To think if chocolate is banned from packed lunches..

[stella1w]

Then ice cream should not be on school lunches menu. Day one of reception full day, i send dd1 in with packed lunch with no chocolate or things with chocolate in them, etc etc. So kid gets hummus sandwiches, carrots and cucumber, yoghurt, apple, cheesy biscuits. Understandably, she now wants school dinners (which i can't afford) because they have icecream.
Aibu to expect school to observe same healthy eating rules it imposes on parents?

[Sirzy]

School dinners are (apparently) planned so that they are balanced throughout the week. They can't do with packed lunches so to stop children having a lunch box full of crap (which does happen) they impose rules to try to control what children are eating in school.

[scurryfunge]

School dinners are rarely about healthy eating. I never understand the packed lunch rules versus calorific rubbish that is part of school dinners.The mind boggles.

[DoMeDon]

YANBU at all. In schools they consider low fat yogurt to be good for children- full of sweetners instead - great. Parents who feed their DC an unhealthy diet will continue to do so with or without lunhcbox fascism. School dinners are shite IMHO.

[MrDobalina]

we just ignore lunch box rules on the rare occasion dd takes a packed lunch

[crackcrackcrak]

Yanbu. I think the lunchbox police will give me the rage!

[cheeseandbiscuitsplease]

I feel very very angry about the lunchbox police!! My little fella just started junior school and the prospectus came home with strict rules regarding lunch boxes, no chocolate, no sweets etc. I always used to pack a small treat in with his lunch when he was at infants and I mean something like half a dozen malteasers in with his grapes or a mini milky way - not a family size dairy milk....he has mild cerebral palsy and I think about boosting his energy levels to get through the afternoon. He now takes a sandwich, crisps, fruit and maybe an Eccles cake or something. It's no big deal but what I really object to is being told what I can and can't feed him and the no chocolate thing really irks me - is it banned from the teachers lunches too? Will it hell!! Chocolates, tins of sweets etc will be in abundance in the staff room table just as they are at the school I work in. Its only a small thing but it winds me up so much.

[Holly3Golightly]

Our school has taken this lunch box thing to the next level with a daily class activity examining everyone's lunch box items and discussing how healthy each snack is. I was fuming when I found my son hiding a muesli bar in his bag because it wasn't 'healthy' enough... he finds the whole name and shame activty really embarassing. It's almost becomming a 'how much does your mum love you?' activity which is measured on how many homemade items are in the lunch box each day. Children are actually making judegments about each other and their families based on their lunch box contents!!!

[Sparklingbrook]

You can all look forward to High School. No lunchbox rules. Only exception is Sports drinks.

[Alligatorpie]

My dd nearly had a meltdown last week when she couldn't find a healthy snack in her lunch box and panicked as she wouldn't get a sticker on the healthy snack chart. I hadn't finished making her lunch.

As a teacher, I often have a piece of chocolate at lunch, ( my school doesn't have a policy) but I can monitor my eating and won't overindulge and then be crazy hyper for the rest of the day.

Note to self- make sure to proofread. Healthy auto corrected to orgy - now that would be an interesting chart ;0

[myBOYSareBONKERS]

Our school takes food off of the children at break time if it is not healthy. However a parent phoned ofsted to check on this and at lunchtime the school CAN NOT decide what is or is not allowed.

Maybe phone your local ofsted office to clarify the situation and then speak to the school

[SpaceCorpsDirective34124]

Get a menu from the school and put in her lunchbox, something as similar to the school dinner pudding as you can. Tell the school you're doing it and that as long as they have on the menu, she'll be having a similar thing in her otherwise healthy lunchbox and if they dare take it off her there'll be hell to pay. If you've phoned ofsted first, like myboys says, and can quote them, so much the better.

Or the less confrontational approach. Send her with the healthy lunch that is required and let her have that day's pudding after her dinner at home.

[OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos]

YANBU. I work lunchtimes at our school, sometimes the only way I can persuade children to eat the lovingly chopped pieces of cucumber/kiwi/carrot etc is by telling them they can have their treat afterwards. Without that, I'd often have no hope, I can't force feed children and they obviously do need to eat something at lunchtime.

