Lunchbox Police and unsalted/sugared popcorn

[ohmychrist]

Yesterday a small box of homemade popcorn (just corn and olive oil) was taken out of DS's lunchbox.

Surely it's ok though? No salt or sugar.

I didn't mean that people shouldn't put grapes in!! I was using grapes as an example of a common lunchbox treat that no one questions re choking. Corn allergy is not particularly common- less common than egg, for instance.

School is just being officious and annoying.

i used to take a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a chocolate biscuit

every.damned.day

I am neither dead nor morbidly obese...I am very glad my children are past all this nonsense though....I would be incandescent if anyone removed an item from a lunchbox I had provided for my child.

I'd be interested to know what the school policy is, who took it out, why, and their recognised credentials in the world of dietetics.

I'm all for children being encouraged to eat healthily but it's the inconsistency that riles me (and will no doubt have me marching down to the school regularly when DD is old enough!). Chocolate digestives are fine but a kit kat isn't? Stodgy puddings and burgers are ok for school dinners but chocolate bars are banned? Argh!! I always took a packed lunch and I'm sure my wholemeal sandwich, piece of fruit, yoghurt and chocolate bar were far nutritionally superior to the absolute crap they served for school dinners (3 chicken nuggets, chips, overcooked carrots, lime jelly and luminous pink custard for anyone?!).

I would definitely ask about the popcorn OP. It's a healthy snack.

Is this an English schools thing? I've never heard this kind of thing happening in Scotland, yet see stories about it all the time in England. It's ridiculous! Unless a child is obese and coming in with a packed lunch filled with junk, what right do schools have to comment?

This is really ridiculous now, if any one had rifled through my DC lunch box at school removing items, I'd have been straight on the phone shouting the odds ( I was that parent) hell I can remember putting scotch eggs and sausage rolls in obviously as well as a sandwich, crisps etc ( he really did have hollow legs) He's now over 6' and ideal weight, but he never had weight issues when younger.

We have very strict guidelines, no biscuits, crisps, fruit bars or chocolate (have even heard of rice cakes being removed!). The lunch ladies randomly check lunch boxes as the kids go in and remove anything that is deemed unsuitable.

What can you actually do though, if their guidelines say no chocolate/crisps/cake and the lunch ladies remove then, I don't really see where you can go with it, complain all you like but ultimately I felt I had no 'say' so went back to ( uneaten) school lunches v quickly.

Twinkle, they're trying to encourage healthy eating habits. Yes, plenty of people can eat chocolate and crisps everyday and not end up morbidly obese but it's not actually good for you. Better to get into the habit of eating well when you're young.

We have very strict guidelines, no biscuits, crisps, fruit bars or chocolate

I'm so glad we don't have this nonsense at our school. The dc have chocolate or crisps every day in their lunch box and I would bet every penny I have that their lunch is still nutritionally superior to the school dinners.

Ours must have some fruit/ veg and some protein. This has to be eaten first then they can have whatever else is in their lunchboxes. Water is the only permitted drink though.

I think school dinners need to change to come in line with what they are pitching as healthy for lunch boxes.

We have strict lunchtime police. No chocolate, crisps etc. They can have homemade cakes but not shop bought cakes. Must be the extra love that goes into a homemade cake which cancels out the calories or something. Popcorn has been a grey area but generally scrapes through as long as homemade and not obviously toffee covered. It is actually very healthy so I would print off some info and go and see what their justification is.

Our school only says no fizzy drinks and no sweets. Very sensible

DS yesterday for his school dinner had plain pasta. He didn't like the mushroom sauce and so they didn't persuade him to instead have something else, they just let him eat a bowl of plain pasta with nothing else with it.

This is the reason we have a cooked meal every night at home too, you can't rely on them eating properly at school even if they have school meals.

I am guessing the lunchbox monitor is ignorant and doesn't realise that plain popcorn is perfectly fine. Though really you should have air popped it...

My lunchbox is dangerous

I would telephone the school and question/complain (but then I'm like that). I would also ask for any confiscated items to be returned to me at the end of the day so the dinnerladies can't scoff them

TwinkieTwinkle I don't know the current situation in Scotland as my mum, a dinner lady for 30 years, is now recently retired - but it's giving me warm funny feelings imagining her and her colleagues in Glasgow being asked to go through weans' packed lunch boxes and take out the "unhealthy" stuff. I think there would have been a mass walkout.

Oh I hate it when they tell them which order to eat their food. They told dd that she had to eat the cheese before a (homemade) cake because the cake was her treat. Completely ignoring the facts that she was only eating the cake because she was underweight and had been told by dietitian to eat more calories, she didn't like cakes and the cheese was there to neutralise the acid produced by sugar in cake and reduce damage to teeth. There is no need to micromanage their eating. Fair enough if a child was sent in every day with a sausage roll, crisps, cake, chocolate bar and fizzy drink, even then you talk to the parents not the child.

Sorry - lunchtime monitors or whatever they're called nowadays dinnerladies

I am always amazed when children (who don't make do their own grocery shopping, usually, and are limited to the options provided by their parents) have food CONFISCATED from them because it doesn't meet nutritional standards. Hope your son didn't go hungry because of this, OP.

However, I don't send popcorn to school - I have it in my head somehow about possible allergies, and my DC seem to cough a lot when eating it! I find the kernel shell bits even get stuck in my throat sometimes, maybe they just don't fancy a coughing/gagging incident in the dinner hall

No lunchbox restrictions at our school...should they ever come into force, I will be taking my children home for lunch, and I know I wouldn't be the only parent. The school would quickly tire of the admin involved in an extra pick up and drop of for all the children going home for lunch, I'm sure .

Fine for schools to promote a knowledge of nutrition and encourage a balanced diet, but that should be it. Demonising individual food items is unhealthy and unbalanced and it's no doubt particularly perplexing for a younger child to have an item removed. If a supervising adult has a genuine concern about the contents of a lunchbox over a period of time, then there are other ways to tackle it.

Home made popcorn is one of the suggestions for the "sugar swaps" on the change for life propaganda crap leaflets the dcs come home form school with from time to time .

I would put in both chocolate and crisps because sometimes she fancies one and sometimes she fancies the other, sometimes both and sometimes neither? I just thought more choice was best

We have no nuts, no chocolate, no sweets, no fizzy drinks, no crisps rules. They must have at least one portion of fruit and one of vegetables.

There is no monitoring of what they actually eat. Ds doesn't eat much at all so on the face of it it's not the healthiest lunchbox.... but a nutritionally superior but uneaten lunch is no use so I provide a variety of things and hope he eats something.

My dc's lunch boxes would not pass muster on MN that's for sure! Not that I give a crap about that.