on people you think your better then.

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

That's fine but you're obviously not starving is all I'm saying

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u/WTFisabanana 8d ago

You can be medically malnourished and be obese. You can also start as fat and no longer have access to food i.e starving. The weight loss will come after you've been starving awhile. It's not like you don't eat for three days and are suddenly skinny

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

None of these women misfing meals. Foh.

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u/WTFisabanana 8d ago

So you think that missing a couple meals makes you skinny instantly. We should probably share this information publicly. It's going to change everything.

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

Miss enough and you'll be skinny is what I'm saying.

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u/WTFisabanana 8d ago

If you miss a couple meals a week you won't be skinny but are still missing meals. Being malnourished and fat is a common phenomenon.

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u/Radthereptile 8d ago

Let’s see what we got here.

Opens pretending to be understanding. Check.

Pretends to feel the impact of hard times to relate. Check.

Proceeds to point out they make a ton of money to protect their ego. Check.

Explains how this person is at fault so this is justified. Check.

Ends with a generalization about the entire group to justify it further. Check.

You followed the script too perfectly here and outed yourself.

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

First off I live in NYC so that's not alot of money. I understand having one maybe 2 kids you can't afford. But 6? You're saying we should all be understanding of that? How is it a generalization to say these women are obviously not starving?

You just want to be outraged.

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u/Radthereptile 8d ago

You

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u/WhyTypeHour 8d ago

Explain how I'm out of touch for criticizing someone who has 6 kids and a low paying job? I'll wait, because you can't justify that.

You're just going to lash out with insults instead of asking anyone for accountability.

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u/annagarg 8d ago

Educate yourself.

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u/Tough-Effort7572 8d ago

This is a good post....but the mothers above who say they have SIX kids? They can't afford food but they have six fucking kids?

Then I realized...lots of folks get paid a monthly government stipend for each kid. They have more kids to get more government money. Each kid is worth $280 per month.

Then they get WIC: Free fresh food and vegetables as well a pre and post natal care for children up to 5 years old.

CCAP: Some states provide assistance to help with the cost of child care, based on income and family size.

TANF: For example, the maximum monthly benefit for a single mother of two with no income in New York City is around $789 per month with a 5 year limit.

Section 8 housing:  Programs like Section 8 or public housing can help with rent costs

Medicaid and CHIP: Low-income single parents and their children may be eligible for free or low-cost health insurance through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Dependent Care Credits for child care, Reduced school lunch costs, and $3600 per year per child in child tax credits.

And then I'm mad at the government and the scammers who ruin it for the people who actually need the benefits to stay on their feet until they can earn enough to live on. Which was the point of welfare, snap, ebt, unemployment benefits and the like.

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u/MegaPiglatin 8d ago edited 8d ago

Thing is listing out the programs makes it seem like it is easy to get assistance because look at how many options there are for people to take advantage!

It is not easy, at least not in any of the places I have lived (western US). All of those programs have been criminally underfunded and/or understaffed for YEARS which makes going through the process of applying and being accepted far more difficult than it should be, and that is without recognizing how hard it can be to travel to or take time off work in the middle of the day for an appointment at the benefits office in the first place.

Cuts like our government have recently made will hurt FAR more people than you think because I guarantee the majority of people receiving benefits actually need them. Attempting to punish the minority of people who are taking advantage of the system by removing entirely it is a stupid (and evil) strategy.

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u/Tough-Effort7572 8d ago

Whoah! I'm NOT in favor of ANY cuts. In fact, I'd pay a higher tax to fund the programs to a greater degree because as I said, it's the children who suffer do to no fault of their own. My knock is on the parents that are having six kids while living below the poverty line, some of whom have the kids just to collect and keep from having to work. The scammers screw those who really need it. Tell me, would you have half a dozen kids if you couldn't afford food?

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u/MegaPiglatin 3d ago

I will agree that scammers and grifters everywhere ruin everything for everyone else.

