As her three-year-old daughter plays with her hair, Rebecca, a single mother from Swansea, opens up about the emotional toll of raising a child in poverty. "The amount of times I will lay in bed and just cry because there's so much I want to give her that I can't give her," she says. "Mentally, emotionally it takes a massive, massive toll."
Rebecca is among many parents at the Teilo's Community Cwtch playgroup who struggle with rising costs on a single part-time income. "I'm a single parent on one part-time pay-cheque – shopping shouldn't be luxury," she says. Without the support of her own parents, she admits she would have "no way" to survive on her own.
Another parent, Danielle, who has four children, describes the difficulty of staying afloat. "It's hard to try and keep above the emergency," she says. When an unexpected expense arises, she must find extra money or sacrifice her own needs. "On many occasions it's come to that decision, if my children want to do after-school club or I do something for myself, then my children do that club."
Danielle calls for year-round help with energy costs, noting that the winter warm house assistance was helpful but similar support should extend into summer.
According to the latest data, about 32% of children in Wales live in poverty – the highest rate among the four UK nations. The figure has remained largely unchanged for three decades despite various policies.
The Children's Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, urges the next Welsh government to reinstate the target of eliminating child poverty, which was dropped in 2016. "I see it as a very lamentable dereliction of duty and of ambition," she says. "We can't afford to fail another generation."
Cifuentes has witnessed families in extreme poverty, with incomes below 40% of the median after housing costs. "Children coming to school with very little in their lunchboxes... they sometimes can't afford to come every day," she reports.
As the Senedd election on 7 May approaches, parties offer varied solutions: free childcare pledges from Conservatives, Greens, Labour, and Liberal Democrats; a £10 weekly payment for low-income families proposed by Plaid Cymru; and income tax cuts from Reform UK.
Cherrie Bija of Faith in Families, which runs the playgroup and a foodbank, says families are trapped in a relentless cycle. "If you are daily in this crisis... it is really difficult to find that opportunity to break out of it," she says. With over 30 years of experience, she notes that even working families with one or two jobs now need help to cover rent and essentials.
For many parents, the struggle echoes their own childhood experiences, and they desperately want to prevent the cycle from continuing. Tackling child poverty is arguably the biggest challenge facing the next Welsh government.