To think it’s a bit unreasonable that children have to have fruit for school snack.

At all the schools I worked in KS1 children were given a free piece of fruit or veg each day, which we gave out at break time. Children could bring in their own if they liked but it had to be fruit or veg. If the children didn’t want a particular fruit that day they would just say ‘no thank you’ and go out to play. Not a big deal. Most children had something most days but not all. There was the occasional fruit and veg fiend who loved everything and the occasional child who wouldn’t eat or try anything at all, but that’s life.

As another PP has said, schools choose to put guidelines in place for such things because the alternative is then issues when some children are sent into school with sweets or a crunchie bar or similar. Then other parents complain that they’re trying to encourage healthy habits but it’s hard when school is allowing unhealthy snacks…..

At home you can give your child whatever you want her to eat whenever you want to give it but at school there will have to be some restrictions. That’s because dealing with lots of children from lots of different backgrounds and trying to do the best for all of them means that your individual child might not get to do what you would optimally like them to do. You can’t school a class of 30 at an individual level for every part of the day, you just can’t. There is already too much ‘Oh but MY child…’ going on in schools where parents want to dodge the rules for their own child but not for others and it is just untenable. And before I get a pile- on, yes of course medical needs and certain SEN requirements need reasonable adjustments, but a ‘my child’s personal timetable and preferences requires that she needs x’ does not come into this category.

Do what you can at home to give her an adequate breakfast at a reasonable time and then let her have the fruit at break time.

@BoredZelda
Apples keep for three or four months if stored in a cool dry place.
As others have said, it's not that there aren't healthy alternatives to fruit, it's simply that the rule needs to be clear.
Of course, OP, you could always send her with an avocado .... I defy anyone to be hungry after eating one of those.

I sent fruit but also a couple of digestives or what I thought appropriate which were consumed discreetly if needed in loo 😬Not all people can eat at ordered times first thing in the morning.

Fruit is available at the school I work at for morning snack, and the school provide it free of charge. Fruit is also available at lunchtime for those children who have a school dinner. Once children reach a certain age (it was Year 3 onwards) school lunches aren't free if charge, unless parents are on a low income/benefits. Mist children from this point stop having school lunches and bring in a packed lunch instead.

In my infants and junior school we weren't allowed to take any food or drinks in at all for playtime not even fruit. If we did it would be confiscated. I sometimes didn't feel like breakfast so went until dinner time before eating anything. As others have said send her with a banana they're quite filling. You can get 1 of those plastic cases to put them in so it doesn't get squashed.

Great for those middle class parents who can pop in to Waitrose to pick up the papaya for their kids’ snacks. Those who live in food deserts will find this much harder.

If schools want kids to eat more fruit, they should provide it as part of the school lunch. There are other healthy snacks kids can have, just restricting it to fruit is ridiculous.

Not being unreasonable, I don't like the policing of pack lunches or snacks either. If she eats breakfast that early though, I can't see why you can't give her a bit of malt loaf before you leave.

Unfortunately, schools are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Your child may understand healthy eating and is provided healthy food at home but many parents don't. What constitutes a 'healthy snack' varies from parent to parent! Fruit is universally understood as being 'healthy', and it's easy for parents. Schools shouldn't have to tell parents what food groups are healthy, but sadly many don't have a clue or simply can't be bothered. If schools don't say 'only fruit' for morning snack, I can absolutely guarantee some children will have been given crisps, chocolate and pastries etc!! My advice would be to give your daughter more for breakfast, and make sure there's protein - eggs, porridge etc. Then for her snack, a banana and perhaps another piece of fruit.

YABU. They have this rule because otherwise parents send kids in with haribo/ chocolate/ crisps and those parents which do send healthy snacks end up with peer pressure and whinging. And the school has to try to teach kids full of sugar and e-numbers. Yes they could specify a “healthy snack” but that’s got quite a bit of latitude (I.e sorry to be a bit Mumsnet but I wouldn’t put malt loaf in that category, it’s all sticky sugar and horrendous for teeth). Saying just fruit means there’s a clear boundary, although I am sure they’d be fine with a carrot too.

I agree with others- give her eggs/ nuts at breakfast and/ or some breadsticks and cheese or an egg sandwich just before school.

Cheaper than pretty much all packaged snacks you can get. I think 99p for 5 or 6 in Aldi.
I'm lucky as my kids will pick fruit/veg over pretty much anything. I used to act like they were a special treat they could have if they were really good 🤣 (whilst filling their meals with loads of hidden veggies) reverse psychology at it's finest. I remember telling my eldest to have a biscuit instead of a banana because they had been cheeky. It might not work for all but it absolutely worked here. Now they get all excited about having fruit while the Halloween sweets sit untouched in the cupboard.

