Secondary school lunch box police

[LemonDrizzleDisco]

DDs secondary school has started checking all the packed lunches at registration.
I know lots of secondary school students but sweets and chocolate etc on the way to school but surely at that age It's their choice.

Dd was told off for having too much in her lunch box.

Peanut butter sandwich with brown bread
A small banana
Strawberries
A few grapes
And less than a handful of raisins and dried coconut flakes.

The canteen serves things like sausages and mash ,cake and custard,sandwiches and doughnuts etc. Aibu to think this is unfair ?

She also got told off for having a few pieces of sliced up avocado because it's 'unhealthy'

Nope and I'd be discussing this with the firm tutor asap. The last thing teenage girls need is encouragement of competitive non-eating!

The catering company have probably seen a drop in profits because they are serving inedible, expensive food and so putting pressure on the school to raise the number of children eating school lunches. I hate it when people with little nutritional knowledge try to meddle, why make a teenage girl think that she is eating too much unless she is overweight and even then I would want it to come from parents/ health professionals. Could she say another time that it includes an after school snack.

We tackled this at dds secondary.

They had rules on no chocolate but sold massive cookies, brownies etc.

When we asked for nutritional information on these food's we never got anywhere. Even with the company that made them so we went and saw the head teacher.

It seems ridiculous that you cant give them a fun size milky way but they can buy a triple choc cookie bigger than an adults hand span. Fizzy pop is also banned but they sell cans of flavoured water that just as much sugar in.

It took a few meetings until they relaxed the rules.

That's outrageous! Worst case scenario, send with two lunch boxes and only display one! Stupid rules.

Nope. Nope. Nope. It's not school's job to police the detail of lunches.

It might be ok to open a discussion with home if eating patterns raise concerns e.g. obsessive under/overeating buy that should be done by form tutors or pastoral staff.

The only thing I'd be ok with is removing fizzy pop and energy drinks (not allowed at our sch) and telling students that lunch money given by parents is probably not given so thru can eat share bags of crisps and sweeta theu bought at the corner shop instead of getting a proper lunch (sometimes let home know because most parents dont want their kids eating nothing but crap)
That said, once i called home because an 11 year old was drinking 2-3 cans of energy drink in a morning and it was having massive effects on his behaviour and learning. Then home told me they're happy about him having it because otherwise he'd be tired hecause he's up on his xbox til the early hours. Still told it would be removed because its not allowed at school and home accused the school of ruining his learning!

That sounds insane. That sort of behaviour is more likely to do harm than good, isn't it?

I would definitely complain. To your DD is old enough to self-regulate her food intake.

I would be tempted to give DD a well reasoned letter to keep in her lunch box. Outlining the hypocrisy between lunch box rules and school lunches which are sold.

I would have an issue with someone teaching my child that avocado is unhealthy.

For fuck's sake.

OP does the person who told off your daughter have any relevant qualifications? I bet they don't. That lunch sounds perfectly healthy and it's dangerous to plant nutritional misinformation in the minds of teenage girls. Don't they have anything better to do??

Completely ridiculous. Most likely a classic case of a well-intentioned policy being implemented without imagination.

I'm amazed she was allowed a peanut butter sandwich. I haven't known a school allow peanuts for a long time.

I find your DD's lunch box extremely varied and healthy. What a good job that she also eats fruit, avocado etc. Jesus... screw 'em

They are in secondary. Allowed peanuts. My dd is anaphylactic to peanuts. It's up to her to be careful.

I'd want to know how they are qualified to judge these packed lunches.

It's the form tutors that go round and take notes of what needs to be improved in lunch boxes.

To an above poster , dd is nowhere near overweight and even if she was,surely it's not up to the form tutour to be telling her she has too much lunch in front of the class.

I will try sending in a strongly worded note with DDs lunch today.

Yes they're allowed nuts,dd always asks her friends and the people around her if they're allergic to nuts just incase.

Sounds like they have decided to try and educate pupils about healthy eating - but yet have dived in without any real knowledge and thought.

I like the idea from the poster above emailing and asking that in light of their policing lunch you'd like a complete nutritional breakdown of all foods sold in the canteen so you can make an informed choice with regards DD lunch.

Then when they refuse or can't send in the nutritional information for what DD eats wiyh a list from Internet of usual nutritional content of something she's likely to be able to get as a meal from canteen.

then tell them to fuck off!

My Ds has a fairly good lunch IMO - (tuna/cumcumber roll, packet of cookies, chicken bits, cucumber and carrots).
He's starving again by the time he gets home!

Form tutor sounds like a jobsworth and a bit of a moron.

Avo is unhealthy??? She sounds like a silly cow.

I'd tell them to piss all the way off to Antarctica.

That's just insane.

that is too much. in secondary school they should stop all this nannying.

Hang on, I'd talk to the school before you send amything in. The lunch sounds perfectly healthy, so it seems pretty unbelievably a teacher would have an issue with it.
I'd want to hear the schools version of events before I said anything, in case my DD was tactically missing out that there was also 4 mars bars in there!

I will speak to the form tutor and see what was said but it's not like my dd to make this up.

We got a letter before half term to say there will be lunch checks to promote healthy eating.
Dd is vegan so apart from fruit and veg,the school offer nothing that she can eat.

She also got told off for having a few pieces of sliced up avocado because it's 'unhealthy' hmm

WTF? Are you serious?

What planet have they been on for the last 15 years?

Well if she's vegan it's very unlikely she has bars of chocolate hidden in there!

I think I'd be sending a short and to the point letter saying that anyone who doubts the dietary benefits of avocado has no place being allowed to be the lunchbox police anyway as they clearly no jack shit about food and nutrition and you'd really appreciate if they'd mind their own business and stick to teaching people what they actually know about and not what they don't.