...to think that schools should include healthy eating and meal planning?

[SunshinenSparkles]

When I was at school, we did have 'Home Economics' but I really don't think it was good enough.

We were taught how to make things like cakes and puddings, lasange, pizza, sandwiches (wtaf?!?).

I feel that schools need to step up their game in home economics. The HE teachers should be required to teach students how to make real balanced meals and what a balanced meal is. Students should leave school with the knowledge of how to feed themselves and their future household.

We learned how to make a cushion (not how to lift hems or repair clothes etc)

I think kids should be taught how to repair clothes when they tear a seam or to lift hems. Classes should include how to rewire a plug or change a fuse and basic budgeting.

These are the things that would be useful EVERY day of their adult life.

What do you all think? AIBU? I don't think it's too much to ask...I'm not expecting schools to create a new class, just to teach quality lessons in an existing class.

And from the science curriculum

Yr 2 - describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.

Yr 3 - identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition

Yr 6 - recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function

KS3 -
the content of a healthy human diet: carbohydrates, lipids (fats and oils), proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and water, and why each is needed
calculations of energy requirements in a healthy daily diet
the consequences of imbalances in the diet, including obesity, starvation and deficiency diseases

I don’t think ignorance about what constitutes what a healthy or balanced diet is is the issue. It’s far more complex than that and if the school system could fix it, it would have been fixed by now. It’s been on the curriculum for over 20 years.

Ok, it seems that my experience is because I'm in Scotland and that in England, there's far better information passed down to students.

My son isn't actually even in primary school yet so I am not complaining about his education.

To my knowledge, Scotland still does Home Economics. All i am saying is that during those lessons, I personally think time would be better spent learning about balanced nutrition rather than what I was taught in my HE class.

If Scotland's HE curriculum has changed, I apologise, I am unaware of this.

I'm not saying parents shouldn't be teaching this stuff too but that seeing as there's a class for it, more relevant stuff should be taught.

For those that are wondering about changing a fuse....don't you need to change a fuse every so often? I know I do and the first time I had to was when my kettle stopped working. I had to call my dad and he asked about the fuse. I was 18.

I just think that if they are going to have a home-ec class then they may as well teach stuff that kids will need to know for their future household. Just my opinion.

My sons school are having "healthy eating week" soon. I guess it will be covered in that but the rest is up to parents.
When I tell my son he cannot have another chocolate bar/bag of crisps and suggest fruit I explain to him why. I explain what happens when you don't eat healthy. It is my job.
My only gripe would be that I am not convinced the school dinner are that healthy. Chips are an option most days and I imagine most infants will choose them over jacket potato.

We're in Scotland too, op, and dd1 did H.E. in 1st and 2nd year.
She learned how to;
Make a sandwich (2 double lessons for this one)
Cook pasta (just plain pasta)
Boil potatoes and then mash them
Bake cakes
Bake cakes
Bake cakes
Bake cakes

They spent a lot of time learning that sugar is the devil, and that you should never eat food that's 30 seconds past it's use by/best before date. Then they made cakes, coated them in icing and sprinkles, and ate them all at lunch.

She came home weekly moaning about the waste of time the class was - she has been cooking at home since she was tiny, and the week before they started the sandwich chronicles had made roast chicken with all the trimmings with almost no help. Even the teacher admitted that dd was wasting her time in the class.

they're struggling enough to meet the basics and give the 30+ kids in class enough attention to ask them to teach meal planning and hemming. I don't even remember 80% of what i learnt at school (and i actually likef school!).

it's not that we dont know what's good for us its having the motivation, time and money to bother doing it.

stuff are cheap these days there's little point in fixing a torn shirt. I realise this isn't environmentally friendly but its the reality of how society is now.

Schools do. Part of my year 10 pupils GCSE food tech curriculum includes see if ing and making a healthy meal for someone on a restricted diet. We start teaching healthy eating in Year 7. It is repeated every year in PHSE. Threads like this puss me off because it bashes 'Schools' without actually finding out what actually happens in schools.

its like .. kids are sent to day care younger and younger for longer.. parents overworked and this expectation of school teaching them everything from citizenship to sex to drama to sports to sewing and gardening. sure it sounds great but what are the parents doing? maybe a better life work balance for the parents might help. more national holidays... more family friendly employment legislation.

Wow @Whitelisbon - I'd be complaining to the school if that's what she was taught - it doesn't tie in with any of the CfE experiences and outcomes or aspects of learning.

As always though, it's dependent on each schools budget allocation. If you're in a school that values that part of the curriculum then chances are that money will be fairly allocated... sadly tho, this is not always the case

My Home Ec classes (80s, England) definitely included teaching on nutrition. The food we made was mainly healthy stuff, with a bit of baking thrown in (the first and last time I ever made puff pastry!).

