to feel almost bullied by schools/packed lunches?

[SufferingSaffy]

Generally I'm quite supportive of schools trying to get childrens' lunch boxes in a healthier shape.
My DSs usually contain something like:
wholemeal cheese or ham sandwich
yoghurt
fruit
bread sticks/crackers.

(I used to send a cake bar instead of crackers but it got sent back home so many times for being chocolate)

The school are on yet another healthy lunches mission. This time they want to see all packed lunches contain 2 pieces of fruit/vegetable. They are also encouraging children to eat something other than sandwiches and will award children with an alternative to sandwiches with a certificate for healthy eating.

I personally find my DCs 1 piece of fruit enough. We like sandwiches in this house so why should they discourage it?

*and don't get me started on the ice cream/ cakes they dish up with school dinners.

AIBU? Go on, I can take it probably

Exexe- that sounds like a sensible policy, and I don't think many sensible parents would dispute the fact that some other, less sensible patents, might need guidance for the health of their children. It makes me sad to see lunchboxes containing chocolate, chocolate, some crisps and then maybe some more chocolate. It's tough teaching such kids in the afternoons!

Ps second the person who said it's not the teachers making the rules. It's government incentives, ofsted, and headteachers jumping through hoops.

Of course it isn't the teachers- they have better things to do. It is healthy schools initiative- another box to tick to get a good Ofsted.

What in the name of all that's holy is wrong with a sandwich? I'm from Holland. the vast majority of the population, from just-about-old-enough-to-eat-solid-food babies to schoolchildren to high flying professionals eats sandwiches for lunch. I'd love to see them try this in a Dutch school. They'd look at you as though you were mad for suggesting it.

From being involved in other threads about this subject in the past, and with personal knowledge of several state primary schools within the same LEA, it's clear to me they have very different guidelines and rules on this matter which must be down to the schools themselves:

1. DS's old primary - nothing fatty or artificially sweet was allowed. The offending article (even a fruity flapjack for example) would be sent home with a very stroppy note from the packed lunch police. The hypocrisy of this irked me a lot as if your DC were having a school dinner, it was always followed by a sweet pudding with cream or custard!

1. The school I work in - the DC's can bring 7 packets of crisps and a chocolate bar for their packed lunch and nothing is said or done. The kitchen has just started selling breaktime snacks, of either pizza or sausage rolls for 40p.

I've got no idea how 2 schools, less than 3 miles apart can have such a different approach. Both are now rated "good" by Ofsted.

YANBU, they are taking it too far.

I don't actually have a problem with basic rules on lunchbox contents - it makes my life easier as I'm not listening to a constant stream of "Jamie had chocolate at lunch I want chocolate" etc. Not that my DCs don't eat 'junk', but it's expensive filling packed lunches with cheestrings and stuff. And I guess it would be worth it for preventing an easter-egg-for-lunch incident.

What gets me is the hypocrisy - cookies and cakes for school dinners, it's baffling! And the misunderstanding about what is actually healthy (whole meal bread is surely better than white pasta?).

And most of all the way it is making children about paranoid. Making a fucking sandwich out to be the bad guy. Ridiculous.

bad guy

Aw that didn't work!

You get the idea though.... Those nasty sandwiches

When the DC's went on packed lunches I bought the Annabel Karmel recipe book and sent them in for about a week with very interesting and healthy things to eat... Almost everything came back untouched, all they wanted was a sandwich, fruit, yoghurt and a treat!

I don't have children at school yet, but my god, the basic scientific understanding of these teachers is so low that I would pull the children from the school.

Or is it that they just want to sneer at the children of poor, uneducated people.

Schools are judged according to healthy living shite now, I understand, so that's why they're being so heavy-handed.

A bit like the no-holidays-in school-time that excites so much debate on MN.

And the must-make-progress-in-every-lesson-even-the-15-minutes-OFSTED-happens-to-see.

Kind of thing.

but what are th healthy living regualtions.

They can't really say 'stop eating sandwiches'.

Sick to death of this too - my DS eats well but is 2 stone underweight, school nurse says so.
Flapjack etc returned by very very extremely obese MTA!!!

