to not get this about pack lunches..

[Butterflykissess]

son today was told in school he is not allowed to eat oreos at lunch time. as they are "chocolate." its hardly a flaming mars bar! and considering on the school menu os chocolate cake, ice cream etc. aibu to think ots ridiculous?

Our school seems very sensible, thankfully. At break time, only fruit is allowed but they don't seem to have an issue with things like biscuits and crisps at lunchtime as long as they have something like a sandwich and a piece of fruit as well. I think this is a good thing as it teaches children that the majority of what they eat should be nutritious but that if you have a treat it should be a small part of your meal, rather than teaching things like chocolate, biscuits and crisps are the work of the devil.

I don't have children, so I can't comment directly on this. But I grew up in the US, and all of my nieces and nephews go to school in the US. And the amount of junk food they are allowed at school, is eye-opening. I went to a residential school for special needs for many years, and I also remember the "lemonade "and "Ice-T quote that we were only allowed to have during dinner time. It was 95% sugar I'm sore. They also have replaced the soda machines with juice machines, but again, the juice is 95% sugar. The only real change has been that they have stopped serving second helpings but even then, if you have a second helping of broccoli, who cares? I really don't understand. Really.

My dc are offered cakey
Puddings at school even day. They all have hidden veg in (chocolate and courgette/beetroot; carrot cake etc). The recipes were sent home once - they have about half the amount of sugar of traditional recipes.

I got into trouble for Oreo's. My DC are vegan and Oreo's are one of the few biscuits they can eat. The fuss! You'd have thought I'd sent them in with a lunchbox full of crack. Won't make that mistake again.

Packed lunch, Pack up, Snap are all variations I have heard locally.

Why offer puddings in school lunches if the healthy message they are trying to promote is 'you don't need sugar'?

Stick with a main savory meal as they expect the packed lunches to be.

My DS school asks that we don't put in choc biscuits in lunch boxes, but to give them cereal bars instead. Ive looked and cereal bars have the same, if not more, sugar in them than a kit kat or something. So seems a bit silly really. I put a choc biscuit in, nothing has ever been said. I think if it's a balanced lunch box... Sandwich, fruit, crisps yogurt, cheese dip, then its fine.

No child is going to die if they don't have sweet treats at school.

I understand why the ban as too many parents are thick and send their kids to school with junk food.

I recall being in school and parents seem to understand what to send their kids to school in a packED lunch. Soda and biscuits were a treat. Somehow people got used to the idea that people should have a snack shoved in their pie hole every 10 minutes, for fear they would die of starvation. There may have been a couple fat kids in the entire school but now we've got an epidemic of obesity in kids because of lazy parenting.

I think the rules are ridiculous when my school's idea of a balance meal is Hot Dog and Lemon Drizzle cake. It's ok though because you get a portion of sweetcorn and potatoes on the side .

When the Tories wanted to ban packed lunches the referred to a piece of research say school meals were more nutritious but the company doing the reseach was the same company that they were planning to give school meal contract to.

"You can have dessert but only if you pay for ours"

It's sensible - they don't need sweets, chocolate, biscuits, crisps or juice at all and deffo not on school where it'll start a tsunami of junk food as the kids start complaining that 'everyone' but them get treats.
Our school dinners come with 'pudding' but it's often fresh fruit, or low fat yoghurt. If it's a 'cake' type thing it's made with veg, or fruit and wholemeal flour and made on the premises. Oreos are processed junk.
You can fill your kid with crap to you hearts content before and after school and at weekends, I don't think it's an issue that the school try to stick to guidelines to create healthy habits in children when there's clearly a problem with their diets in general.

I feel sorry for schools, a lot of people expect them to parent our children as well as teach them but then complain the second the school tries to do something that CLEARLY benefits the kids or go off the deep end if they think that the school is 'judging' their own parenting in some way. I bit the lunch staff were thinking, "how effing hard is it to stick to a rule.'

I'm a lunch lady and if you didn't have some guidelines parents would shove all kinds of shit in kids lunch boxes...it annoys me the head is asking parents to give a healthy packed lunch yet the parents are saying Fuck you I'll pack what I want....a chocolate biscuit is a lot different to a giant size mars bar and bottle of coke.

MariaMadita Tue 19-Jun-18 22:08:17
If thy have a no sweets rule?

Not like he needs the Oreos, right?

Do you always only ever eat exactly what you need?

