AIBU?
to be annoyed that my dds school has been giving out certificates to children who bring in healthy packed lunches?
spudmasher · 19/09/2007 21:26
Today she took in a ham roll, four cherry tomatoes, a few slices of cucumber, some fresh pineapple and a small apple pie.
She was not given a certificate because she had the apple pie in her lunch!
When I was making her lunch tonight she asked me not to put a little cake in because it was unhealthy and she would not get a certificate.
I thought it was unreasonable to reward a child, or deny a reward on the basis of decisions made by the parent.
I also feel that six is too young an age to bear the responsbility of deciding what they should eat. Surely the child should be carefree and just trust the parents to know what is healthy?
I also thought that a little fat and sugar occassionally, will not be harmful to a child.
I also felt that they are encouraging children to deny themselves small pleasures - could lead to eating disorders imo.
Thanks. Feel better now.
Am I over reacting?
Have sent snotty e mail to school........
LittleBella · 19/09/2007 21:31
I think it is not unreasonable for them to give out certificates. Pester power being used to persuade parents to give healthy lunches rather than shite, is a good thing.
But of course schools are intolerably stupid to find a piece of apple pie or cake as part of an overall healthy lunch, unhealthy. I simply cannot understand who runs these sorts of schemes tbh. They just sound really, really uneducated if they can't tell the difference between the sort of lunch your DD had and a packet of crisps, cheese dippers, a mars bar and a can of coke for lunch.
catsmother · 19/09/2007 21:32
I don't think you are, and I agree with all you've said.
That lunch sounds very balanced, with a treat at the end of it and even if it wasn't, you're right to think that children shouldn't have to bear the consequences of their parents' decisions - especially at that age. Might have been different were they teenagers ..... mind you I can see your average teenager telling school where to stuff their certificate !
All learned opinion recommends a generally healthy diet with treats in moderation. I don't think children should be taught that any food is "bad" .... just that some foods can be unhealthy if you eat too much of them.
I'll be interested to see how they reply.
morningpaper · 19/09/2007 21:33
"Over a third of a child's energy intake should be made up of fat, the researchers at Pennsylvania State University said, a recommendation in line with UK requirements."
Fat Crucial In Children's Diet on the BBC
Perhaps you could ask your school where exactly the FAT is supposed to come from in your daughter's diet?
Perhaps they should give certificates to children who have lunchboxes that contain precisely 33% of fat-sourced calories?
FFS what are we doing making six year old's obsess competitively about FAT and FOOD? They already get the message that Fat Women Are Horrific from every source of media imaginable, do we need schools to encourage this too?
MyTwoDoubloonsWorth · 19/09/2007 21:36
that sounds like a lovely lunch. The school is being totally ott.
Just posted on MPs thread about the lunchbox police ..
All things in moderation!!
What is wrong that people can't understand this??
Schools are taking this (albeit very important) healthy eating message to ridiculous extreme and it is going to result in loads of kids with problems.
LittleBella · 19/09/2007 21:37
Totally agree, whyohwhyohwhyohwhy is the world not run by moderate, sensible people? Why have we gone from schools finding it acceptable to feed kids worse than pigswill, to them giving kids food hangups by banning good food?
MP if I had the energy, I'd be right there with you with the angry thing
FrannyandZooey · 19/09/2007 21:40
Oh dear, this is very crude isn't it
Ds's nursery have banned any snacks being brought in (ds was very upset that he couldn't have his favourite green apple ) and have explained to him that it is because "some people were bringing in unhealthy snacks"
He is 4. I don't want him getting fussed about this. He started asking me this week "Why don't we have ice cream every day? Oh I know, it's because it's a bad food isn't it." I said "We don't eat bad food." This is all too black and white.
FrannyandZooey · 19/09/2007 21:43
Well, we don't eat much stuff like cakes and biscuits tbh
he has nuts and beans and olive oil and butter and stuff, mind you he is probably a little on the lean side
I don't think you actually need to eat apple pie to have a balanced lunchbox, but this good food / bad food thing is too much. I think as long as it has proper ingredients in then it's food. If it's got sweeteners and hydrogenated stuff and so on in then it is not, really, food.
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