Packed lunch police

[penneforyourthoughts]

DD’s school has changed their packed lunch policy and no longer allows them to have juice cartons of any description.

I know that there are bigger problems in the world but it’s made me pretty cross. DD is quite food avoidant and I do my best to pack a sensible lunch for her but I like the fact that I can give her fruit juice (flavour, texture and one of her five a day, I think).

I don’t want to make a fuss because it’s a great school but AIBU to raise it with them?

[quote Snoozer11]@Porcupineintherough I go to the gym six times a week, run three or four times a week and I'm a very healthy weight.

I eat healthily, don't eat processed foods, don't drink fizzy drinks now and very rarely drink alcohol.

I have all my own teeth and no dental issues.

What, exactly, is the problem?[/quote]
Crazy isn’t it!

My lunch everyday at secondary school was a bag of doritos and a can of fizzy bought from the shop on the way there.

Not a filling in my mouth at 41, those 4 years didn’t do too much harm and it’s not a habit I carried on post 16 and I’ve eaten far more sensibly in the following 25 years!

[quote Porcupineintherough]@Snoozer11 the fact that you think a can of coke in a child's lunch box is good parenting.[/quote]
Did I say that?

[quote Porcupineintherough]@Snoozer11 the fact that you think a can of coke in a child's lunch box is good parenting.[/quote]
I don’t think that’s the point they were making.

I have once been asked about the contents of my kids lunch bags, and I pointed out that the school dinner menu that week was full of burger, chicken nuggets and pizza. Everything was accompanied by chips and 3 out of 5 days the pudding choices were basically some kind of cake and custard so I feel no shame whatsoever about what i put in the lunch bags given the alternative felt no better than what you'd get in a fast food place.

That's what really grates on me too - all manner of junk is fine as routine when they're providing it, but the occasional treat from you is abhorrent and must be staunchly forbidden. Kind of like people who live in multiple palaces urging us to get serious with austere living and making painful sacrifices in heating our modest 3-bed semis to beat climate change....

Especially when the vast majority of schools source their dinners based on cheapness alone (even though they charge parents a considerably marked up price for it) rather than somebody having sat down and carefully planned what would be both tasty and nutritious for the children within a realistic (non-penny-pinching) budget.

And don't get me started on the fact that many apparently think it helps to prepare human children for adult life by getting them used to food slopped straight on to a tray, as if it were kitty chunks into the cat's bowl. Others may disagree, but I find that really quite degrading.

I think the carton is more of an issue then the juice which isn't part of the 5 a day (made up for a marketing campaign) anyway. Give diluted squash in a coloured water bottle.

@Siriisatwat

Absolutely. I actually think having such a terrible diet as a child has set me up well in adulthood so that I now have no desire to fill myself with junk.

I see kids today eating celery sticks and plum tomatoes and my brain just does not compute. I only knew Penguins and Cherry Bakewells!

I do wonder about the relationship these kids will have with food when they reach adulthood.

Many schools will allow smoothies instead. You need to call them up and get further info

Lots of schools are water only.

Dental health is now a big issue for Ofsted.

I wouldn't get into a battle with the school over juice - just give it to her as a snack after school.

I hate this because juice actually is one of your five a day. Yes it’s better to eat 8 while oranges, but that’s not what kids do.
However, many schools have a water only policy. You could just give her the juice at breakfast

I hate this!
When my DC were in primary school, the Head Teacher sent out a letter (oh those days!) asking parents to refrain from adding chocolate bars into packed lunches, because “some parents don’t like their children having chocolate and their children get upset because other children are allowed it”.
I responded that if some parents have a problem with their child getting upset because of another parent’s choices, then maybe they should be stepping up to explain to their children that different people have different ideas about what to put in the lunchbox. My letter was heeded, and my DC’s once-a-week chocolate bar treat was allowed to continue, with (presumably) the chocolate-avoiding parents being told where to go with their attempt to hold everyone to their own standards.
My DC grew up just fine, no weight or dental problems, and a far better relationship with food than most of their peers...

Good for them. Fruit juice is pure sugar and it's a bit dubious to include it in 5/day. Just send her with water.

Give diluted squash in a coloured water bottle.

Virtually all squash has artificial sweeteners in it - chemicals that are designed to trick your body into thinking that it's ingesting sugar and reacting accordingly.

Just because juice may not always be ideal, I don't think squash is a better solution.

