Are these school lunchbox rules particularly nonsensical? Or are they all this bad?!

[Nevertimeforcake]

So according to my (primary) schools ‘healthy’ lunchbox rules I can give my child a kitkat (biscuit based chocolate bar) but I can’t give them a small chocolate coin or some cubes of chocolate as these are solid chocolate. It seems to make no sense to me - indeed the whole policy seems to be a box ticking exercise so they can be considered a ‘healthy school’ by County. Does anyone know of guidelines/ rules that make more sense? I’d like to make a suggestion on improvements rather than just complaining!

@Thepilotlightsgoneout

I’d love to see my kids’ faces if I tried to put lentils, kidney beans, quorn or chickpeas in their lunchboxes

What if they were mashed up and baked as as 'burger'? Or hummus or roasted chickpeas with a little sprinkle of salt? I don't think anyone is advocating dumping half a tin of kidney beans into tupperware and calling it lunch. Beans and pulses can be a great veggie, not to mention low cost, alternative to meat.

I don’t think it’s the school’s place to policing what children eat. But that’s one of the more practical, least overstepping set of rules I’ve seen. I don’t think schools can look at the contents of a lunch box and evaluate it other than on a tick box basis, so if they are going to police lunch boxes, that’s how it’s going to be.

You can't assume people know what healthy food is. A couple in the UK lost their baby after feeding it only Readybrek not long ago. A US couple fed their child only almond milk & raw veg "for religious reasons" & the child died. A few years ago a 10year old, homeschooled ,in the UK ,also died of scurvy & other nutritional deficits due to his poor diet ( his parents are still denying it ).

You can vegan, halal and veggie haribo😝

We had a parent that only fed her dc raw veg at lunch. She claimed she was heathy, her children were miserable and developed eating disorders as when they had the opportunity (school trips and sleepovers) they would stuff themselves and steal food.

I thought this looked like quite a reasonable list - which will serve its purpose to make sure the children have decent lunches. I think you need to get a grip and find something else to fuss about. Your children can eat their sweets when they are at home.

All these posters standing firm on their God given right to put cake and chocolate in their child's lunchbox...
What is wrong with you? 😂😂😂

I'd complain about their spelling. It should be 'every day' not 'everyday'.

Other than that, I can't see a problem with it.

slice of cake (Kipling)

Good grief. I take issue with this alone!

Also enraging: their use of the American spelling for doughnut.

Dd would be allergic to 14 out of 16 of their Amber foods. But not allergic to chocolate so I would struggle with some restrictions. When you have a kid with multiple allergies it’s hard enough without extra stuff banned.

@JuliaJohnston

All these posters standing firm on their God given right to put cake and chocolate in their child's lunchbox... What is wrong with you? 😂😂😂

First my homemade bakes are a lot healthier than a sandwich made with processed "bread" and whatever rubbish people put in them...

if I want to put a chocolate coin on my kids birthday or whatever, it's nobody's business

but I accept that my kids have a very healthy diet which is not the case with many families, so it matters because of others...

MY PROBLEM is as above the inconsistency. Don't put stupid rules banning some unhealthy rubbish but allowing others, and don't distribute haribos etc.. at another time of the day.
And sort the school diner, if they were healthy, I would happily pay for my kids to have them.

@ImMoana

slice of cake (Kipling)

Good grief. I take issue with this alone!

me too, crap from Kipling doesn't qualify as "cake"

Our school is nut free, chocolate free, packaged drink free and plastic free. Parents manage, mostly. Healthier kids and a better environment, what's not to like.

The plastic waste gets worse after Halloween.

I think packaging and waste should be considered as to what is amber, certainly. A 'treat' should not be every day and perhaps defined how often.

Seems more sensible than most. Most prohibit all sweet things and crisps - so the whole orange list would be out - including any kind of compressed fruit in the area where we live!

A small but significant number of kids bring chick peas, by the way. And sprouted mong beans. They like them when given a chance to like them.

All these posters standing firm on their God given right to put cake and chocolate in their child's lunchbox... What is wrong with you?

A little bit of chocolate or cake is perfectly reasonable in an otherwise healthy diet. What people are justifiably cross about is the illigical idiocy of the distinctions made between different foods in school lunch box policies. Oh and also schools which ban anything with sugar in from packed lunches, but serve big slabs of custard-covered cake for school dinners.

We weren't allowed to put any chocolate in our children's lunchboxes. They also banned jam and chocolate spread sandwiches and crisps (though they relaxed the crisp rule a few years ago).
Surely chocolate is chocolate. Can't see why it would make any difference. Still mine are at secondary now and they don't have any guidelines thankfully.

Provided rules like this are consistent, I don’t see the problem. Sadly without rules some parents will send in crap. I find it depressing how many parents hand out sweets to their kids in the park every day after school (I have witnessed this myself). I’m not in the least precious about food, but children should not be eating sweets every day. If the school can ensure they are getting at least one healthy meal a day, this is surely a good thing.

Our school is nut free, chocolate free, packaged drink free and plastic free. Parents manage, mostly. Healthier kids and a better environment, what's not to like.

Are those the only things that are banned? I don't see how that would make anyone healthier. Based on those rules you could have a luncbox full of cheese strings, processed meat and marshmallows and a flask of coke.

Be under no illusion that school dinner cake or custard bears any relation to regular cake and custard. It’s all low sugar.

@Ellmau

Also enraging: their use of the American spelling for doughnut.

Agreed.

I'd just pack a healthy lunch and not worry about it. They don't need chocolate with every meal.

The proper American spelling is doughnut. Pay no attention to Chicago or California fads.