the great lunchbox debate part 1001.....

[BigFatSepticToe]

at school this week all classes have been looking at healthy eating/lifestyle - linked to world cup, healthy diet and excerise - all very commendable, i am not one of these that moans about the nanny state, children DO need to be educated about this.

BUT how do you compare these, for example, and say which is "healthiest".....

thinly spread low sugar jam on granary bread, no butter or marge

tuna mayo sandwich on white bread

the children picking tuna mayo as the "healthy choice" were told it was high in fat and that they should not be eating white bread??

so as long as you eat your inch thick nutella on granary, its better than tuna?? friends school has also banned marmite as being too salty - too salty?? even when you eat less than half a tea spoon on a sandwich?? what about all the B vitamins??

even pastry based stuff such as a sausgae roll or pasty, in my opinion, is OK once in a while

VARIETY is what should be emphasised not each food being classed as healthy/unhealthy

I'd be looking for another nursery.

FGS what a ridiculous comparison, what are they trying to teach them by comparing a jam sandwich with a tuna one.

Everything in moderation.

Of all my friends it is the one who was never allowed biscuits or cakes at home who ended up with an eating disorder.

Not all schools police lunch boxes and go over the top for healthy eating. I am a headteacher; I use my judgement as a parent about how to tackle the lunchbox thing. Basically I don't intervene unless a packed lunch is really dreadful all the time (we all have days when it's not easy to send a healthy one; run out of stuff, bribing miserable child with promise of a lunchtime treat etc.) The only in time in fact was when a child had every day for weeks on end, an iced bun and a can of coke, and that was all. I would never send food back either - just have a quiet word with the mum if I was really concerned. I've only done this once in 18 years!!

I was recently doing a supermarket shop when a local school came in, doing the healthy food thingy.

I followed them around for a bit (genuinely interested) and had to bite my lip from shouting at the teacher with them that he was full of bullshit.

He was telling the children that the healthiest thing to drink was the sugar free squashes!!!!!!

and that was the start of it.

I honestly believe that children in primary school should not be taught this under the guise of Healthy Eating. It's untrue.

I have no probelm with them learning about where food comes from- but they didn't spend any time near the butcher or fish counter and spent loads of time in the processed food aisle. Healthy Eating isn't something a young child should have to think about- that's the job of the parent.

Meant to say as well, it's not so much what they eat, as how active they are that matters to me. Children def. need lots of running around, then they can eat a good balanced diet that includes protein carbs fat and sugar too. Very sad to see a child who refuses a piece of birthday cake because they've been taught that sugar is some kind of poison.

siilverflower - DS's school are really good too. Not a word was said when the free school lunches were cocked up and I sent DS2 in with a jam or honey sandwich and a bag of crisps (they were on special offer in the corner shop ) every day for 2 weeks.

This annoys me no end too. ds came home saying the dinner lady had said he had an unhealthy lunchbox. He had wholemeal ham sandwiches, a banana, apple juice, yoghurt....and hula hoops. Was told not to have crisps as they are 'unhealthy' (he only has them once a week FWIW)

Yet....the school dinner for that day was pizza and chips followed by chocolate sponge and custard, with seconds for whoever wants.

How does that work then?

Quite right toccata - glad the school was sensible. I also always say to new mums at school that packed lunches are a 'little bit of home during the day' and lots of young children really nned a bit of reassurance and mummy-love in the middle of a long school day: and a yummy sandwich or (shock horror) a few chocolate buttons can be the difference between a cheery child and one who can't wait for mummy to come and rescue him/her! Also lovely to put notes in their lunchbox etc or something silly just to brighten their day. I am making this sound very twee, but actually I work in a really tough area and the mums/dads here are really good and sensible about the lunchboxes - but I think it helps that we don't give them hassle over it.

the other school was even better - they had a "spare" school lunch that wasn't being used so despite the council telling them I was no longer eligble (still have NO idea where they got that idea from ) they kept feeding DS1.......

I just can't believe children would be encouraged to eat jam instead of tuna fish. How on earth would any kid last the day on nothing but a jam sandwich? Mine wouldn't, they'd be lying on the floor whining by 2pm! DD1 starting reception in Sept and she is a big eater, am getting quite nervous about this lunch thing!

Aha toccata - the secret is out!! The school kitchens (at least the ones round here do) always cook a couple of spares known as 'spillages' in case a child drops their dinner on the way to the table. So we can always rustle up a spare dinner if it's needed.

we don't have hot school meals at our two schools. It's all packed lunches. They come in in the mornings, during the morning the lunches "magically" make their way to the empty packed lunch boxes taken in by the FSM children - and hey presto when they sit down at the table with their lunch box and open it there is a lovey packed lunch

YANBU - it is just demonising some foods that are essential to a healthy growing child. Everything in moderation - when I am feeling guilty for feeding my 18 month old DS a jam sandwich with little cubes of cheese, my mum points out, that in the grand scheme of things it's nothing to fret about - it's one of his 21 meals a week, the other 20 are generally ok . School lunches account for only 5 meals a week for a child and I think there is too much emphasis on fruit and veg - they need fats and protein and carbohydrate. BTW I love what you're saying silverflower about the lunch being "a little bit of home" - I'll remember that!

What the eff ?

Jam = massive amounts of sugar, however you like to dress it up. Granary flour is quite often just white flour coloured with some bits chucked in it.

From some of hte posts on here schools really need to butt out of nutrition as they seem to be as poorly informed, if not more so, than a lot of the parents they are trying to "educated". How many times does it need to be said - childen need protein, fats and carbohydrates to grow with some roughage. Cells cannot function without fat. And by the time the fruit in the jam has been boiled to achieve a low-sugar set any vitamins will have long since kicked the bucket

And I find it quite comical that foods which would have been quite normal in the 70s and 80s are now stigmatised - yet children have never been so unhealthy as they now are.

I suppose they have to eat less in school to make up for the fact that they no longer do games every day.

Shocking, ridiculous and quite disturbing.

My ds starts reception in Sept and I'll be sending a packed lunch which will be what he normally has at home (ham/egg/tuna/cheese sandwich on white (refuses wholemeal), yoghurt, piece of fruit, occasional cake/flapjack). Its got to be better than the "healthy" hot meal he chose on his school visit - chips, sausage, beans and chocolate cake

Also it says in the prospectus no "playtime food" is allowed - what is playtime food??

Am also that they stopped toast as a mid morning snack at pre-school as council guidelines say its not a healthy snack so he has a piece of fruit instead which does nothing to fill up his tum a bit or for his hunger pangs and he's ravenous when he gets home.