English: What does a society owe its children? That surely is one of the great dividing lines in politics. I believe that society and Government hold a shared responsibility over the lives and well-being of children, while to others, such a notion will be an affront. Indeed, some politicians, wealthy politicians, who've had all the luck in the world, seem to think that children should be punished for their parents' poverty, that the really nice things are too good for them, and that while some children can grow up in homes with food aplenty and golden wallpaper, the rest can make do with gristle or crumbs from the rich man's table. If there's one lasting image from the free school meals debacle in England last year, it's those photographs, shared on social media, of the inadequate meal parcels: the halved vegetables wrapped in cling film, because those children apparently didn't merit full vegetables, which makes you ponder the effort it would have taken to cut and separate out those bits of vegetables, the time invested in taking away and denying those children the whole portion. The casual cruelty of that banal act and lack of care or concern. Pasta and tuna taken out of tins and bagged up in those measly bags to make sure the rest of the family couldn't possibly benefit from those meals. It was as if the whole exercise was meant to strip away every vestige of dignity from the recipients. Those photographs shamed our hearts because they betrayed something deep set in our society, that we are brought up collectively to accept poverty, so long as it happens over there. And that if people are poor, they somehow deserve it. And it took a footballer, Marcus Rashford, a man who is an English hero, Llywydd, to shame the Tory Government into changing their policy. Now, I don't deny for a moment that the situation is better in Wales, but it is still not enough, and I would be failing in my job if I didn't point that out. Llywydd, I've raised questions recently about the mental health impact of childhood hunger, the hidden harm created in a child's psyche, the associations of guilt and shame that get built around food because of poverty, because chronic hunger isn't just about empty bellies; it's about malnourished self-esteem, underfed aspirations and starved potential. It's about not being able to afford the slice of pizza that your friends have, being embarrassed about your lunch, going to queue on the other side of the hall away from your classmates with the other free school meal children, maybe missing out on lunch altogether because you don't want to face the jibes. As the children's food inquiry makes clear, hunger is a social harm. It causes distress, isolation; it can trigger depression, hopelessness and stress for both parents and children. It affects school attendance and attainment. The free school meal allowance in Wales isn't enough. The children's commissioner's charter for change looked at this, and her office found that children getting £2.05 a day didn't have enough money for a break-time snack as well as a lunch-time meal. The slice of pizza I mentioned, in one school that costs £1.95, leaving only 10p for a snack at break time or a drink. It wasn't enough for either. Another child said, and I quote, 'All I could afford was one sandwich or a fruit and drink, never a meal.' A third child told them they just had to starve until lunch time while everyone else could buy what they wanted. Just had to starve. Food should neither be seen as a lifeline nor a luxury. It should be the baseline, the fundamental, the shared and the communal. Until we introduce universal free school meals, that stigma will continue. You'll have the two dinner queues in the canteen. You'll have the haves and the have nots. We'll have some children who will grow up associating food with embarrassment and shame, and we'll have a society that still thinks it's acceptable to send children bags of broken up vegetables in the place where compassion should be.
