to think is just pants that dc's school do not have a bin for lunchbox detritus at lunchtime?

[TheCowCalledMeg]

Umm is this normal? There are bins for school dinners children but if you have something you want to bin it must stay in your lunch box- it does't matter what it is.

I say this after having:

A) been pissed all over by ds's juice box (why even bother putting the straw in it really?)
b)spent the last ten minutes clearing what appears to be the full contents of a yogurt out of every crevice of DD's lunch box.
c)gagged on the roasted garlic honky smell of very warm Hoormoose that the lid of ds's lunchbox lid was welded together with.... (I didn't have a diamond tipped angle grinder so it was hard that bit)

I was hoping to post this in the "I know I am right please everyone agree with me" topic but that appears to have been moved...meh...

[ja9]

Same at my dc school. It annoyed me greatly at the beginning, especially with regard to the yoghurts. I continue to give yoghurts but the dc are not much better at putting the pot inside their plastic sandwich tub which contains the mess.

I do like being able to see exactly what they have / have not eaten.

[MissAnnersley]

I don't understand why this bothers anyone.

Rubbish in a packed lunch? Put it in your bin.

Genuinely don't see the issue.

[FunnysInLaJardin]

DS's school does this. Lunch bags full of crusts and god knows what else. I wash his lunch bag out every day and wash every few weeks

[ChasingSquirrels]

1 plastic lunch box (80's style)
1 plastic Tupperware box in lunch box

Sandwich in Tupperware
Yoghurt (frozen when purchased and put into lunch box from freezer)
Cereal bar, or sometimes cake, or a couple of fig rolls, or a kitkat
Piece of fruit

DC's know to put all rubbish in the Tupperware box.
DC's have to empty said rubbish in the bin - composting as appropriate when they get home.
I usually wash out boxes, but sometimes ask dc1 (10) to

They started off v v messy, but since they have to sort own boxes when they get home they quickly got less messy

Insulated lunch packs are minging, all those creases for bits to get stuck in, yuck

[MidniteScribbler]

Our school is now a rubbish free school. I was against it at first, but now I love it. Parents must send food ready to eat in reusable containers, no more rubbish at all. Want to send yoghurt? Then put it in a container. Crisps need to be taken out of their packet and put in a container.

Most of the kids use the nude food boxes which have divided sections and a variety of fruit and vegetable containers as well. It also means no more parents complaining because their child threw out their best piece of tupperware, and no more smelly food waste in the bins, which means less rodents (we don't have school lunches here). It's also making the kids think about rubbish more and we tied it in with a big recycling campaign. The kids even bring their own containers now on our weekly tuckshop day so that they're not getting their food in plastic wrap or paper. It's great seeing them lined up with their little plates or containers waiting to buy their lunch.

And NotKathyReichs, the same rules apply for teachers here too. We can't expect the children to follow it if we aren't prepared to do so as well.

[lljkk]

Do the overwhelming majority of the children really have a packet of crisps every day?

Yes, or something similar like Skips/Cheddars/little rice cakes. One of mine (packaged food junkie) has crisps all school days. I think there was a formal survey published about this,not just speaking from my experience (MSA).
Empty crisp bags don't turn into much rubbish by volume, can't do. Sandwich crusts comprise the bulk of pack lunch rubbish,I reckon. Huge amount of waste.
Reception DS noticed that others don't eat crusts at school lunch so he doesn't want to, either (argh). I very thinly cut the crust off for his packed lunch (obsessive, I know, but I hate the waste). And then he eats every bite. Most kids leave so much crust you'd think it was a toxic layer.

[MissAnnersley]

It's not unhygienic at all. It's just food waste and packets.

It has been explained why it's necessary more than once on this thread.

Why mention handbags? Children are not being asked to put food waste in their pockets or school bags but back in the box or bag it came in.

[stargirl1701]

YABU. Children need to take it home so parents know what has been eaten.

[wigglesrock]

In my dds primary school, everyone eats their lunch at tables, then a box or bag is passed round each table to put the rubbish in, so no-one is running around the dinner hall at bins.

If my kids don't eat their lunch, they don't eat their lunch, they tell me they didn't eat it, I don't need to see it.

[Saski]

My kids aren't even allowed to pack lunches, how weird, I thought this was an English thing. Hm. What is their school up to? I'd much prefer to pack them.

