To have started to think that the food police only exist on mumsnet?

[Meandmygirls2009]

Before my dd started school last September I was prepared for the food police so made sure I only put sandwiches, veg sticks, fruit and yogurt in her packed lunch which dd hated as it turns out most of the children have sandwiches, crisps and a chocolate bar (confirmed by a dinner lady who is a mother of a child at the school that I have become friends with). Dd tried school dinners, on the letter it says they are provided with water to drink, but the school allow them to bring their own drink if they do not like water, hence lots of fruit shoots by the kids coats every morning (my daughter included ) they have a water fountain they can use throughout the day but they can also bring in a flask of squash if they do not like water. The only rules are no sweets or fizzy drinks or glass bottles. My dd has regularly taken a lunch box without any fruit or veg in as it always comes back home with her so I have given up. No one batts an eyelid when she has taken a sausage roll, crisps and a chocolate biscuit! Her school is in a very naice middle class area surrounded by huge houses and most parents driving BMWs aldi Mercedes, even the odd porche. I am shocked as after reading so much mumsnet I wasn't expecting the rules on eating to be so lax. Has anyone else found this? Or does everyone else have the food police that is talked about on mumsnet??

It would be really good if schools had a healthy lunch box pick and mix type thing where children could choose five healthyish items for their lunch, from a selection, as they do in some cafes.

That sounds a bit like an aldi app I used for a while. It was good for offering up a range of sandwich fillings and snacks.

ppolly

That's a great idea

Passmethecrisps there was absolute uproar when the policy was introduced. We were new to the school at this point, and I was asked if I'd like to join the group working to get the policy overturned. I asked why if want to work toward letting children eat so badly in school that they'd be incapable of concentrating at home, and they had no answer. I suspect none of them have been involved with activities that involve trying to get a large group of hyperactive then sugar-crashing children to do something productive. I've camped with uniformed youth organisations, I've done trips with youth clubs and so on. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for school staff to deal with that sort of thing on a daily basis.

Quite a few of the older children in school try sneaking energy drinks into school from time to time. Most of them get caught, and the tantrums you see when they do are quite something.

Concentrating all afternoon. Not at home. Brain fail.

Parents seem to give up so easily. Make no wonder kids eat badly. So many parents have said how well my dd eats. She didn't always. But, i never gave up. She was repeatedly offered foods she had refused previously. They change their minds. You should never give up!

What I find shocking is parents who feed their children utter crap every single day and say they are fussy eaters.
Children who have eaten healthily abs given eater as infants instead of nasty fruit shoots will drink water.
All foods in moderation but why would you send a child to school with junk every day.

Should say water

Why on earth would you let your child just take crap for lunch, whether or not the school police it, surely that's your job? Sounds like you feel you are getting away with something to me. She'd probably be better off with school dinners if she won't eat what you choose.

Our school has banned kiwi fruit
They also have
No fizzy drinks
No crisps apart from on Fridays as a treat
No chocolate

But the school dinner kids always get cake (sometimes chocolate cake) as part of their school dinner...

Ds is off to big school in September, where he gets a lot more choice in his pizza consumption!

If your child isn't underweight, why worry if they don't eat lunch, just because it's not crisps and chocolate. If they were hungry they'd eat it, or make up for it at the next meal.

Ds1 has always had fruit in his lunch, never chocolate or crisps. If he didn't eat the fruit, I wouldn't replace it with junk.

The food police certainly exist in some schools, as do the sometimes nonsensical rules. It's good to hear that their reach hasn't extended everywhere.

But at the same time I do understand the good intentions behind the often heavy-handed approach. Healthy eating is important, and laying the groundwork when children are young will pay off in years to come. I'm no joyless zealot. I think everyone should have treats now and then. But surely no one needs to eat crisps and chocolate every day.

Rufus unfortunately some LAs do make up random rules. In addition to the written rules we have had gems such as 'you must tell your mummy to stop giving you frozen jelly as it will give you food poisoning' - er no it will keep the lunch bag cool so you don't get food poisoning from the tuna. 'you must eat the cheese before your pudding'- obviously had never heard about cheese at the end of a meal neutralising acid. Oh and the ultimate gem 'you must eat everything in your lunch bag/on your plate'. I really can't believe that such basic errors are written in some rule book.

