to think that my DSs should be allowed to eat what I give them at breaktime?

[lonelymom]

My DSs school seems to have an unwritten rule that they are ONLY allowed fruit at breaktime. Problem is one of my DSs only eats bananas unsupervised. Any other fruit and I have to stand over him saying 'Git it down yer throat NOW!'. Anyway as his bananas have been coming home uneaten and bashed (even though he has a 'bananaguard' being the height of coolness that he is) I started to give him 'schoolbars' and apple crisps but he is coming home saying that his teacher will not let him eat them and he has to put them back in his bag . Now come on - these are a form of fruit , they contain lots of fruit anyway. I am furious about the apple crisps as these are essentially dried apple slices dipped in lemon juice. I have spoken to his teacher about this a few times and she has said that it's OK so I don't know what the hells going on. This nanny state we live in makes me bloody angry. I am a grown adult who should be able to decide what my kid eats!! If I want to give him a Mars Bar, I should be able to, fgs. By the way, my other DS (in a different class) gets to eat his.

No, onager.

An adult can decide for themselves. A child needs an adult to make key decisions.

Let's not let the awful government intrude any more into our lives.

YABU .. he's not the only child in the class .. the rule is fruit ... so fruit is what he should have not a fruit product

onager - do you want teachers to wear school uniform also? Or would that be too petty and controlling too?

My dd is not at school yet so I don't know what the local school policy is, if there is one. However, I instinctively shrink from the idea that anyone except me and my dh are allowed to dictate what my dd should eat.

If the school wants to specify that only certain types of food, and nothing else, should be consumed at breaktime then I would say that the school ought to provide it. Otherwise, they should fuck off and allow parents to decide for their own dc's, intervening only where there is actual evidence of an actual problem.

Just reeling off examples of obviously inadequate lunches/snacks does nothing to advance the argument. We all know that some parents are crap and feed their kids crap food. I'm also pretty sure those kids have other problems, too. Making a petty rule just to avoid trying to deal with the specific issues affecting individual kids is ridiculous.

God I remember at school for my lunch from my parents having crisp sandwiches (on white bread) with a crunchie.

I don't really remember "snacks" exising before about 1994 though so each class only had one regulation fat kid. Ours was called Stuart.

I could murder a crisp sandwich now.

I don't think that restricting a break time snack to a piece of fruit or raw vegetable is a petty rule.
When I was at school there were no snacks at all, there was also no option of a packed lunch, you either had school dinners or went home for lunch. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why children were healthier.
There is a huge child obesity problem in this country. Schools are taking the initiative for healthy eating and should be applauded not undermined.They are working towards a Gold Award for healthy schools and they don't get it by letting children eat crisps in the playground!
People like Jamie Oliver must want to throw in the towel!! A perfectly sensible rule is undermined by parents who think that their rights to serve their DC a sugary or processed snack comes first!
It works perfectly well in my LEA. Infants get free fruit but many bring their own in a little pot. If juniors want food at break it has to be fruit or veg.It gives a huge choice-and yet people on here are saying they want to by pass it for apple crisps!!!
My DCs are older, they didn't have anything at break time but I would have been overjoyed if the norm was fruit and they were getting one of their 5 a day, I wouldn't have been insisting on parental rights to give something that wasn't as healthy!

What I find interesting is that there are often threads on MN about how finicky guest children are on play dates and the consensus tends to be that you serve what you're going to serve and don't pander to them. How is this different to being told they can only have fruit at break time? School rules, house rules, all the same thing really.

Anyway, they're hardly going to ~starve without a snack. We never had snacks at breaktime. unless they're having cr*p/nothing for breakfast in which case "fruit only" is probably a good idea.

They aren't dictating what your child can eat, they are dictating what they can bring into school. Your chld can eat nothing but chocolate donuts at home for all they care but they do have a right to say what is bought onto (and therefore consumed on) their premises.

If you want to make a stand, insist on removing your child from the premises each day at break so they can eat the non-fruit snack you think is more appropriate.

I can't believe so much fuss is made about a child being told they have to bring in fruit. They're not being made to snort cocaine or drink fruit shoots FFS.

They do have the choice of having nothing-no one is forcing fruit down them! My DSs were too busy running around at break to want a snack anyway-even if it had been an option.
I never eat between breakfast and lunch-you can survive!

I think it's great that they are made to take in fruit or veg.

Also at DD's school they are only allowed plain water to drink (apparently flavoured water/juice was leaking in the lunch trolley and they got infested with ants).

Not only does it make the parent think about what they are providing for their child to eat - I know in my case I always pack DD a more healthy lunch based around her fruit snack than I would if I were to give her a cake for her snack - but it also gives the parent a helping hand if they have a child who doesn't particularly like fruit/veg. You should be relishing this chance to get healthy food into a child who otherwise has to be forced to eat it, not complaining about it.

By complaining about it you are, quite simply, reinforcing your child's opinions that fruit/veg isn't particularly important, and nor are school rules.

