'Tensions at home aren't just battles over bread and milk'

Children often bear the brunt of their family's cost of living crisis. David Cohen talks to two beneficiaries of our appeal who give vital support

- David Cohen

NINE-YEAR-OLD Martin doesn't talk about the cost of living crisis but what he does want to share is that his mother Laura is anxious about things that never upset her before. "Sometimes things happen outside school that make it hard for me to concentrate inside school," he said, fidgeting with his play-dough at his primary school in Streatham.

Earlier Laura, 40, a single mother of five living on benefits, said: "I try not to put my worries on my children, but these days I do get bit 'aggie' with them. Martin can drink almost a bottle of milk at a time but the price of it has shot up and I can't afford to keep buying it. Sometimes, while I am feeding the baby, he eats half a loaf of bread in one go and I shout, 'what have you done?' He tells me, "I'm sorry, I'm hungry". I feel bad but I tell him, "that bread has got to last so we can eat tomorrow" and then he gets upset and throws a tantrum and upsets the whole family." Tensions at Martin’s home have spilled into school with teachers reporting that Martin’s behaviour had got “really bad”. And it’s not just battles over staples like milk and bread. Martin, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shares a bedroom with his younger brother and sister, and with his mother bedding down with the baby on the living room sofa, space is at a premium. Martin said: “When I get to school, I sometimes need to escape the classroom and get outside to the playground where there is space.”

Martin’s spontaneous exits from classrooms have caused problems, but a couple of months ago he started getting weekly help from Unlocking Potential, a charity that provides therapeutic support to more than 3,000 children in 24 schools in 10 London boroughs.