AIBU to think this WAS a healthy snack.

[Bathsheba]

DD1 is in Primary 1. Her school aren't very strict on Healthy Eating (not as hugely strict as some places I've heard about) but they do have healthy school dinners (which DD1 has 4 days out of 5) and they have the rule of "Healthy Snack on Wednesday".

DD1 has 2 teachers - 1 does Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and the 2nd does Wednesday - so she only ever sees DD1's snack on Healthy Snack day.

My conversation with DD1 this morning -

DD1 - Mummy, whats for snack today
Me - Its Apple and Blueberries Angel.
DD1 - Is that a Healthy Snack Mummy, because its healthy Snack day
Me - Yes Angel it is, but you always have a healthy snack...
DD1 - I didn't last week
Me (frantically wracking brains) - You did Angel - trust me you Always have a Healthy Snack...
DD1 - Well Mrs S said it wasn;t healthy - it was cheese and crackers and Mrs S said that wasn't a healthy snack.

Now, am I wrong in thinking that 2 crackers with some cheese on it is a healthy snack..?? Most days she has fruit, but soem other days she has a carbohydrate snack - crackers, or some home made banana bread. She NEVER, since she started, has had sweet biscuits, crisps or "sweeties" for her snack....although Mrs S never sees her on any day other than a Wednesday to know this.

DD1's memory is fairly rubbish so I can only think that Mrs S must had fairly obviously pointed out to her that her snack was unhealthy on Healthy Snack day for ehr to remeber it a week later...

Is it worth sending a wee note in her message book to say apologies for the confusion, I thought cheese and crackers was a healthy snack but I'll ensure now that she ONLY ever has fruit on a wednesday.

yep, me too - just had red leicester and seaweed sakata crackers - and I am much worse than you Pikelit because it is gone midnight here in Oz. And, also like you, I hate the pepper boursin...

I think in fairness that cheese and crackers cannot really be construed as healthy as they are really lacking in most minerals and vitamins. But they aren't unhealthy either, in comparison with a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar - they are more neutral than anything.

To make healthy bones, magnesium is required as well as calcium - an excess of calcium with no/v.low magnesium intake is counterproductive.

tis very annoying, my dd is whippet thin so she does need a filling snack at breaktime

she goes 8 - 12 without eating anything substantial

i am wating to see if sesame snaps will be constituted a healthy snack or not...

Can you send your leftover Boursin au poivre? I love it?

Wow, I almost wish I had that problem, my school claims to be healthy but so isn't!

You did send in a healthy snack, the teacher is wrong, like other have said, the teacher is ill-informed,although she means well..

Personally I do give my kids cheese, but I don't really think it's healthy. Yes, they do need fatty food, but my personal opinion is that this should not be animal fat.

I do think you should ask to be informed of exactly what guide lines the teachers have been giving on healthy food, it is a little bit worrying if they can only have fruit or veg for snacks.

ooh, i had to put up with the pepper boursin once_ ex is a smoker so likes lots and lots of seasoning, so he decided to buy the pepper boursin and it really does taste like eating wet pepper! can't even taste the cheese!

i recently started eating a proper breakfast and being full till lunch, but lunch has been about an later than normal the past couple of days, so i've eaten two biscuits.
in my defence, they were chocolate digestives, so extremely healthy! (but not as healthy as the chocolate hobnobs)

oh, back to topic: a nice healthy chocolate ckae ofr a child would be chocolate courgette cake: it tastes very chocolatey and has vegetables in it, so noone could complain at that!

There is an advert around at the moment that shows a child's arteries being clogged up with fat.

And we wonder why children are starting to struggle with eating disorders!

There is NO POINT ramming healthy eating information down a five year old's throat. They are not in control of their own diet and they do not understand enough about their own bodies and biological needs to be able to make an informed decision even if they DID have the opportunity.

All this shite should be aimed at the PARENTS. Send sample menues for evening meals home in children's book bags. Some people don't know how much is too much. SOme people don't know why a low fat yoghurt is any different to a Milky Bar Chocolate Mousse. We need to tell them.

What we don't need to do is to frighten small children away from entire food groups, like fat.

DS1 came home in reception bleating "Fat is baaaad! Fat is BADDDDD!" And it took a LOT of convincing to get him to eat anything other than apples. Because "Apples are healtthy", therefore in his mind, nothing else could be.

It's not healthy to be projecting adult food choices and anxieties onto children. It's not healthy to make children eat so much fruit and raw veg as 'snacks' that they are both bloated and starving (I always send in bananas as they are the only fruit, really, that provides a significant amount of energy). It' not healthy to tell children the consequences of eating too much fat without also telling them the consequences of not ENOUGH fat.

