Or is school out of order

[mazu]

Dd8 (yr3) while sat at the table spied a box of Nestlé cereal on the table and announced she would not be touching any of it (it wasn't hers and wasn't offered to her). She then goes of to say she would not be buying anything from them as they are horrible people and goes on full blown attack on the brand and palm oil and orangutans. I'm sat there stunned at are very strong beliefs and thought perhaps she's seen an advert on YouTube kids about it.
On the contrary it turns out her at school they were taught about the evil that Nestlé is and that they were told to write letters to the president Mr Schneider to tell him they hate nestle because they damage forests and kill orangutans.

She then spent the entire weekend feeling guilty anytime she has eaten anything with palm oil chocolate, Nutella , bread, crisps I mean everything! She pretty much stopped eating by last night.

While I am up for teaching children about environmental and ethical responsibility at a young age AIBU to feel the school went too far? I made me feel quite angry that they could pretty much teach my child the politics that could shape her entire life and little ones are quite vulnerable and without a balanced view of the facts I do not want this to be the way my child is taught about issues. I want her to read and form her own opinions not spew garbage based on someone else's agenda. Bear in mind the issue here is now the Nestlé as I'm fully aware of the atrocities they have committed in the past.

www.ethicalconsumer.org/

Perhaps a years subscription to this would be a good Christmas present for a family thinking about their impact on the world.

My class have been studying threats to our oceans. They actually asked for their persuasive writing topic to be focused on single use plastics. They're researching the worst culprits so we can send them letters.

If children cannot engage and be furious about our enviroment, what hope do we have?

Your daughter has taken away from this that Nestles are the bad guys in relation to palm oil use. You don't know, however, that that is the only aspect of this issue that the school talked about. YABU to assume you know everything about the lesson and that the school must be at fault.

The school sounds ace!

Crisps are usually made with sunflower oil. Buying everything palm oil free is really your choice (as the person with the money) - it’s hard work until you get used to knowing which brands are palm oil free and it’s frankly expensive to shop entirely ethically. But her awareness is not a bad thing.

YABU You send your child to school to be educated. During this process she's bound to be exposed to different ideas and value sets, in fact that's part of the point.

I remember coming home from school one day, going round the house collecting all the aerosols and binning them. I won't say my mum was thrilled but we talked about it (cfcs, the ozone layer) and she agreed that we wouldnt buy them any more. And actually I still think that was the right thing to do.

I would be delighted! Learning something moral and very relevant in school. Maybe it is making you question your own practices that is making it so uncomfortable for you?

Also I’m not sure that a school targeting a specific company is a good thing - supposing a parent or relative of a child worked for them?

I like how some people have completely ignored everyone I've written and come up with their own conclusions about my views. "Gotta" love the World Wide Web. I'm still open to views on my exact issue. Which it appears I may have to spell out for some.

1. Nestlé is bad but the palm oil problem is bigger than Nestlé.
2. I should be informed if my child is going to take part int any lobbying outside of the school seeing as it's such a small school (single class stream of 15 pupils)

So just so we are clear I have no problem with environmentalism. But I'm sure some will insist I do seeing as I have a problem with what my DD took away from the lesson  (wish there was an eye roll emoji :-))

They're not doing any lobbying, just practicing persuasive writing, stop being ridiculous.

If she took away from the lesson that Nestle are the bad guys then why is there nothing for her to eat? Surely there’s more in your cupboards than nestle products? And if she took away from the lesson that palm oil is bad then again, why is there nothing for her to eat? Fruit and vegetables don’t have palm oil? There’s plenty to choose from that’s free from palm oil or only containing sustainable palm oil.

I don’t really get this? For the rest of her life she’s going to be exposed to different opinions and she’s going to have to make choices about what causes she supports and not everything that she reads and watches (even as an adult) is going to be balanced—Although the fact that Nestle are best avoided is balanced and true—So you know, she might as well start learning these things at eight. You can’t shield her forever. I think you should be proud of her—she learned about an atrocity and she wants no part in it. What a good girl with an excellent moral compass.

I get the feeling that this is more about the inconvenience to you and the fact that you may have to think a little harder before buying food that’s she won’t eat than about her having principles.

Is this the right time to mention Cadburys ???

‘Lobbying’ 😂

*I'm still open to views on my exact issue. Which it appears I may have to spell out for some.