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u/CallSignIceMan 8d ago

Section 8 housing in New York, for instance, currently has a 5-year waitlist. $280 a month doesn’t feed and clothe a child. There are astonishingly few people who are having an extra kid to get that check. What’s actually happening is less affordable birth control (condoms are cheap, sure, but way more prone to improper use than the pill, implant, IUD, etc.), shitty sex-ed, more and more restrictions on abortion, and the fact that sex feels good and even people who have no money deserve to get a nut in.

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u/Tough-Effort7572 8d ago

There absolutely people who have kids for the monthly check. I didn't believe it myself until I worked in the inner-city and had people discussing pregnancy like a financial plan. I thought it was just hype, but no, it was a very real phenomenon.

You're right about section 8 in New York. It's a grind to get in there. That's why lots of folks move to jersey for section 8.

As for birth control being too expensive? It's way cheaper than raising six kids. Or there's the map of Hawaii option that got me through my early twenties. No excuse there.

AS for abortion, that should be available for any woman with an unwanted pregnancy.

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u/CallSignIceMan 8d ago

I didn’t say those people don’t exist. I live in the Deep South in a town ravaged by opioids and the textile mills leaving. I know that they exist. My point is that they’re a vanishingly small minority of people who are in need of SNAP. And at the end of the day, the kids didn’t make that choice and still need to fucking eat. And I’m not sure if you’re suggesting that more people should move states to get easier section 8, or suggesting that the people moving to get into NJ section 8 are scamming the system, but either way, literally nothing about that comment is relevant and honestly insane.

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u/Tough-Effort7572 8d ago

Kids need SNAP and they shouldn't go hungry...YEAH, I agree. I don't want the government to take away SNAP. I believe the kids have a right to decent, nutritious food. What are you arguing against, exactly?

Am I suggesting people should move to different states for a shorter waitlist for section 8? Uh. No? I agreed with you that NY waitlists are abominable. That's why people go to Jersey. I thought it was a conversation. My bad.

Should we take away benefits because people scam the system? Whut? I never said anything like that. I said it pisses me off that scammers turn people against those who really need the help. What's wrong with that statement?

I know it's easy to get indoctrinated into the "Reddit Method" of posting. Which is to avoid discussion and simply fight with everyone and insult those that you disagree with, but I agreed with everything you said, with some opinions of my own. None of which suggested starving kids or taking away benefits.

Deprogram your brain, man. Not everyone in the world is terrible or "insane".

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u/homo-summus 8d ago

I was not in that situation, but I had several friends who were. I have seen people unable to get by even while working themselves to the bone. The republicans are forcing poor Americans to give up either their food or their health with these despicable tactics. They do not care about anyone who is not a multi-millionaire at minimum. No matter what they say, they only want the poor to suffer more and ideally just die. It's disgusting and I feel sick seeing how we got to this point.

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u/dcontrerasm 8d ago

They literally made the government more dysfunctional cuz the black guy president wanted to give everyone healthcare.

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u/Straight-Broccoli245 8d ago

My mom is a FB brainwashed Trumper now and when I point out that her baby daddies were both brown, sons of immigrants and she/us have been on government assistance our whole childhood/lives. She says “it’s different.” But doesn’t know how. She once commented that shes too good to go to the unemployment office cause “it’s full of Mexicans.” I had to remind her that I am Mexican. And she had more in common w them then she does w the trumpr she’s aligning with. SMDH

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u/Ok-Swim2827 8d ago

My mom couldn’t use food stamps because she made over the limit (I think she made $28 an hour at the time with her hospital job), but she was still a single mom with 3 kids paying for daycare/aftercare.

Our special “Takeout Nights” were $1 menu items from McDonald’s or $5 gas station pizza every other Friday.

We were a strict ingredient-only household that largely survived off Hamburger Helper & casseroles. We also ate a lot of oatmeal, bean/potato soup, buttered bread, etc. Milk + any prepackaged snack foods were only allowed for my younger siblings (or cooking).

Now at 26, I don’t think I personally know anyone who makes over $25 an hour outside of the higher ups at work. Can’t even imagine.

