Children eating packed lunch outside?

[OldMaaa]

Is it just me or is this a bit bonkers?

My children are at Primary school.

I found out recently (from my child not via school communication) that the children who bring in packed lunches are allowed to take them outside to eat in the playground.

This first came up as my children sometimes take in soup in a thermos cup. Recently eldest child reported that their soup was kicked over before they had consumed any, so essentially missing the main portion of their lunch. After a bit of (quite confused) discussion I discovered soup was on the floor outside, which led to a conversation about why?! This is normal apparently.

I'm thinking about it again today, as I noticed child had brought home most of their sandwiches and when I asked if there was something wrong with them they said no. "They were lovely but I got distracted".

Am I mad/out of touch to be thinking that children should be sat down at tables while they're eating their lunch regardless of whether they're packed lunch or school dinners. Or is this common in other schools?

I never want to be the kind of parent who bothers the school unnecessarily, but I am considering asking them about this as I don't understand it.

But I would appreciate some other perspectives as maybe my perspective is wrong?

Nothing at all wrong with eating outside, but schoolchildren shouldn't be left anywhere unsupervised to eat their lunches. If they were sitting outside at tables or in a specified area, there could be supervision and that would eliminate the kicking of other people's food or getting distracted.

Ours sit out on mats under a huge canopy (in nice weather) it’s lovely and the children love it!

It was. I still remember it decades later. A young teacher started yelling at me too and trying to make me swallow my food. Luckily a teacher who was also one of our towns ambulance officers saw what was happening and made me spit out. That's when I saw the wasp. Have had a fear of them ever since.

Have you never had picnics with your children??

We used to have a bell to go for lunch, then another bell would sound 15 minutes later for play. A couple of teachers would be walking around supervising.

If the weather is nice it's great they are having packed lunches outside. Can't see the problem

I think kids should at the very least be sitting down to eat . If there are tables and supervision outside then that's OK.

Are they standing up to eat then?

I also used to love having my packed lunch on the field at primary school in the 90s. I didn’t know some schools still did it.

Christ on a bike. Let’s find an issue when there is NO issue!

Are you serious? 🤣🤣🤣

This has to be a joke reply.

My kids are all well past primary now but they were allowed to eat outside as long as I remember. But, their school would have the kids sitting on the grass and eat their lunch, only allowing them to go and play once they had finished. So they ate fast! Lunches werent just handed out and then eaten or not as the kids liked. So that is a compromise that I was happy with.

Children eat their packed lunches outside all year round in Australia. Let them enjoy the fresh air. It’s so common in other countries other than the UK and I’m sure I remember being at primary school in the UK 20 years ago doing the same!

In my country, this is completely normal. There is hardly any chairs or tables for sitting at. On the ground it is.

It’s been happening for years. It happened when I was at primary school, and I was an armed forces child so when to many schools happened at every single one. Personally I’ve never came across soup being given in a packed lunch, may just be me. Not saying it’s not a nice idea but I’d stick to giving it in colder months.

I always used to eat my packed lunch on the field when the weather was nice. Was fun in red ant season!

My kids also did the same at thier school.

It helps to reduce spread of respiratory infections in schools if they eat lunch outside
YABU

ever heard of a picnic? Novel idea.

I'm 40 and we always used to do this when the weather was nice. I loved it and would love if my kids got to do this too.

Maybe send them in with something other than soup. Something that they can eat at a table outside, or have a picnic with on the grass. I have worked in primary schools for over 25 years and never have I seen a child bring in soup in a thermos. Pasta, yes, but not soup.

At my children's primary school they all eat inside together. I'm sure the majority would love to eat outside. Are they supervised when outside?

I honestly don't see the issue and think it's nice they aren't stuck inside.

We eat our dinner outside in the warmer weather at home.

Give the school a call or send an email, just a simple, reasonable query.

Sometimes they see it as a 'treat' but children should still be supervised when eating because of all sorts, choking etc. It is quite old fashioned and often seen in smaller, rural schools but nevertheless, lunchtimes can be unnecessarily chaotic if allowed to be outside.

There's nothing wring with caring that your child eats properly, others aren't bothered but that's up to them.

Perhaps because the teachers then wouldn't get their lunch break? I wouldn't want them either. Stop teacher bashing, the fact is they should have a lunch time supervisor or other arrangement which they obs need to sort. Either that or you have the wrong end of the stick.

I discovered this was still happening to my daughter in early November in Year 3 - being expected to eat packed lunch outside - as the younger children were so slow eating cooked lunch, they could not get the children all through the Dining hall. Issue was that the teachers were unaware until a few Mums (including me) raised it. It was agreed it wasn’t ok - especially as there was no clear plan with the weather getting colder and they had to do a completely replan of the lunch arrangements. I think eating outside should be optional even in the good weather.