It is only some LAs but I think that once they get into checking contents for other things then they start throwing in their own rules too.

Went to DS's nursery induction and they are very strict on what child can eat. He'll be having school dinners but I have to provide daily snacks... they are only allowed a "piece of fruit or veg" and and no processed fruit (so nothing prepackaged) and water to drink.

My DS is horrifically fussy but I'm kind of hoping this breaks him out of it a bit?

My kids school has the same rules as op. I always send in a sandwich, chopped fruit and either a biscuit/cake and crisps on a Friday. They won't eat much more than that as they're just keen to go out to play.
The dinner ladies do police the lunches and my kids are always telling me stories about what the dinner ladies did and I've heard of parents being 'told off' by the teacher at the end of the day for providing inadequate lunches.
On school trips, they look through everyone's lunch boxes and get a free one for the kids who have rubbish lunches such as cold leftover chips or one pre packed pancake

Ours states:

Packed lunches should not include:
? king size treat bars
? chocolate bars
? nuts
? fizzy drinks
? energy drinks
? milkshakes

I've attached some photos of the examples the give for a healthy lunch is. Now it's not what i would send my kids in with but i wouldn't say it's awful either. Probably reflective of what a lot of kids will eat.

My DS's school has a no nuts rule and in theory they as for healthy lunches to be taken in. But in practice this doesn't appear to be enforced at all. DS takes a pretty healthy lunch (with the odd packet of crisps), but he tells me of kids who regularly take in just a sausage roll and half a packet of chocolate biscuits as a lunch. This is a very naice middle class school, near big hospital so lots of parents are doctors, HCP etc. Now obviously he isn't going to know if school speak to the parents about this, but they certainly don't go through and confiscate stuff.

My dcs school certainly doesn't have "food police". The rules are no nuts, fizzy drinks or sweets. However, I do not send crisps or chocolate because I want them to eat a balanced lunch that will fill them up, nourish them, give them energy to play and the ability to concentrate in the afternoon.

They have a sandwich/wrap/pitta with ham/cheese/tuna/salami/marmite, fruit, veg sticks, yoghurt and maybe a biscuit or homemade flapjack. They take a bottle of water. How can a lunch of sugar and crisps sustain them?

If the junk isn't on offer then they will eat their lunch, and if they don't, unless they have a medical condition, it won't harm them to miss a meal.

My DCs are extremely skinny (they take after my DH!!) and don't seem to have much 'storage' so missing a meal isn't good if they need to learn, and does lead to bad behaviour in the afternoon, but then so do post sugar crashes, so it's all about balance, which is the point really. Lunch is only one meal out of 3. It sounds like many schools actually have quite sensible restrictions and aren't over-draconian (some shocking stories, and again rules enforced for all when its a small group that need them) I'm not over impressed with the school dinner content here- it always seems to be very fatty and not good quality and we won't be carrying on after the end of the free ones. I can feed my kids dinner for less than they cost far more healthily.

my step daughters school doesn't care one bit, or impose any restrictions? I live in Scotland and have never heard of any school up here "banning" anything? Is it just an English / Welsh thing?

My dd's school seem very relaxed too, although they do have healthy school status .

I've always put her on school dinners even before it was free, but recently she started being sick every Friday and I have had to put it down to the lunch, which is the same every Friday. Since having a packed lunch this has stopped.

I was nervous about it, buying all kinds of super healthy things, but apparently they are allowed anything apart from chocolate (which is presumably a nightmare anyway as it melts) and drinks other than water. Even crisps are OK apparently, although I wouldn't want to send these.

Our school has a healthy lunchbox policy which I'm massively in favour off.
Then they reward them with sweets and dvd's after Sats,have sweets and cake sales after school,and children hand out sweets at the classroom door on their birthdays.

muggling

I think we will just have to differ with our definitions of "rules"

I don't need the school food police. I want them to drink water and eat well. Don't know if our school would enforce this, but I do.