..to take the piece of paper given to ds2 to write his food diary and write on it myself?

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Something along the lines of "stick it up your arse"

I'm furious. Ds2 is 10. He has to write everything he eats for the next 2 days, the teacher will then give a prize to the person with the "best" diet.

I hate this. I hate the lunchbox police. I hate that they are teaching DCs that there are good and bad foods when there's no such bloody thing IMO

Food is food. I don't ban sugar or whatever, I don't give low fat yoghurt or sugar free squash to a 10 year old. Or supposedly healthy cereal bars.
He eats a balanced diet which includes "bad" foods.

But do you know what has really really pissed me off?

We are going out for dinner to celebrate my DN birthday. We are going to tgi Fridays cos the DCs love it. My ds2 is now really worried that he is going to get in trouble.
He is saying to me that he won't have the Oreo milkshake that he loves and only has once a year and he won't have a dessert and he will have a healthy main course.

I am furious. We don't go out to eat very often. He eats a balanced diet, he is very active and this teacher is making him worried about going out for dinner? What the actual fuck?

I told him not to write it. And I said that I will write a note to the teacher explaining that we do not have good and bad foods in this house and making a 10 year old feel guilty about going out for dinner or fretting about what they are going to eat is unacceptable

The thing is, at 10, they eat what is provided, don't they?
I mean they don't do the shopping or meal planning or cooking. So they are now made the feel guilty about something they have no fucking control over anyway.
What is this supposed to achieve exactly?

Rhonda wouldn't Mumsnet collapse if we all just spoke to people in RL rather than start a thread?

The prize for the best diet, to a group of 10 year olds who presumably don't shop / cook for themselves is scandalous.

On the good food list, along with the actual good stuff like fruit and veg and whole grains is cereal bars, low fat yoghurt/spread/cheese. Sugar free squash. Skimmed or semi skimmed milk. Fish. Lean meat.

On the bad list are full fat dairy. Crisps. Chocolate. Cakes. Processed foods. Chips. Butter. Salty foods ie bacon, ham, or any other processed meats. Oil(?) ice cream. Cream. White bread. White pasta/rice.

We had this once. I wrote a note similar to above. Not one more thing was said about it to DD and DS (one school year below) never brought one home the following year either.

Is the prize a large chocolate bar or easter egg?

YANBU. If what they were teaching in schools was useful and safe then homework like this wouldn't be so bad (without the prize of course) but it isn't.

As a result of what was taught in school my DS refused fat of any sort, it was bad, because teacher had said so, he would only eat salad, lettuce, tomato and cucumber, no dressing because that was bad, no bread because that was bad, no meat because that was bad.

It took a lot of gentle persuasion to get him to go against Teacher knows best.

rhonda that's what I am saying.

I spoke to my ds2. My ds1 spoke to my ds2.

I was still pissed of with the whole concept and I figured if I said that to my ds2, if I said to him what I posted in here, I would be making it into a big drama. So I decided to not do that but to write it in here instead.

YANBU. Def think you should explain to school that labelling foods good and bad and offering prize are awful ideas. Think at my school we had "foods to eat more often" (fruit, veg, meat, eggs, pasta, etc) and "food to eat less often" (chocolate, sweets etc) Which IMO is def better at 10!

We had this when mine were younger. I used to write on each and every sheet we got home: Dds children eat a healthy and balanced diet, the contents of which are not subject to inspection by law, ergo your form will not be filled in.
Then I'd buy the kids a treat.

As someone who has suffered and eating disorder triggered by my coaches insistence on good food vs bad food, told to keep a food diary then criticised on it I find this home work to be utterly unreasonable.

There is nothing wrong with discussing healthy diets, exercise and moderation in schools but making it a competition is dangerous.
I doubt the teacher realised what affect this could have but I think you are right in refusing to allow your son to complete it.

YANBU Teaching kids there are good and bad foods is basically a great way to train kids to have eating disorders. Getting the cycle of binge and guilt going early... If I were you I would write a letter of complaint to the head complete with references to the scientific literature on this topic. I would also contact anti-anorexia and bulimia charities. And on the form I would write what Aga said.

