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?

Experiment.
Put 20 half drunk and leaky cartons in the bin, along with assorted bits that pierce the bag.
Wait until 4pm and then lift the bag out of the bin, put it on the floor, go and do the same with the other binliner from the other bin and then carry the two across the hall to the outside skips.
Guess what happens?
It's not about one child, one is easy peasy.

Why all this angst? Support the idea of bringing back school dinners. I understand the diversity issues etc, but come on, it surely must be possible. imo a lunch box brought home from a germ laiden school was the last thing I wanted to deal with. And deal with it I did. Children will not starve, offered food. Free your selves!

Chatelaine - school dinners are expensive. I have two boys at school, £2.10 each per day.
That makes a lot of sandwiches!

Agree with the taking time to eat comment - my Reception boy is only just four and takes ages. He's learning to speed up a bit now though, after a couple of days where he hardly had time to eat anything!

DS1 only ever drinks half of his carton and it very rarely leaks. Even if it does it takes less than a min to wipe the bag out ready for the next day anyway...

School dinners cost a lot! £50 pounds a month and that's just for one child, what happens when DS starts school?

Plus, the school dinners there are crap; chips, pizza and coleslaw seems to be a regular on the menu. And it's not as if it gets any better. I've seen the dinners at our place and they're just as bad. Cheese, deep fried breaded meat/fish, chips and jelly with cheap cream on top. Wet veg and a tray of cherry tomatoes which goes in seconds. It may be easier but cheaper and better it is not.

Have bought a squidgy pink thing with an easy open sports top from Wilkos, so problem solved.

Wow, DD doesn't start school for another two years, I dread to think how things will have deteriorated by then . It wasn't so long ago that I was at primary school and I can remember the dinner ladies seemed to have the ability to help then. What has changed that they now only stand in corners and watch? And what is the point of having them if they aren't actually there to help?

Cece, I don't mind wiping it out, but DD can be strangely finicky about things like that and refused to open the carton!

Fgs, just buy her a bottle like you were meant to. Stop blaming the school.

Erm: "Have bought a squidgy pink thing with an easy open sports top from Wilkos, so problem solved".

I don't think I blamed the school. I'm just pondering the point of dinner ladies.

Someone's a bit angry!

Rockbird - 250 children, 6 midday staff. 3 outside with 125, 3 inside with the other 125. For argument's sake, 50 packed lunches and 75 dinners. 2 helping dinners and 1 helping packed lunches. If every one of those 50 children could find their lunchboxes, could open them, could peel fruit, could open yoghurt pots, frubes, pepperonis, could open their drinks, packs of sandwiches, biscuits, crisps AND not make a mess that had to be cleared up, then the assistant WOULD have time to go and empty drinks cartons!

Can I just applaud you..

AIBU ?
Yes
Yes you are

Ok thanks

Not the way aibu usually goes so it is refreshing to see you genuinely wanted to know !

But hocus, how is that different to my primary school (as an example) which had similar numbers, all with packed lunches? That's the bit I don't get. I'm sure we were no more disorganised.

I'm not being arsey honestly! I've been out of the school system so long, I really would be interested to know what's changed! Less yogurt maybe...

Not sure exactly but maybe child/adult ratios are more strict, did some children go home to lunch? As you say, maybe less plastic/pre-wrapped stuff. Maybe the children didn't just sit there waiting for an adult to do everything for them. My school is just an infant school and I know the midday assistants are exhausted at the end of two sittings! Remember as well, with 4/5 yr olds, they often don't recognise their lunchbox, some are not named so it could take 10 minutes to help actually FIND their lunch. I don't know, maybe the op's midday assistants ARE just lazy...

Am I glad I saw this thread. DS,4 also has to bring all his rubbish home and had a half full juice carton on the first day.

Of course it leaked everywhere and DH was moaning like hell about the dinner ladies and why didn't empty it etc. I realised it was my problem and so bought him a screw cap bottle, problem solved.

I will show this thread to Dh as he is still going on about it

Well going against the flow (even though you have sorted it by now!) at our school the middays empty juice cartons and give it back and even empty yoghurt pots if necessary, and open all those chooby things and water bottles etc etc! Is really isn't hard .

Experiment.
Put 20 half drunk and leaky cartons in the bin, along with assorted bits that pierce the bag.
Wait until 4pm and then lift the bag out of the bin, put it on the floor, go and do the same with the other binliner from the other bin and then carry the two across the hall to the outside skips.
Guess what happens?
It's not about one child, one is easy peasy.

What a load of bollox!

how the hell do other catering set ups cope???!!!

I was only going to post to say why the heck dont they have rubbish bins in the dinner hall until i saw the above post.

I speak from first hand experience in many schools. From a teaching and from a cleaners' perspective. So on what grounds are you bolloxing my post?

amberleaf - schools are not catering establishments.......they're - ermm - schools.

And generally speaking staff in catering establishments don't have to ensure that the people eating them are sitting down, eating nicely, not flicking food across the room, not stealing someone elses sandwiches,, not desparate to go for a wee,........

as well as having to clear up, and do playground duty

Imisssleeping Thank you :) I went backwards and forwards with it (obviously have too much time on my hands) so it's nice to know really!
.

YABU. But you know that now

YABU

My juice carton used to leak in my lunch box every day. The lunch box contents are going to be thrown out and the box washed right?

Tell her it doesn't matter if it leaks.

"I speak from first hand experience in many schools. From a teaching and from a cleaners' perspective.
So on what grounds are you bolloxing my post?"

well...cos i think its bollox!

MaMoTTaT

No schools are not catering establishments, but they employ catering staff!

quite honestly its common sense to me, no dripping bin bags across dinner halls-take the inside bin to the outside bin! duh! thats what they do at my childrens school.