If Scotland's HE curriculum has changed, I apologise, I am unaware of this.
I don’t wish to sound rude OP but you are dis’ing HE teaching in Scotland based on very old evidence (your own school days!) - which are presumably at least a decade out of date!
My DS is in S2 and he is being taught plenty about health and nutrition as well as cookery skills. He has made fruit salad, pasta, couscous, pealla (all with plenty of fresh veg). He has also baked and iced cakes. He has enjoyed it too. The only thing I’ve been unhappy with is the fact they made shortbread with margarine. This is a CRIME! . I wouldn’t worry. At the rate it’s going by the time your DS gets to secondary it will probably be all quorn and mung beans..... As for changing plugs and sewing on buttons etc? I think kids should be learning this at home.

We're in England and my dcs have had an excellent introduction into cooking proper healthy meals in years 7-9.
They do food tech for GCSE - they have learnt how to make puff & shortcrust pastry, bread - yeast and soda, bone a fish, joint a chicken use a knife properly etc. I did GCSE Home Economics and the level of cooking skill required is so much higher than it was previously - I'm really impressed with what they've done.
We learnt how to wire a plug in physics at school but I'd still need youtube to remind myself.

We teach our kids to budget and it's a screw up and learn from your mistakes process - you need to do it to understand it and use it....so I think it's a tricky thing to teach and make it stick.
Our kids do life skills every week, our school does try.

In an ideal world it would be taught in schools because you could then be guaranteed to reach more children. Sure, it would be great if parents taught healthy eating but the fact is lots of parents don't really know. That includes middle class MN mums who believe they know it all but are often repeating what they've learned on their current weight loss diet plan!

The reality is you'd first have to get some agreement on what facts they should be taught and as pps have pointed out the current advice from the NHS is in need of revising. Then of course you'd actually need qualified people to teach it because with the greatest respect to teachers they're no more or less likely to be particularly knowledgeable about nutrition than your average accountant, hairdresser, PA or cleaner. That would require funding.

Even if you could get governments to stump up for it you still have to try to get the parents to buy in. Just think about all the lunch box police threads over the years where MNers have worked themselves up to high doh insisting that it's nobody's business what they give their dc for lunch, that it's just a snapshot and their dc eat a perfect diet except for the daily slice of cake in their packed lunch and butter and sugar don't count if it's homemade because that ladleful of love negates the sugar and fat content.

Otherwise though it's a good idea .

Both my teens learned to cook and bake from scratch at school. I allow them to cook at home as they have good basic skills now. I have taught them to iron and do general cleaning. As they get older dh/I will teach car care and changing fuses. I learnt this ny watching my parents. Not everything is a school job.

Yes Whitelisbon, that's what's being taught here too and I just think that's such a waste of a class.

I'm not 'bashing schools', I am bashing my HE teacher. She was crap and frankly, it appears that at least several parts of Scotland are getting a piss poor home-ec experience and have been for some time...so what's even the point of those lessons?

For those who are in the rest of the uk, great, I'm glad your class isn't pointless. Some schools in Scotland probably do have decent HE classes but I'm saying there should be a standard that they ALL have to reach if they are going to offer the class.

It seems that english schools have kept this high standard for decades and I think that makes it more ridiculous that schools like our local one are allowed to flake it like this.

Not everything is a school job.

True enough scabetty but given obesity and the effect on health is a very real problem across the population, it is an issue that the state needs to address and schools are arguably the best place to do it. Shrugging our shoulders and saying "well, it's up to the parents" won't change the reality of the situation because lots of parents can't, or won't, or think they already do but are not as well informed as they think they are.

Coco I think this is a great point. I will do my best to ensure that my child is armed with quality information and will raise him on a balanced diet with plenty of exercise. He helps out with cleaning and tidying and when he is older I will teach him budgeting, basic DIY and other life skills.

We all have the best intentions with our kids but we are only teaching them what we, ourselves know but our generation has a current obesity crisis so how well can our generation really teach the next about healthy, balanced living?

Our schools do this - starting with gardening then cooking and cleaning up, then management of waste (composting, bokashi, recycling etc).

The schools themselves are water only, zero waste, and the children absolutely know about healthy choices and food preparation.

Yes this stuff was traditionally covered at home but let's face it, a lot of kids are growing up with inadequate parenting so it would be helpful to everyone if they could get some good information at school so they can break the cycle so to speak.

then send your kids to a steiner school that is the difference between state schools, private and other, alternative etc....

you forget what the basis of the education system is for....