This was the contents of an 8 year olds lunchbox.

[IAm1]

Nutella sandwich
Bar of dairy milk
Pot of joy
2 custard creams
Cheese string.

Dd asked me if she could have a big chocolate bar in her lunch box. I said no so she declared that Chloe gets all of the above.

I didn't believe her at first but when dd said at the school gates ' my mum doesn't believe you get a whole chocolate bar for lunch'
Chloe nodded and showed me the contents. Her mum stood smiling and nodding and I felt embarrassed.

I didn't really know what to say so just laughed and said goodbye to dd then walked off.

Would you feed your dc that?

Like some parents where I live who drive half a mile to the school gate.

Like me, who's dc have a wonderful wide diet that includes a ton of healthy food because lucky for me that's actually what they like, and who spend most of their time out of school playing outside, walking the dog or at the stables riding, caring for their ponies or charging about jumping things and pretending they are on their ponies. You won't see that though when I'm throwing them out the car at the school gates to rush off to work, or bundling them back in at the end of the day because I haven't had time to drop the car off and walk up despite it only being a 15 minute walk and we need to rush off to their clubs or to the yard - (as a single parent it's my sole responsibility). Stop judging!

I think it is about balance, a healthy 'balanced' nutritious diet with treats in moderation. Obviously a lunchbox like that laden with sugar is not nutritious and not great no. However i know somebody that was denied all chocolate and snacks as a child and as a result rebelled as an adult and is very overweight because of it and she openly admits it is because her parent were so strict and obsessive with her diet as a child.
I think a small treat from time to time is fine but with a healthier sandwich and piece of fruit etc. Everything in moderation...

Well done for being such a superior parent to Chloe’s. For all you know, Chloe may have told her mother that’s what’s in your child’s lunchbox.

I've been pulled up for yogurt drinks due to sugar content AND plastic issue at ds's school.

Lean and mean at our school

@DaftyD

.

Didn't know they did brownie ones! I would love those.

I'm not saying my dd doesn't have any rubbish in her lunchbox. I was just amazed how much sugar that all contained.
Fair enough if they're happy to feed their children that. I wasn't judging, just asking for opinions.

Who gives a shit

Yes, we have family members who were denied sweets as children but used to raid their cousins' sweet stash whenever they visited during the school hols. They were the type of children/family that Catherine Tate made fun of in one of her MC family sketches.

@AnotherEmma

Why did you start a thread just to bitch about the contents of a child's lunchbox? You know it's ridiculously unhealthy, we all know it's ridiculously unhealthy, so why start a thread about it? There's nothing to discuss.

Strongly agree with this!!!! If it bothers you that much why dont you talk to the mom instead of bitching on here

Blimey, I’m so glad we didn’t have the lunch box police when mine were at school. DS was a nightmare. he hated eating in front of other people and began school refusing etc. I just made sure he had a good breakfast and then a hearty snack when he came in at 3.30. School didn’t like him skipping lunch but better than monitoring every bite and stressing him out.
He is now 18 and almost 6 foot 4 so doesn’t seem to have had his growth stunted or anything!!

'Poor kid'? my old friend used to be like this, she would only eat chicken nuggets, potato waffles, ketchup, nuttella, ham sandwiches, cereal, a few types of milk chocolate, cola and peas. She was and still is (and as far as I know, still eats like this) perfectly healthy. She just wouldn't eat anything else. She would have rathered starve than eat something else, and in fact she did, when we went away for brownies camp. I doubt it's a 'poor kid' situation and more of a 'this is all she will eat' situation. From the day I met her up until now she has had this limited diet.

We have a healthy eating policy , as do most schools in Ireland- no choc, no nuts, no crisps, no sweets, no choc covered rice cakes/ dried fruit , no fizzy drinks , no cake or homemade cake and no popcorn or biscuits .

@GiveMeAllTheGin8 that sounds so depressing what about the kids who absoloutely won't eat other food.

I wasn't judging, just asking for opinions.

Right,

I love a MN competitive lunch-making thread. It usually has all the old favourites:

• only home-made cake
• carrot sticks (home-grown, naturally)
• the 'my child's teeth would instantly rot and fall out if they so much as looked at chocolate!' parents
• the 'fruit contains far too much sugar' puritans
• flasks of home made soup

Aren't flasks of homemade soup a right PITA for the school staff if the child spills it. Bet they'd prefer a slice of cold pizza or a shop-bought croissant in that case!

DD has days when her lunch would give half of MN the vapours.
Jam sandwich
An apple
An actimel
A pot of grapes
A bag of crisps
If she's really lucky winders or one of the small kitkats.

On the good days replace the jam with cheese. Total pain in the butt that kid.

It's the school's fault for not providing hot lunches anymore.

@GiveMeAllTheGin8 that sounds so depressing what about the kids who absoloutely won't eat other food.

Sounds pretty depressing even for my totally unfussy dc who love a tuna wrap and crudité with hummus

@DaftyD

Well this has prompted me to investigate pots of joy, which sound awesome.

Thanks, op!

I can't help but think of a pot of joy as being something totally different to the reality. Are they to do with happy endings?

It’s not depressing at all, they are only in school for 5 hours. They have before and after school to eat whatever they want 🤷‍♀️

I can't get worked up about this. If it was about a kid with hardly anything in their packed lunch I'd be upset, but this, nope. For all you know the child hardly eats and the mum is desperate to get calories into her.

We have a healthy eating policy , as do most schools in Ireland- no choc, no nuts, no crisps, no sweets, no choc covered rice cakes/ dried fruit , no fizzy drinks , no cake or homemade cake and no popcorn or biscuits .

As long as they made exceptions for DC with allergies/restricted eating/medical reasons I'd be fine with that.

@IAm1 Did you raise the nut issue with a member of staff?

That could safe a life.

@AlternativePerspective

Also it’s worth bearing in mind that the anaphylaxis campaign are strongly against nut bans as children often enter secondary (where nuts are never banned as it’s unenforceable) the children are unable to consider their allergies since these will have been micro managed for them until now.

I wonder about this. I work in a secondary school and there isn't a ban on nuts in packed lunches.

We are made aware of kids with but allergies and get training in epi pens. And we can't use nuts in science practicals. But that's the extent of it.

How does the transition between primary and secondary happen?

Ds10 has most boring lunch everyday because he is so picky.
Ham sandwich no butter
Mini yoghurt
Carrot and cucumber sticks
Apple or orange or both

@ginwithasplashoftonic

I don't know about in school but my DD with nut allergies learnt how to check labels as she learnt to read and got to know which foods were not OK. The secondary school system enables dietary requirements to be flagged up if she accidentally ordered a main meal with nuts in it as it isn't always obvious but she knew from day 1 at primary never to share any foods at lunchtime. She has packed lunches at the moment as she doesn't want to queue up for cooked meals, some of her friends will have nuts but they are OK eaten near DD - so far! If she happens to react unexpectedly one day she always has her epipen and knows how to use it, so does her best friend as coincidentally her younger brother has a nut allergy.

This will blow your mind OP, my DC's school did a science experiment with pots of joy recently - they all had to bring one in (own brand equivalents also acceptable) and they even got to eat it afterwards!
This thread just makes me want one.