to ask if your DCs school has a healthy lunch box policy and what you think of it?

[NorfolkBroad]

Is it "enforced"? Do you find it annoying and intefering? Does your child eat what you put in their lunchbox? I'm asking as a mum but also as a teacher.

No, Naughty, best to allow me to get on with providing what I choose for my kids and have aword with those parenbts who are not providing a healthy meal. Get them in and tell them that the crap they are providing is unacceptable. Why can't the policy take that shape?

It depends what they want to ban though doesn't it? Laweasel yes that's clearly a case of a school that has jumped on the bandwagon of health with no advice and little knowledge, ban everything, force kids to eat fruit is all emotive stuff that schools should avoid as I said earlier its about healthy CHOICES, based on a BALANCE and many schools just go Arghhh we need to get our pupils healthier Ban everything!!!! that's totally silly, they need to be thinking crefully about what all this actually means and discussing it with parents and school councils etc, making sensible changes not just reactionary impuse panic.

Sorry - I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if I'm repeating things. My DS had packed lunch for 3 years, his school didn't issue any guidelines apart from no nuts but if they had said something like no crisps or no chocolate it would have annoyed me. My DS was premature and still underweight so I was constantly trying to find nutritional but high calorie things to feed him! ie in many ways the oppostite of what you would would feed a child who was overweight. That's why I don't think you can really dictate rules. There are also realistically some days where a sandwich, garb a bag of crisps, chuck in an apple and a KitKat is all you have time for

However it is BORING making packed lunches everyday so it is really useful to have some ideas from other people. Some days he had baked beans or chunky veg soup/stew in a small thermos, cornish pasty, sausage rolls (but if he had that he would also have carrot and red pepper sticks for example as well as fruit) often things that were left over from supper so a salad with brown rice, roast veg and cheese, chicken drumsticks, hard boiled eggs, scotch eggs, slice of quiche, anything in a 'wrap' to make a change from sandwiches. Also people could freeze different types of bread roll so there is some variety.

"puddings" that worked well were flapjack, malt loaf, homemade cake, rice pudding pots, custard pots.

What about a recipe book? Maybe the children could post their suggestions of what their favourite lunches are? I think it would be most helpful for people to see an overview of a good lunch box rather than just individual items. Also some people seemed to think they were feeding King Kong judging by the portion sizes!

My dd had her lunch confiscated last year, I was and still am mortified.

I was having one of those months when there is no money for food shopping and there were a few days til pay day (road tax then car broke down etc). I had to make do to make up a lunch box by using what was in the house. I have her a wrap with tuna and some chopped peppers, some grapes, a carrot chopped up into batons, 2 petit filou sized yoghurts (shops own brand) and a small slice of apple cake I had made to use up the apples and eggs that would have otherwise gone off.

The wrap was confiscated for not being wholemeal bread, the grapes for containing too much sugar, the yoghurts for not being fat free and the cake for obvious reasons. . The poor girl was starving by home time and I was furious at the waste of food. I know it wasn't perfect, before someone flames me but honestly was it so bad it warranted a 5 year old going hungry?

Say they just ban chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks. That's really no loss to any packed lunch, because even the kids on high calorie diets will have plenty of options.

This is exactly what's banned in our lunches, with the addition of sweets (like Haribo, not sweet things like a biscuit or whatever). DD gets sandwiches, full-fat yoghurt, fresh fruit, a treat like a biscuit/flapjack/small piece of cake and some crackers or a breadstick or dried fruit. And she gets a drink of watered down fruit juice. I think that's plenty healthy enough for her and also, importantly, high in calories because they really do need lots of calories when they're growing. Also, she's very underweight so I would be pretty annoyed if everything had to be low-fat etc.

Bloody hell. that's harsh Minus. You gave her batons and they confiscated it!?

Minus - you shouldn't be embarassed, that lunch was totally fine. The school was bonkers.

Minus, that is an absolute disgrace! I hope you wrote to the governors, the local paper and ofsted! They are absolutely failing in their duty of care to confiscate a child's meal like that and provide no alternative. And one that seems pretty healthy to me! n Absolutely fucking disgraceful!

Actually there's less salt these days in most bags of crisps than in 2 slices of bread. So there's nothing wrong with crisps occasionally. Yes, they have a higher fat content, but children shouldn't actually eat a low-fat diet, just balanced.

minus - I am totally
that lunch sounded really good to me, cannot believe they confiscated fruit!!

