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.

I find it so depressing that schools are trying to get the right message across and yet parents want to avoid letting their DC have a healthy option. Luckily in my area parents are, on the whole, fully supportive and those that come in wanting to undermine the system get short shrift!

StewieGriffinsMom, the minority of parents who would send their child to school with only chocolate doughnuts or similar for lunch need - and should receive - more than the oblique message that a ban on any snack but fruit will deliver. The majority can make sensible decisions without having it made for them by the school.

yes, i remember seeing that lady and the kids and how they were allowed 'one treat' a day. well, cool, you can give them their treat at home and deal with their behaviour yourself.

and keeping it available is another good lesson.

a bowl of grapes on the table to nibble, bananas, apples, strawberries.

lollies made from frozen fruit smoothies - i use frozen mango and ice cream but both my girls are super skinny and need to put weight on.

putting it in muffins or flapjacks for breakfast.

DD1's more of a filled roll or toastie sort of Jock girl.

the fruit they get in the schools and nurseries here is also excellent quality.

they grow a lot of it themselves, too.

AbbeyA, you continue to miss the point! It's not about "want[ing] to avoid letting...dc have the healthy option" but about wanting to be permitted to make the decisions for my dd that are my responsibility to make and not to have my role as her parent undermined or for me to be ridiculed in front of her classmates. If I want her to have the occasional sweet or packet of crisps in the context of healthy diet - to teach her that everything can be enjoyed in moderation and that chocolate is not, in fact, the work of the devil - who has the right to overrule me?

I don't accept that it really is a problem with a majority of parents. Maybe most parents allow their children to eat sweets and crisps some of the time but what of it? Even if it is as big a problem as you suggest, surely the answer is in education - of the parents, too, about health eating along with things like I suggested earlier. But healthy eating is not just fruit, is it? You can have a healthy snack with other things.

I still believe that schools should not seek to overrule parents who are making perfectly reasonable choices for their children - like the occasional sugary snack as part of an overall healthy diet.

I do find it bizarre when people defend to the death their right to feed their children rubbish! The school which you have chosen for your children is trying to do its best by your child and all the others by making sure that, at least while they are in school, they have the best possible diet - a diet which will help them to be as receptive as possible to education. And you want to undermine this by encouraging your child to break the rules, and thereby implicitly telling your child that it it OK to break rules you don't agree with. Completely baffling. After 3.15 you child can live exclusively on fruit shoots and mars bars if you like - but between 9 and 3.15 the school is in loco parentis.

"In loco parentis" is about having the authority to take decisions that would normally be for the parent to make when the parent is absent and cannot make the decision. It is not about overruling the parent who has already made a decision which is perfectly reasonable.

You can dismiss this argument by painting it as "defending...their right to feed their children rubbish" if you like but that's not what it is.

But you are overruling the school by not following the "fruit only" rule. What is the problem with fruit!

An extremely sensible post seeker, I cannot see MsHighwaters problem with a piece of fruit at morning break each day, I am sure that her DD can survive 6 hours without junk food. Out of school hours she can feed her whatever sugary snack she feels appropriate. It is all hypothetical anyway as her daughter hasn't started school. The school has the right to say what is eaten on the premises and they will exercise that right. If she sends her to a school, with the fruit only rule, they will confiscate anything else and send it home with her at the end of the day. (They have the rule purely because people don't listen to reason).
I shall leave the thread, it is absolutely bizarre that people should be defending their 'right' to feed their DC junk during the school day. Fill them up with it after 3.15 if you feel so strongly about it or take them home for lunch! The school is in loco parentis. I should keep your battles for something important MsHighwater not waste them on a ridiculous point of principle! You don't get rights without responsibilities.

I never had snacks at school at all - only milk (bleugh!) at breaktime. We all survived somehow! It is ridiculous and hyperbolic to frame this discussion in terms of your human right to feed your child chocolate on school premises. Children are perfectly capable of learning - and indeed NEED to learn - that rules at school and home are different. And schools have the right to enforce rules on school premises - from what kids wear, to what they eat. If your children only eat a tiny amount of junk as part of a balanced diet, then there is no problem doing that between 3.30 and 7.30pm is there? Why do you need more junk-feeding opportunities?
Some children do have particular needs for high calorie food etc and I agree schools should be flexible where there is a real need. But for your average kid, apples, bananas, plums, oranges, etc etc etc are healthy and reasonable.

When you see what they will happily chuck down their necks as teenagers a piece of fruit at breaktime will pale into insignificance!!!
My advice is to have as much control over their diets as you can while you still can!!!!

exactly, Abbey - feed them sugary crap after school if you must

how do the school know the snack you want to send in is "part of a healthy diet" - for all they know you may feed them crap 24/7

you should be glad for all the fruit/veg portions your child can eat, the more the better for health and vitality

Perhaps once MsHighwater's child actually starts school she will be in a better position to understand why schools need to have simple, clear rules.

I feel so sorry for the poor souls around the country who are slogging their guts out in places like the School Food Trust trying to introduce small changes in schools across the country, to try to HELP to encourage children to understand about healthy eating, the importance of fruit and vegetables, the implications of excess fat and sugar.

WHY do some people feel the need to vehemently oppose these efforts which, whilst not harming their children, will undoubtedly HELP other children from perhaps less educated/ knowledgeable/ caring etc families.

Did anyone see Jamie Oliver on Jonathan Ross last night? I really admired his genuine passion and commitment to DO something towards helping this downwardly spiralling trend in the UK towards unhealthy eating/ junk food/ limited exercise and resulting obesity.

The UK is now the 3rd most obese country in the world! 3rd!! That's not a bronze medal we should be proud of .

Perhaps all the people on here who are slagging off the healthy eating policies because their children 'already know about healthy eating thank you' would like to volunteer their energy and time and knowledge to organisations like Sure Start who can help others learn such things.

I remember seeing a programme about a young mum being taught how to prepare healthy food for her baby. She held up a carrot, and said "I've never had one of these before - what do I do with it?"

That's the reality of many parents in the UK today .. .

Exactly NormaSnorks-people are making huge efforts and then someone comes along and says, "I won't be dictated to, I will feed my DC as I see fit because it is part of a healthy diet and I want to do it my way".
It is very selfish, it would be nice if people could think of the common good of all DCs.
I find it depressing.

Sorry-I feel so strongly about this-I had completely forgotten that I was leaving the thread! I will sit on my hands whatever the provocation!

I love apple crisps.

Unfortunately not all apple crisps are nutrionally 'equal'.

The M&S ones are fried in fat and are basically about as good for you as potato crisps.

I know you can get them made without oil (I presume that's what your ds has), but how would the school check this?

You can make apple crisps if you have a mandolin (not a string instrument, one of those slicer things)

soupdragon...you mention a kitchen mandolin.....I have been looking into getting one of those, but not sure which ones are actually good....haVE YOU GOT ANy recommendations?

or you can core the apple, slice it thin, and chuck it in the deep fat fryer on 170 for about 2-3 mins.

place on kitchen roll after removing.

sprinkle with sugar and cinammon.

but frying it in oil surely is not so good...is it expat?

I have seen those things that you sort of dry fruit in, to make healthy dried fruit slices....they look good....

still keen to hear mandoline recommendations

it's dehydrators I meant...to make truely healthy crisps....

well, of course frying it in oil adds fat and calories.

but it tastes nice .

FWIW, this is a rather lucky family in that no one has a weight problem and tbh the DDs and DH could do with a few pounds (I'm 35 weeks pregnant just now but the baby has pretty much killed my appetite).