..to take the piece of paper given to ds2 to write his food diary and write on it myself?

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Something along the lines of "stick it up your arse"

I'm furious. Ds2 is 10. He has to write everything he eats for the next 2 days, the teacher will then give a prize to the person with the "best" diet.

I hate this. I hate the lunchbox police. I hate that they are teaching DCs that there are good and bad foods when there's no such bloody thing IMO

Food is food. I don't ban sugar or whatever, I don't give low fat yoghurt or sugar free squash to a 10 year old. Or supposedly healthy cereal bars.
He eats a balanced diet which includes "bad" foods.

But do you know what has really really pissed me off?

We are going out for dinner to celebrate my DN birthday. We are going to tgi Fridays cos the DCs love it. My ds2 is now really worried that he is going to get in trouble.
He is saying to me that he won't have the Oreo milkshake that he loves and only has once a year and he won't have a dessert and he will have a healthy main course.

I am furious. We don't go out to eat very often. He eats a balanced diet, he is very active and this teacher is making him worried about going out for dinner? What the actual fuck?

I told him not to write it. And I said that I will write a note to the teacher explaining that we do not have good and bad foods in this house and making a 10 year old feel guilty about going out for dinner or fretting about what they are going to eat is unacceptable

The thing is, at 10, they eat what is provided, don't they?
I mean they don't do the shopping or meal planning or cooking. So they are now made the feel guilty about something they have no fucking control over anyway.
What is this supposed to achieve exactly?

[LucyLasticBand]

i think yabu
surely it is the whole class of 30. so he isnt going to be singled out
and surely there are good things he is going to eat. a diet is a mixture of foods. and who is going to know if it is full fat yoghurt or sugar free squash?
surely it is just a lesson on nutrition and vitamins?

altnernativley, you could lie about the meals

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

It's not about him being singled out.

It's the fact he is 10 years old, is very active, eats a range of foods and now he is worrying about a rare dinner out and thinking he can't have something because it is "bad"

It isn't bad. Oreo milkshakes are obviously not something he has every day. It's a rare thing. But now, he thinks he can't have it because it is "bad" FFS.

[LucyLasticBand]

why dont you write down what you normally eat when it isnt a speical occasion?

[pussycatdoll]

But you're teaching him there are good & bad foods by telling him 'there aren't good and bad foods'
That phrase wouldn't even cross my mind to say to my kids
& my 10 year old wouldn't be bothered writing he'd drunk a milkshake either
He should just write what he's eaten
The only thing I'd gave an issue with is the prize scenario
Are you sure he's correct about that ?

[eurochick]

YANBU. Teaching healthy eating principles is one thing, but this seems to be going too far. How can a teacher (who is presumably not a trained dietician) just what is "best" anyway?

[limitedperiodonly]

YANBU. It would infuriate me too. I hope you can convince him to eat what he likes this afternoon. Oreo milkshakes sound good btw.

[saidthecattothemouse]

Make the entries up. Seriously.

[callamia]

Good for you.
This is really badly thought out homework.
Children (and adults) need to feel clear and educated about food and their diets, not bribed or guilt-tripped. That said, perhaps your son could win because he will be balancing a blow out meal with something less extravagant the day after?

[hoobypickypicky]

YANBU. Write that you don't intend to allow the school to control or judge the way you parent, what you offer for meals or how you run your household and so your son won't be completing this piece of work. Or rip the piece of paper up and ignore the demand.

Either will get the message over. Trust me.

[WipsGlitter]

Furious? Really? Get a grip. And make it up.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

It wouldn't cross my mind to say that to my DCs either.

But the teacher has given them a list of good and bad foods.
So then I had to explain that food is not good or bad, it is food
Some food groups we need more of to keep our bodies running correctly.
Some food we eat less of. It doesn't make it "bad" FFS.

And yes there's a prize. There's a heading on the paper he was given.

And I don't give a flying fuck if his teacher thinks his diet is bad.
I don't want my ds to be thinking in terms of bad food. At 10.
He knows about nutrition FFS my older DS is an athlete and knows what his body needs and when and ds2 knows this as well

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Get a grip?

