While many children may be excited about the summer vacation, children from economically disadvantaged families — and their parents — may not be looking forward to it so much.
For some, no school means more work at home, a survey by the Children’s Welfare League Foundation shows.
“If we look at how children in different families spend their summer vacation, we may find that, though we all live in Taiwan, we actually live in different worlds,” foundation executive director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如) told a news conference in Taipei.
“For many, it’s the time when they could be having fun, playing all day or traveling abroad, but for the economically disadvantaged, they may not even be able to have three meals a day regularly,” she said.
According to a survey of 1,324 children assisted by the foundation, 77 percent said that they need to help out with household activities.
Among them, 60 percent have to take care of their younger siblings, 44 percent need to cook and 25 percent need to help out with the family business or take part-time jobs.
“Looking further at the figures by geographic regions, children in Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties carry two times more household responsibilities than those in Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung cities,” Chen said.
She added that children from low-income households also face problems having three meals a day regularly during summer — unlike school days, when they have school lunch and can take home what is left from lunch as their dinner.
The survey shows that more than 55 percent of the children from economically disadvantaged families said they do not have three meals a day regularly during the summer.
Sixty-three percent said they usually eat instant noodles and canned food.
“Since the parents worry about their children who are either at home alone or with elder members of the family, 71 percent of parents in economically disadvantaged families said that they feel more stressed out when their children are on summer break,” Chen said.
“The percentage gets higher with parents from single-parent families, with 84 percent saying they feel more pressured during summer vacation,” she said.
As a result, the foundation has launched a “long vacation kitchen” project to provide meals for children from economically disadvantaged families during the summer break, Chen said.
She added that those who would like to help can find details about the project at love.children.org.tw.
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