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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be cross that DS not allowed to eat yogurt at break-time

169 replies

ifitsnotanarse · 29/03/2011 19:29

DS1's school have a healthy eating policy for breaktime and children are only allowed to have fruit and water/milk. This morning we had no fresh fruit to send in for break and instead sent in a yogurt as I quite obviously didn't want him being hungry - lunchtime is not until 12pm. We were also late this morning so I didn't get a chance to explain this to his teacher or classroom assistant. When I collected him from school he told me that the classroom assistant did not allow him to eat the yogurt and told him to put it back in his bag until lunchtime. I asked if the assistant asked him if he had anything else to eat and he said that she did and he told her no. Therefore he went hungry. He is 5yrs old and in P1.
I am so mad at the classroom assistant and feel like making a complaint to the head teacher Angry. I completely agree with the fruit and water/milk at breaktime but not to the extent that it policed so rigerously. WTF did she think would happen; the whole class erupt into anarchy?!?
Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 29/03/2011 22:21

you will be back MRB Grin

will save you a place on the drunk thread

MrsRhettButler · 29/03/2011 22:24

yes! i can't wait to join in again, keep my seat warm for me, i may come back and 'pretend' once i stop working nights on a friday :)

Original poster
ifitsnotanarse · 30/03/2011 01:19

Yogurts are acceptable in the school at lunchtime. Breaktime is taken at the children's table, not in yard. The root of this sorry saga is that I am not a one of these wonderful mummys who are soooo organised, cool, calm and collective. I have had a cold for the last week and a half, have a five month old suffering from growth failure who doesn't like going to bed until 2am-ish (if I'm lucky), a 5 year old who won't get up on a school day but will be jumping on my bed at 7.30am Sat/Sun, and a DH who is unable to breastfeed! I'm tired - even the bags under my eyes have bags Sad. DH did the shopping on Monday evening but never got any fruit (eating this is an alien to him).All that was left in the fridge was an elderly pepper, some wilting lettuce and a garlic bulb. DS1 is a grazer and needs to eat every few hours otherwise his concentration goes. He has been ill with persistent tonsilitis since October, been in and out of school since then and is only getting over a bad bout of diarrhoea which kept him off school for a week two weeks ago. Have taken him to doctor because we're worried about how thin he has become since October and have mentioned this to the teacher and classroom assistant. I am fed up with the world and am denied a large glass of wine due to BF and also fact no wine in house but plenty of beer (top of DH's shopping list). The next person who criticises me is cruising for a bruising. [raging bull emoticon]

That said, I like 'Yogurtgate' oneofsuesylvesterscheerios. Made me laugh. Probably will be filed under 'hysterical'.

OP posts:
MollyMurphy · 30/03/2011 03:56

I don't understand why yogurt is considered unhealthy - that seems like a weird policy and an overreaction to not let him eat it. At least let him eat it and send a note home reminding that it must be fruit (but seriously - WTH is wrong with yogurt?).

shrug.

Goblinchild · 30/03/2011 06:34

Yoghurt is messy, requires a spoon, is a processed food, lacks fibre, doesn't introduce children to the variety of 5 a day recommended fruits or veg that everyone should be eating and many aren't.
If people feel this strongly, you should be campaigning within your own schools to change policy, and at a national level. That's where the pressure on schools came from.

vmcd28 · 30/03/2011 09:15

I don't really get why people are heavily criticising the OP - maybe yoghurt wasn't ideal from a messy/H&S point of view, but having a go at her for not having fruit in the house once in the 7 months her ds has been at school is ridiculous and mean.

OP, I assume they're allowed dried fruit...? If so, stock up on raisins and bags of Fruit Flakes etc, for the odd occasion that there's no fruit. As for you needing a glass of wine, have a small one, then another small one 2hrs later. Or start expressing during the day so you can give a bottle at bedtime, and a large glass of wine for you. The day we started giving formula at bedtime was the day my sanity fully returned.

tjacksonpfc · 30/03/2011 10:50

When my dd started school they had free fruit at breaktime. when they got to yr1 they had to provide there own breaktime snack but they were allowed cereal bars as long as nut free. At the end of year one they decided that due to the rubbish and being a healthy eating school only fruit was allowed as the excess could be composted.

So i buy extra fruit for dd and got fed up with sending it in for her and she would come out of school eating it as she forgot it was in here bag or just couldn't be bothered to go and get it so i stopped sending it in.

