To think that packed lunch containing a cold happy meal could be due to poverty?

[blubberball]

I saw on the news the other day, a story about school packed lunches. At one school, they looked in a child's lunchbox, and found a cold happy meal. People have obviously been angered by that, and are accusing the parents of being lazy. The first thought that came to my mind was that they couldn't afford to waste the food from the day before. I know that the particular primary school they looked at is in a very poor area. I just felt sorry for them.

Trying to think what I'd do in toysarus situation - so difficult £1 nor enough for ds's philadelphia which de doesn't like.

Not sure how much pasta is in the co op but I think I'd have resorted to cheap bag of pasta & passata for the kids if it stretched but go without myself. Wouldn't have enough for beans on toast.

I don't know if this thread is just full of goady bridge-dwellers or people who are just willfully ignorant.

Gracie, don't get me started on the pizzas and toast dripping with butter and milkshakes available at break as a "snack."

Lots of posts saying you can't judge the parents without context. Also lots of posts slating the school. But we don't know the context in which the school said this (in their own communications, not to a newspaper) either. Maybe the family aren't poor, and money isn't the problem. Maybe the school have raised this with them many times before and got nowhere, so I'm exasperation they decided to try this. Again, context is needed.

You don't need to be taught to make a sandwich if you are a halfway competent adult. Nor do you need fuel to cook it.

ThisIs

Surely not.

Surely some people might have debts.
Surely some people might have the washing machine break, the car break down, have to buy two new sets of school shoes.
Surely we all know a low income isn't 'topped up' to make it a high income.
Surely.

I think the context is irrelevant.

The head should have spoke to and wrote to the individual parents or wrote to the individual parents and then sent a generic letter to all parents.

By sending a letter detailing individual circumstances in a letter which will identify children and further speaking to the press then the only child who loses out is the kid who had the happy meal who every kid in that school will now be able to identify and many parents will now know too.

Poor kid might have enough Shit to deal with without being mortified and potentially opened up for bullying.

I've got a strong, strong feeling it was a happy meal box, you know.

The contents of which may have been questionable.

What right does that Headteacher have to get the media involved if he/she was so appalled why not address the issue with parents instead of making the child click bait.

I remember getting left over scrambled eggs and dry toast in my lunch box(.cold ) once. My mother was a superb cook but we had no food left and I caught the school bus at 7.30 am.
Yes set guidelines but stuff happens. It was meat in bread. Better than 2 bars of chocolate which was also lunch amongst DS's peers.

Portia he gave examples of a few lunches, so I think it is a widespread problem at the school and not just one child.

Believe me I know this area well, it would have been lazy, feckless parenting and no other reason!

I think what has probably happened Portia is he's sent letter home, someone receiving the letter has shared it and the press have picked up on it. Although imo he handled it badly in the first place and he does appear to have spoken to the press.

He should get himself to a secondary school ha ha ha

Yes see if he can police hundreds of lunches.

Firstly, poor child. And secondly, poor parents for not having the access to good education on the importance of good food.

Reading the thread, I am shocked at some of you, As a parent you should be embarrassed for any sanctimonious comments you have made, the very core of parenting is to care and nurture. If you are bringing up your children without these qualities, you are doing more damage to society than a cold happy meal in a lunch box.

Some of you say "You can whip up this or that..", like it's a given they will know how to do that.

The issue is lack of education on the parents side, often tied in with poverty. You are all so quick to judge without opening your minds to the fact that not everyone lives the way you do.

You think a hotdog is the same as a sausage? Therein lies the issue I think

In my house a hotdog is exactly the same as a sausage it's just surrounded by bread instead of mash and made from the pigs that hang out in my garden

How irrelevant is that.

The vast maj of people don't make their hot dogs from their own free range pigs rooting round their garden.

Hot dogs sold in shops are full of shite and a world away from a free range butchers quality sausage.

Mum sorry but your post is equally ridiculous.

You don't need a degree in nutrition or even a GCSE in anything to know that a cold Happy Meal is expensive trash and pretty shameful as a packed lunch.You'd actually have to be living on planet Mars not to know. There is literature everywhere and most schools give guidance re packed healthy packed lunches hence the multitude of food police threads.

There is zero excuse.

A hotdog to me is a standard sausage in a bun.

A frankfurter is what I believe people are thinking of.

I think it's pretty normal in the UK for a hotdog to be a normal sausage, if you had a hotdog at a BBQ that's what you would have, right? (With fried onions, mmmmmm)

We have M&S posh dogs for our hot dog fix, 85% (outdoor reared pork) meat content, it's meaty like a sausage but has that smokey hot dog flavour so it doesn't just taste like a sausage in a bun. I was over the moon when I discovered these as I love hot dogs but eating mechanically recovered meat didn't appeal to me. DS loves them too, he has no issues with the crap in a shit hot dog so he will still choose that option at birthday parties and the like. 🙄

A lack of education?! Rubbish. As I mentioned upthread, I used to work abroad in a poor country with high levels of illiteracy. I used to chat a lot to the maids who worked for different families in our building as it helped me practice the language. I remember those ladies being fanatical about their kids eating fruit, vegetables, milk and yoghurt. They had barely any education (think one or two years of primary school) and were dirt poor but cared about what their kids ate. Remembering those ladies makes me feel even more pissed off at the low standards some parents have for their kids in this country.

This thread is like the Daily Mail comments section. Those feckless poor people with their mobile phones and Sky t.v. eh?

Excusing and it does no favours for the children involved or their parents