To think it’s a bit unreasonable that children have to have fruit for school snack.

[MyLittleLove1]

DD’s school have sent a reminder that parents must send their children to school with a fruit snack for morning break. They will not be allowed to have anything else. This is to encourage healthy eating. I do understand this, but my daughter has breakfast at 7 as she is starving when she wakes up, and feel that a piece of fruit isn’t really that substantial for a snack. She would normally have fruit and a snack like some malt loaf. I feel a little against this also because there is so much to having a healthy diet. Many foods are healthy and make a great, filling snack. Why are we being policed on this? Or am I BU?

My kids need more substantial snacks, one is anorexic with hypoglycemia so needs more, my other refuses to eat at school anyway but I try and encourage him by stuffing his lunch box with lots of little snacks he likes, even if it's unhealthy (he still doesn't eat it 90% of the time and is skinny as a rake, not anorexic he just has other issues with eating)

Is this for real? If so, it’s absolutely bonkers!

It's a shame the restrictions not extended to dried fruit and nuts as they would fill kids up, but understandably nuts are a no no (which I fully support having a nut allergy sufferers in the family). Dried fruit should be ok though, even though it's very sugary

This, malt loaf isn't actually that filling. Boiled egg (you can get some pre-packaged) or a small amount of cooked chicken/ham would be a better filling snack.

I was at school in the 70s and we had a free bottle of milk, plus any snack we brought in that wasn't sweets. Most DC as I recall had an apple or a bag of crisps.

This. School age children dont need snacks that's a toddler weaning thing.
If you saw how much of school lunches go to waste because children pick at them having filled up on milk and fruit at 10, you'd understand.

This whole idea of kids needing constant snacks is a new thing, kids weren't ever given morning and afternoon snacks when i was kid, it was thought it would spoil their appetite for dinner (here's a clue, it does, they fill up on snacky stuff they like rather than the more nutritionally complete foods served at bigger meals).

Malt loaf is incredibly sugary it's pretty much like giving them a cake mid morning theres no need for that AND fruit!

Maybe you need to give her a more substantial breakfast with food that will keep her feeling full for longer. A child should really be able to go from breakfast time to lunchtime without having to snack in between. A piece of fruit should be ample.

At my DDs old boarding school they were offered fruit and a biscuit for a snack. Most are both I understand. Fruit doesn’t fill you up much - a banana would, but an apple doesn’t. Active dc need a bit more.

DDs are 8 and 6 and our school has the same rule (fruit or vegetables only.) DD2 is a hungrier child than DD1 and would eat me out of house and home if I let her. A piece of fruit is still a perfectly acceptable snack for her to have in the few hours between breakfast and lunch. They won't starve and it's easy to enforce for the school.

I do think kids eat far too much these days and it's like there is a fear of them feeling hungry. Hunger is totally normal in advance of a meal. Constant snacking (and malt loaf is full of sugar too) is really not a great habit. My friend says she worries about her DDs weight....and she is overweight but then is standing in the playground with a packet of mini cheddars or whatever to give to her the moment she comes out of school because presumably she'll faint if she has to wait until she gets home to eat.

Give your DD a big bowl of porridge for breakfast or some scrambled eggs on toast and then a banana or an apple for morning snack and she will be absolutely fine and won't waste away having to wait for her lunch.

Where on earth are you that 1 biscuit costs more than an apple. You can buy a whole packet of plain biscuits for about 60p, whereas 1 single apple costs at least about 40p.

A pack of biscuits contains at least about 20 - 25 biscuits, they cost justca few pennies each.

I went to school in the 80s and crisps were a common morning snack. I remember the gulls descending on the playground as soon as the whistle blew to signal end of break to pick up what had been dropped. We were rural so breakfast at 7 or earlier was the norm - we left to catch the school bus at 7.45, so I think 5 hours is quite a stretch until lunch. I'm mid forties now and still have a mid morning snack.

Mine are in reception, so they get access to free fruit all day.

I think it’s fair that your child isn’t allowed to bring cake into school. Wouldn’t it be better to give her more for breakfast (often mine have two breakfasts)?

The obsession with snacks is insane. If she's "starving" three hours after breakfast then your breakfast is crap, there's something wrong with her, or you're exaggerating.

I sort of agree with this, it is fine for children to not feel full all the time..

A bannana at break to keep her going till lunch is fine,

This is what they are trying to encourage enforce over here but we are just too different in our approach to child rearing and everything else, especially diet.

Right.

This idea that the mid-morning snack, aka elevenses, is a modern invention of the last 15 years or whatever is an obvious nonsense.

My daughters eating disorder therapist said you need a snack after 2 hours to keep your blood sugar levels from dropping too much

Most british children are fat or heading that way. They don't need sugary calorific malt loaf. If she's having a good breakfast she should be able to last until lunch, in primary schools lunch tends to be barely noon.

We have this obsession with never feeling hungry! Children should feel hungry by lunchtime. We eat too much

Yeah she won’t starve. It is the bane of my life having my kids (4&2) constantly ask for snacks. They don’t mean a healthy snack - they mean they want to eat junk. Whenever I enforce a “help yourself to the fruit bowl if you are hungry” they seem to miraculously be cured of starvation until lunchtime.

That’s wrong. Your blood sugar should stay stable if you’re healthy.

For those of us with less supermarkets around us, we're paying a lot more than that.

How old are you because I'm 60 and we had morning tuck shop at our village primary back in the days where 5p would get you 2 bags of crisps.

I went to school in the 1970s/1980s there was always a school tuck shop where we could buy chocolate, crisps, sweets, basically junk.

My daughters eating disorder therapist said you need a snack after 2 hours to keep your blood sugar levels from dropping too much

Is that a medical doctor? Because honestly a child's blood sugar levels shouldn't drop to unhealthy levels that fast if you are eating properly. My daughter's under an endocrinologist for a growth related condition and we've never been told to have snacks constantly.

If this was my kids school I'd remove them!