Welsh: Beth sydd ar gymdeithas i'w phlant? Mae hynny'n sicr yn un o'r cwestiynau mawr sy'n rhannu gwleidyddion. Yn fy marn i, mae gan gymdeithas a Llywodraeth gyfrifoldeb ar y cyd dros fywydau a lles plant, a bydd eraill o'r farn fod syniad o'r fath yn warthus. Yn wir, mae'n ymddangos bod rhai gwleidyddion, gwleidyddion cyfoethog, sydd wedi cael yr holl lwc yn y byd, yn meddwl y dylid cosbi plant am dlodi eu rhieni, fod y pethau gwirioneddol braf yn rhy dda iddynt, ac er y gall rhai plant dyfu i fyny mewn cartrefi gyda digonedd o fwyd a phapur wal euraid, rhaid i'r gweddill wneud y tro gyda gweddillion neu friwsion oddi ar fwrdd y dyn cyfoethog. Os oes un ddelwedd yn aros o'r llanast prydau ysgol am ddim yn Lloegr y llynedd, y ffotograffau a rennir ar y cyfryngau cymdeithasol o'r parseli bwyd annigonol yw honno: y llysiau wedi'u torri yn eu hanner a'u lapio mewn cling ffilm, am nad oedd y plant hynny'n haeddu llysiau cyfan, mae'n ymddangos, sy'n gwneud i chi ystyried yr ymdrech y byddai wedi'i chymryd i dorri a gwahanu'r darnau hynny o lysiau, yr amser a fuddsoddwyd er mwyn amddifadu plant o'r gyfran gyfan. Creulondeb di-hid y weithred ddiflas honno a'r diffyg ots neu bryder. Pasta a thiwna wedi'u tynnu o duniau a'u gosod yn y cydau tila rheini i sicrhau na allai gweddill y teulu elwa o'r prydau. Roedd fel pe bai'r holl beth i fod i ddileu pob gronyn o urddas i'r sawl a'i derbyniai. Roedd y ffotograffau hynny'n destun cywilydd i ni am eu bod yn datgelu rhywbeth dwfn yn ein cymdeithas, ein bod wedi cael ein magu gyda'n gilydd i dderbyn tlodi, cyhyd â'i fod yn digwydd draw acw. Ac os yw pobl yn dlawd, maent yn ei haeddu rywsut. Ac fe gymerodd bêl-droediwr, Marcus Rashford, dyn sy'n arwr o Sais, i godi digon o gywilydd ar y Llywodraeth Dorïaidd i wneud iddi newid ei pholisi. Nawr, nid wyf yn gwadu am eiliad fod y sefyllfa'n well yng Nghymru, ond nid yw'n ddigon o hyd, a byddwn yn methu gwneud fy swydd pe na bawn yn tynnu sylw at hynny. Lywydd, rwyf wedi codi cwestiynau'n ddiweddar am effaith newyn plentyndod ar iechyd meddwl, y niwed cudd a grëir yn seice'r plentyn, y cysylltiadau ag euogrwydd a chywilydd sy'n datblygu o gwmpas bwyd oherwydd tlodi, gan fod a wnelo newyn cronig â mwy na boliau gwag yn unig; mae a wnelo â diffyg maeth i hunan-barch, methiant i fwydo dyheadau a llwgu potensial. Mae'n ymwneud â methu fforddio'r darn o pizza sydd gan eich ffrindiau, teimlo embaras am eich cinio, mynd i giwio ar yr ochr arall i'r neuadd oddi wrth eich cyd-ddisgyblion gyda'r plant eraill sy'n cael pryd ysgol am ddim, colli cinio'n gyfan gwbl efallai am nad ydych am wynebu'r gwawd. Fel y mae'r ymchwiliad i fwyd plant yn ei wneud yn glir, mae newyn yn niwed cymdeithasol. Mae'n achosi trallod, arwahanrwydd; gall sbarduno iselder, anobaith a straen i rieni a phlant. Mae'n effeithio ar bresenoldeb a chyrhaeddiad yn yr ysgol. Nid yw'r lwfans prydau ysgol am ddim yng Nghymru yn ddigon. Edrychodd siarter ar gyfer newid y comisiynydd plant ar hyn, a chanfu ei swyddfa nad oedd gan blant sy'n cael £2.05 y dydd ddigon o arian ar gyfer byrbryd amser egwyl yn ogystal â phryd o fwyd amser cinio. Y darn o pizza y soniais amdano, mewn un ysgol mae'n costio £1.95, gan adael dim ond 10c ar gyfer byrbryd amser egwyl neu ddiod. Nid oedd yn ddigon ar gyfer y naill na'r llall. Dywedodd plentyn arall, ac rwy'n dyfynnu, 'Y cyfan y gallwn ei fforddio oedd un frechdan neu ffrwyth a diod, byth bryd o fwyd.' Dywedodd trydydd plentyn wrthynt eu bod yn gorfod llwgu tan amser cinio tra gallai pawb arall brynu'r hyn roeddent ei eisiau. Gorfod llwgu. Ni ddylid ystyried bwyd yn achubiaeth neu'n foethusrwydd. Dylai fod yn llinell sylfaen, yr hyn sy'n hanfodol, yr hyn a rennir a'r hyn sy'n gymunedol. Hyd nes y cyflwynwn brydau ysgol am ddim i bawb, bydd y stigma'n parhau. Bydd gennych y ddau giw cinio yn y ffreutur. Bydd gennych y rhai sydd â modd o gael, a'r rhai sydd heb fodd o gael. Bydd gennym rai plant yn tyfu i fyny yn cysylltu bwyd ag embaras a chywilydd, a bydd gennym gymdeithas sy'n dal i gredu ei bod yn dderbyniol i anfon cydau o lysiau wedi'u torri i blant yn y man lle dylai tosturi fod.