AIBU - restrictive school snack policy, hungry child

[nemoni]

Our children's school (primary) has a policy of only allowing fruit and vegetables for snacks at school. Completely get the rationale - healthy eating, relatively easy to set parameters, no overly complex education needed around it etc.

The only problem is I have an active child - plays sport (on top of PE etc) 5 days a week and generally on the go. He comes home from school ravenously hungry, grumpy and tired. He's also going through a growth spurt. I'd like to be able to give him more carbohydrates, even protein, during the day as snacks, as I do on weekends, particularly on days he goes to after school sports sessions. I'm not asking for crisps/chocolate/jam sandwiches etc.

School so far saying no, no, no.

I think it's a cop out, it means they get to look like they're promoting healthy eating while not really promoting a balanced diet, kids are scoffing loads of dried fruit, and don't have access to a water fountain during school hours except at lunch. And don't get me started on school dinners.

Am I being unreasonable?! What parameters does your school set? How do they promote and support healthy eating? Thoughts welcome before I book a chat with the headteacher :)

[SmokyRobinson]

Not read all the responses, but are all children taking snacks to school? Mine never have, and have never asked for it, so didn't even know it happened?

[Mumzypopz]

My child is up and out early to a childminder's house, so is eating his breakfast at 6.15. break time at school is 10.30, lunch at 12.30. fruit just wouldn't cut it for him. We put little bags of biscuits, waffles, etc hidden in his pocket and when it's break time, he shows the teachers his apple, then goes off and has a proper more filling snack in the playground!!!!

[cantkeepawayforever]

"Really annoyed at this stupid policy - let parents decide what is best for their children!"

That's a really tricky one, because far more than yiou might suspect make choices that aren't that great, in terms iof what they give their children to eat. As a teacher, I can absolutely tell the difference between a class when the majority have eaten a sensible, sustaining breakfast, an appropriate snack and a full lunch, and one where breakfasts have been absent / inadequate, snacks purely sugary, and lunches that lack any genuine food value (where they are eaten at all, rather than grabbing 2 bites and going out to play).

If your child eats no breakfast, then tbh the best thing you can do is to talk to school about them being taken out during morning registration, or in the playtime just before school, to eat it (in a school taught in, this was routine for children we knew were sent into / made their way into school with no breakfast - we provided the food), rather than asking them to change the snack policy.

[00100001]

I fail to see why you can't give your child fruit allegretto

[00100001]

mum "We put little bags of biscuits, waffles, etc hidden in his pocket and when it's break time, he shows the teachers his apple, then goes off and has a proper more filling snack in the playground!!!!"

there is no way on this planet a packet of biscuits is more filling than a banana.

[cantkeepawayforever]

Mumzy, why doesn't the childminder give him breakfast?

My DCs went to a childminder before school, out of the house just before 7. They always had a good filling breakfast - porridge, fruit, toast, often an egg - at the childminder's before going on to school.

[SoupDragon]

We put little bags of biscuits, waffles, etc hidden in his pocket and when it's break time, he shows the teachers his apple, then goes off and has a proper more filling snack in the playground!

And there we have proof as to why you can't just "let parents decide what is best for their children!"

[allegretto]

Or am I being simplistic?

Yes, you are. I have three children. My youngest won't eat breakfast. The other two do. I can't force it down his throat. We have tried lots of approaches - he won't eat it. He will eat at 10.30 though, but often will not eat fruit. He is a fussy eater and often won't eat much of the school lunches either - again the other two do eat it so please, don't just blame the parents. He is underweight and the dr has said it is important to offer him things that he likes (which for the record are actually pretty healthy too, not junk but not fruit). I hate the "one-size fits all" policy. My son is very underweight yet I am expected to sign up to a policy to avoid childhood obesity??!

[SoupDragon]

I fail to see why you can't give your child fruit allegretto

She clearly said she does and that he often won't eat it.

DS2 does not eat fruit. It took many many years to find that he was happy with dried mango.

[Mumzypopz]

Cantkeepawayforever.....He is hungry when he wakes up, so has breakfast at home. Childminder is not allowed to provide food....She was told by her inspector that to do that, her while kitchen would need to be colour coordinated and she would need to pass a certificate in food handling....Hence us giving him food in his pocket etc...

[Sirzy]

And we wonder why we have a childhood obesity problem

[cantkeepawayforever]

Again, then, your best approach is to get the school onside to give him a proper 'late breakfast' early on in the school day, rather than complaining about a snack policy that is set for the benefit of the vast majority, rather than necessarily for the one exception.

All the schools I have worked in have had arrangements for giving individual children 'breakfast' within school time if required.

[Mumzypopz]

Soup dragon.....There is nothing wrong with waffles, biscuits etc.....They are not going to kill him. Someone else suggested bananas... He doesn't like bananas and they won't sustain him till lunch. My child, my decision. He does a sport that requires him to train nearly two hours a night. He needs food, lots of it. He is as skinny as a rake at the moment. Fruit will not sustain him. I'm not a bad parent because I give him some biscuits and a waffle

[WorraLiberty]

That's dreadful Mumzy and I suspect it may come back to bite you one day. In the sense that he may end up sharing your attitude towards school rules etc.

Just give him a banana if the CM can't feed him.

[cantkeepawayforever]

Give him a proper packed 'second' breakfast to take to the childminder's then (though why getting a certificate in food handling is beyond someone you trust to look after your child is a little baffling)

[allegretto]

Cankeepawayforever - that wouldn't work as he is not allowed to bring "non-fruit" onto the school premises. The whole school has become a fruit-only zone!

[Mumzypopz]

And Surzy....If you are referring to me...My children are really skinny actually.

[IamFriedSpam]

Mine don't snack, I don't get this whole snack epidemic thats going on. It's healthier to have smaller meals and snack rather than waiting till you get ravenous - which leads to more weight gain, low blood sugar also affects behaviour.

[Sirzy]

Skinny now maybe, but you aren't exactly encouraging a healthy attitude to food - or school!

Children don't need to constantly snack, and children being hungry isn't bad.

[cantkeepawayforever]

Allegretto,

As I say, it is quite normal for schools to give some pupils breakfast - talk to them.

[Mumzypopz]

Children do need to eat some fat. It needs to be in their diet. They need a good mix. As parents, we know our children, we know what they need. Granted, I have seen some overweight children, I don't know their circumstances so can't comment on them. My children do eat fruit, it's if it, but at breaktime, I know my child needs more.

[Mumzypopz]

Surzy, I have older children too, nice and slim thanks, and sporty and healthy. As I said earlier, a couple of biscuits isn't going to harm anyone.

[WorraLiberty]

Spam, before snacking became so wide spread, people very rarely described being hungry for their next meal, as 'being ravenous'.

Interestingly it obviously didn't lead to much weight gain either, since obesity wasn't a problem then, and in children it was rarer than hen's teeth.

[ShoutOutToMyEx]

Chopped avocado might be a good shout.

A go to for us is a hard boiled egg and some spinach in a pot. Seems crazy they won't allow that, it's as healthy as can be! But I understand it's sensible to have hard and fast rules.

[paxillin]

Increase the size of his lunch. Make it three instead of two slices of bread or add a potato so he can last the hours until dinner.

I assume you mean primary school rather than nursery and he's above baby or toddler age so can deal with no snacks and a large meal rather than little nibbles all the time.