School packed lunch.

[Weedinosaurus]

I really don’t think I’m being U here but before I go to the school, I’m after feedback about dds packed lunch.

Dd is in Y4 and is taking her own lunch for the first time. She’s always had school lunches.
I’ve just received an email from school advising me to consider the content and portion size in dds lunch box and to ask the school if I need advice on providing an appropriate lunch.

Example lunch for dd today is:
Ham sandwich on wholemeal bread (1 slice of bread)
3 cherry tomatoes
Cucumber and pepper sticks
A pot of chopped strawberrries
A packet of quavers
Fromage Frais

For break time snack she took a banana.

I get that ham isn’t great and the quavers could be better, but isn’t it about balance?

I’m sure that’s an okay lunch? Or am I just uneducated?

Tell me before I look daft by asking the school what the problem is.

Dd is active and not overweight.

Seems fine to me, maybe more protein? My ds is going into y4 and would need more than that but he's quite tall and we're trying to get him to gain weight 🤷‍♀️

Sounds fine to me.

Could be better could be worse but its hardly red bull and haribo.

It's not far off what dd takes

Are they saying it’s too much or not enough?

My DC are a similar age and they take more than that every day. They eat it all and still leave school saying they’re hungry, I can’t really win on that front.

I have twins in year 4 and no way would one slice of bread be sufficient (they turned 8 last week and are on the small side) so if I were you I'd ask for clarification as I'm assuming you're not providing enough.

One slice of bread? At least make her a proper sandwich!

The rest seems fine.

Find out what their actual issue is.

Sounds healthy enough but wouldn't fill my dd8 or ds9.
I'd double the sandwich and probably add a chunk of cheese.

Bizarre! I agree about the quavers not being great but apart from that it's very balanced. I'm puzzled.

Sounds fine to me. I avoid crisps but I think yours is a balanced lunch.

I give my year three boy one whole round of sandwiches on brown bread, a small cake and a piece of fruit.

They haven’t been clear whether too much or too little.
If I make a bigger sandwich at home, she leaves it. She hasn’t complained of being hungry but I can definitely ask her. There was stuff left yesterday.

Wow can't believe there's someone on email duty for stuff like that. Bizarre. My kids' school can barely get the reports out. Is it that she's a slow eater and staff are having to stay in the hall with her?

One slice of bread for an eight year old is not much, i can see their point.

Yeah I'm wondering too if they think it's a bit light on the starchy carbs as there's only one slice of bread. Do they not give any specific info?

I really don't see the issue with that lunch op. I work in a school and we don't actively check to see if the children's lunches are healthy, only that they have something adequate to eat. I suppose it could be better, at morning break there are children going out to the playground with big tubes of pringles!

Sorry just seen your update. Maybe a bit of wholemeal pasta in a pot to replace the quavers if she doesn't like too much bread?

Could it be an email everyone gets? One slice of bread wouldn't be enough for my 5 year old. If your dd is satisfied I wouldn't give it another thought.

Is it an email that only came to you, or is it a generic one sent to the whole school? As apart from the bag of quavers I can't see anything that would justify having an email sent home. Have you asked your daughter what she thinks of her lunch and how it compares to her friends?

Honestly Bluntness, if I did a sandwich with 2 slices she would leave the extra. That’s how I do sandwiches at home too. I’d do more if she ate it.

Step 1 - ask your DD if you're providing her with a lunch of the right size and does she like the contents (it seems fine to me in both respects).

Step 2 - assuming that your DD is happy, which I assume that she is as she would have told you by now if she thought she was being short changed, tell the school that you have done as they requested.

Step 3 - for sheer bloody mindedness, I would be tempted to ask the school for advice on feeding the child that I have fed and watered in a perfectly satisfactory manner for the last 8? years just to see what level of batshit they manage to come up with.

sounds all right to me. Some children have small appetites and don't eat much!

I think it's not much that's the issue, I'd you forget the noise about cherry tomatoes she's had half a sandwich a pack of quavers and a Fromage frais, which are tiny, you'd expect a much younger kid to eat that, not an eight year old.

What, the school are actually querying what you're sending in?
Haven't they got enough to do?
How old is year 4?
I'm in rural Ireland so we don't have school dinners. Everyone takes a packed lunch.
My DS (10) eats nothing and drinks nothing most of the time so I usually put in a few sesame sticks, a carrot and maybe half a ham sandwich on white bread which the dog eats when he gets home. He's consistently refused to eat at lunchtime at school so not much point preparing food that's not going to get eaten.
Nobody at school pays any attention to what the kids eat and DS usually eats a decent breakfast and a big dinner around 5pm, so I'm not overly worried.

The pasta is a good call. I do t know if it’s generic. I’ll ask parents at pick-up if they got it. I’ll also speak to dd about it and make sure she’s happy.

I assume that they’re alluding to the fact that she only had one slice of bread - I would always give my year 4 daughter two slices.

f I did a sandwich with 2 slices she would leave the extra

Ok, if she's not big into sandwiches, can you either look at rhe filling, ham is a bit dull or switch to something else, like a tub of pesto pasta?

I’d ask to visit during lunchtime on Monday to assess the quality and quantity of food provided to children having school dinners. If they’re anything like my DC provide it will be watery sauce with no pasta or a bread bun with no burger.