It's surprising how many children that kicked off at DD's school two years ago about the water situation that now drink water quite happily, and not just at school, but at home.

I think the school are prefectly within their rights to say what is allowed and not allowed for school breaks. School bars are not fruit, they are snack bars which contain a high percentage of fruit.

We werent allowed crisps or sweets at school either when we were kids so its not like it's a new thing.

I'm with the schools here.
Ours is fruit only.
Fruit is great. God there are zillions of different kinds of fruit. Must be something OP's ds likes.
Banana is the only one he can eat unsupervised ? Very odd.

Also, if he eats apple crisps can't you just slice up some apple for him?

And if I was a teacher, I would much rather have a class that had eaten some fruit so had a good source of slow release energy rather than a class climbing the walls after eating chocolate.

Without even reading this, i knew it would turn into a social status issue. Surely it is the parents responsibility to ensure that their child eats healthily if they are providing the food. My DD is starting playschool soon and they provide them with a fruit snack and i think this is really great as i would be a bit miffed if she were offered a chocolate biscuit instead. If i were providing the food, i would probably send her with an apple or banana. Here's a thing though, my eldest DD was terrible for eating shite at school, i would send her with a healthy lunch, she would eat the crisps, nothing else. If i sent her with no crisps she would eat nothing. In the end, i used to send her to school with a packet of crisps and nothing else. She is 18 now and a size 10. My DD2 is a very fussy little eater who makes her mummy proud. She wont actually eat any junk, turns her nose right up at it, she only wants fruit, veggies and wholesome stuff. She makes me look like an uber parent so she does, so what gives? A change in class maybe?

"Unfortunately educated middle class people have to go through this in order to protect less advantaged children." OMG!!!! I guess whoever posted that could apply her bigotted attitude to anything really. I would assume that being educated and middle class she sends her children to private school where they are served a choice of vegan/organic/macrobiotic food anyway so wouldnt have to suffer the scourge of the working classes.

I go to a homestart playgroup and they provide all manner of healthy snacks for the children. I used to get a bit uppity about this and find it patronising, but now im quite happy not to have to do lunch on a wednesday because DD has tucked into lots of good stuff at playgroup. I do think it is good to set an example for EVERY child to enjoy healthy food and getting them to do this together is a good thing. I would imagine if the school didnt have this policy, 95% of the children would be chomping on shite at break and the poor little healthy ones would be teased for being a food geek.

i sometimes give my kids a small tub of tinned fruit (in juice) for their lunch (with a spoon, obv!). they love it, and i've never had any complaints from school. probably not as good as fresh fruit, but an alternative that might be worth a go perhaps?

I think anything that shows eating fruit as a norm is a good idea. Those that don't like a whole piece of fruit, or are a bit fussy about which fruit,bring a little pot with a mixture or things already sliced. Apple only goes brown if you let the air get to it.

I agree with your OP lonelymum - just fruit is too narrow a definition of what constitutes a healthy snack. Can't see the problem with schoolbars and apple crisps tbh....nor breadsticks and dip, or cheese and crackers etc.

This particular subject has been debated on Mumsnet many times. It would seem that the dominant ideology for this particular issue is that one must adopt the "rules are rules" approach (whilst staring vacantly into space and dribbling slightly in a 1984 Orwellian brain washed stylee).

I think rules have their place - never been a fan of crudely thought out or arbitrary rules though.

You are not supposed to be having 5 portions of cheese, dips or crackers per day but you are supposed to have five portions of fruit and veg a day- I would have thought this was an easy one to support the school on rather than try any way possible to get their DC out of eating a piece of fruit!
I don't see how fruit and veg is narrow-I would list the options but it would take too long!

In 2000 when I started teaching (secondary) we had vending machines on every corridor selling absolute crap. School dinnners were of the pizza / burger and chips variety. There was also a tuck shop open at break and kids were allowed off site to buy from local takeaways. Kids were hyper, easily distracted and we had a rat problem cos of the litter!

There are now no vending machines at all and the canteen only does fruit and proper cooked meals, sandwiches, salads and jacket spuds. We don't have a tuck shop and kids are not allowed off site so they have no choice but to eat the healthier stuff. We have plenty of water fountains and kids can drink water in class. There are no rules saying kids can't bring junk food to school but suprisingly few do.

Result? Because crap food isn't readily available the kids are far less likely to eat it - common sense really! Behaviour has improved significantly, especially among the younger boys who used to get really hyper after break and lunch. There's hardly and litter either which means the school is a nicer place to be. With improved behaviour comes improved learning. Same applies to primary. The school are saying fresh fruit only for a reason so either give your kids fresh fruit or nothing at all - if they've had a decent breakfast they won't starve!

it is MY policy that the dcs are only allowed to take fruit to school for a snack - despite a "healthy eating" policy i see all kinds of crap being bandered about - rice crisie square bar anyone??

a snack at breaktime is really not the end of the world. come to think of it, after removing several pieces of rotten fruit from school bags, mine are not allowed to take anything to school for a week! they get a carton of milk, they won;t starve...

mean aren't i?