To not know what exactly passes as a healthy lunch for a 5 year old?

[DragginBallsEEEE]

Just reading another thread and opinions are mixed on whether OPs lunch is ok or too much which has made me question my own DDs lunch. I will say that I grew up quite poor and getting groceries was the highlight of my week and as such I am now an adult who is overweight so definitely don't have the best relationship with food and my children are larger than their peers. I don't deny them food and they do snack on things like fruit and yogurt or sliced meats but do limit their junk food and presently don't buy anything other than wotsits/quavers and fibre one bars as junk.

DD is 5 and on the heavy side. On a typical day for school lunch I will give her:

Either a ham thin OR cold pasta with ham chopped through it.
A banana or handful of grapes.
A cheesestring
A small yogurt/frube or custard pot.
A bottle of water or on the odd occasion apple juice.

I thought this was perfectly fine but after seeing replies on the other thread I am wondering if I should change what I give her. She eats the whole lot most days. She doesn't eat salad or veg which is frustrating but will eat fruit.

So AIBU to be worried about what I am giving her or does it sound ok? What do your lower primary aged children have?

Think the lunch sounds ok, but I would swap the yoghurt for natural, ditch the custard pot each day and give as a treat only. I would also give hard cheese rather than a cheese string.

My child has

Cheese or shredded chicken sandwich lettuce/tomato on wholemeal bread.

Or

A small pot of wm pasta or wg rice with salad and home made BBQ or homemade tomato ketchup.

Then

A pot of carrot or cucumber sticks

A few baby tomatoes.

Mini bread sticks (3)

Strawberries or orange segments or grapes.

Plain yoghurt

Home made mini oat energy bar.

On Friday they are allowed to take half a bag of crisps and a carton of juice.

Apple instead of banana?
Wtf is wrong with bananas?

I never kniw what to give DD and I know that no matter why they'll be someone who thinks it's okay and some who don't.

It's what your child will eat and how much. You know your child and what they'll eat. DDs is nornally:

Sandwich
Yogurt
Crisps
Fruit
Cheese string
Bottle of water.

We used to put a go ahead bar in also but she said she didn't want it anymore and was happy with the rest.

What if you try 3d veggie cutters to try and get her to be interested in eating more veg?

Unfortunately this in MN and unless your child eat a teaspoon of hummus, a cucumber stick and half a peeled grape you will be causing your child all sorts of food 'issues'.

OP What do you feed your child the rest of the day, don't just look at lunch.

For example my 2 of my children eat a smaller breakfasts and lunches but have a much bigger dinner, where as my 3rd child eats a bigger breakfast and lunch but a smaller dinner. But over the day as a whole they eat healthy and within normal range.

I think bananas are considered a devil fruit - evil little sods packed with potassium.

I remember the good old days on here when ham was fine as long as it was "nice ham" 😂

My 6yo will take:

Jam sandwich on wholemeal bread
Carrot sticks
Cheese string AND A yoghurt
Tub of fruit
Packet of crisps or a biscuit
Fruit shoot

I know exactly what a healthy packed lunch looks like. Unfortunately my 6yo is fussy and would starve herself rather than eat something she doesn't like. I was the same at her age. I settle for covering food groups and filling her belly. She's tiny though and needs the calories. I even sent a CRUNCH CORNER in this week.

My 3yo otoh would happily eat a bowl of quinoa with tomato and olives and feta and she's a chunky monkey. Thems the genetics.

There's a difference between an IDEAL lunch and what is completely acceptable to feed your child. What you described sounds fine OP. If you're worried about weight then you could maybe replace the cheese string with another piece of fruit but I'd encourage more exercise before I started cutting out food.

The lunch sounds fine to me but you mention that your DD is on the heavy side so how are her activity levels? Those need to be balanced against nutrition. DD is 4 and eats more than me, and way more than your daughter, but is thin because she's always mega active.

A sliver of cucumber and a cup of water.