The thing that annoys me about the ban on chocolate in some schools is that I can't help children learn to make healthy choices if they only have uber healthy food. It's good for them to learn that they have to have their sandwiches and savouries first, it encourages them to think for themselves about the contents of their lunchbox and which are the healthy things that they should try to eat and which are the treats that need to be limited. The time will come when they don't have restrictions placed on what they can choose from, and I believe that children who have grown up being able to make sensible choices from a variety of food types are less likely to overdose on crap as soon as they are given a bit of freedom.

The only thing I wish is that parents wouldn't give their children an entire big bag of crisps and would separate some into a smaller container instead. It makes it harder for me to get them to eat some of everything they have been given if they are filling up on crisps, and we aren't a school that would take food away from children.

[GoldShip]

Christ god help me when I have kids.

No school is dictating what I can and can't feed them.

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

What gold said. Luckily the primary school is about a minutes walk away, so if i have to, they'll come home for dinner.

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

The lunchbox police dont make any difference to the morbidly obese little girl that i know. She just eats three times as much crap at home. So what exactly is the point?

[ENormaSnob]

Yanbu

[pumpkinsweetie]

Stupid isn't it!!!
My 6yo dds school has given up banning goodies, finally after getting so many complaints like yours.
The school dinners here are healthy about 3 out of the 5 days but there is atleast 2 days where pizza, chips, sponge & cookies are included- definetly more calories than the odd choc bar.

[pumpkinsweetie]

Like Beyond says, its mostly what the kids get from home that makes them obese
I make sure my kids eat in moderation, they still get treats but not too many as i don't want them becoming overweight like me.

[Startailoforangeandgold]

Extra house points for fruit bugged me.

DD2 will happily much apples and grapes at home chilling out to the TV.

If she takes them into school she takes two bites or two grapes and races off to play wasting the rest.

[LesleyPumpshaft]

It's important to learn self control. It's normal to be able to have a biscuit or treat during the day. Most slim, healthy people are able to do this. There's no harm in having a choccie biccy or bag of crisps at lunch.

As for the name and shame lunch box sessions. I would go bat-shit crazy about this one. As someone who has recovered from an eating disorder I find this approach to be very unhealthy!

DS is at secondary school, but they were just starting to bring this in before he moved up.

[TheOneWithTheHair]

Holly that's appalling.

[blueballoon79]

I hate the policing of lunch boxes which goes on in primary school nowadays. Luckily my son has just started secondary school so it is no longer an issue.

He's had chocolate cake confiscated from his lunch box before on a day when the school was serving chocolate sponge and custard for pudding!

I just put what I wanted in his lunch box. He had sandwiches a piece of fruit, a yohurt and a piece of cake and if anyone ever had the audacity to confiscate any of it I would walk into the school and ask them why they where stealing my sons lunch from him-that generally worked.

It's incredibly annoying, incredibly rude and incredibly wrong!

[ProPerformer]

Ok DS starts school next year ..... Now as a rule I would give him a mostly healthy lunch with a little treat like chocolate. (Please say he's at least allowed Jam sandwiches..... He loves jam and chocolate spread as a treat!) but..... Oh how tempting would it be just one day to fill his lunchbox with only the banned crap!? The school couldn't let him starve and if they phoned me for permission to give him a school meal instead I'd flatly refuse and say he's eating what I've given him as OFSTED say they can't dictate his lunch and I'd sue them if they make him starve! (Yes I'm confrontational about stuff that belittles me rights as a parent - dont get me started on chaperones for kids in ameture theatre!)

Honestly this whole healthy eating thing really gets on my tits!
I'd be more inclined to give my DS chocolate with this rule just so I could think of inventive ways to smuggle it in to his lunchbox without the school noticing - chocolate filled brioche anyone?

[Moominsarescary]

Ours hasn't got a lunch box policy, one of the other schools has just banned all drinks except water or pure fruit juice though.