And my "nothing in the fridge" results in a marmite sandwich and an apple

Wow! I'm gobsmaked minus that sounds like a fine lunch to me.

Bananas are also very high in sugar ( can't be eaten by diabetics, actually most fruit can't) but they are also high in potassium. It's a BALANCE!

loving its not the schools role to tell parents what to do, its their role to make the school environment as healthy as possible in many ways from classroom environment, dining room, playground etc, this kind of policy as I said is in schools whatever goes on, to ensure that parents know what that school is doing, its not to catch parents out. a policy anywhere is to say we do things like this and if you want to be here you will need to do this too, outside you can do what you like and kids are in school for a small part of their actual life so its not hard to see that schools just want to do their best for them ALL, if they had a policy saying all kids should wear a red top for sports you would follow it. the only people that would affect would be the ones who sent their kid in a blue one.

I think youre missing my point, Stepaway!

I have no issue with what you are saying about school policies etc. It is the reasoning behind this one that annoys me. If you can tell me hand on heart that this would still be implemented if every single child was coming to school with a healthy lunchbox then fine, I'd accept it. It's the fact that it's being done because some parents are failing to provide a healthy lunch for their child that annoys me. Can you see what I'm saying? It's the reasoning for this particular policy that's driving me nuts. Tell me that it would still be done if all kids came with wholemeal sandwiches and an apple and that's fine.

minus that is a classic example of what I was saying with my post above ... madness clearly they need proper advice and need to consult with parents a LOT better

I have two children who don't eat bread, don't eat raw veg. They eat apples, grapes and the odd tomato if pushed. They aren't pushed at school to do so, not enough time - so I pack them what they WILL eat.

In most cases I end up baking cheese and pesto muffins (which look like cupcakes without icing) which have been scrutinised and passed by the dinner ladies as 'appropriate' (thank goodness). But they still eat very little. Except when DD has school dinners on Friday because she has fish and chips followed by cake

Minus . that's a v good lunch, protein, fruit and veg, v balanced. exactly why these sort of policies are a bad idea, school staff are not dieticians!

yes loving I see what you are saying here and I guess it is difficult looking at some of the more recent posts to believe it but, in my area where 97% are healthy schools yes the policy is there for the reasons I have stated but to realise from some of the more recent posts that in other places they are 'jumping on a bandwagon' as a cure all ills as you suggested, so seems we are both right, clearly shows the need for schools to consult with parents properly to clear up all the reasons for any new policy before implementation so that everyone is part of any decision the school makes, and more importantly Why they are making it.

Well I have to admit that as I said in my initial post very early on, I am referring to the school my DCs previously attended. So my rant was on principle rather than current annoyance. I just object to blanket policies used to ensure a catch all rather than anyone actually confronting those with the problem-and offering support of course.

pumkin its not the policies that are a bad idea its the way the schools approach their development and implementation that is wrong, you are spot on in that schools are not dieticians and as such such not be judging on the content of a lunchbox but asking only that parents try to adhere to a healthy choice lunch box. that should not involve scrutinising food, banning and confiscating but encouraging and supporting with new ideas and alternatives to some of the more prevalent 'poor choices' agreed its about balance and in moderation nothing should be banned... except maybe sweets as they are not really a foodstuff more a treat for outside school IMO.

Our school 's policy is no chocolate,sweets Chocolate,fizzz or crisps.I think that's fine confiscation of yogu.I think your lunch sounds lovely btwrt and fruit is bankers

yes loving I would too if there was no additional work going on to ensure that the policy could be workable for everyone. we seem to have agreed in the end

Minus, thats terrible!
My DS's school doesn't allow sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks etc, which generally i think is fine. The thing that annoys me is that the kids having school dinners get chips, pizza, cake, ice cream etc practically every day and the vegetarian option always has cheese in (i looked at the menus, it was four days out of five). My DS was told off for having home made pizza in his lunchbox instead of a sandwich, i was furious.

Right try again. Our schools policy chocolis no ate is no chocolate sweets,fizz or crisp. I think that's fine.Confiscation of yoghart is bon kers

minus you shoul dcontact the Daily Mail - they'd love that story

Seriously, it's awful!