[Fakebook]

I hate this but it's good I know what dd is eating and what she likes and dislikes. I don't give her yoghurt anymore for lunch. She gets enough calcium from cheese and milk and home. I still have to clear up leaky cucumber and olive juices mixed with grated cheese and cake crumbs though.

[EllenJanesthickerknickers]

Wigglesrock, that's great that your DC are so honest with you and you don't mind if they waste their packed lunch, but there are many DC who don't have such a relationship and will throw away food secretly. There are also many parents who do want to know what their DC has eaten.

The school can't know what each DC is likely to do or each individual patent's preference. There has to be be rule for everyone so surely it's better that those parents who are bothered about what their DC eat and maybe can't afford lots of waste, get to see what their DC do and do not eat?

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Trouble is you don't actually know they ate it. Or whether the yogurt burst before lunch soaked their sarnie and that's y they didn't eat it. Oy now mummy puts less in cos she assumes its too much food as it was left. It's hard to gauge how much of anything was eaten when the yogurt is everywhere or the sarnie in a billion crumbs from banging around in a lunch box all day. Maybe they sneaked it all at break time or swapped with a friend or dropped it etc. if your children can't tell you if they ate it or not then tbh your still none the wiser with a pile of drink and yogurt mush left.

[Jestrin]

YABU

1. The school has to pay to have refuse collected.
   
2. You can see what your child has eaten
   

My DD has one of those padded bag lunch boxes. I have always washed them in my washing machine. They don't fall apart!

[Goldmandra]

As a childminder I always send the uneaten elements of children's lunches home because I want the parents to know what their child has/hasn't eaten. It's not because I don't want their rubbish in my bin, although I do understand the cost implications for schools.

It is clearly cheaper for schools to send lunchbox rubbish home for disposal but perhaps they also feel it is helpful for parents to see what their child has eaten. There isn't a realistic way to achieve this for children who have hot meals so they just accept that it isn't possible but, when it is so easy to achieve for those on packed lunches, it makes perfect sense to do so.

[aldiwhore]

Not sure how healthy Frubes are, but they create less mess and I don't lose so many spoons.

[wigglesrock]

Yes, but most children aren't going to fade away if they miss their lunch, and I think over policing of meals and what kids have eaten in general adds to a food anxiety in general which kids pick up on and in turn makes them afraid to not eat everything on their plate or to start hiding food, lying about what they've eaten.

[Goldmandra]

I think over policing of meals and what kids have eaten in general adds to a food anxiety in general which kids pick up on and in turn makes them afraid to not eat everything on their plate or to start hiding food, lying about what they've eaten.

Quite possibly.

I use the information to monitor my DD's anxiety levels (she doesn't even attempt to eat when she's too anxious and her old school would never have told me she hadn't eaten) and so I know whether I'm including things she doesn't like. She puts it all in the bin herself at home anyway as it's her job to clear out her lunchbox but she will ask me if she should leave things in for the next day if they are untouched.

[GoblinGranny]

You could use the evidence to give your children food they will eat.
You could put a plastic bag in the box for the rubbish.
You could get your child to empty their lunchbox and wash it out at home.
Leave the yoghurt out if they can't manage it neatly.

Jewelledsky is making a lot of sense, you may well be able to check a child's yoghurt or banana skin to see if it is empty or only partly-eaten, but you are only dealing with a few children. Over a hundred in a shift system when many reception still need physical assistance and verbal encouragement is unmanageable.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Agree wiggles eating all of the lunch is seen as an achievement as they get given a sticker. And if my dd leaves anything she always apologises. I dont like how shes made so aware of what she has or hasnt eatenat 6,thats how issues are made. want my children to eat what they want to eat. And to stop when they are full. They r not in trouble should they leave their lunch, sometimes people just don't feel like eating. They are hungry after school regardless of whether lunch was eaten or not. Dinner has already been planned and is not based on how much lunch they have eaten.

[Vagndidit]

I do get annoyed when DS's lunchbox comes home with its entire contents coated on yoghurt but I appreciate the act that I can keep tabs on what he is or isn't eating for lunch.

To be fair, if the less really bothered me that much I'd make more of an effort not to pack messy food.

[GoblinGranny]

So would you all prefer that we went back to the old days of your child choosing whether or not to eat their lunch, and no communication about it as it isn't part of a teacher's responsibilities? Along with parental decisions about what to put into lunchboxes being theirs alone?
LTS could be specifically to assist reception or those with additional needs, and crowd control.
Complain to the LEA and the government and get all the daft hoops, rules and certificates chucked out.