School lunchbox police

[gertyglossop]

My 4 year old daughter came home from school today and informed me that Miss X, her teacher, doesn't like it when children have chocolate in their lunchbox. She was visibly worried about it.

I have been packing her a fun sized (2 inch) Milky Way bar every day this week (last week it was mini ginger bread men, and some other small treat the week before). She also takes a wholemeal sandwich, small packet of savoury snacks and a piece of fruit. She knows that she must eat the sandwich and fruit before she eats the treat.

AIBU to resent:

A. The implication that I, as the parent, am unable to make suitable food choices for my child?

B. The complaint being made to my 4 year old child, rather than to me?

Oh the things I used to have in my lunch box - pizza from dinner the night before - which I daresay is banned now. A mini chocolate bar everyday.

I'm a healthy active adult with a normal BMI and no fillings.

My dc only has a packed lunch a couple of days a week, but I do pack a treat in the lunch box to go with the sandwich/fruit/veg etc. It might be a mini apple pie, a cake, pot of jelly or yogurt or even a small chocolate . The school dinner children generally have a sweet pudding with their dinners after all.

luckily we don't have any restrictions at my DC's school
if they tried to bring them in, I'd ask that they sort out school lunches first. today my 5yo had a tuna sandwich with chips , followed by a biscuit.

I'm not looking for advice on how many treats to give my child - I am satisfied that her diet is balanced. Thanks, though.

Yes! This is what I don't understand - school dinners include a sugary pudding and sometimes chips or pizza but a tiny chocolate bar is frowned upon. Hypocrisy.

Yes! This is what I don't understand - school dinners include a sugary pudding and sometimes chips or pizza but a tiny chocolate bar is frowned upon. Hypocrisy.

If the school doesn't have a clear policy then no you are not being unreasonable. Concerns should be made to the parent not the child. I am surprised they don't have a healthy eating policy, imo it makes life easier/simpler - no lunch box envy. Perhaps a chat with the teacher re what the policy is, it would be unfair if only one class has this rule.

It is irritatingly inconsistent if they have no policy on it but forbid things anyway, not to mention objecting to items in lunch boxes whilst giving ice cream and custard for school dinner puddings.
Having said that though, saying no chocolate bars or fizzy drinks is pretty standard for primary schools.

I would ignore it personally.
I'm a teacher too and bad packed lunches I saw consisted of a box full of white bread jam sandwiches (nothing else) or sandwiches/sausage rolls/crisps (nothing else) etc.
As long as there's a balance (which yours has) then I'd think that was fine.
Do you think they're trying to put the packed lunch kids off, to encourage having school dinners?

My grandson who is in reception wants school dinners so he can have a cookie after.

If they are pushing healthy eating it should be school dinners as well they always have a pudding and not always a healthy one .

YANBU op.

It's a flipping tiny chocolate bar not an ounce of cocaïne and a bloody whisky.

This whole policing of lunches has gone too far. The school dinner with pizza and homemade pud will be far unhealthier.

Sometimes I think they are trying to force you to buy the school dinners instead.

Your poor daughter

Yanbu. Especially when they allow sponge puddings and ice cream etc if you chose school dinners.

Yanbu but I wouldn't ignore it. Ds had a girl in his class who got chocolate every day in her lunch even though it wasn't allowed. I was in for lunch once and when she got to the candy bar, which her classmates couldn't have, she was so torn.

She wanted it, but knew it was banned. The classmates were not happy because she could break the rules but they couldn't. Then you'd have disapproving teacher on one hand, mum on the other insisting it was her damn kid.

Just wait until she gets home!

It just came to me that my daughter came home during her second week and told me Miss X had given her a Starburst for being good!

Also a little boy in her class had a birthday and his mum sent in chocolate cake, which the children ate before home time.

I am going to address it with the teacher tomorrow, to see if my daughter has misunderstood.

This drives me nuts. DD is 10 and eats a lot. She has a hearty pack lunch and eats it all. She usually has wrap, pasta salad, yogurt, 2 pieces of fruit, a bottle of water and shock horror a biscuit or crisps. She has been told by the dinner lady that she eats too much. I would tend to agree if she spent all her time sitting on the sofa but she is involved in a competitive sport and trains a minimum of 15 hours a week and often a lot more. Sometimes things arn't as they seem at first glance. If school have an issue they need to speak to parents rather than embarass children. I am all for a healthy lunch but we took her off school lunch after a diet of chips, pizza and curry with sponge cakes or ice cream for dessert. Yanbu.

Oh god the high and mighty lunch box Police are here. Yanbu at all op, its a tiny bit of chocolate which will not do your little one any harm, they probably need it with all the work they are doing at school. Our infant school are fab, when I asked what not to pack in my 4 year old's lunch box, it was simply anything with nuts, as we are a nut free school, nothing else. A bit of chocolate is fine.

My four have always had a club biscuit or equivalent in their lunchbox. Everyone is slim and healthy, not a filling between them. People are getting a bit extreme about healthy food.

YANBU your child & your choice what you feed them!
The teacher seems like she has double standards rewarding DD with starburst but telling her that she can't have a Milky Way!!

We don't have packed lunches here, children eat school lunch at 12 or go home for lunch (or occasionally out for a kebab, in Lycée, if their timetable allows it) mine usually get a bit of cake if I've baked, or bread and cheese for goûter or that old French standby, a 1/4 of baguette with dark chocolate poked inside, a row of 4 squares usually, to make it easy to shove it up the middle of the baguette. If you like milk chocolate Milka do special tiny bars for that. We don't have supper until 8ish so they are hungry when they get out of school at 4.30, 5 or 6 depending on age.

I just don't see why things like not putting chocolate and sweets and crisps in lunch are a problem, you wouldn't have chocolate and crisps for lunch at home would you? Most people have a meal not snacks. So why suddenly are people replacing a Meal with party snack food?

Artandco - you might have a hot meal for lunch in your house but we don't - we have sandwiches or salads (possibly soup in the winter etc), fruit and a treat. We always have a hot meal for dinner.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

I think you should definitely go in and tell them how poorly the school compares with yours, OP. And don't forget to tell them you're a deputy head. If they don't know already

Yes a sandwich, or filling salad.

A lunch here is open cold as also packed and taken in office. I had cold potato salad with various green salad, beetroot, tomatoes etc today. Chicken and couscous with with roasted veg day before.

Not haribo, chocolate cake, crisps and a small sandwich

Yanbu. Admittedly it's probably best not to eat sweets or chocolate every day tbh (and it's not really a 'treat' if you're having it every day). But I find it absolutely infuriating that schools ban sugary stuff from lunch boxes and then constantly serve up sugary puddings as part of school dinners. It's unbelievably hypocritical.

Plenty of food police on this thread, too.

It sounds like your DD has a balanced diet, and I see nothing wrong with a mini chocolate bar as part of that.

Speaking as the child of a parent with serious issues surrounding food, I think that teaching moderation is far better than banning any foodstuff completely.