To send my nearly four year old to school with a flask of soup.

[Byallmeans]

Yes it’s a packed lunch fred!

Dd3 Is a fussy eater and I’m struggling to think what she will have for packed lunches. She won’t eat a sandwich or wrap with any filling but would eat it dry. No dips or cucumbers.

I’m thinking of sending her in with a soup I know she loves with cocktail sausages, pineapple and yogurt. The soup is cauliflower and cheddar. She’s asked for BBQ spare ribs but I’ve said no

I did this as a child. All my children's schools have specified that they won't allow this.

I’ve done packed lunches for my 4yo for the first time this summer for camps and I really wouldn’t do soup. Not necessarily for the mess (although that’s a factor) but speed. Mine has said she’s run out of time to eat things in her lunchbox. I’m sure she’s just too busy chatting to actually focus on eating but if she’d gone in with soul, she’d have barely taken in anything.

Headteacher here - I once had a reception-aged child’s parent really annoyed with me as I told her his packed lunch was impractical. She’d sent a tin of beans and a slice of bread, which she wanting toasting!

@ToadCandle

Headteacher here - I once had a reception-aged child’s parent really annoyed with me as I told her his packed lunch was impractical. She’d sent a tin of beans and a slice of bread, which she wanting toasting!

@Fruitsaladjelly
I know! I did check as there were kids with allergies, but it was allowed. They had a strict no swaps rule but still cross-contamination was possible. But, saying that, there were no issues.

@Lucked

Lots of children will try new foods when given school dinners and seeing all their peers eating the food, also our school also has soup on the menu frequently.

Could you try the school meals and see how it goes?

It’s a fee paying school and they are not cheap. My dd2 has spent the last two years picking a cheese sandwich every day which I’m paying about £6 a day for.

They are both going on packed lunches.

YABU for a not yet 4 year old - too much risk of spills and needing lots of help.

School isn't like preschool. There won't be anyone to help her manage spills, opening, closing the flask.

Our lunchtime assistants help the children with their packed lunches if they are struggling. That's reception and key stage 1.

At preschool age I would expect there to be more staff available too.

In my children's school it would not be allowed at that young age.

@Aragog will they still be doing that this term? Our local Primaries have got a very different set up for lunchtime this term than they had before COVID

Cauliflower soup trapped in a thermos flask is likely to smell a lot when the lid comes! I pity the poor classmates who are stuck in the classroom with that all afternoon. Could you not send a little flask full of pasta and pesto, or noodles and veg, or maybe even sausages and mash... just something a bit less likely to spill and a bit less stinky?

OP is your daughter 3 years old or is she your third daughter? You refer to her as DD3 and other daughter DD2....if she is 3 then I think that's young to have taking soup in but if she is older and more capable then I dont see why not.

ineedaholidaynow - iirr children are eating inter classrooms initially, but we are hoping to have at least one lunch time assistant in each room whilst they eat. I think their TAs will also be in there during their eating part. Most will have a school packed lunch so very few will actually need support I suspect.

@HathorX I guess it might be one way of testing how much ventilation there is in that classroom!

Oh just read the thread title duhhhhhhhhhh she is nearly 4!

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@Aragog will they still be doing that this term? Our local Primaries have got a very different set up for lunchtime this term than they had before COVID[/quote]
They are at the one my DS will be going to. Help given for dining or toileting if/when required. The dinner staff, teacher and TAs are present in the classroom for lunch. They've always been served dinner in the classroom though so are set up for it and have a system.

I've had to open thermos flasks for 14 year olds before. And I've struggled at times.

I think it's likely to be too difficult.

@SoManyActivities

Soup in a thermos for kids packed lunch is such a MNetty concept that I have never actually seen in real life! It always used to come up on 'packed lunch ideas' threads.

As a frozen 11-13 year old in the school playground, I took my Garfield Thermos of Tomato soup in every day throughout the winter.

These days, I technically have access to the staffroom microwaves, but I'm not 100% on when/if I'm getting a proper break, so I might go back to doing that, just with some chilli flakes added.