I don't have this at DS's school. I usually give him homemade pudding like apple crumble and custard or an individual trifle. He'll sometimes have a Fondant Fancy

DD gets fussy about sambos, but eats them sometimes. She also likes crackers with little tubs of chopped meat (ham or chicken usually) and some grated cheese in another to make her own. Or some tuna mix (with sweetcorn, chopped peppers - there's your 2 fruit/veg!). Or a cherry tomato or 2. She loves getting carrot sticks and a small tub of tomato salsa to dip them in (we have LOTS of small tubs). We also do a lot of individual cheese portions of various types - sometimes a soft one with a knife to spread on creackers, sometimes harder types to chew.

A fruit yoghurt counts as fruit in my book. DD sometimes eats dairy yoghurts (which is what I mean for that one), but also loves the tubs of fruit puree (in yoghurt type pots for smallies) and often wants one of those as a "yoghurt". That definitely counts as a fruit.

Perhaps some days, rather than 1 piece of fruit, make a small fruit salad (use an apple, orange and a few grapes - will last a couple of days so worth the effort) and pop into a tub. 3 fruits!!

But I do think some schools have gone mad on what's acceptable. Our school have a healthy eating policy, but accept whatever arrives (somedays people are up the walls and grab whatever muck is in the press, and some families don't have the money or imagination to do what is considered "healthy" lunchboxes). And I know I tend to allow a "treat" on a friday (a choc coated ricecake, or a caramel wafer maybe) which is never mentioned as a problem either.

Thank God my DC have school lunches (no choice). However, in holiday clubs, they do have packed lunches, and they can (as far as I am concerned) have whatever the hell they like - it is the holidays, and they get a proper meal at home.

However, one holiday club did have a "healthy eating" week once, and DS got entirely unmerited credit because his choice of lunch involved a wrap (cheese, ham, cucumber and beetroot). He was [smug] in the extreme.

Schools really need to have a sense of perspective on the whole thing.

Flapjack ?? returned ?? My DC school quite normal thank god

As a teacher, I see many students come to school with lunch boxes full of crap, In the last week, I have seen lunches consisting of

4 chocolate puddings and a squash drink,
a jar of honey and two cream crackers,
4 glazed donuts and full sugar Chocolate milk
Dry Coco pops and nothing else
A 12 pack of biscuits and a croissant with butter

Most kids show up with a nutella sandwich on white bread, or cold chicken nuggets. They tell me they do not eat breakfast, but some drink warm milk and honey in the morning.

I work at an expensive private school and I can only assume these kids tell their nannies that this is what they want, and they get what they want.

But it is impossible for a five year old to concentrate after eating all that crap! I would see a lot less behavior issues if these kids had decent food!

Alli that is shocking of course and something must be done then to stop the afternoon sugar slump that is utter madness !! but a flapjack or whatever as part of a healthy lunch the lunch box police gone mad !!

Alligatorpie - so why, in your opinion, does it seem to be so hard for schools (in the person of lunchtime supervisors, or whoever) to focus on sorting out the extremes of "bad" lunches instead of focusing on the minutiae of basically perfectly well balanced lunch boxes?

if it's soupdragon's flapjack recipe its got more sugar in it than a krispy kreme factory

Our dinner ladies (er I mean dining room assistants or whatever they're called) give out stickers and rewards for healthy lunchboxes, which kind of makes me sad for the others... It's not up to a five year old (usually!) what goes in their lunchboxes.

Alli- must admit I'm horrified at your school- really?! Does this really happen?!

According to their guidance, a Griggs sausage roll should get your dc a healthy eating certificate. After all it's not a sandwich?

I'd throw in a Jaffa cake donut (orange) and a raspberry and white chocolate cookie for the two bits of fruit.

Then if they didn't let dc eat it, throw a complete wobbler and complain about your child being starved at school.

I may not always be popular but i know how to make a point

exexe - no, the Local Authority are behind the petty rules and they inspect school performance at Learning & Achievement visits.

This is then followed up by HMIe. In my last inspection my school failed because the bread sticks we serve at after school club had too much saturated fat. We were serving one bread stick & a glass of water - bread and water ffs!

Teachers are as sick of this as you are.
Walk to school week, cycle to school week, waste free packed lunches week...aaaaah! All I want to do is teach. This is total teacher bugbear - we moan about it the staffroom frequently.

I got really fed up with our school after it asked dd1 (5) what sort of milk she wanted - strawberry, chocolate or 'plain' and of course she chose chocolate and had that every day for the entire year. Fortunately she does still have her teeth and is not headed for obesity just yet.

A few months later we were treated to a Glasgow city council leaflet on healthy lunch boxes!

Do they appreciate the irony?

I think the flavoured milk has not disappeared and only plain is on offer after parents complained.