AIBU to think parents should provide a better pack lunch than this??

[neverlookback]

My dd goes to the local community nursery a couple of mornings a week and when I pick her up at 12 all the kids staying all day have thier pack lunches ready on the tables, today as I'm waiting for dd to come through I noticed someone had sent in a bowl of cold takeaway garlic bread and chips! You could tell it was takeaway there's only 1 in our village!

I'm all for takeaway sometimes but I don't think this is a nice, healthy lunch for any child to have to take to nursery and eat cold or is it just me??

Common sense tells you it is a rubbish lunch. Only in Mn world are you not allowed an opinion on it. Only only MN will people come up with a thousand potential explanations to excuse the poor standard of food given to a small child.

Nobody has said it isn't a rubbish lunch. It's just that some of us have the brains and the imagination to realise that if a child turns up with such an exceptionally shit lunch as a one-off, then there's quite possibly a perfectly logical explanation behind it.

Thank goodness Mumsnet still has some posters with brains and imagination eh? Well done you SaucyJack.

It's still better than what I usually grab for lunch (usually coffee, chocolate and crisps).

Haven't we all been in a situation where only the crap food will do? More than once DS has insisted on cold pizza for lunch instead of the healthy meal I had planned. So I give in, because if I put my foot down then he won't eat at all. I figure it's better that he eats something rather than go hungry.

If I have this problem, then I imagine parents of kids with disabilities or additional needs must have it a lot worse some days. And you can't always tell at first glance if that's the case.

You can't judge on the basis of one meal. It's a snapshot, open to all kinds on interpretation. There could be any number of reasons (including crap parenting - it is a possibility).

If you're skint and plan meals down to the smallest detail, as I and many others have to, then it doesn't take much to end up with no food in the house. Car breaks down, supermarkets don't do same-day delivery, fuck it we'll get a takeaway, it'll do us for lunch tomorrow too. As a one-off, it won't hurt anyone.

If it is a one off then absolutely nobodies business or if it's happening because of other health/sensory issues then presumably nursery will be made aware of these by the family.

But if the above isn't the case and it's a regular occurrence then it's because :

a) the parents don't know what constitutes a nutritional lunch - cold pizza much better than cold chips and garlic bread btw as it least has some protein with the cheese, not just pure carbs and fat

b) parents don't care if it's nutritious or not.

c) Financial issues mean family are unable to provide a suitable pack lunch - although this one seems dubious to me as a loaf of bread and slice of ham/cheese is much cheaper than a takeaway.

In all of those circumstances then it's surely in the child's interests for someone to notice, to make the remark to the nursery staff and they will know if there are any other signs of neglect in conjunction with this.

Or are we just meant to shrug our shoulders and say well at least they managed to send the child in with a packed lunch - maybe we are, I don't know how low the bars of acceptable parenting are set.

Oh dear, our pizza is cheeseless as I'm allergic. Does pepperoni count as protein?

The nursery staff will have already noticed. But by all means, patronise them by telling them something they already know. It's not like they're trained to spot abuse patterns or anything. Oh, wait...

I wonder how chips and crisps compare, nutritionally?

My cold leftover pizza is made with half wholemeal flour, a sprinkling of cheese, fresh tomato sauce, peppers, spinach, basil, jalapenos, and a drizzle of olive oil. No sugar at all. I think it's a reasonable lunch.

Smokeandglitter, a few days ago, said I was strange to say there's not much difference between a cheese sandwich and a pizza. I don't know what kind of foul pizza she has been munching on (full of sugar she said), but I wouldn't go near it!