To have some sympathy with the "Jamie Oliver Burgers through the fence" mothers?

[Fridayfeeling]

We got a letter home earlier this week asking not to put crisps, chocolate, sweets in our children's lunchboxes.

How about you Fu*k off and mind your own business - a mini roll never killed anyone (especially as part of a balanced diet) !

Probably the answer would be to take her home for lunch Elk. I am older than a lot of people on here and when I was at school you didn't have the choice of packed lunch you either had a school dinner or you went home.
However it is a bit difficult to phase out something that has been the norm for years.

I can totally understand the "not wanting to be told" they are our children and ultimately it is up to us whet we choose to feed them and if by the time ds starts school he is still as fussy as he is now then I will have him home for lunch, that is if the school start poilicing lunch boxes.
The biggest problem I have is dd telling me that fruit and veg makes you healthy, yes it does but as part of a balanced diet which is the bit they are missing out when telling them this.

Good point seeker!

Do you think part of the problem is that some people really don't understand just how unhealthy certain foods are? Also I guess it depends on people's perceptions of "healthy", e.g. I buy butter because although it has a lot more fat than marg it has less nasties. However I am a big fan of cocopops as a snack (for me) because if it means I don't eat a bar of chocolate I can get a chocolate fix without the fat.

I also think that homemade cakes are a much better alternative to shop bought cake.

i agree with seeker. am glad the school (when DS goes in september) will be supporting me in encouraging DS to have a healthy diet. this happens at nursery at the moment and so far he enjoys a wide variety of food, mostly healthy coz that's what he's used to, and it's not all my work either

I don't see what the problem is -MUST they have choc/crisps at lunchtime?
Why is that necessary?

And the schools aren't saying all you can put in a lunch box is dried lentils or something - they are just saying no sweets, no chocolate and no sugary drinks.

If you have a fussy child you pack the lunch box accordingly. Unless you have a child so fussy all they will eat is Mars bars and crisps!

What exactly do people want to put in lunch boxes that they aren't allowed to?

If you are really worried about them missing out on a choclate bar, bring it with you when you pick them up

Having seen what some children - and this was secondary - took to school for their lunch, day in day out I can understand why some schools have had to resort to these rules banning certain items. Food does affect children's behaviour. If a child has a rubbish lunch - and quite a lot do from what I saw - then they play up more in an afternoon.

I can see how it can feel annoying to sensible parents who do give their child a balanced meal, but too many don't sadly.

DD has cmplusary school meals - no choice given, all have the same so we don't have the packed lunch dilemma. However they do have to take a morning snack but has to be a healthy snack with no sweets, crisp or cholcolate and no nuts (allergies) - they recommend fruit or veg. That doesn't both me at all.

YABU to have sympathy for women who want their children to eat rubbish and end up overweight with batwing arms like themselves. I want something better for my dcs.

YANBU to get fed up with schools going OTT with what we put in lunch boxes. One treat a day is a good idea - if they finish their sandwiches is my rule i have to trust them to do this of course but as the school makes them bring home their rubbish i can usually tell!

But why does that treat a day have to be at school mumma?

As for teaching healthy eating at school -iirc the QCA science module that covers this in infants does not refer to good or bad food, just food that should be eaten often and food to be eaten sometimes. So chocolate or suger is not called bad.

I wish the same rules would apply to school dinners as they do to packed lunch tbh (they don't seem to at dd's school)

I hate the lunch box policing by schools. I think that they are responsible for what is offered on school dinners and not lunch boxes.
If they consider there is a problem with what is being given for lunch they should contact the parents and discuss it.
They shouldn't be telling children that they have 'bad' food in their lunchboxes.
My dd ended up trying to take a bottle of water and a biscuit for her lunch one day. Her reasoning was that if she took something and didn't want to eat it then they wouldn't let her out to play until she had eaten it. She could bolt the biscuit and lie about what she had eaten. I don't consider that this is developing a healthy attitude towards food. I could pack her a 'healthy' lunch and she would bring it home again.
As regards peer pressure for eating a variety of foods, it doesn't always work. One of my children who had school dinners gave it away to the boy sat next to him. I had hoped that he would eat a wider range of food by sitting with others eating different things. In fact, his range of food narrowed to very little and didn't change until he got to about 14yo.
Food is fuel for the body and there isn't really any 'bad' food for children, imo. We do discuss that a wide range of foods is better for your body and too much of one thing is not good for you.
Some of my children have been/are extremely fussy with their food. Some will eat anything. As the fussy ones get older they tend to eat a better diet.

Balance is good. Jaffa cakes and nowt else is not. Unfortunately as usual the irresponsible few spoil it for the rest of us

Can I just repeat what I said earlier. It's not the schools who are deciding this. The government has said all school need to have healthy school status or working towards it in the next couple of years or so. It's not the individual teachers or heads being snotty and nosy...

Can I also echo what has already been said here about the crap lunches parents often send their kids in.

I know it's the gov't insisting on this but why do schools go along with it. Don't they have any say at all? Surely they could argue that it's not in their area to insist what parents put into lunchboxes. If the child ate off the premises then they wouldn't send someone home with the child to check what they were having for lunch.

Because they have no choice in it just like they have little choice in a lot of things.

The lunchbox thing is just one small part of the healthy school thing. Most parents are very happy with it so it would seem odd in many ways to change it for the few.

MrsRuffalo - i meant a treat a day in the lunch boxes, as that's what we are talking about
Sorry - not read the whole thread , had we gone on to talking about treats at home then?

Why would schools not want to go along with the government healthy eating initiative? Schools in my area are now producing lovely healthy meals that look and taste delicious (a far cry from what they were). There is also a vegetarian choice everyday. It doesn't make sense to have in the same hall as DCs who have a packet of crisps and a chocolate snack with nothing else! If everyone had a healthy lunch box you wouldn't get teasing about being rabbits! If it became the norm from starting school they would just get on and eat it. (they manage to eat fruit in the playground now that that is all they are allowed).

if you want to give them 'one treat a day', then do it at home where YOU get to deal with them afterwards.

i don't want my child's education disrupted by kids whose parents fed them a bunch of crap for lunch, for whatever reason.