Do your children have to take a morning snack to school?

[Longwhiskers]

Just curious what other schools do. Ours requests a morning snack sent in for the children. My younger one is not fussed what they’re sent with but it causes tensions with the older one who is easily influenced by what others have (they claim classmates all have crisps and expensive snack bars) whereas I try to send mine in with fruit or homemade muffins etc (not cool apparently!). I’m fed up with the whole thing. The cooked lunch is often rubbish so several days a week we have to send in packed lunch so it’s a faff.

Really? Nothing to eat between breakfast and lunch is quite a long time when you have a full on morning including active time. Most learning is done in the mornings, especially with yogurt year groups. I started school in 1984 and we always had a 'play piece' (Scottish term for playtime snack) much the same as kids do now. You'd have some hangry kids by noon otherwise if they'd had nothing since about 7.30 am

Fruit or veg only in my primary school, it goes back and forth for the week then ends up in the bin (or mashed in the bag) I've given up now.

My children's school required us to send in a morning snack and an afternoon snack during the primary years. It had to be either a piece of fruit or veg (or combination of both). No chocolate, sweets or anything packaged like YoYo bears etc. and nothing with nuts obviously. And yes, it was enforced.

I went to school during that time, albeit not in the UK. We had breakfast at home, school started at 7.45am, then we had breaktime and everyone had a sandwich or something else all the way up to the top end of secondary. School finished at 1pm and we went home for lunch. So it's not something novel to take a snack in my experience.

At my school there is a free morning snack provided, as EYFS and KS1.
Snack is usually one of the following: apple, banana, pear, carrots or a satsuma. Once or twice a year there is a small packet of raisins. Occasionally there are sugar snack peas and about once a year, something like strawberries or dried mango - though I haven't seen either in the last couple of years.

At the nearby junior school the children can take in their own mid morning snack but it has to be a piece of fruit or vegetable. Snack bars, winders, fruit bars, packets of dried fruit, biscuits, etc aren't allowed.

Tbh, if he is autistic and wants to fit in, can he not just have a packaged snack for break and leave out the cheddars or the muffin at lunch? I imagine the financial cost would be similar, and although a homemade muffin is probably healthier, the enaotiinal coat of not fitting in is higher than I realised.

Not a snack but we all had full fat milk to drink mid morning.

Yes they can take a snack for break but they don't have to. The school have fruit available for anyone that hasn't got a snack.

I usually dove my dd a little sweetie. She was initially taking crisps or cereal bar but think it was too much for her to eat while wanting to play. She now takes a tiny bag of haribo or couple of maoam sticks.

@Tanaqui yes I think you are right and it’s something I have battled with a bit on the wanting them to have healthy stuff and also the waste of plastic in wrapped granola bars etc. But the fitting is important. I wish the school just did away with the bringing of snacks, I’m sure for many households it’s no big deal but seems to cause angst in ours!

Fruit or veg only at KS2. Free fruit before then.

I'd like to be able to give them some protein but given the state of their friends' packed lunches I understand and support the fruit and veg the rule

Ds had a banana most days in primary, occasionally a cereal bar on a Friday. He had to put up with the shame of the very uncool big yellow plastic banana 🍌protector for years!

When he got to secondary I told him he could pick what he wanted but, even after a huge bowl of Porridge with large banana and protien powder (7:20am), he was always really hungry by snack time (11:15am) and crisps just wouldnt cut it so he opted for a well filled chicken salad wrap to see him through to school lunch at (1:30pm).

Never understood why they had lunch so late in the school day!

DS’s school provide fruit and breadsticks for morning and afternoon snack, but it’s not enough for DS so I send a box similar to @Minimochi - one for the morning, and one for the afternoon. He has hollow legs so they always come back empty!

I buy multipack of cookie bags, 6 bags for 95p ish. They're just so easy and handy, wish I was more organised to prep fruit every day though!

My sons school have 2 snacks a day one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
At the beginning of the week I send In a pack of brioche rolls and 4 pack of yoghurts for his snacks. His teacher has. Fridge in the class for yoghurts to be stored.

Our school gives a piece of fruit.
Taking our own snacks has never been mentioned.

Yes, ours asks to send in fruit

ive always told my kids to eat a big enough breakfast to see then through to lunch. Snacks of fruit were permitted post lockdown when lunch was later. According to my kids they are allowed whatever they want, but I stuck with the fruit rule to they don’t bother.

I was at primary in the eighties, we always had snack at morning break, usually something from the tuck shop which essentially consisted of space raiders, ketchup flavoured snaps, penguin biscuits or clubs.