So it's ok to make 10 year old obsessive over good and bad food?

I'd rather not have a grip and have children with a healthy attitude to food, thanks all the same.

[Dominodonkey]

Yanbu- there is more education, weighing, programmes, monitoring than ever before and fatter children. In the 80s and 90s we weren't taught about what we should be eating and my mate on free school meals had chips and cake everyday. It was exercise that kept us slim.
Just lie if he is worried or write the note. What a shame that it may spoil your boys treat.

[HumphreyCobbler]

I would be furious too actually.

I was prepared to say the OP was being UR as I assumed it was a kind of data handling exercise. But a prize for the best diet??!!!

I agree they can fuck off. IME (primary school teacher) other primary school teachers know very little about nutrition. To give something the accolade of best diet is ridiculous. The teacher is not equipped to decide this.

I wouldn't do it, and I would write a letter saying why

[Loopylouu]

Ds had one of these home too. I made it up as we were at lego land over the weekend he was supposed to fill it in.

He too started to get worried about what he ate. He came home saying that they were told not to eat full fat products or butter , but thankfully at 11, he knows that full fat is far better than low fat and margerine.

[Loopylouu]

And I think it's madness too. Like you said, children are fed by parents, they don't shop for themselves.

[WooWooOwl]

They did this at my dcs primary school and I felt the same as you. Especially when they did it again during SATs week, including what time they went to bed and got up.

It turned out that many of the parents felt the same way I did and many of the families didn't bother filling in their form, or they just left out things that they didn't want to be judged on.

It's great that they are being taught about nutrition, but in my experience they go about it completely the wrong way. They seem to care far more about the schools bullshit healthy eating award than they do whether the children are actually eating a balanced diet or not.

Oreo milkshakes are divine.

[LucyLasticBand]

sounds like it is askign for body issues

[WipsGlitter]

All this foaming at the mouth makes me think you don't have a healthy attitude to anything.

That fact that your child is "obsessing" when loads of the kids won't bother or will forget to even tell their parents about it is also worrying.

Getting "furious" about something you can choose not to participate in?

[pussycatdoll]

But the teacher has given them a list of good and bad foods


I agree with you op

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

I'm not making it up.

I'm not going to pretend that he are bloody cereal bars, low fat yoghurt and sugar free squash all weekend, those are on the good list btw.

If he wants to make it up that's up to him.
I shall be telling the teacher what I think of it anyway.
In a very calm, nice manner.

[yellowsnownoteatwillyou]

I think I'm going to find this type of thing difficult when my ds goes to school. I really wouldn't want to lie but also wouldn't want them feeling uncomfortable about what they are eating. I think I will end up being "that mum" which then could make ds uncomfortable.
However my mum was "that mum" and I couldn't have cared less, of others reaction. But it depends on how your child would feel to walk in with a note like that.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

wisps this is his weeks homework, so of course he thinks he has to do it.
And he has been given a (very inaccurate) list of good and bad foods. So now he is worried that the teacher is going to tell him that he was "bad"

There's no frothing or obsessing. I do have a very healthy attitude towards food, that is precisely the reason why I am annoyed about this, as it is causing my ds2 to have an unhealthy attitude towards what he eats.

[Nomama]

And breathe!

Not unreasonable at all. I teach nutrition and am usually horrified at what kids 'know'. You could contact the teacher and ask in what context was this homework was given? Also challenge the prize for the best diet - based on what criteria, what specialist knowledge, is the grading individualised for each child, based on their lifestyles, etc What is the message/learning outcome for the class?

It takes me hours to assess diets, I teach wannabe elite athletes in all sorts of sports, and I have to know their sport, position, fitness levels, periodisation of training, performance goals etc. The same sort of depth would be required assessing anyone's diet.

When will schools realise that they only need to teach the basics? For their purposes BMR/RMR and the food plate or pyramid will do. Any more detail and they are almost guaranteed to be wrong.

[LucyLasticBand]

leave it to him op, he writes what he wants, he is the one going in to school, does he come home and ask for a fat free diet or something?