to think this is NOT an unhealthy lunch

[ohhifruit]

DStS's teacher (he is in Junior school) pulled me aside after school to say his lunch was deemed 'an unhealthy lunch' and their first step was to give me a 'verbal warning' before writing to me. She even said 'I'm sure you can understand why we think this.'

This is what he had -

• Small pot of home made hummus
• Large wholemeal pitta cut into strips
• A hardboiled egg
• A handful of celery sticks
• A handful of carrot sticks
• A small pot of raisins
• Matchbox sized lump of chedder (which he saved to eat on the way home)
• Satusuma
• Small yoghurt

We've given him sandwiches and he never touches them but dippy types of food are always eaten and he reports how much he enjoys them. He isn't messy, almost to a fault, so I can't see them being bothered about a 'bits and bobs' lunch making a mess.

Is this unhealthy? I am racking my mind to figure out how on earth this is unhealthy? She wouldn't specify, I expect because it wasn't her who saw his lunch but rather it was reported back via lunch time staff.
I feel really annoyed to be told off by the teacher, she was pretty sneery and it wasn't until I got home I realised I should have asked to speak to the head.

Dd's teacher pulled me to the side the other week to say that the school promote healthy eating and therefore recommend parents try and give alternatives to sandwiches in packed lunch boxes. I actually could have slapped the woman. I'm a single working parent - how much time does she think I have to flap over a packed lunch?! I am hardly sending her in with a pot of chocolate spread and a spoon!

Lunchbox example:

A ham sandwich or a cheese and ham wrap. If I'm super duper organised, she might get leftovers from the night before (tomato based pasta bake, for example).

Carrot or cucumber sticks.

A bit of fruit (usually an apple or banana to save on timely peeling as she's a slow eater).

A small box of raisins.

I see absolutely nothing wrong in any of that. The reason I started dd on packed lunches was because I was sick to death of hearing all about the pizza/fish and chips/turkey burger/tuna mayo wrap/jelly pots/ice-cream she was consuming at a cost of £1.20 a day for a school lunch.

When I asked the teacher what was on the school lunch menu that day, she looked anywhere but at me and told me it had been pizza and smiley faces. Suffice to say when I finally caught her eye, I made my bestest ever "mmm-hmm" noise and walked away. Muppet.

Looking forward to hearing what the school has to say for themselves, OP.

Wtf is wrong with a sandwich?

Sigh

I remember the days (1980's) when everyone went to school with a ham sandwich, packet of crisps, carton of juice and an apple.

And the world didn't fall in

"Bet it's the cheese!!! Cheese is only allowed on pizzas served by school canteen and has to be in plastic form"

Gileswithachainsaw - my face was like this the day the dses came home from their secondary school, and told me that the cheese that was used in the school dinners was all reconstituted cheese powder! Compared to that, most packed lunches are healthy, imo!!

My mother was a primary school teacher and at one point they allowed children to bring in a drink of juice to have at breaktime (imagine! the horror!)

Unfortunately one child turned up with a can of lager so they knocked that idea on the head.

Mums said the mother was mortified, he had just got it of the fridge himself and taken it to school.

The only thing I can think is that it seems a large portion ... And perhaps too much protein .. Egg, humus and cheese and the yoghurt ? Personally I think that's too much in one meal , too much protein can be unhealthy ... I would usually give one portion of protein per meal .

It does seem like a lot of food, albeit healthy food. Dd's packed lunch today consisted of:

2 rolls (one with marmite and other cheese and lettuce)
Large pot of fruit: pomegranate, melon and grapes
Small pot of olives and smoked chicken sausage
A cake slice

For school dinners she's been eating pizza, chips and other weird combinations of food and no fruit or vegetables often and it shows. She came home yesterday full of beans after months. I can't help but think school dinners have made her sluggish.

Is kinda funny though. Sounds completely innocent.

at the cheese powder. Seriously they feed that to the kids? I hope they don't are complain about lunches there.

Yuck.

Did you speak to the teacher this morning OP?

When I asked the teacher what was on the school lunch menu that day, she looked anywhere but at me and told me it had been pizza and smiley faces.

This. THIS! Oh god I think I'm going to have to hide this thread I am so ragey about the lunchbox polis!!!

prob won't till OP updates though

I think once you get to secondary school, they stop inspecting the lunch boxes.

We live in Scotland, and it seems that most senior schools up here let the children off campus at lunchtime (apart from the bottom year, which is the equivalent of yr 8) - so they all go to the chippy, or to the co-op where they buy all sorts of crap for their lunches. The paper shop in our village does a roaring trade in Pot Noodles - they have a kettle constantly on the boil, and fill them up for the kids, who then stand outside and eat this gourmet delight!

portion size is very variable with kids. my DS is 4, he would and does eat a packed lunch that size and he is 9th for weight. my DS practises good appetite regulation, I always pack enough for a 'hungry' day and sometimes he eats it all, sometimes he doesn't. I believe it is very unhealthy to teach kids they have to 'clear their plate' I am several stones overweight thanks to that logic. my 3DCs are all skinny minnies - some days they eat more than an adult, some days they will hardly eat at all pain in the arse for working out how much to cook on any given day

*9th centile for weight.

I think we need a MN campaign to educate primary schools in basic child nutrition. For example, full-fat dairy better than low-fat plus lots of sugar.

If a teacher issued me, a grown adult, with a verbal warning I would be most unimpressed. I'd want to smush a microwaved Rustler burger in their face but I would probably ever so frostily politely tell them to get stuffed. What nonsense.

I totally agree oneglass, this was mentioned on another recent thread and I would definitely support it.

Mine had school lunches from P1 I couldn't be bothered with making up packed lunches. The school meals always sounded nice.They weren't allowed off campus until 6th year and as it was a private school with an instantly recognisable uniform there would have been no sneaking off to a chip shop (there aren't any anyway near the school)

I really want to know why it was an issue

fuzzpig, I missed that other thread. Was it the BLT one?

It's simply got to be a case of mistaken identity.