Jam sandwiches at wraparound care

They are providing something healthy. The OP's child is not choosing the healthy option.

Being furious about something so low level really isn't good for your health.

Ordinary cheese is surely cheaper than the processed type. I suggested grated cheese as it makes it go a lot further. Growing children need energy. Energy comes from sugar and fat. They also need protein and calcium, amongst other things. Bread with a scraping of spread (butter will be too expensive) and a scraping of jam, a wafer thin slice of ham or a teaspoonful of grated cheese seems like a decent snack to me to keep the children going till a proper meal in the evening. A tiny sandwich like that would not have prevented my children from eating their evening meal.

I would be absolutely furious at this OP and I would keep phoning to make sure they provide something healthy for my child!

I expect you've worked up an appetite for this feast by fasting for the other 364 days. Only safe option, really.

High in saturated fat and salt. Also not great for those allergic to dairy.

tiny bit of protein certainly but if a tiny bit of cheese makes no difference, I’m not sure why a tiny bit of jam is the end of days

Rice cakes dipped in water are a once a year treat here...delicious 😋

I doubt it is cheddar cheese though, it's much more likely to be a processed option.

Not that I have very strong opinions on whether a cheese sandwich is healthier than jam, personally.

Isn't that rice cakes? Back in the 90s they were the snack of choice for some health-conscious families in our area. I succumbed to peer pressure and bought some. Like eating a polystyrene ceiling tile. Never again.

Please explain how a light grating of Cheddar cheese is less healthy than jam.

Am amazed I made it through the night, btw, as I had a ham roll for lunch yesterday. Thoughts and prayers, please.

My cat's an amorphous solid!

Chia seed jam sounds like the most miserable thing anyone has every put in their mouth.

It's positive, I think, that we've now reached the point of acknowledging that budget changes would be needed to change the catering. Because fundamentally, food provision in ASC comes out of a very specific set of practical and financial constraints, which we aren't going to solve merely by saying jam bad. Someone would have to pay, and it doesn't appear that parents are both willing and able to do so.

That said, I think budget changes to fund better food options in ASC would be a hard sell, especially as only a minority attend. There might be more scope for improvement of school lunches, which are increasingly appalling.

Yes it's a jam sandwich 4
times a week. The horror.

Its not supposed to be replacing a main meal, its supposed be a snack. it's just that the OP's child is hungry for their dinner earlier than the OP is available to provide it. That's an OP problem.

All she has to do is provide what she believes to be more suitable food herself and send it in.

I could sort out the financial problems of the ASC - I'd pay for access to a webcam in the school office when that email arrives.

It’s not a jam sandwich. It’s a four times a week, replacing a main meal, jam sandwich. One jam sandwich just wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Let's be realistic. These are not going to be the kids who are in the ASC because both parents work, but where the mum has got enough leisure time to be emailing repeatedly about jam.

Access to NHS dental care, cut backs of all support services, and increaaing levels of poverty (the parents who can't afford ASC) as well as reduced public spaces like parks and their condition, are where we should be directing concern.

No @darkat7not at all, homecooked food is the ideal for mental and physical health

but the OP is choosing not to do that. Either by picking her child up, choosing afterschool care that provides this, or sending her child in with her own home prepared food.

My word, I've seen it all now. £8 per child per session to cover all overheads and you think they will provide a special, very expensive jam rather than the cheapest jam available at ASDA, Aldi, Lidl, Costco or wherever they get their supplies. You are living on another planet.

All this drama over a jam sandwich. Jeez. 🫠🫠🫠

The good news is that for those parents who think the jam sandwiches are going to lead to grossly obese and toothless children, they have the option of sorting alternative ASC or sending them in with home prepared food. So can we all take a deep breath and calm down in that knowledge.

That’s definitely the takeaway (pun intended) here.

Oh and if you try to provide healthy, home cooked food for your children you are setting them up for a life of mental health challenges.

But @AlenaMaccwhat is to be done. What is your cheap, healthy, dairy free, vegan/vegetarian solution?

or is that not your responsibility?

it’s like delivering Brexit.

You know what - you’re right.

We should just collectively give up and instead of trying to find a proper alternative or pushing for budget changes, accept that British children will continue to be more and more obese, will have teeth pulled out at 5yo due to a high sugar diet, become shorter each year compared to other kids in Europe because of crap food.

It’s how we get ahead in life as a society - by burying our heads in the sand and saying “there’s nothing that can be done!”

But did it have chia seeds?

The queen had a jam sandwich every day of her life- I think it was a round jam sandwich called a penny.

Presumably there will be children for whom jam sandwiches meet their dietary needs (vegan/allergies) and their parents are happy with that choice.

Why does the OP get to overrule that?