Lunchbox contents fine for school but not holiday club

[TheLunchIsServed]

DD is 7, about to go into year 3 at school.

She doesn’t always have a school hot dinner so takes a packed lunch. Usually she has

• Ham Sandwich
• Cheese string or babybel
• Penguin bar or similar small type biscuit
• Cucumber and carrot sticks
• Apple orange or banana
• Water

Sometimes I swap the cucumber and carrots for a homemade yogurt (fruit and greek yogurt combined). School have never commented negatively on the contents of her lunchbox, only comment I’ve ever had about it was from the headteacher the first time she took a lunchbox and I asked if it was (she’d gone in late for a reason and was taken to class by the HT) who said it sounded fine.

DD is at holiday club while I work and is taking the same packed lunch with her. She’s been before to this holiday club but I had a call to say policy has changed and she’s not allowed the cheese, yogurt (even a homemade one) or the chocolate and that lunch has to contain two portions of vegetables. They’d rather I didn’t send sugary fruit – even though DD tends to eat that at morning snack time rather than with lunch.

They’ve suggested I leave in the sandwich, cucumber and carrots, swap the cheese for another portion of vegetables – they suggested some cooked and cooled sweetcorn or tomatos (which are fruit) neither of which DD likes. They said to leave the chocolate out completely.

It’s nothing to do with hot weather as the lunchbox goes into a coolbag thing when she gets to holiday club and DD says it’s still cold when she eats it (at school I put those iceblocks in when it’s hot to keep it cool and DD says it’s nice there too).

I can’t understand why her lunchbox is fine at school but not holiday club who I was expecting to be more lenient.

So AIBU to think as I’m paying £35 a day for the service they can ignore a bit of cheese and a small chocolate bar? Or AIBU?

And if so can you make suggestions that a 7 year old will actually eat?

Rules are:

• Two Portions of Veg
• No nuts or seeds
• No kiwi
• No tahini/hummus

I literally don't know what my son would have on a sandwich if he couldn't have cheese (ASD). I put a variety of stuff in his lunchbox knowing full well he'll eat the sandwich and that's it. I was going to say, are they going to turn down your money if you ignore their crazy rules, but guessing not .

One of the happiest days of my life when the youngest of my seven left school & associated clubs etc. - the end of rules & regs!!

OH HAPPY DAY!! :-)

It could be some child has a dairy allergy. The problem is that with their rules, parents will struggle to get enough calories into lunchboxes. Children need enough calories!

Do they have children funded by the Fuel project there? If so the lunches for every child are strict.

@Secretroses

And what on earth is wrong with kiwi fruit??

My daughter is allergic to kiwi. It's quite scary.

Is this holiday club run by a monastery or nunnery? Even then they'd have less rules. Is this real?

They should specify if a child has an allergy. It's unusual to only be allergic to cheese and chocolate rather than dairy as a whole surely?

WTF???

Did they say why. Your child, your money, your choice for lunch box. No other child is going to eat it so why the are they laying the law down like this. Overstepping

Why no dairy? That is your choice. When children grow up they can chose, I have a vegan, a veggie one who is in between veggie and some meat and a meat eater. When small they all ate some meat as I do. Not a lot and getting less esp after the pig expose & the salmon (i know its not meat)

re safeguarding children with allergies. The world is not like that, they need to learn to safeguard themselves, why should one child go without something they want to eat because a child who is not going to eat that lunch is allergic? The allergic child's lunchbox is the one which needs to comply not everyone else. The one child is not more important than all the others. The suggested lunch box sounds like someone who wants them all to be vegan. You can choke on a nut!!!

Unless there is a child there with some severe dairy allergy I think they’re being cheeky bastards. There is nothing wrong with the lunch you are sending x

I wonder if it’s owned by a vegan?

Surely the cheese is a good source of protein! I get the penguin, but yoghurt and cheese. What has the world come to! Send the a picture of the eatwell guide inside the lunchbox.

