School withholding snack as punishment?

[cjs99x]

Hi all,

I wanted your opinion on something that’s happened today at school. For context - in my son’s class they have a morning snack (during juice/milk time on the carpet), lunch time (in the dinner hall) & afternoon snack (outside on the playground).

Today my 5 year old DS was kept inside for afternoon break time as he and another boy had a fight. My son getting into trouble at school is a very rare occurrence and that particular situation has been sorted out.

My concern is that, because he was kept inside for afternoon break time, he was told he wasn’t allowed to have his afternoon snack. All the children in the class was able to have their snack outside as usual, and he was told he wasn’t allowed as part of a consequence of missing his playtime. I mean keeping him inside as a consequence is fair enough, but not allowing him his food that I’ve packed?

I have briefly heard another parent mention something like this before but I wasn’t part of the conversation so I didn’t hear the full story. Obviously my son may be mixed up but he was really upset when he came out saying he was really hungry and is usually accurate when explaining things (even if it means he’ll be in trouble).

Am I being too sensitive here or is this just a very odd punishment for a 5 year old child? I just can’t see how the school is able to withhold a child’s food from them.

I will be speaking to this teacher tomorrow but I guess I’m just wondering if this a normal thing that happens in schools? He’s my only child so this is all knew to me but it just seems extreme

They seem to have lots of food at school! Children generally seem to have such a lot of snacks, what happened to having breakfast, lunch and an evening meal, maybe a bit if something when they get home from school? The producers of snacks must be delighted!

As a retired Reception teacher I agree with this. It does seem to be an excessive amount of snacks but if that is what is provided then he should get the same as the others. Food should not be used as either a punishment or a reward.

being physical with a child to punish them for being physical with another child makes no sense at all.

Whoa! My son was going for wees quite often and school advised me to get a urine check.
No infection, ketones in his wee and the doctor advised me to ensure he had snacks morning and afternoon at school. He was a fast burner!
This was 40 years ago, so no pandering or spoiling, just a child who needed that snack.
I totally get the OP.

I teach Year 1 and I think both parts of the punishment (missing break and snack) are ridiculous. Some teachers have such weird power trips. At the most I’d have a child miss 1 minute of break - they need to burn off their energy.

It's just a natural consequence. Fight = no breaktime, no breaktime = no afternoon snack. Solution = don't fight.

He's had breakfast, morning snack, lunch and will have dinner at home. He isn't going hungry. They really don't need snacks at all at school, we never had them.

I'm not a fan of missing break either, it seems counter to what we know about the importance of time outside. A very weird 'punishment'.

There's no 'natural consequence' link between fighting and having break removed, and having break removed and having food withheld. That's quite literally imposed consequence.

They don’t. That’s why kids can’t go 3 hours without stuffing their face anymore. Likewise needing a water bottle on hand 24/7.

i would bet good money the afternoon snack (God I HATE that word) is a bloody biscuit, and also that there was some piece of fruit or veg in the classroom if he was keeling over.

Well the snack was a banana so 😂🤷🏼‍♀️ only healthy snacks are allowed, which I think is a good system 😊

You do know eating is a basic human need/right don’t you no matter where you are or what you’ve done. It’s like those in prison shouldn’t get fed because they are in there j mean some of those monsters don’t deserve food or daylight but this little boy does

It is. You have your snack at break. If you miss your break because you had a fight, you miss your snack too. If he behaved better he wouldn't have missed anything. He's not going to expire for want of an apple or a cheesestring.

I’m curious about this afternoon snack thing. Ive taught for over 20 years and I’ve never heard of a school having a snack at afternoon playtime in KS1 no matter how early lunch is. Is it government funded like the morning fruit? Wonder if it’s particular areas of the country?

I agree, withholding food is not acceptable and that’s something they should change so I would be speaking to them. It also seems counter-intuitive, I’m not sure increasing the chance of hunger would ever lead to an improvement in behaviour.

Erm cough cough eating is a priority…. Whether it be breakfast lunch or dinner or a pissinf snack!! My daughter wouldn’t cope on just three meals alone a day she needs snacks. You’re all weird

He's not going to starve in an hour or two.

He fought, he found out.

It’s not government funded no, we were just told to pack snacks for morning and afternoon if we wanted to and (as far as I’m aware) pretty much all the kids have them! I assumed all schools did it but it’s just for the younger years in my son’s school.

She does not "need" to eat in the 2-3 hr window between lunch and home time.

Thanks! I find it so interesting how different schools different things.

I suppose it depends on the behaviour policy but anywhere I’ve ever worked has given the child the opportunity to eat their snack even if break time has been missed for fighting or whatever. The playing outside being removed is the sanction.

Snacking isn't a need. The vast majority of schools don't even have an afternoon snack.

If they had withheld his lunch as a punishment, that would be one thing but it was just a banana not long before going home anyway.

YANBU because behaviour is unlikely to improve if yes potentially hungry. Plus I don’t think food should be actively withheld.

@cjs99x cant add it on to my post but the behaviour policy should be on the school website and will say about missed breaks etc.

He misbehaved and got given consequences, unless he has type 1 he doesn’t need a snack, just 3 proper meals.

I’m with you OP. I’d go mad.

As a teacher I am surprised at how many people are on board with this. Withholding food from a 5 year old? Come on. No he should not have been fighting and the reasonable consequence for that was to be kept in from the playground which he was. However teachers are supposed to not only correct negative behaviour but support the child to behave more positively in the future and a hungry child is going to be more likely to be upset, grumpy or lash out. Yes it's only a snack and he will have had lunch but when children (and often adults!) get used to eating at the same time every day, their bodies cue them to be hungry at that time so I would warrant he was hungry by home time.

OP I wouldn't go in all guns blazing because it is possible he got his wires crossed or that his snack was overlooked since he wasn't there when the rest of the kids got theirs. But I would respectfully enquire about the situation and politely request that even if he is not allowed outside that he still be given his snack. I do not think that's unreasonable in the slightest.