to be a bit unsure about this?

[ThisThreadCouldOutMe]

Have namechanged as this thread could potentially let other Mumnetters know what school my DDs go to, and combined with a search on my name could out me :)

DD2 is in year R, and going on her 1st school trip next week. All of nursery and 2 year R classes are going, so over 100 children, aged between 3-5, in total. The trip leaves school at 9am and returns at 3pm.

She bought a letter home yesterday with trip info on, ie timings for leaving school etc. But what has worried me is the section regarding lunch. It says that they will have 30 mins max for lunch, and that therefore a sandwich and piece of fruit will be plenty as they won't have time to eat more.

Surely this is not enough to keep them going all day? And they will be on their feet for most of it. Normally DD would have a bigger lunch (sandwich, crisps, fresh fruit and dried fruit, yoghurt and cheese sticks is typical) plus a snack at break.

The letter also said not to send a big lunch as anything not eaten in the break will be binned.

Whenever DD1 has been on trips she has taken her normal lunch, plus 2 snacks as this is what they normally ask for. And I appreciate the point about binning leftovers, as it saves carrying things home again.

Maybe IABU but I just have visions of hungry, tired children being dragged around :(

wannabe That bothers me too, although my OP was badly worded so it wasn't clear that that was a problem as much as the small lunch. They normally have 1 hour for lunch, plus 2 breaks, so 1 half hour break all day really isn't a lot!

just make sure she has a drink with lunch and an extra water bottle. I rthink it is more important to keep her rehydrated.

"They would get more than 30 minutes of a break between 9 and 3 on a normal day. So I dont see why being on a trip is different."

That would depend on where gthey are on the trip, if they are at the local petting or dairy farm or country park, which is normally the case at this age, then they are out in the open having fun and milling about or running around. if on the other hand they are walking around an art gallery or natural history museum then a longer break would be expected. but Its not going to be a heavily fromal learning environment at this age.

She'll be fine. I can't imagine having that much brain power to expend on unnecessary worry about something like that. Maybe I was just born without the worry gene or maybe I'm just an uncaring parent, but some parents worry about far too much about such trivial things!

TheEnthusiaticTroll It's Windsor Castle, so i doubt there will be much running around!

i would hope so the grounds are enormous. I think if its traipsing around the inside then they are being very U at this age.

Based on the fact the letter also says not to send coats unless the weather is horrendous, as they will be inside most of the day, I fear the outside space will be unused.

very U then

dont send her, keep her off school and take her to the seaside instead .

9am-3pm...organise, load up, travel time, organise, unload, organise into groups and staff...it'll be close to 11 before they do much except get there!!...they won't be expected to walk and run about constantly, dehydrating and exhausted from the non-stop physical demand on them for all this time....they will be wandering around, sitting to listen or watch stuff....toilets when they need to go....maybe even lovely ice-creams at some point....reverse order for departure and travel back again....honestly I'm sure there is nothing to worry about at all....and coming home tired and a bit washed out means they had lots of fun and had a good time...doesn't it?...2.5/3hrs at the venue tops...

I don't think your dd's lunch is necessarily huge - it depends on the child. One of my dd's would manage sandwich and fruit, whereas the other would manage pretty much everything you described. The latter is tall for her age. We have to remember that children are growing and they each have different metabolic rates/sizes. A taller child needs more food than her peers to grow.

Oh and for the poster upthread - yoghurt does contain sugar, plus calcium. Cheese conains fat, oh and calcium. Kids need calcium. Something to do with bones I think

Put your usual lunch in her bag - she can leave what she doesn't want. I recently went on a trip where there was a lot of walking (London, so no coach ride, all on foot, and train) - kids weren't allowed to eat their lunches until X time - they all looked pale and knackered by the time they ate.

