Junk food at school

[Letsgetdrunkontheminibar]

I thankfully send my 7 yo with a packed lunch which he asks for but am getting really pissed off with special days at school like today for example we have an email titled ‘Nugget day’ and it’s a menu for a weeks time when they’ll have chicken nuggets, chips and beans and chocolate cake for dessert. WTF? Friday’s are already fish fingers and chips day so why do they do this? Surely a day of promoting different foods from around the world or new fruit and veg they may not have tried. What is this teaching our kids? My husband wants to email the school!

Your child doesn’t take part in this, so what does it have to do with you?

Pick your battles, you will just look daft to the school.

I agree that “Nugget Day” is fucking bizarre, but I wouldn’t care enough to email the school about it. I had ND kids, so tended to save the big guns for actual glaring safeguarding failures and illegal practice.

If your child has packed lunch whats the problem?

I don’t think 1 day a week of chips will cause to many health issues tbh, I was of the turkey twizzler generation for school dinners and I’ve survived.

My ds has always eaten school meals, but I cook from scratch at home. We never have takeaway or junk at home.

He gets a good balance of foods, and plenty of fruit/veg, I didn't worry about it.

He wants to email the school about what they are choosing to feed other children?

As the parent of a disabled child, I’d love for this to have been my only issue with the school when my child was 7. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I honestly couldn’t bother myself to get worked up about this. It’s in a week’s time so clearly doesn’t happen on a daily basis. As long as your child eats healthy meals the majority of the time they’ll be fine.

My girls are grown up but they would have loved this when they were little. It would have been much talked about when they got home.

I wonder if it's a headcount day that sets their funding, so they need as many children as possible picking school dinners that day.

it’s awful i agree Op. there is no excuse for having chocolate cake on any day at school let alone just randomly for no reason.

it also undermines the authority of schools who then preach about how they know what is best for children.

id be interested to hear how common this type of thing is across other schools.

It’s exactly this.
School get more funding the more kids have school meals.

re the “i’ve survived” point: actually society has been made very sick from previous attitudes to food and nutrition. Rates of autoimmune disease, obesity, allergies, mental illness, cancers have all gone crazy and are all linked to poor gut health and nutrition.

now we have some awareness of this it makes sense for past practices of feeding children crap food all the time to change.

we can look back and say that our parents generation didn’t know any better but the children of today will have no reason to be so forgiving!

I wish my kids school would do this - I have to do packed lunches because my DC won’t eat any of the bizzare school menu!!

Lol at nugget day. My friends kids primary had McDonalds day, once her son got sent home ‘sick’ and then remembered it was McDonalds day and cried to go back to school. She took him too!
School dinners are generally crap but people don’t seem to want to pay for them so not sure what anyone expects. If anything like here the school have nothing to do with it, it’s the council who are responsible.

Well I see both sides of this. My kids eat anything luckily, do I'd rather they served broccoli and fish and potatoes. But lots of kids won't touch that, and if they don't eat lunch they are hungry all afternoon and therefore disruptive and don't learn as well.
On the flip side, UPFs are linked to increased cancer, and are actively causing obesity.

So: kids fed and learning well, but poorer health outcomes long term, OR kids hungry and learning poorly (and affecting the whole class) but lower rates of cancer and obesity at a population level.

It's not simple.

Cake is unnecessary though. I'd be happy with once a week as part of a balanced diet. But the rest of the time fruit.

Most likely census day for school meals and they want as many to take school dinners as possible as that means they will get more funding. Our school does this as well.

i’m sure ive heard that schools prevent kids from having things like fruit juice in their packed lunches. is that no longer the case and if it is then how do they reconcile that with giving cake at lunch to the other kids?

Maybe schools should offer a junk option and a healthy option, and allow parents to choose (rather than kids on the day).

Why would you or DH email school about what other children are eating? If your child has a packed lunch, it doesn't really concern you.

Mine has a limited diet and has a packed lunch too but he can eat nuggets and chocolate cake so I'd be delighted he'd be able to join in for once.

Yes I think we had hotdogs, chips and ice cream on census day instead of the scheduled meatballs and rice 😂

That’s interesting about the funding thing. I wondered if there was a specific reason! He wants to email to ask why they do it and that we don’t think it’s appropriate! Re the dessert, they get offered a biscuit or cake every single day after their school dinner or fruit but most kids aren’t going to choose the fruit!
Yes I’m glad my son is happy with a packed lunch and has a healthy one so I can choose what he’s eating every day…but I just wonder why this is allowed to happen!

What difference does it make to you what other children have for their lunch?

It's not proper cake anyway, it'll be low sugar beetroot chocolate cake or something. My child always asks me to order her the fruit option as the cakes and flapjacks are all weird tasting.

Presumably more families would choose the school meal option if it wasn’t harmful to their children.

it shouldnt be that school meals are only available to parents who aren’t particularly vested in their child’s health.

I imagine that there must be other schools that provide healthy school meals.. it can’t be that hard. it seems unfair that some families get that choice and others don’t.

Why can we not care? Just because our son doesn’t have it, we can think something isn’t right in my opinion!

So they have chocolate cake day but will remove a chocolate biscuit from a child's packed lunch quicker than you can say 'Penguin Bar'.

Yes this is why. They try and ensure it's something that is popular so more people order. Our school also do a raffle that day for those who have school dinners.

I doubt it's a very pleasant chocolate cake no doubt it will be dry with sweetners rather than sugar
Nothing like the chocolate sponge and mint custard from my 70,s/80,s primary school dinners😋