Next thing the school start providing free fruit for all of ks1 so she starts eating it at break time again. I give up with her she is ks2 Sept so it will be down to us to provide it again.

Sorry op i do think you are being unreasonable about the yoguart I wouldnt like to have a playground full of kids eating yougart the mess would be a nightmare. Like wise I dont think teh Ta was being unreasonable if you bend the rules for one you can't then expect to impose them for all the other kids its not fair.

thorahird · 30/03/2011 11:30

the worlds gone mad,yanbu i would have been angry, a little common sence could have been used in this situation but alas in modern society it seems people are unable to think for themselves and everything has to be done by the book how sad

seeker · 30/03/2011 11:34

Child goes 3 hours without eating - call the social services!

Ephiny · 30/03/2011 11:45

When did children start having any snacks at school? I had no idea this had become normal - we used to just have lunch and no one starved as far as I remember! Really don't see the point of it (except obviously if there's some medical issue like diabetes) especially as so many children are overweight these days...

Groovee · 30/03/2011 12:03

Our P1&2's get free fruit. But only 3 mornings a week.

Where would he eat his snack? Ours eat in class so no ones running round the playground while eating yet other schools eat outside.

vmcd28 · 30/03/2011 12:25

Ephiny, when I started school - late 1980s - we ALWAYS had a "play piece", usually crisps, tbh. So I'm still surprised when people question snacks at play time. But the fact that weve always had snacks here might explain the obesity problem in the west of Scotland :)

scattermummy · 30/03/2011 12:47

hocuspontas,PINEAPPLE CHUNKS IN A TIN!!!!! seriously ,imagine the mess with sticky hands and juice.Actually,why not just go for it and tip the naughty yoghurt over the pineapple and run round the yard.It is no wonder todays kids are spoiled,entitled and porky.Grin

GnomeDePlume · 30/03/2011 12:53

I hate this nutritional quackery in schools. I decide what my kids get to eat not some untrained loon in County Hall or the staff room. I know what my kids have for breakfast and dinner so I am best placed to decide what they should have for snacks, lunch etc.

[stomps off to have ryvita and low fat cheese for lunch]

seeker · 30/03/2011 12:54

Very community spirited, gnomedeplume!

ivykaty44 · 30/03/2011 12:57

At 5 years old your ds has had his first taste of Bureaucracy really says a lot about the adults who you are leaving him with, at 5 play school should be enough for playing and learning - not lots of rules and regulations Sad

Ormirian · 30/03/2011 12:59

I expect it's to avoid mess. If it's anything like our school, lunch is eaten at a table in the hall, snacks are eaten in the classroom.

He won't starve just this once.

dolldaggabuzzbuzz · 30/03/2011 13:44

YANBU. Sadly, the world is full of idiots. When I was at primary school my mum and dad used to give us fresh fruit to eat at playtime - these were the days when it was Ok to have crisps and sweets too.

One morning, my dad gave us each a fresh tomato to eat at break as we had no fresh fruit in. At playtime my sister and I met up in the yard, got our tomatoes out and were just about to bite into them when Miss Snotface came along and confiscated them, telling us that tomatoes were not allowed!

We were very hungry and upset!

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/03/2011 13:45

Yes, but banana has Peel which could be slipped on

Thinking on it i'm surprised they haven't been banned Hmm

dolldaggabuzzbuzz · 30/03/2011 13:53

Does anybody know of anyone who has actually slipped on a banana skin?

I used to hear about this phenomenon a lot as I was growing up but have only ever seen it on the silent comedy movies!

Maybe someone should start a new thread on the dangers of certain fruits?

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/03/2011 13:56

I have Blush

We have wooden floors tho and a careless boy who loves bananas. Grrrr

ivykaty44 · 30/03/2011 14:29

apples have pips which dc could choke on...

hocuspontas · 30/03/2011 16:03

re the pineapple chunks in a tin hilarity. Grin In the past I have dried off a handful of chunks with kitchen roll and put them in a sandwich bag. No mess. Very tasty.

zukiecat · 30/03/2011 16:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

campergirls · 30/03/2011 16:59

OP, I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. But your anger is misdirected: you should be cross with your DH for making such a rubbish job of the shopping, not with the school. Did he really not buy ANY fruit or veg for a family shop? Unbelievably inept (or wilfully incompetent?).