Totally ridiculous to charge £35 then tell you ridiculous lunch rules.
I think actual school can make their own rules but this is a holiday club ffs.
My kids went today to a £15 holiday club and fairly sure there were no comments at all about the contents of the lunchboxes.

@cookie4640 a vegan would never say fruit has too much sugar!

The dairy thing is bizarre! My dad is starting school in September and in her welcome pack we got a leaflet about the importance of giving your kids dairy in their lunch box

My son has a severe nut and sesame allergy. Whole nuts being banned I can understand as they do give off fumes (wrong expression but you get the gist) and can cause an allergic reaction across a room. Hummous is fine as long as the affected person doesn't eat it.
My cousin had quite a severe dairy / egg allergy and apart from not eating any of these things, no general mitigations for the other children were ever needed. In school we do have some children who react to kiwi and strawberries but we just don't give them any! This holiday club are going completely overboard here. For me, it's just arse covering to a massive extent and would also make me think that they're not really supervising the children properly whilst they're eating. As a teacher, I would, very respectfully, tell them to fuck right off.

God, it's miserable to be a 7 yo now.

A Penguin biscuit is fine. The problem is with a) people who feed their children nothing but Penguin biscuits; and b) people who impose blanket rules on people who feed their children a healthy diet which includes - shock, horror - a bit of chocolate.

I despair.

As for allergies (disclaimer: I have a child with a severe nut allergy): where did they come from? When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, nobody had an allergy which meant entire classrooms had to be nut-free spaces. Why are they so prevalent now? It would be interesting to know.

This kind of thing hacks me off and I'd be emailing their head office.

@Secretroses

And what on earth is wrong with kiwi fruit??

Maybe one of the kids has an allergy. I’m allergic to kiwi and I was quite suprised when I looked up it’s quite a common allergy

@TheCupboardOfChaos

As for allergies (disclaimer: I have a child with a severe nut allergy): where did they come from? When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, nobody had an allergy which meant entire classrooms had to be nut-free spaces. Why are they so prevalent now? It would be interesting to know.

Nobody seems to know, just that they're increasing at an alarming rate. Like you, I never knew anyone at school with an allergy yet in my family alone we have two asthmatics, a dairy / egg allergy, two nut allergies and my son who has the big three - asthma, eczema and nut / sesame allergy. There is a theory that we're all too clean and the children do not have chance to build up natural immunity. Not true in my case as my house is a permanent shithole.

This kind of thing makes my blood boil. It’s a totally misguided approach to “health”. Kids need calories. Especially if they are in an active club. And it’s your child so you get to choose what they eat. Demonising food like chocolate is ludicrous. It leads to disordered and unhealthy relationships with food.

@TheCupboardOfChaos

As for allergies (disclaimer: I have a child with a severe nut allergy): where did they come from? When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, nobody had an allergy which meant entire classrooms had to be nut-free spaces. Why are they so prevalent now? It would be interesting to know.

A lot of kids with allergies had/have other health issues so wouldn’t always have been in mainstream school depending on local policy of the day.

My brother has relatively mild epilepsy and a nut allergy and was sent to the local special needs school.

Im stubborn as fuck I would just send him with fruit, chocolate and yougert just to piss them off now - I am the parent and I decide what MY child eats.

I would totally respect a serious allergy like if a fellow child had an peanut allergy (or any other food allergy) so severe they dont even have to eat the item to be effected, and they simply said 'a child attending the club has a medical issue and cant be around x, y, z' then fine but no one is having an airborn allergy to bloody fruit, yougert and chocolate buscuits.

Cheese and Yougert should be included too, dairy is a big part of a blanced childs diet.

@TheCupboardOfChaos

As for allergies (disclaimer: I have a child with a severe nut allergy): where did they come from? When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, nobody had an allergy which meant entire classrooms had to be nut-free spaces. Why are they so prevalent now? It would be interesting to know.

We existed just nobody cared.

Adults would constantly tell my parent how they wouldnt put up with a 'picky eater' like me (because thats what it use to be called) and we werent catered for at all.

I was severally underweight as a kid because the world didnt have options for us so there was basically nothing I could eat if I wasnt at home.