IT is APPALLING that Ds1 used to come home and refuse to eat his dinner, as "Mrs X says that's BAD food, cos it's got fat in it"

I have the strength of mind and the confidence in my nutritional knowledge to say "Well, son, Mrs X isn't as clever as she thinks she is. I NEVER give you a whole week of food that will make you fat. Are you fat? No. You weren't fat before Mrs Twatty X got the ignorant ranting claws into your fragile psyche, and you won't be fat afterwards either. Now eat your mashed potato, yes it has got butter in. A bit of butter is fine for you, I can see your ribs for Chrissake"

Cheese IS healthy...even for adults, unless you are lactose intolerant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that isn't an opinion, that is based on nutritional information. Cheddar cheese is an excellent source of calcium, vitamin A, protein, B12 and folate...all of which we need. Children need some fat, and sources like cheese and peanut butter are healthy ways to get the fat they need.

The problem with cheese is the AMOUNT that people tend to eat, then the fat content is an issue. But eating a moderate amount couple times a week, is very much healthy and okay, especially for kids. Processed cheese is one thing, but the real stuff should not be considered unhealthy.

The crackers may have been an issue, but cheese shouldn't have been!

colditz, I agree with you. Am that whole food groups are being demonised for 5yos!
LOL at your "response" re. Mrs X too...

A year one child needs about the same number of calories as an adult woman - that is A LOT of food for a child that is 3' something.

Cheese is an absolutely acceptable and healthy part of a growing child's diet.

A diet comprised of 100% fruit and vegetables would be very unhealthy indeed (insufficient protein, for a start).
SIGH.
Why is it so hard to understand that it's not individual foods that are unhealthy, but HOW you eat them? Two salty crackers /day = almost certainly absolutely fine for anybody. 2 large packs of salty crackers/day == very very bad for everybody.

We had a Family-giggle at the Change-4-Life wheel that came home the other day, like my kids would ever agree to swap crisps for rice cakes with low fat spread (not a chance). It scares me that so many people don't understand the concept of 'moderation'.

lol flimflammumu. Here in the ME "healthy snack means no bottles of fanta or KFC!

It scares me that so many people don't understand the concept of moderation

I second that!!!

We got home a 'healthy eating' wheel DS was given at school yesterday. Most of it was fine (although the harping on about not having regular sweets and crisps does remind DS that other people do have that sort of thing more than once a week) but there was one bit which said to always use a low-fat spread and not butter. WTF? I've now taught DS to say 'hyrdogenated fat is one of the worst things you can put in your body' in case it crops up again

yes that diet wheel thing is having a laugh

would you swap that chocolate biscuit for an apple?

Why not just stop buying biscuits and have a fruit bowl instead? DS probably thinks he's deprived, but he also knows if I've got the doings in I'm always happy to make scones or something at the weekend. Full fat scones eaten with proper jam, sometimes with cheese...

The thing is...all that low fat shite is just processed garbage...I can't believe that it's being passed off in schools as a 'healthy' alternative...I like ingredients I can pronouce, and that aren't tested for saftey by laboratory rats, thanks very much!

This is my point.

By ramming this oversimplified shite into our small children's heads, all we are doing is setting them up for conflict with all the adults around them unless teacher happens to agree perfectly with every member of the child's family!

You end up with a small child being stressed and neurotic as they try to please everyone with what they choose to put in their mouths. I want my son to choose what he wants to eat based on his appetite at that time, not based on what Mrs Twatty X will say, or whether other children have been given a sticker through managing to healthily faint through glucose deprivation to the brain, or based on what he thinks I will say about it, or what it will do to his heart!

I must say, I have become very benign dictatorship about it.

As in "I am your Mummy. I love you. I will not allow you to get fat with the food I give to you to eat. Trust me, I am very old, and very clever."

colditz...I like you...we have things in common...

grrrr. This makes me so mad. After football training my lads have cheese and crackers (about 50 !) , a glass oof whole milk. Not sure they would be satisfied with a peice of fruit. Kids running round at school need calories! And I always but full fat versions not processed reconstituted low fat crap with additives. Cheese is also fab for the teeth, bones and dental health. And didn't that study last week say children who drunk full fat milk were slimmer and healthier???

oh I am craving cheese and crackers now...philadelphia, cream crakers with a chunk of cheese on top...mmmmmmmmmmmm

My DSs eat cheese everyday. They are as thin as whippets so I am not too concerned about it!

As an aside, they eat the cheese as part of a healthy balanced diet.

I had cheese and carrs crackers for lunch today - and i do about 2-3 times a week. Love it.

DD1 (yr 1) is obsessed with fat - is checking labels ffs. Luckily she loves her food and is easily pleased with my "it has a little bit of fat but thats good because you need fat to grow sweetheart" line that I seem to be saying every evening after school.

DD1 is a fussy eater, but thanks to school dinners (healthy eating malarky) she is now eating a huge variety of food - and her dislike of cake and custard at school means her puddings are yogurts or cheese and crackers or fruit..... I dont feel guilty about having bought her an iced donut for after school snack today as she has had weetabix (no sugar) for breakfast, fruit as morning snack, chicken and sweetcorn pie for lunch and will be having a sandwich and fruit and cereal bar for tea tonight.

All in moderation.

Regarding OP - teacher is barking.