Lordy, the things parents complain about.

Fruit juice with lunch is fine - 1 of their 5 a day and doesn't spike blood sugar if it's eaten with other food.

Fruit juice in 'water bottles' in the classroom is a different issue. Crazy sugar behaviour, sticky shit everywhere when it spills etc.

If kids bring in juice in their water bottles, even squash, I tell them they can drink it at lunchtime with their lunch.

Just give it to her as part of breakfast or dinner?

[quote Snoozer11]@Siriisatwat

Absolutely. I actually think having such a terrible diet as a child has set me up well in adulthood so that I now have no desire to fill myself with junk.

I see kids today eating celery sticks and plum tomatoes and my brain just does not compute. I only knew Penguins and Cherry Bakewells!

I do wonder about the relationship these kids will have with food when they reach adulthood.[/quote]
Tbh I am the same as you but I do think it's a good thing that it's a bit more controlled with kids now.

I guess it depends on your diet at home as well but mine was fairly bad at school and at home - home dinner would be pizza & chips, or other frozen stuff. Food at school would be sandwich and crisps or burgers, slush puppy or can of coke etc. Maybe if your diet at home is good then school doesn't matter as much, but I imagine that isn't the case with quite a few school children, and wasn't with me.

I am lucky that I actually always liked veg etc so it wasn't too hard to switch to more of that, but it really took doing WW and Slimming World to force me into healthier habits as I just didn't have any kind of nutritional knowledge from home or school.

So I do think it's good that children are learning a bit more about it now - my SD was recently comparing the sugar content in various drinks at school as part of science I think, and she is only 7.

But I do agree with PP that it's completely frustrating when schools police lunchboxes so tightly but school dinners can appear to be just a load of junk. I think most are quite strictly portion/calorie controlled but it's still junk food and doesn't help kids get used to eating variety really.

Is it spills related rather than contents. Children tend to squirt juice putting straw in. If dinner staff are rushed for time cleaning sticky spills is an extra job.
Or environmental - plastic straws. Or maybe going for a school dental award.
You could ask why it had gone in banned list.
I’d probably just give it for breakfast or after school if you want her to drink it.

the pudding choices were basically some kind of cake and custard

Yep, this annoys me too. 'No sweet things allowed in packed lunch' but flapjacks, cakes, custard etc for pudding in school dinners.

I basically put a one slice sandwich with cheese and marmite, about 5 slices of cucumber, a petit filous (ooh, BAD YOGHURT), some strawberries or something that chops up into a pot, something crunchy like a few crisps or cheese straws (only not a whole bag because it takes her ages to eat them), and a (homemade, but still sugary) cake in her lunchbox. With a small box of juice - they do tiny ones in Tesco that are a perfect amount for a small child.

It's more annoying she can't have nuts, since she's a veggie and we're a vegan household where nuts are a key source of nutrients - she'd have peanut butter and almonds or walnuts at home.

Ours only allows water unless there’s a medical reason, eg we had a child who was sodium deficient and wasn’t allowed plain water.

Our school have a healthy schools policy thing, but in practice are more relaxed than many. Crisps and sweets definitely not allowed, but you can get away with a small bag of mini biscuits (those little bags of gingerbread men or cookies they do) or the compressed fruit type things in packets/ bags. My ds has some sensory issues, which makes him seem fussy and also makes the freshness of the food important. He wouldn’t eat fruit or veg that had been cut up earlier for instance, so being able to include things in packaging matters.

We’re told that an item of full fat yoghurt or dairy is desirable, not banned!

You can buy juice in cans, give her those to get round the carton ban.

@pianolessons1

Good for them. Fruit juice is pure sugar and it's a bit dubious to include it in 5/day. Just send her with water.

You'd better tell the NHS then.

YABU fruit juice is not healthy. It's foie gras in a carton.

@Siriisatwat honestly I think you probably have a really healthy relationship with food because you were allowed to eat crap as a teenager. I'm convinced that the fastest way to screw up someone's relationship with food is to let them pick up on the idea that you're worried about it.

This is a pretty standard rule and it’s nothing something I could be bothered to challenge the school on tbh. I actually agree with you on the juice and give my kids a small serving once a day with their breakfast, so I’d suggest doing that instead. For school send water. If she really won’t have it and you’re worried about dehydration then I’d do the clear flavoured water and no one need know.