1. Nestlé is bad but the palm oil problem is bigger than Nestlé.*

The lesson was probably an English lesson. The learning objective would be to be able to write a persuasive letter. If you are writing a letter you need a recipient hence the need to choose one of the companies that use palm oil

2. I should be informed if my child is going to take part int any lobbying outside of the school seeing as it's such a small school (single class stream of 15 pupils)

Again, this was just an English lesson. Absolutely no need to inform parents. The children weren't exactly bussed to Nestlé's UK HQ and given a load of banners to hold.

What has the size of the school got to do with it?

What on earth do you thing might happen to these children even if the letters are sent (rather than just being a writing exercise)?

I have Y4 and showed the banned Iceland advert to my class as part of a lesson on environmental issues. When i told them that palm oil was in Cadbury's chocolate, a collective sigh went up, but no parent has been in yet to complain.

I think you are focusing on the wrong thing.
Just because Nestle isn't the only company using palm oil that somehow means the message is wrong. Nestle have one of the worst moral compasses of any businesses ever, and they have products that are aimed specifically at children like nutella - so yes it is ok to use them as a focus in teaching about these bad habits. That doesn't make the teaching invalid because there are also some other companies that also do it or have bad morals.
No you do not need to be advised of all the outside information/activities that may be used in class to teach something. It would get silly - my son's school are always using external resources or going and engaging with something outside the school - I'd be getting bloody permission slips every other day. You either trust the school or you don't. If you don't then suggest finding somewhere you do or consider homeschooling if you really don't think writing protest letters should be allowed without permission from home.

This just reminded me of when we had this really cool supply teacher , who told us in primary school that milk we had for breakfast was cows pus, que loads of kids going home refusing to drink milk or eat cereal, our mums went mental and poor teacher got a right bolllocking this was in the early 2000s though

What did your dd take away from the lesson, not to eat palm oil products? Why is that so bad? Why not support her in it? And anyway she'll probably only feel bad for a few days then revert back to normal.

OP, I think people are finding your posts confusing because

• you said your daughter went on a full blown rant about palm oil and orangutans and then later said her only take away was Nestlé was bad
• you said you agreed the company were evil but you also said the Nestlé cereal was yours and it’s your choice as an adult to eat it

If you want to make ethical choices and educate your child about them, then do that. The school has made a start and you can take it further.

If you don’t want to feel judged about your purchases then don’t buy Nestlé.

Nestle is an absolutely horrible corporation. Not only about palm oil, but for several reasons. They ran a campaign in the 70s in developing countries in Africa and South America saying how breastfeeding was bad and rich people use formula. They didn't take into account that by heavily promoting formula, that most people did not have access to potable water for babies.This caused the preventable death of nearly a million babies in developing countries.

Kudos to your daughter for learning about voting with your wallet, and making sacrifices for ethics.

It seems like you are most angry about being called out by your daughter for supporting a really terrible organisation. If you have a different argument, take the time to sit down with your daughter and explain why you are right and it is OK to support nestle.

I actually don't feel bad about my cereal. I found it on my travels it's a childhood nostalgia thing. Like someone said earlier it's impossible to be completely ethical the key is to find a balance that works for you and my penchant for a cereal I ate as a child many decades ago may be questionable to some and I completely respect that. However if I come across it again I shall buy it.

I really appreciate all your OBJECTIVE replies. I still haven't changed my mind on the take away of the lesson. I've actually been chatting to a few parents in DD class this morning and they also feel strongly about the letters. Not the writing of them but the fact we weren't informed our 7-8 year olds were writing to an external organisation. I guess the 9 of us are missing something. As the letters are identifying (first name and school thus the remark about the school size)
We wouldn't have said no but would have liked to have been informed.
I AM the sort of controlling parent who wants to ensure that my young DDs very impressionable mind gets a good and very broad balance on global issues and it's extremely important to me that she forms her own opinions on these issues.

For those interested in my diet, I was actually vegan for nearly 2 decades ( so lots of fruit and vegetables in this house)

If I don't respond I've gone off to have a bowl of Cerealac :-)
Many thanks for your input I've read every single message and I appreciate you taking your time to reason with me 

Do you mind her having history lessons as well? How about religious studies?

YABU I also learned about this in High School. Nestle are scum.

I don't mind religious studies at all in fact they have a different religious week each term and have someone from that faith come in :-) this post has grown its own feet