I support initiatives generally but I also support recognition that parents know their children. Many don't send their children to school with sweets. Many have active children. Many don't eat three meals a day or believe that just 'eating more at breakfast' is automatically a healthy approach to food.

I get where you’re coming from. Fruit is healthy, but it’s not always filling enough for every child, especially if they eat early or are more active. I suppose the school’s trying to make things simple and consistent, but it does feel a bit strict when there are plenty of other healthy options out there. Maybe they could allow things like cheese, yoghurt, or oat bars as alternatives — still nutritious but a bit more substantial.

I look back nostalgically to the days when a Marmite sandwich was my usual thing for break time.

And so we have the next unhealthy generation dying young it’s so sad

This is so sensible and how my daughter prefers to eat, a few small meals/snacks. The UK has a bizarre attachment to 3 meals a day. My daughter won't eat a 'bigger' breakfast first thing in the morning.

Not the end of the world if a kid won’t eat a mid morning snack of fruit. Give them a bigger breakfast if you think they can’t make it till lunchtime. Chances are they can anyway.

feel so sorry for school staff having to manage the kickback from parents and fussy children when this is an attempt to foster healthy eating habits for all.

As my children are all a healthy weight (in fact one is underweight and we are always looking at ways to feed him up), I’m fairly sure they don’t ’eat too much’.
Children concentrate better at school when they’re not sitting with growling stomachs.

Our school tried giving house points for bringing fruit but the janitor could barely liff the bins after playtime as they were full of discarded fruit that hadn't been eaten.
Our school parents don't like being to what they can and can't do so now the kids just bring anything- crisps, sweets, fizzy drinks etc.

It was the same with packed lunches. They tried policing this but the parents took no notice so it was abandoned.

When my son was in primary school they instituted a “no chocolate” rule. I told them that my medically underweight son was having chocolate at his break time as instructed by his doctor and dietitian.

He was very obviously skinny. He had chocolate at breaktime. I think the work involved in keeping me happy was a lot less than telling other children that my son didn’t have to adhere to the rules 🤣

I’m not from the UK—I’m from a country praised for its (Mediterranean) diet. I cannot understand the point of people posting “I wonder how we survived without a snack,” “kids need to be able to feel hunger,” etc. When I went to school many years ago, we also had a snack (which parents got to choose—normally, a juice carton and a sandwich (ham and cheese, tuna, pâté, etc.) was the most common choice); is “5 meals a day” not a rule in the UK? Kids are growing and they need to eat. Besides, eating 5 meals a day is proven to help with appetite control and also managing sugar levels/energy. I get that we have more information today about what are/are not healthy choices, but I don’t see the point on just forcing to only eat fruit. Surely they could say “children must bring a snack which has to include a piece of fruit” and leave it at that.

I’m over 40 and had a morning snack at school! Keeping blood sugar levels consistent throughout the morning is good for concentration, which is needed for school. Having said that, fruit isn’t great for keeping blood sugar levels consistent!
I can see why schools impose this rule though. Anything else is open to interpretation. At my DD’s old school they just said ‘a healthy snack’, but people sent in things that were far from healthy.
Mine have breakfast at 6.30am as they leave for school at 7.15am. They take a pot of grapes for break time, and are ravenous by lunch. Bananas tend to get bashed around in the bottom of their bag and are inedible by the time it comes to eat them.

What does she have for breakfast? I find weetabix or porridge/ready break more filling than eg cornflakes. if that is at 7, get her ready for school then give her a slice of toast or malt loaf.

if you eat tea early, give her a bowl of cereal for supper so she isn’t so hungry on waking and you can push breakfast time back a bit and have time to make something that will keep her full for long eg scrambled egg on toast: beans on toast.

Two children with very different medical needs are given different advice by the respective medical teams.

On the subject of blood sugar spikes and fruit, I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic a couple of years ago, I bought a CGM to use for a couple of weeks and I was surprised that a banana spiked mine more than chocolate.

I think often school rules are based on a single child or family. So if you have a 'snack option' of protein, fruit or veg you may well get a child with yesterday's chicken nuggets and fries.

It's a shame for the majority of parents who would send in cheese or carrot sticks.

Fruit only is easy to understand and should ensure a child has at least one piece of fruit in the day.

Because the sugar absorption is significantly slowed down by the fibre in the whole fruit.

Whereas the fruit sugar in juice and those yo-yo strips or whatever is highly concentrated and will give a big sugar rush quickly followed by a crash, leaving them hungry again.

You wouldn’t eat three apples in a row but you’re drinking the same amount of sugar in a glass of juice, and it rushes straight to your blood rather than being more slowly absorbed as it would be eating the whole fruit. That’s without even mentioning the benefits of fibre for gut health.

Ha! Yes. In winter it was tolerable as it was at least cold. But in the summer....
There's not much I'd thank Maragaret Thatcher for, to put it mildly, but at 7, she'd have had my vote!