To think that free breakfast at school is a bad idea due to the quality?

I took my kids once and they said they each had a bagel with jam for breakfast (that fake jam that is 99% sugar) so didn't take them again.

I do think they should offer healthier options - even just plain butter instead of jam and healthy cereal and brown bread, which costs the same as white, but I guess they probably want to reduce waste and worry the kids won't eat it otherwise.

My friend runs breakfast club, I helped her costing it setting it up at Easter.

They serve:
porridge, weetabix, cherios or gf Rice Krispies, have non dairy milk option for dc with allergies
apple or orange juice
wholemeal or white toast with jam or marmalade
fresh fruit.

It’s free to all pupil premium children and the school waives the charge for others who they know need it and can’t afford to pay, others pay £3.50 per day and that includes childcare from 7.45am. It’s a good deal for working parents and jeans it’s not obvious who is getting it free either. I don’t see why it needs to be free for all

Ours is always curry. I hate curry. It used to be really good. But was so popular they were loosing money. So have cut back massively.

Mine went to private school and they regularly invited the parents in for lunch so that they could sample what the children were eating.
I had one that started private nursery not wanting to eat cheese and by the end of year six was having a self a cheese and toasty sandwich. Peer pressure is a wonderful thing when it’s used as a positive.

That’s on the school. Mine are at private school and they wouldn’t get away with it having plain pasta for lunch every day and a choc twist isn’t offered as part of a meal, but might be offered as a snack.

Of course, but the result for the unfortunate children is the same.

I think part of the problem is that what is considered a normal breakfast now - toast, cereal etc, was not a normal breakfast for our grandparents. It’s the big food companies selling us breakfast cereals and sliced white bread have told us these are good breakfast foods.

The western world is the main consumer of these products. Asian countries just eat food for breakfast - rice, curry etc. And lots of European countries have fruit, yoghurt, eggs and cheese.

In our house, and I’ll be honest, there isn’t a cereal we haven’t had at some point, we generally have porridge or Greek yoghurt with nuts, seeds and fruit or scrambled eggs on sourdough toast.

I should add that one of my children went to a fancy private school which now charges over £30k for the pleasure. For lunch each day in the prep school she ate, wait for it. Plain pasta. As did 90% of her class. By 6th form she had graduated to cheese toasties and a chocolate twist. Sure there was healthy food but don’t kid yourselves the kids are eating it.

if that is what schools are feeding them, it’s ok.

but I’m not sure they, especially not eggs, which are so nutritious.

special k isnt brilliant, nor is a white bagel, but variation is key, and sounds like it’s not every day.

That's not due to poverty though is it?
There's a big difference between parents that can't feed their kids and parents that won't feed their kids.

Brain chemistry was debunked decades ago. Even the psychiatrists have said this is not the case and the WHO!

We react differently because we experience things differently and perceive things differently. Lockdown being a perfect example. Did a group of people's brain chemicals all change in March 2020 or was it that some people struggled being isolated while others enjoyed the peace and quiet? Absolutely lockdown was a huge plus for trauma informed model of mental health highlighting it wasnt to do with brain chemicals.

Yes we can disagree but for me being black is not abnormal nor a mental health issue nor is wandering womb but crack on believing that. By all means continue with the stigma. I do not believe in stigmatising people who are reacting normally to things in life. We can disagree on that as I never will agree that stigma is ok.

Mental health issues are classed as an illness to control and stigmatise people.

Maybe the problem is too many options - if breakfast was simply porridge (perhaps with a choice of toppings) then everyone would have porridge and they would likely eat it. If white toast or sugary cereal is available then a lot of kids will make the unhealthy (or possibly familiar) choice.

I was going to ask the same. My kids had shreddies or special K with either brown toast or a bagel with marmite or peanut butter. Thought that was a perfectly normal breakfast

By a bad diet or by a food they react to?

@Fetaface I think we’ll have to agree to disagree regarding mental health links to the brain. It’s a field I work closely with.

Brain structure, chemistry and function are strongly linked to mental health. No two brains are the same. We all have different brain make up, this is why we react differently to different situations, including trauma.

Some people’s brain chemicals make them more susceptible to depression and anxiety. It’s not something we can control and that is why mental health issues are classed as an illness.

Surely that's a safe guarding issue ?
My son gets his breakfast every morning at school too not because I don't provide it but becsuse he's severely autistic and won't eat anything untill he has been up a couple of hours ,he goes to a special school and they are fully aware of this and the other kids also get breskfast if they want it,but that's vastly different to me just not feeding him

People can have bad skin without having acne.
Eczema is exasperated by diet for example.

So why did you mention their good skin then?

So acne is a recognised medical condition.
In no way shape or form comparative with the comment that I’m just made.
If he had rotten teeth that would be an entirely on you.

Well I've got 4 adults children. All brought up the same but one had horrendous acne. He had a healthy diet, was meticulous with skin care, I got sick of judgemental people who think their own limited experience makes them an expert.

I guess in that case it's fair enough. If it does get the bums on seats at a decent time. And helps out working parents. Or those on low incomes. Thank you for explaining.

I agree with this its the amount parents now seem to think their kids need hourly snacks. We never had snacks growing up we had our 3 meals.

It was to get kids into school earlier for a range of reasons:

Some kids do not have breakfast and not just those low income families.
Helps parents get to work earlier.
Helps kids who struggle to get into school on time.
Helps kids with emotional needs have a soft start to the school day increasing the chances they attend as attendance is a huge issue.

I think its more due to genetics I'm in my 30s never had a filling i have great teeth never had an issue with my skin. Yet I was brought up on cereal

Surely they're not serving a full fry up? Isn't it just toast, cereal and fruit? Maybe yoghurt at a push?

I'm not sure why all children need free breakfasts either. Shouldn't it be people on low incomes only? The rest should pay a small fee, like a pound or something.