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.

Cheese & crackers unhealthy - madness! I bet the teachers are stuffing their faces with biscuits in the staff room!

When I was at primary school in the 70s we probably had crisps or a penguin biscuit for break every day and I'm still alive.

Ds1 has just started at secondary school and it's such a relief not to get bombarded with healthy schools crap any more ..... well still get it with the other 3.

many strong opinions here - really do hope you'll be writing to your schools and complaining.

Fruit & veg isn't enough to sustain a child until lunchtime, but neither is offering something like a sugary cereal bar any good.

The cheese & crackers (which cracker was it?) sounds fine.

Haven't read the whole thread (it's so long) but what strikes me is not so much whether the snack was "healthy" or not, but that the teacher should NOT have made the comment to the child. The child had obviously remembered the comment a week later and was concerned to "get it right" - not on for a little girl of this age.

My daughter's primary school got some kind of healthy eating award. I don't know why. The school provides them with free fruit and veg at morning break, and they don't have to take in a snack of their own.

DD took profiteroles into school in her lunch box one day and ate them while sitting next to the headmaster. He didn't say anything about it; it simply isn't an issue for children to take in a pudding in their lunch box.

Children have to eat as much per day as an adult woman, but clearly they cannot eat portion sizes as big as an adult woman so need to eat higher amounts of fat.

We don't live in China. Northern Europeans have evolved to eat dairy products. Even a white person who is outside all the time cannot get enough vitamin D from sunlight if they live North of Birmingham. We need to get some vitamin D from food; there are hardly any foods that are high in vitamin D, but cheese is one of them.

I think it is very difficult to meet all of a child's micronutritional requirements on a low fat diet. Children are not meant to eat a low fat diet; they should eat some high fat foods and if they are Northern European by descent they should eat dairy. I think schools should focus more on exercise and less on low fat.

Why is it that people who are really bothered about healthy eating always let their child eat packets of raisins? Surely they are packed full of sugar and one of the worst culprits in sticking to teeth and causing decay?

You certainly need to get something like at least 70% from memory of vit D from sunlight (one reason in summer when the sun's rays in the UK give enough of the right kind of light for it) children should be outside at break times. It is not hard to get the remaining rest other than through dairy and tends to make people feel better not to have dairy but I agree much better a child is eating cheese and drinking than milk than fizzy drinks and even raisins, yes. People don't realise huge amounts of fructose is not healthy eating.

I agree with the exercise thing, Milly...I am a firm believer in enjoying a wide variety of foods in moderation, including sweets and crisps occasionally, and lots and lots of exercise and fresh air. Lack of exercise has much more to do with why kids are obese now...I don't think it's so much the eating thing. When I was a teenager, we ate absolute junk when we were away from our parents, but we probably rode our bikes or walked to get to the shop...I was never allowed to plunk in front of the telly all day...none of us were fat in the least!

PerArdua, I know (well I think I do!!)

Contrary to a popular belief, raisins do not cause cavities but help fight the cavity causing bacteria.
Exerpt from Science Daily:

"Oleanolic acid, oleanolic aldehyde, and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural inhibited the growth of two species of oral bacteria: Streptococcus mutans, which causes cavities, and Porphyromonas gingivalis, which causes periodontal disease. The compounds were effective against the bacteria at concentrations ranging from about 200 to 1,000 micrograms per milliliter.

Betulin and betulinic acid were less effective, requiring much higher concentrations for similar antimicrobial activity.

At a concentration of 31 micrograms per milliliter, oleanolic acid also blocked S. mutans adherence to surfaces. Adherence is crucial for the bacteria to form dental plaque, the sticky biofilm that accumulates on teeth. After a sugary meal, these bacteria release acids that erode the tooth enamel."

Also a good source of iron so all-and-all, a healthy snack.

YANBU to feed tour child cheese & crackers as a snack , but if she is feeling dizzy before lunch I would have thought a fruit would have been better to boost her sugar levels than cheese ?
YABU to call her Angel in every utterance though (unless that is her name)

OMG Bathseba - classes can get certificates for having "100% Healthy Snack" I have never heard anything liked it

But you haev to accept raisins are frutose, a form of sugar and they spike the blood sugar up which is why fat dieters love them. What you really want to is stabilise blood sugar, low GI/GL foods and browns/brown oat cakes with cheese or meat are a better snack if you need a snack at all. It's snacking which has made us all so fat. Constant grazing all day long. We don't want schools to continue the myth that we're supposed not to be able to go anywhere as an adult or child without food to stuff into ourselves every 1 - 2 hours.

Agree, constant munching on empty calories has expanded the worlds waistline. However, raisins and dried fruit in general is a far better choice than refined sugary foods that are also high in sodium and Enumbers amongst other horrid thingies, yet marketed directly to children.
I don't get the 'snack' thing either, the only snack we were offered as kids was fruit from the garden we picked ourselves, there was no eating between the meals.

Off the subject at bit but Per Ardua am ROFL at 'Numptitude' - will have to tell DH that as Numpty is his favourtie word at the mo !

usamama, I agree with every single of you posts!

I have read all this thread just now in the full knowledge that I have a selection of Emmental, Wensleydale, and crumbly Lancashire cheese in the fridge and a pack of cream crackers in the cupboard...

so I'll have to type quick!

I started primary school in 1967 and we just didn't have snacks. Breakfast, and then school dins. No snacks.

At secondary school the same thing.

Ds1 gets his fruit only snack at school then a school dinner. he is always ravenous when he gets home because a piece of fruit does not FILL a very tall very active boy if he is HUNGRY.

Quite what ds2 will do when he starts there next year, as he already eats twice as much as his brother, I have no idea.

They already eat a very large bowl each of porridge or a plain breakfast cereal like shreddies. Perhaps one of the problems is that a lot of sugary breakfast stuffs are leaving children with an energy dip mid morning?

Just off on a tangent,
Too much fruit is bad for your teeth, my dad (he's 70) eats several different pieces of fruit a day, He has recently been told by his dentist to cut down on the amount he eats , as the enamel on his teeth is wearing away due to the acid content and amount of fruit he eats!!
Any anyhow all things in moderation,
I hardley think cheese and crackers once or twise a week is gonna make the child obese is it!

Yum yum yum

Makes me wonder what I should feed my kids? What's the perfect diet for a 6 year old active boy? Am sure it would contain cheese.

Pepper boursin is now history, I'm afraid. I hate wasting food but even dp (smoker and useful food dustbin) reacted as if I'd offered him Pedigree Chum on toast. A mercy dash produced some light Philadelphia with garlic and herbs.

But to return to the point originally made, I fear that in the genuine need to tackle healthy eating, so much ignorance and confusion reigns that there's a real danger of people ignoring (and deeply resenting) the message altogether.

Assuming it's a child not a kid (kids are baby goats).. he needs balanced meals with enough protein and good carbs so stuff like brown rice, baked potato. Good family meal in the evening. Whether you're into dairy - just research it and decide. It's a lot better than junk food although in my view we'd be better not eating it and let us not forget the biggest enviornmental damage of all is done by the wind of cows, isn't it... laughing as I type, if you believe all that environmento hype stuff.

Yep, toxic waste from a battery factory is WAAAAY better than cow-farts!

you are right, but NO NO NO note, please!

Thanks everyone - I've not put a note in, DD1 hasn't mentioned it again, and today's snack is a banana and a babybel...