TheEnthusiasticTroll tempting I have to say, but she will be gutted, we have been counting down the days for weeks now!

soozeedol The coach is leaving at 9.15 (they rarely leave late from our school) and the children have to be there earlier than normal to allow them to be put in their groups before they leave. they already know which group they are in, so other than lining them up in order this wont take much. It's only 20-30mins from here too, so hardly long travel time. Definatley no ice-creams sadly :(

But I know I am worrying too much, and she will have a fab time. It just seems so strange when the school normally tell us to send more food than normal!

Im really not looking forward to DD starting school tbh. Dont much like people telling me whats best for my child. I am sure they will have a great time, Im just scarred from a trip I went on in primary school where we were told not to bring lunch but to pay a small amount of money and food would be bought for the group there.

But when it came to lunch time the teachers decided the food was too expensive and so we had to wait to get back to school hours later where they gave us dried up leftovers from that days dinner....

ahh, the best laid plans....logistics of 3-5yr olds and those plans...it will be a lovely big monsterous job to carry out in reality....oh, the mayhem and madness lol!!!....kids will love it...staff will be completely falling apart!!! hahahaha

It's one day. She won't starve.
Give her a more substantial breakfast.

I think it is a silly trip for that many children aged 3-5 and who ever planned it is boring and unimaginative.

teach your DC a typical bus singing song to share around the bus full and they will repeat twenty million times lol...that'll get the staff going...guaranteed!!...whats it called...earworming I think!!...just for a laugh...and pass the time

Wow your dd eats a lot! Mine has half a sandwich that she usually just picks the filling out and leaves the bread, but will the happily eat half a punnet of cherry tomatoes and a satsuma. And it would never take her longer than half an hour. Don't see what the problem is tbh. If a sandwich is an adequate lunch for an adult, why not for a child?

My DD (now 7) is constantly telling me off for putting too much food in her packed lunch. Apparently it interferes with her playing time. So she has half a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a frube thingy and a biscuit.

If your DD was at home does she eat as much as she does at school? Are you sure she's not just dolling it out to her friends?

No they are not allowed to share their lunches, and the staff are very quick to notice if they do. Sometimes she eats that much for lunch at weekends, other days not, but then she will have a snack later on if she is hungry.

well my dd (s) have a whole sandwich (soft cheese, tuna, salami or whatever), fruit, a yoghurt, tomatoes, carrot, and possibly a biscuit. They eat more than me at lunchtime. Keeps them going all day. No 'weight' issues - they are very active kids. Each to their own. Send what you think she needs...

I'm allways surprised by stuff like this, most humans eat way more than they need to and I'm not sure I understand why we encourage it.
I don't understand all the snacking and stuff.
There is apsolutly nothing wrong with a decent healthy breakfast then sandwich and fruit for lunch and a healthy cooked meal for dinner if anything it's probally much better to eat like this than it is to stagger snacks ect throughout the day or send huge packed lunches

I think read it as:

We only have 30 mins to feed the kids - how the hell can we open 100 yoghurt pots / pierce 100 juice boxes and help open 100 packets of crisps? We can't so we'll tell the kids not to bring them.

Also if they are on their feet all day how heavy is the usual lunch for a small child to carry around?

Give her a big breakfast, have a snack with you when you collect her and give her a bif tea if she is hungry.

Try a "special" breakfast, like pancakes - my dd rarely eats much for brekky unless it's pancakes and then she'll scoff and scoff and stay full for AAAAGGGEEESSSS. worth a try if you are worried about her being hungry? And meet her at 3pm with a snack or three.

She really won't starve...

YANBU. I dnt think you overfeed her from the sound of things. DS is 6 and DD 4 and they have a similar sort of packed lunch and never come home with anything left. We have tea in our house arnd half 4 because they come home from school starving.

If it were my DD I'd be concerned she would be hungry too. I'd send her with maybe cereal bar, pack of raisons, dried fruit packets in her pockets.
I would do that and I would say something to the teacher.

And I wouldn't care if anybody thought I was U or not.