Chocolateismyvice Tue 19-Jun-18 22:34:12
Yet now, we have so much food at our disposal, low fat and low sugar stuff in rammed down our throats and yet, people are getting bigger and bigger.

Low fat, low sugar makes people fat. They take the fat out so add sugar. They now have to remove the sugar so they add sweeteners.

They should just remove the carbs and add the fat back in.

Eliza

No, I don't ;)

But a no pudding rule is still sensible imo. Obesity and malnutrition caused by empty calories are much bigger issues than unhealthy calory deficits nowadays...

I agree with rainbowglitter they should judge the meal as a whole.

My take on healthy eating is moderation not banning any one food type. If a lunch contained crisps coke and a packet of oreos that is very different to a lunch containing a wholemeal hummus wrap, a box of carrot sticks and tomatoes and two biscuits. It only takes a bit of common sense to see the difference.

Plus, as others have said all the handwringing over healthy eating primary is pointless since at secondary they just eat chips and chocolate.

Are you for real? Why the heck would you give your kid a packet of Oreos?! Do you realise what they are made from? A piece of cake is completely different if cooked at school or by school standards as it won’t be processed garbage. Why would you give your kids processed foods for lunch? Full of sugar, additives, chemicals and colours. It’s a no brainer to give your kids something else. And it is a huge deal, good habits start at home and it wouldn’t be a once a month kinda treat, it would be everyday. Then what do they have for breakfast? Then snack after school? Then pudding after dinner? Think about it. I bet most of that is processed if there are Oreos in the house already.

Actually can't belive schools dictate what kids can bring in a lunch from home!!
My now 25 & 18 years used to get
A sandwich. Cheese /ham/jam
A pack of crisps
Peace of fruit
Choccy biccy
Yoghurt.

In my view a good mix.
Neither are overweight & eat a good variety
Of foods.
If the schools dictate what kids eat to this extent the schools should provide * not be the lunch box police.

And so the school
Is trying to get your kids to eat right and you are saying sod that I’ll give them biscuits?!! I think you need to look
At why you are so offended by this. As you should be behind this new approach. They are not taking away your human rights!!

I would formally complain.

if the school dinners include chocolate cakes and chocolate muffins for pudding, then children with packed lunches should be allowed similar treats for their puddings.

biscuit in, nothing has ever been said. I think if it's a balanced lunch box... Sandwich, fruit, crisps yogurt, cheese dip, then its fine.

Whoever wrote that post. That is not a balanced approach! You are giving your kid, crisps - fried fat pieces with zero nutritional value, a processed pretend cheese dip, and a sandwich full of sugar. And I’m guessing the yoghurt isn’t Greek and plain?! So all in all that’s not a balanced meal! We need some serious education here folks.

Was gonna say Oreos are not chocolate.... as they are vegan!
In my book anything vegan is a health food! 😂

Like many you’re missing the nutritional value of the school puddings versus anything bought in like Oreos, chocolate bars etc...

The school’s puddings are baked using minimal amounts of sugar etc and age appropriate amounts of sugar and other ingredients. They are reasonably healthy as they baked from scratch...

The kind of products you’re happy sticking into your son’s packed lunch e.g. Oreos, chocolate bars etc contain tonnes of sugar, other food chemicals etc which in turn can lead to very poor concentration levels in children.

It always baffles me how parents like yourself can’t see that the school has your son’s best nutritional interests at heart and is pleading with you to ensure that he has a healthy packed lunch without too much sugar (Oreos etc), too much salt & fat (crisps) etc in it so that his packed lunch is healthy enough to enable him to get the most out of his school learning day and to support him in the maintainance of good dental health and preventing childhood obesity.

I told the school to go swivel..my child, my rules, my decision. When you have an extreme fussy eater and struggle to even get them to eat anything i have to make sure he eats..doesnt matter what it is.
I have 3 others who eat a very good diet, cooked meals every night, lots of fruit and veg. So i will decide whats right for my children, not some jumped up lunchbox monitor

My great niece (aged 8) goes to school every day with strawberry jam sandwiches because (I quote my nephew, her father) "She won't eat anything else".

Her school apparently permits this (though I'm sure some parents would answer "Her parents have the right to feed her whatever crap they want to as she's their property, etc."). Why the girl (who eats not a vegetable or piece of fruit from one month to the next and regularly chows down on take-aways) isn't the size of a house is beyond me, though I imagine type 2 diabetes is lurking round the corner.