YANBU
I would be very tempted to return it with we are going to a family celebration this week end so clearly we are going to have fun and not win a "healthy eating prize"

It's all total nonsense anyway, my ice cream loving, veg phobic chicken nugget loving DD2 is the slimiest and healthiest of us because she instinctively eats sensible portion sizes and does hours of gym practice.

AgaPanthers' sentence is a lovely succinct explanation. Do write that on the paper and think 'stick it up your arse' to yourself .

This sort of thing illustrates the problem with the 'schools should teach x' response to any and every issue that arises. The fact us that teachers very often do not have the knowledge base to teach all the various things that people decide schools must add in to the curriculum. It's actually very undesirable to have teachers trying their best it teach stuff they don't really know that much about.

And I agree that Change4Life if an incredibly flawed health promotion strategy, in many, many ways. There are is some really good research about why it's actually very damaging.

didnt they find the 5 a day campaign was wrong as well, or did i dream that?

maillot, so true

Nice to see a grin emoticon in your post - this thread is too heavy for a Saturday morning!

Oh and I'm sure I made DD1's up (as she's dyslexic and would have taken the whole weekend to write down breakfast).

Fair enough, OP.

The only thing I'd gave an issue with is the prize scenario. Are you sure he's correct about that ?

DS is in Reception. Next week there is a Healthy Lunchbox Competition. Hilariously, the school's guidance on diet demands half fat cheeses (so processed, rather than farmhouse) low fat spreads (when butter from grass fed cattle has heart-protective properties, while margarine is now accepted as being exceedingly bad for you) and advice not to give them too much dairy/eggs, which again is known to be bollocks. I have no issue with their suggestions we reduce sugary foods, but a system where they see no problem with sausages (we love them, but they're bloody unhealthy because of the nitrates) but tell the kids to hold off on the fresh fruit until they've eaten their starches because "that's dessert" is laughable. He has had home-made savoury oatcakes confiscated at morning snack, because it "has to be fruit or veg". Just nuts. And don't get me started on half-fat food for 4 and 5 year olds, either, especially as yoghurt isn't even high in fat and kids that age need fat to develop properly. They also never have enough time to eat their lunches, are all starving hungry at home time, and have been told to "eat faster!" so they now bolt food at home, too.

Making kids neurotic about food is bad. Trying to enforce healthy eating guidance on my kid when you don't know your arse from your elbow is just additionally infuriating. YANBU.

I should add that in every other way, the school is absolutely brilliant. I have no idea what is fuelling this obsession with diet but if it's the government, they should get qualified dieticians to formulate a policy and apply it. The current system is laughable. And as the Head has personally written the Healthy Eating Policy in our school, I can't even challenge it without that being iffy for my kids.

Is he overweight? You seem very sensitive about this Tantrums....I'm not being mean honestly.x

www.seventhwaveuk.com/content/87-five-a-day-flawed

White bread and pasta are much better for my DS2 than their whole meal equivalents. He's still prone to toddler diahorrea and high fibre food is a very bad idea.

The idea that we can have one size fits all diet advice is complete nonsense, especially when the 'healthy diet' everyone is supposed to conform to is based on an adult woman whose diet is a bit questionable anyway.

Why would it matter if he was bumpy?

The five a day campaign was nonsense because it was based on a figure they plucked out of their arse and thought people might buy. The idea that people should be eating more fruit and especially veg is not awful though.

Oh, and sugar free squash has artificial sweeteners in. Which are believed to be carcinogenic. I don't give sweet drinks to mine habitually, mainly because Mum was too poor for them when I was a kid and I am now grateful that my hugely sweet tooth doesn't extent to drinks (hate sweet drinks, in fact) but when I do, it's good quality fruit cordial made with natural sugars, not aspar-bloody-tame. Anyone thinking you should stuff your kids with lab-made products masquerading as food is an idiot, IMO.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1349960/5-day-fruit-vegetables-myth-claims-nutrition-expert.html

warning, it is the mail

My 4 year old had homework this week to draw a picture of a healthy meal. Pissed me off a bit that they are talking about this to four year olds who have even less control over their diet than a 10 year old.