Am I being a bit ott? School lunch stuff.

[Rosieeo]

OK, I'm honestly not sure, so don't mind being told I'm BU.

DD has started reception and takes a packed lunch. I put a carton of juice in at the moment as I haven't got around to buying a beaker with a lid (it was on my to-do list anyway). After this week I'm going to do it today.

She's brought her carton home three times this week unopened. When I asked why she said it was because it would leak in her lunch box.

The first time this happened, I told her to ask the dinner ladies to squeeze the last bit out when she'd finished (all rubbish has to come home) but the next day she said they wouldn't do it! I checked this with another parent and she said that it was true, the dinner ladies would supervise pack ups but would not help in any way.

The children do have an individual water bottle in the classroom throughout the day, but I know that DD is often too 'busy' to have a drink.

So AIBU to be annoyed that because the dinner ladies won't help, DD has been too concerned about her juice leaking to have a big drink at lunch time? Or am I now turning to one of those mad parents who complain about everything and anything and that I promised myself I would never be?

Why don't you give her a plastic bag to put the drink carton in?

Personally I think if every parent thought like you, you would be making a lot of uneccessary work for the dinner ladies.

Even if you gave her a disposable water bottle, this might be better as she could screw the lid back on.

There are ways of making your little girls life easier and as the parent, I would see this as my role, not someone elses.

Get her a little bottle with a sports cap. That's what mine have in their lunch boxes. I don't send cartons for my 4 year old because he can't open them.
Realistically, the dinner ladies can't possibly open all the cartons / yoghurts / drinks etc. for all the children.
My boys have come home before with things uneaten because they can't get into them - I now don't send anything they can't manage.

YABU yes because the dinner ladies dont have time to squeeze the last bit out of every child's carton, just buy her a beaker/flask. Or give her a drink in one of those bottles with a sports cap - like a fruit shoot bottle design, if you've had time to buy cartons then surely they had drinks with sports caps in the same shop?

YABU
Why did you not just buy her a water bottle for her lunch box? It's not like you didn't know she was going to school.

YANBU, helping a 4 year old to eat and drink the contents of their lunchboxes is not a ig ask of a dinner lady is it? I presume they dont expect those who are school dinners to self serve their food do they? Or bring what they dont eat home with them?

It makes me a bit cross that my DC school treat children who bring their own lunch very differently from those who pay for a school dinner. I have had a few words with DSS school as he has 7 minutes to eat his lunch some days (DSS is 10 and has a digital watch, school agreed that this would have been the case). The children that are school dinners go in first and others have to wait for room in the hall. They agreed this wasnt long enough to eat, but it still happens .

We have 45 children in reception, some of whom are very slow and fussy eaters. So the middays spend time coaxing and encouraging some of them to have more than one bite. If they had to squeeze out up to 45 juice drink cartons, that would add to the burden and might mean that other, more important stuff wasn't observed and dealt with.
It is also horrible to be the child whose juice leaked over everyone else's lunchboxes. Everyone gets cross with you.
Glad you are getting round to buying her an appropriate beaker.

YABU

Seems to me that a plastic bag would solve the problem...

Don't complain, really don't.

Just buy the water bottle and forget about it.

As I mentioned in my OP, I am going to buy a beaker for her. She already has a water bottle with a sports cap for the classroom.

She doesn't have any problems opening the carton, but didn't want it to leak. I appreciate that squeezing a bit of juice out of a carton is time-consuming, however I can't help but wonder what a lunch-time supervisor is supposed to do if they're not allowed to help the children!

But fair enough, I asked and have been told :)

If the juice is half full and put into the bag, unless someone seals the bag it won't help much.

Put it in a plastic zip lock bag. Put extra paper napkins or a paper towel in the bottom of her lunch pack, in case it does drip, will be less messy.
Although only temporarily, as it is better to follow the 2 R's, and buy a re usable container :)

YABU a bit as this was easily solved if you had just bought 2 bottles. At our school children have to take water in for the classroom and for lunch too.

The sistema juice/water bottles are the best ones we've found for DS who is also four as they are leak proof and have a twisty top he can manage by himself. You can get them on Amazon and Ocado if you can't manage to get to the shops, and at Lakeland.

At DDs school they have actually asked us to provide a water bottle with a sports cap on, one for lunch time, to stay with packed lunch (if they have this) and one that stays in the class. I would not send DD to school with a carton as she would undoubtedly spill it. Like, we have now learnt not to send her in with a yoghurt...

Why not offer to come in one lunchtime and observe the controlled chaos that is reception lunch? hardened Y6 teachers have been known to turn away retching.
You know rec have turned a corner when they stop wearing their yoghurt and don't think it funny to wipe food on others, or swap food, or take 45 minutes to finish.
It usually happens around half term.

at Goblinchild. DD is generally very tidy so I suppose I haven't considered the war zone that is lunch with 50 kids under 8.

Although having dinning hall duty for lower secondary should have opened my eyes a bit.

OK, I'll buy her a beaker today and stop fussing.

Dining hall duty!

YABU, sorry. I can understand why you're annoyed, but really, just using bottle or flask would be better - you can then get a big carton of juice for your fridge and refill each day, which will be much cheaper than cartons anyway.

(3 R's, oops)

YANBU-why on earth can't they pop the juice carton in a bin???

I was wondering that brassband!

I don't get the whole not throwing rubbish away thing either, I can understand bringing uneaten food home but why can't they throw a yoghurt pot in the bin. I used to have to put his lunchbag in the washing machine every night.
DS has several times only drunk half the carton but the dinner lady told him to push the open end of the straw back into the hole and to be fair there was only minimal leaking.
I suggest getting the biggest tupperware that will fit in the bag and making sure your DD puts all rubbish in it and can close the lid.

Dds' school makes them bring rubbish home - apparently so parents can chack what has been eaten.

Think it is really to do with having to pay for their rubbish tobe collceted, so this reduces the bill.

I don't think that you have seen dinner ladies at work-it is hectic and they simply don't have the time!

I was relieved when I discovered ds1's school allows them to empty the rubbish in the bin, I was dreading the cleaning out of the lunch box thing! His lunch box comes home with only the food he doesn't eat and the re usable snack bag he has some nibbles in, and box his fruit goes in. All other stuff is put in the bin. I purposely only send him with a flask of juice as I know he will not drink the whole carton!