Kids snacks at school - white carbs twice before lunch

[prettyflowersinthesky]

DD is in y4.

I seriously don't want to be "that" parent so am wondering on the consensus on this.

DD's school has started giving the whole school's kids stodgy white carbs with jam twice before lunchtime (bagels).

Once when they arrive in the morning, and then again at break time.

DD is coming home with most of her lunch uneaten.

I fully appreciate about food poverty and that giving the kids food in this blanket way is a way of addressing that without singling out or embarrassing hungry children or families.

But I question

1. Whether or not the white carbs plus jam is appropriate nutrition
2. Whether or not most kids really need this
3. Whether or not two snacks between breakfast and lunch is excessive

There is no requirement for the kids to take and eat the snacks but to say to my child not to take them when the other kids are seems unfair.

I'm a bit torn, and certainly don't want to deny hungry kids access to food. But also wonder if the school needs to give this twice and also maybe the nutritional content of the snacks could be improved (e.g. fruit, whole grain snacks or something instead). I do appreciate that kids need more carbs than adults.

What does everyone think? Is this appropriate? I feel for the vast majority of kids without food poverty issues this is not necessary, so by serving all the kids a snack it is enforcing bad snacking habits, poor food choices as well as encouraging childhood obesity.

In many very healthy countries no snacking is allowed although I appreciate for very young children it may be necessary.

I am wondering whether or not to speak to the school about my concerns about them finding a better way to address the issues for the hungry kids.

But I do not want to speak up if I am seriously misinformed about all of this, hence interested in your responses. Thanks.

Yanbu = this is not appropriate / YABU - give the kids the snacks

• 80%+

Wow unnecessarily rude and harsh comments here OP. If my school provided crisps and chocolate as snacks there is no way I could stop my DC from guzzling them down. Kids just don't have the will power or impulse control.

Well, since she's eating bagels when she is apparently not hungry, I would say she already has food issues. The food issue being that of being unable to say no and/or bowing to peer pressure and having something just because everyone else is having it.

Food can absolutely be eaten for other reasons than hunger, and the social aspect of everyone is say eating bagels and she isn’t should not be overlooked. “Breaking bread” with her peers. But the appropriate thing to do if you are eating socially is to adjust your food intake elsewhere (which she clearly is by not eating her lunch).

Fruit has carbohydrates... people are aware of this yes?

Tell her not to et it then. Some children and families will rely on these meals. YABU.

I doubt there’s much jam on the bagel and fruit is so much more expensive.
1 pack of 6 bagels is £1, quartered will do 24. A smear of butter and jam is not going to add a great deal more. Realistically your feeding all the kids ina class for under £2.
You wouldn’t manage that with fruit

You’ll also find the kids who need it most probably won’t eat certain fruit and there’s also more waste.

I don't understand the dreadful food most people eat other than perhaps all they can afford is s white sliced loaf! It is not what I call real food. There is no hope though in changing the views of schools on this kind of thing.

This is why the nation is obese and people are falling like flies with covid 19. We are carbs central.

Bread is in the “grains” food group not “carbs”.

It’s astonishing that people are unaware of how bad food poverty really can be for some families. I’ve really had my eyes opened, through teaching, as to how desperately some families live in this country

Tesco 1 litre cream fields UHT milk = 55p
Tesco 500g cornflakes = 60p

Tesco 800g wholemeal bread= 59p
Tesco Stockwell strawberry Jam = 28p

That is how cheap breakfast for a fair few days is. Parents on low income would qualify for child benefit for the child. We also have food banks for those in real need.

Yes I really struggle to believe people genuinely can’t afford the above. I get some truly shit parents exist and choose not to feed the child, for abuse reasons, they don’t know how to care for a child for whatever reason, stuff like that but I don’t believe a loving parent would allow a child to go to school hungry when for so little you can feed your child.

@Gwenhwyfar thank you - I agree it's a school's responsibility to teach good food choices, healthy eating and suitable habits to all kids. If the very basis of our educational systems can't encourage this responsibly it is definitely something we as parents should be interested in, and challenging. How can we expect society to change when the school is encouraging poor behaviours, albeit unintendedly.

I’m always struck by JonathanRoss’s daughter saying that her obesity started due to the habit of having a starbucks panini every morning on the way to school. I can imagine in a year’s time, the two bagels with jam will result in a lot of chubby kids.

Not to mention that some other parents may react by not giving their kids breakfast as they get it at school/the kids not eating lunch.

Seems like a classic case of unintended consequences.

Op. get your own house in order first!

Just leave it. If you feed your DD healthy food at home she’ll get what she needs nutritionally from you.

As you say, it’s good that the school feed all the children to try and combat poverty and hunger.

Schools also have very little spare cash - healthy snacks will cost them more, and may fill up children less well than a bagel. They’re trying to do their best and give filling free snacks to all. Leave it be.