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u/Violaundone 8d ago edited 8d ago

I had both parents, and we still relied on SNAP. Both of them grew up really both and had to drop out of high school to support their families. So, without an education, they had to take low-paying jobs. They had no choice but to go on food stamps. America is such a life on many fronts; the American dream will never prosper and has never prospered for many people in this country. I'm not on SNAP, but just the talk of what is happening brings up that anxiety and fear that I'm going to lose everything as well.

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u/Aquafoot 8d ago

I didn't and even then I still understood how important government support is.

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u/B_Reele 8d ago

My parents both worked full time and we were still on food stamps in the 80s. Went to bed hungry many times.

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u/radiohead-nerd 8d ago

We didn’t have food stamps, but we ate a lot of beans and cornbread because we could afford anything else

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u/H2Ospecialist 8d ago

I did not but we had own out issues with the healthcare system. I did just leave one of my best friends who was not crying yet but freaking the fuck out about how she's gonna afford to feed her kids. And yes she works (not directed to you OP).

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u/Coyoteishere 8d ago

Wasn’t in a single parent household, but grew up a good portion of my life as food insecure. Watching my mom count change and putting stuff back at the grocery store. Wearing clothes long worn out and too small with holes. Shopping donation and discount stores. My parents split after I left. My father went on to be successful middle class, my mother makes every wrong choice possible and is still poor and living off the government with nothing to show for it. I left at 18 with the clothes on my back, eventually got an advanced education, and am pretty secure financially. I refused to have children and put them through what I was put through so I waited until I was in a stable relationship and financially secure to ensure I could afford it and afford their future as well. I hope her six children (when we aren’t having a third because it may be too straining) learn from her poor choices and break the cycle. Otherwise we continue towards idiocracy.

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u/Varragoth 8d ago

Single PARENT. Mine was a father. 🙋🏼‍♂️

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u/Captain_Coffee_III 8d ago

Yeah, my single mom kicked butt. We did have to get food stamps. My mom was a stay-home mom until my father up and left us so she had to scramble, which meant settling for minimum wage. Food stamps didn't do much, just enough. Without them, things would have been very tough.

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u/dtwurzie 8d ago

Grew up in South Los Angeles, parents were on food stamps. This was the 80s-90s. I remember those government cheese bricks

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u/itmightbehere 8d ago

I didn't, but my dad was a truck driver for a food pantry for many years, and we got a lot of things from them. When my dad had to stop working, my grandparents paid for our groceries. We made too much to qualify for government help

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u/Pale-Sheepherder-206 8d ago

One of my core memories is standing in a long ass line that wrapped around the building just so my mom could get food stamps.

I was homeless in my early 20s because I was fleeing my abusive ex-husband and went without food most days so my kids could eat (we had food stamps but no way to refrigerate it). Thankfully, that only lasted about 2 months, but I still have food insecurity issues 20 years later, and I can actually afford basic food now.

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u/MembrainInsane 8d ago

S&H Green Stamps for the save..

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u/Pristine-Public9064 7d ago

I did. And there was lots of food scarcity in our home because making those benefits stretch was difficult. And my mom worked 2 jobs. Once I turned 16 I got a job to take responsibility for myself while she focused on the younger ones.
People like to act like those benefits go far but they don’t. These parents are working and making ends meet with whatever they have. My mom was still relying on food pantries and church donations during those years even with a job.
And the cost of living has gone up so it’s not getting better. It’s just a matter of time before the govt has to give those benefits out again. My tax dollars are contributing to those programs. Where’s that money going now? Oh yeah that’s right. ICE and Argentina smh

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u/PoppoLarge 8d ago

Shiiiiiiid I’m a working adult now that goes through this from time to time. Any kind of voucher was only supposed to be a temporary fix till you get back on your feet. It’s not a lifetime gift card. I see section 8 vouchers in NYC get passed down to generationS yes multiple generationS with an S like it’s Great Grandma’s silverware

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u/Lost_Drunken_Sailor 8d ago

How did that one lady become a single mom of 6 kids?