Dd's lunch at that age would have been 1 slice of bread made into a sandwich - typically tuna, ham, ham and tomato, cheese and cucumber, left-over roast beef or chicken. Otherwise a wrap, with chicken and peppers for e.g. A cheese string and a piece of fruit - So grapes, strawberries, blueberries, banana, or a satsuma (she never ate apples and wouldn't have been able to peel an orange).
The cheese string would be swapped for a yoghurt some days.
Always a bottle of water.
She had her carbs, a piece of fruit and either a yoghurt or cheese string.
They don't get much time to eat at that age and she was a slow eater. So giving her piles of food would have been counterproductive as she'd never eat anything! Bizarre, but I learned the hard way.

My nearly 3 year old ds would eat all of that. I actually just weighed and measured him today and he’s 50th centile BMI. For lunch if we’re at home he usually has a ham or cheese sandwich (1 slice of bread, sometimes ham and cheese), half a pack of Pom bears, some fruit and a small biscuit or similar.

"I give my child some lettuce and water"

Hmmm....have you thought about replacing the lettuce with air and the water with something less treaty...like air

Dimsumlosesum
Maybe they just don't like veg?
You could 3D cutter celery into Harry Styles shapes and that shit still isn't going in my mouth.

Goodness me...

My 2-year-old takes a box to nursery, which typically includes

• a banana
• an apple/kiwi/pear/pot of raspberries or strawberries
• a boiled egg
• 3 small sausages
• a tiny yoghurt pot (plain Greek yoghurt) or yoghurt pouch
• some cheese cubes and crackers
• perhaps a pretzel (proper ones...we're abroad)

He loves bananas...but most of the other things are hit and miss. He'll have days when he eats them and on others they don't get touched. I'm trying to add peppers, cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes to his box, which he used to eat but is refusing at the moment. He doesn't like hummus. He gets a healthy, organic lunch at nursery, has breakfast at home (slice of toast with butter or some dry bran flakes...doesn't like milk) and then dinner with us. His box is just for snacks and to give him choices.
Crisps or cakes are rather uncommon snack options here, though. His nursery is also sugar free, so I'm not supposed to send in anything containing sugar (oddly, fruit sugar and honey are ok...).

My 2 year old has-

Ham sandwich with one round of bread
A few pea snack crisps
3/4 slices of cheese
3 strawberries and a handful of grapes
A mini malt loaf
A small box of raisins
2/3 carrot sticks

He eats the lot! He isn’t at all over weight but looking at some 5 year old packed lunches maybe I am over feeding him!

The lunchbox you describe is typical of most 5 year olds, please don't listen to the nutcases on here!

From what you have said i would encourage her to be more active, my 5yo is always on the go and does a couple of swim / rugby / gymnastic type activities each week.

I also wouldnt be concerned about the clothes sizing, they vary so wildly from shop to shop imo.

Sounds fine to me.

My daughter has:

Plain Ham wrap
A pack of multipack popcorn
A frube
A small pot of grapes or strawberries

Sometimes she has a handful of crisp instead of the popcorn or no crisp/popcorn and had a biscuit bar instead.

She will not eat veg so no point adding cucumber/carrot or tomatoes.

1 pack from the multipack of popcorn. Not all 6! Ha

I'd avoid the fruit juice as it's full of sugar. It's natural sugar, but it's still sugar. Water is best. I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with what you're giving her. As a rule of thumb, I'd minimise refined carbs - go for wholemeal bread, pasta, rice if she will eat those. It's good that you are concerned - a few small adjustments, and the extra exercise you are already giving her should get rid of the problem now before it becomes a big deal.

Ham and other processed meat is a Group 1 Carcinogen , along with plutonium, benzene, and cigarette smoke.

www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html

Kids eat far too much of the stuff.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that lunch in terms of calorie content. It's most likely snacking that's making her chubby. Personally I would avoid cheese strings (v. processed) and give ham only infrequently as processed meat is really not good to eat often.

Processed meat is in the same category as tobacco but the risk is much much lower

If your child was hungry she would tell you and if it was too much it wouldn't get eaten, my just turned 4 year old eats that and a kitkat or packet of mini cookies so it's hard for anyone else to tell you what's right

My DS is 8. I usually make him something like: chicken and sweetcorn wrap, piece of cheese/mini yeo/yakult, some fruit and then maybe a chocolate oatcake/some chopped vedge or olives. He eats most of it. He is v tall and thin too, we are a pretty active family with an overall healthy diet ( e.g. ice cream at the weekend / popcorn if we are at cinema etc )