To wonder why school meals include a pudding every day

[LAgeDeRaisin]

My DC aren't at school yet, but I had a look at our local primary school website today to read a bit about it. On the lunch section there is informarion about packed lunches including requests not sending in crisps/ sweets and cakes. Suggestions for lunches were included. All seemed pretty normal.

I've also had a look at the school dinner menu and there is a pudding every single day- sponge and custard, rice pudding, iced biscuits, brownies, etc.

In our house we will make a home made pudding at the weekend as a treat or if we have guests/it's an occasion, but meals through the week don't come with pudding.

AIBU to think that schools shouldn't be giving children pudding every day (especially if packed lunch boxes forbid it)? Could they not give some of their suggested sweet treats instead like malt loaf, fruit, yoghurt, etc?

What's the point in having a policy about not eating rubbish if you're handing out daily brownies?

Fully prepared to be called a bore.

I think it’s fine- it’s very traditional for school meals to have a pudding. It’s presumably planned in mind for the children who sadly don’t get fed again at home that evening...

It’s fine. One small portion of sponge and custard per day does not make an obese adult. If the school is up to scratch it’ll be working out the daily calorie intake of the meals it offers, and that is probably why they encourage you to send in fruit etc to complement what they provide/teach about balance.

Healthy eating isn’t about never having puddings- it’s about learning to eat a bit of everything in moderation.

I can confirm that school puddings are very low sugar and therefore not tasty at all!

Soup? 😂

200 PFBs lobbing carrot and coriander everywhere. Imagine the stains

@FamilyOfAliens Sponge pudding and custard, and rice pudding are hot though- so it must be possible to have 2 hot courses. I don't see the difference?

My DCs school got all the parents and children in for lunch as a transition session before P1, and we had a vile sweet potato muffin for pudding. Very little sugar in that, believe me. They do offer soup too, I think, at least some days.

I think its better that they offer a couple of courses, as for the fussy children it makes it more likely that they will actually eat something. They get a couple of options, but if they end up not eating much of their main, at least they will have something. It's in the context of at least a couple of veg and a bit of fruit too. Seems fine to me.

They arent sugary like normal cakes and often have fruit veg and fibre in it. - but there are other reasons. There is often ond meal choice at primary and kids are quite fussy so having one thing on the plate they will eat is useful. Also no one likes to mention cost but they are a cheap way to provide the calories in a meal.

@LAgeDeRaisin

I understand that for children from low income families it may be their only meal, but why not do a cheap starter instead like soup? Different soup starter every day- 1 of your 5 a day, warm and filling. They could offer fruit and yoghurt afterwards. Maybe do a pudding on a Friday.

Surely these children are the ones most in need of good quality nutritious food and a good example of what meals should include.

It doesn't matter if there's some beetroot or carrot in the cake, it's still not very nutritious.

Because a lot of children will not actually eat the soup so if it is their only meal of the day, we might as well make sure it's going to be something they'll eat. I've been to hundreds of primary schools as part of my job and often, pudding is the bit they eat most of.

Because there's nothing actually wrong with a little bit of sugar.

Because a meal also has to be appetising and fun as well as nutritious.

YABU

1. Children are growing and should be active. This needs calories.
2. Not all kids come from homes which provide decent adequate food and those who get free meals should get a proper one.
3. My kids have school lunches inc pudding ever day - the whole school does - and are skinny. There are only a couple of slightly overweight kids in the school.
4. Ask to see the food - suspect portions will be tiny.

They are cheap.

The cake could be the healthiest thing going but I agree it's habit forming around resting something sweet after a meal, fruit and plain yogurt should be the norm if another course is necessary, still nutritious for those who need it.

I agree it’s not a great message/habit OP. I’ve always assumed it’s because of the fussier kids who won’t eat much of the main and would otherwise go hungry. But there are other solutions for that eg allowing packed lunch (not allowed at our school)

I think the reason they have rules regarding packed lunches as some kids turn up with half a birthday cake, a whole packet of biscuits, a multipack of crisps etc.

This is my daughter's school lunch menu for next week. There is only pudding once a week.

@VestaTilley I wasn't suggesting never having puddings. I say in my OP that we do pudding at weekends. I also suggested that maybe it could be served eg. just on a Friday.

I'm not suggesting banning pudding. I just think it's a bad habit to teach children that it's normal and healthy to eat pudding every day.

@hiredandsqueak that sounds more sensible. Pudding once a week.

You are a bore.

DN's school has a very strict lunchbox policy- no crisps, sweets, pre-packaged food and even fruit is policed. They say that too much fruit is bad for the children's teeth, which is absolutely true if they're having 18 apples a day, but having 2 pieces of fruit at lunchtime isn't allowed. She was sent in with a small amount of raisins and dried apricots and her mum got a letter home about it. They also tried to limit the amount of items in a lunchbox. at one point it was only 3 items meaning she'd have a sandwich, a small box of raisins and her water bottle.

Yet when she started having school meals she would have a large portion of the main meal, a portion of cut up mixed fruits and a pudding with custard/ice cream. She'd never finish it all and got told off for leaving any of it!

“In our house we will make a home made pudding”.

Perhaps because some children don’t get puddings at home ever.

I don't think there is anything wrong with a decent pudding. I always had one at school (if I liked it), and at home. Children burn up a lot of energy.

Secondary school is even worse! There don't seem to be any vegetables served any more - there used to be peas, baked beans etc but not since covid, now the meals are all served in a pot with wooden forks. There is still a giant cookie or the like for pudding though! I just think for kids whose main hot meal of the day this is, well it's crap. I only let my ds have it once a week.

@chocolatehoneycomb it's not about whether all the children you know who eat pudding are skinny, it's about not teaching children that a daily pudding is normal and healthy.

Most people are skinny as children but obviously most UK adults struggle to maintain a healthy weight and I think schools doing daily pudding is not setting people up for good food habits.

It's nice to see that some schools do it just once a week. That seems like a nice balance.

"I just think it's a bad habit to teach children that it's normal and healthy to eat pudding every day."

Yet in your OP you were more concerned with the packed lunch pudding vs school dinner pudding.

Pps have explained that the tiny bit of sponge which has hardly any sugar in it is different to a twix and falls under the healthy eating guidelines.

So now you're just bothered that they're teaching them it's ok to have a bite of pudding each day (which it is).

When pps come alone to explain that you'll think of some other problem. Boring.

It's not the pudding that I object to but the rest. Potatoes every day, seriously?!

School puddings have hardly any sugar in, I get a school lunch every day at work and usually don't bother with dessert. Too healthy

Our school has fruit, yogurt, jelly on offer most days, some form of pudding/baking (flapjack, sponge etc) once a week and ice cream on Friday.

My DS is rather fussy and some days won’t eat much of the main but will always eat the dessert. It means I don’t need to worry about him starving!