School chores?

[LyricalBoudicca]

At my daughter's school the y6 children have various jobs allocated to them on a rota. One of the jobs involves scraping all of the half-finished lunch plates of all the younger children into the bin. She is now looking for excuses not to go in on the day on which this job is allocated as it makes her feel sick. Pondering on this and assessing if she was being 'precious' I seem to remember picking up litter/tidying up the library as jobs I used to at primary school do but nothing as yukky as what her class is being made to do. Apparently, she is not the only child disgusted by this but she wouldn't want to be the only one to complain. Part of me thinks a few chores is a good training for life but there are yuk limits at that age. Is this fairly standard in schools or is her school asking a bit too much?

I dont understand what's any more germ infected about scraping plates with cutlery than the normal level of contact children choose to have with each other (hugging, doing each others hair etc). Their hands might get dirty, yes but these children are old enough to wash them properly afterwards and won't be doing anything like putting dirty hands in their mouths, so its really not a big deal.

Someone's got to do it, why not your DC? Lots of household jobs are pretty gross. It's just something you have to get used to.

What counts as 'recognised issues'?

I don't even like clearing plates when I've had friends round for dinner. I really couldn't deal with plates from random kids full of slop 🤮

To me, as a headteacher, not ok to be handling others' food and the school probably hasn't really thought about it in that way. Even our little ones scrape their own plates. A Y6 supervising may be ok. It also strikes me that this kind of job, if necessary, should be looking for volunteers.

@RavingAnnie

Someone's got to do it, why not your DC? Lots of household jobs are pretty gross. It's just something you have to get used to.

Surely the someone should be the individual who has used that plate?

@Clymene

What counts as 'recognised issues'?

I don't even like clearing plates when I've had friends round for dinner. I really couldn't deal with plates from random kids full of slop 🤮

You've no problems putting the food on the plates but it makes you vomit to move the same food off the plate?

I’m fast coming to the conclusion that she’s not being precious- it simply makes her feel sick- in the same way that some people don’t work in medicine because they get queasy at the sight of blood or needles. It’s probably inducing the same response.

Why aren't the younger children taking their plates to the bin to scrap left overs? Even our reception children do this once they've been having dinners for a few days.

@Anonymous48

On the face of it it doesn't seem like an unreasonable chore for a child that age. It would seem to make more sense for each child to do their own though, surely?

On another point, if they're scraping leftovers into the bin, does that mean they use real plates rather than disposable ones?

I don't know any schools which use disposable plates. Most use the 'prison tray' type thing.

Oh god no, the scraping sounds rank. When I was at school the kids did it themselves - even the little ones or the kitchen staff would. No way my kids would be doing that I assume they scrape their own trays! 🤢

She's being precious.

At our primary the kids scrape their own plates.Thats how it should be imo.

We scraped our own plates in school, from what I remember. I don't see why even young children can't do that for themselves, baring disability. The older children could possibly wipe tables, sweep, etc., but scraping plates for everyone else seems unnecessary.

It's disgusting. I wouldn't let my child do that job.

It's different at home. We're a family and we do our own plates, but could manage each others if needed.

Do I want to do it for god knows how many other plates of strangers half chewed food? Absolutely not. Kids can be disgusting.

So precious of me.

*barring... not baring!

Standard Yr6 stuff, I think.

Mine say the worst job is cleaning underneath the tables - sweeping up dropped food from the floor.

I’m afraid I’d just be telling my DC it’s an infrequent job everyone takes turns at - if the whole class are doing it in pairs, it’s unlikely to be more than once every 2-3 weeks.

There’s a lot if hyperbole on this thread about standing near a bin.

Yep @madisonbridges. I know it's weird. I don't even like touching cups and glasses other people have drunk out of.

I know I'm a bit strange but I am neurotypical as far as I know. A lot of kids with sensory issues would have a big problem with this so I know I'm not alone.

I don't see what it's teaching either. Just that when you get older your job is to clean up other people's discarded stuff. Surely comet school aged children are able to scrape their own plates into the recycling bin?

I'm 40 and loathe this job, even for my own family but especially when we have guests. I'm ridiculous levels squeamish about all sorts though. No way would I be happy scraping loads of random kids' plates, I think I'd actually be sick.

No I wouldn't like this. When I was that age in the 1970s, each child from about 6 upwards scraped their own plate into a dustbin (days of pig swill) and then dirty plates were put in the serving hatch thingy and cutlery out in some kind of receptacle to go off and be washed up. I thought that was reasonable but I don't think what your school is asking is reasonable especially when a few kids are getting distressed when it's their turn. They need to be persuaded to have a re think.

Bloody hell!
The U.K. sounds more like a third world country every day.

It would make me feel ill (the idea is making me feel a bit queasy now, though I am pregnant so that's not saying much). I think having chores is great, but I don't see why each child can't scrape their own plate.

@Clymene. I agree it is weird but it's strange how things affect us. I've worked in cafes and restaurants and have no problem dealing with uneaten food, but if there's serviettes or butter wrappings with it, it makes me feel a bit yukky. When I eat out, I'm always careful to keep everything separate in case the waiter feels like me...which they don't seem to. 😆 I wonder how these things start?

All that said, I've got no problems with kids scraping plates. Softens them up for doing the dishes when they get home. 😉

@FatBettyintheCoop

Bloody hell! The U.K. sounds more like a third world country every day.

Yes, yes. Children leaving food = 3rd world country

Oh wait, isn't it..
Children having no food to leave = 3rd world country. 😏

It seems like such an unnecessary chore, what’s the logic behind not just making each child do their own? It’s like they’ve made a job just for the sake of making a job.

Used to have to scrape customers plates when I waitressed as a teen.

Yes, it is an absolutely disgusting stomach churning task.

That was mostly adults too, not messy young children.

It is in no way the same as scraping your own plate at home.

I feel nauseous now just from thinking about it.

Scraping the dirty plates of dozens of unrelated individuals is not a "life skill" either, as some have said. It's a job, normally a very low paid job. The kids are being forced to do it for free.
I wouldn't fancy any child of mine being taught to be an unpaid cleaner.
Talk about setting a low bar.

I hold my hands up to being biased by having done the task at work and hating it.