@MJMG2015 I said fruit "for example". How can you expect "the best" substitute to be substituted on a low budget? Anything even a little better, is better.

Kudos to sirzy for her posts.

OP, it's great that you have the time, space and money to provide breakfast for your daughter in the style and amount that you think appropriate; just bear in mind that some children - many children, in fact - do not have that.

I make my children eat breakfast in the morning and I have the time and money to do it. I'm incredibly grateful that there are charities/organisations set up to make sure that no child is left hungry because I can assure you, it hasn't always been so.

So, if you're not keen on the bagels then there's no reason for your child to eat them. Presumably, if they've eaten breakfast, they're not hungry for these bagels? That's the message to your children - eat if you're hungry, don't if you're not.

You've got your job as a parent to do, we all do, let's get on with that and stop focusing on the minutiae (to us) because it's major for other families and children.

Please don't use your thread to whip up support to get this brilliant scheme stopped.

@LovelyLovelyMe I do my best, already, thank you for the suggestion. My DD is not overweight, eats healthy for the most part and has breakfast daily (porridge with peanut butter). She is healthy, thanks for your judgemental response though.

@CakeGirl2020

It’s astonishing that people are unaware of how bad food poverty really can be for some families. I’ve really had my eyes opened, through teaching, as to how desperately some families live in this country

Tesco 1 litre cream fields UHT milk = 55p
Tesco 500g cornflakes = 60p

Tesco 800g wholemeal bread= 59p
Tesco Stockwell strawberry Jam = 28p

That is how cheap breakfast for a fair few days is. Parents on low income would qualify for child benefit for the child. We also have food banks for those in real need.

Yes I really struggle to believe people genuinely can’t afford the above. I get some truly shit parents exist and choose not to feed the child, for abuse reasons, they don’t know how to care for a child for whatever reason, stuff like that but I don’t believe a loving parent would allow a child to go to school hungry when for so little you can feed your child.

And what is Tesco is a half hour bus ride away which you can’t afford so you have to rely on the corner shop for what you can get? That’s the reality for many living in poverty.

Op. get your own house in order first! What does your post even mean?

OP feeds her child, unlike apparently many other parents at her school hence the bagels

OP feed her child porridge, fairly normal breakfast. It’s warm, it’s filling, oats are good for you and it’s cheap

How is her house not in order?

Come up with a cheap, filling, easy to manage for large groups, alternative, OP, before you go in with your size 10s.

Fruit isn't enough for malnourished children who aren't eating breakfast or lunch, so it's not that easy to replace it with. Some parents can't afford a value loaf of bread for every morning, some choose between food and heating, some parents go hungry for their children just to have breakfast (and schools also do try to help that in some areas). Equally, some parents make decisions that don't prioritise children by choosing an addiction over their child, so they then cannot afford food and sometimes don't get organised enough to buy it. Poverty is real in the UK and very concerning, there are plenty of children (especially now) who do not have breakfast regularly and at weekends, may not have lunch either. UC has not helped the situation, just looking at these points on what needs to change to improve the situation and at some of the statistics around children living below the poverty line (2019) - cpag.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/report/universal-credit-what-needs-change

Having said that, I might suggest that some children could bring in fruit/veg from home as an alternative (at least for the second one). Wholemeal bread would be better in some ways, but they may actually be aiming for slightly higher calories to try and get energy into children so they can learn. As for the jam, that's a bit tricky as schools will struggle to find a spread other than butter that children at the school aren't allergic to (nut based) and find appealing. It's very hard to find a balance between catering to children who aren't be fed regularly and those who eat plenty (even too much) at home. I do suggest you complain to the government about how many children are still left in poverty - it's they who have the power to make the big changes and avoid this situation happening.

She's 8. Old enough to say no thank you, i'm not hungry.

Sorry I really don't see the issue.

White bread isn’t bad. It is fortified with vitamins. The main difference between white and brown bread is the lack of fibre in the former which can be made up with fruit and veggies. I concur that too much white bread is a bad thing, just as too much of anything is a bad thing. So definitely adjust what you’re feeding her and all should be fine.

For a child, nothing wrong with a bagel and jam.
Sugar, good for energy as is the bagel and fills a hungry tummy.
Dont know why they need to give two but still, if your child doesnt want it then she shouldnt eat it.

Is breakfast club running? It’s not back at our school yet as they haven’t worked out the distancing with the different year groups etc so something like this might make sense instead.

And what is Tesco is a half hour bus ride away which you can’t afford so you have to rely on the corner shop for what you can get? That’s the reality for many living in poverty

Ah and there’s the mumsnet what if they live miles away, what if they only have one leg, what if they don’t know how to make toast.

Well the parent, still wouldn’t let the child go to school hungry, A good parent, a loving parent would buy whatever they could get from the shop they could get too ( even if it was a packet of biscuits) an they would feed that child something, anything as the alternative is letting your child go hungry.