Parents rebel against school ban on junk food

[Caligula]

I decide kid's lunchbox

Had to share this with you. My DB was telling me about this earlier - a friend of his works in the school concerned and the reason they've banned juice etc. is because there's too much room for confusion with fizzy, sunny D and other e-numbered shite. The paper version of this newspaper had a big splash about their kid's yuman right to eat crap but apparantly, no information about how their human right to be educated can be seriously affected by them eating shite. Hilarious!

Oh really hunker? I avoid aspartame so that's no good. I'd rather have sugar than artificial sweetners. Hmmm - can't you get mini bottles of water like fruit shoot bottles?

absolutely aloha - you might be on to something there - possibly less hyperactivity in the afternoon??!

Not sure - know you can get the half litre ones as I have one on my desk atm

Might be worth emailing Evian and telling them there's a big market for funky water for kids

Don't you think there is though? I suppose there's a packaging issue with lots of little bottles but as long as you can recycle them it would be OK.

Wine!!! now theres an idea. Thatd cut down te amount of hyperactivity. well watered down of course. Youre all just going to argue now over wheather they should have chardonnay or soave now tho arent ye.

Pah Ill be sending dd (when she goes) to school with a bottle of uisce bheatha (water of life). Thatll keep the teachers happy

yes you can buy little bottles of mineral water.

expensive and crazy if you ask me

Wouldn't go for Claret, Aloha - it would stain the little white polo shirts worse than ribena!

Parp, parp, parpety, parp - I'm orf.

We can get little bottles of water for kids - come with sports tops like Fruit Shoots. But it's a Nestle product which is a whole other thread!!

I give them sometimes - re-use the bottles though. We only drink bottled water here in Budapest though - our tap water is VERY chlorinated.

oh dont worry gbg its all a load of crap really, who cares

hellmouthcusty, not sure what you are saying ?

The school in question is enforcing a healthy eating campaign which includes water. I absolutely support it. The is no need to drink juice during the school day.

What the hell is wrong with a bottle of Sunny D and a Fruit Winder in your kids lunhbox?

Surely this is a geat way of getting in two of their five portions of fruit and veg????

am saying its a slippery road to let authorities dictate to us their moral standards without the voluntary devolving of your power.

so if my children ate school meals ( which they don't) i would be by default devolving my power as a parent over what they could eat. the authorities could then impose whatever eating regime they wish.

if howeverthey start to dictate what i can and cannot put in the lunchboxes that i prepare - well i consider this a step too far. as they are in effect dictating what my children should and should not eat, and what i should and should not buy. its shady american republicanism, middle class twoddle " we know whats best for you as your too poor or ignorant to know." that is what i object to.

if those in power and authority think that the majority of our children and their parents eat shit - then they shouldnt force feed them to eat well. there are other approaches.

it just strikes me the dicotamy between our freedom to live in a capitalist society where if we want we can send out children to school with nothing but mars bars UNLESS someone who thinks they know better than you dictates to you what you can and cannot eat. its about informed choice.

dya know how much a 24 pack of chocolate lunchbox bars are in comparison to buying fruit for a family - choice my arse. freedom my arse too.

said with peace and love xxx

surely if you send your kids to school you are already bowing to the governments moral standards

and some people dont know what to feed their kids because they are bloody lazy and carnt be arsed to give htem decent helathy food.

a pack of apples doesnt cost that much more than a pack fo 24 biscuits

love & peace back

No, I don't know the cost, because I never look because I don't buy. I think good food is important & so prefer to buy that & make homemade treats, ok, so the odd green & blacks sneak in.

I hear what you are saying ( I think) but in this case I think the school here is trying to help the kids - that's all. If kids can get one decent meal a day, that's great.

Of course, if they were insisting they had to eat rubbish, I really would be flying around on my broom stick

Food issues are very close to my heart...

I bought a 12 pack of small Highland Spring bottles for lunchboxes - not because I am a precious tw*t but because I have yet to find a reusable lunchbox bottle that doesn't leak .

They have tap water everyday and the bottles last for ages (and don't leak).

enid - i have the choice to send them to school am informed one too - so i devolve my power to the brain washing - so i can go to work and feed them chocolate.

and a pack of 24 choccies 99p apples 1.39 for 6 or 8.

to go round three kids. thats 8 school days worth of choccies in lunchbox for 99p but would cost me £4.07 for one piece of fruit each for the same 8 days.

thats a 400% difference.

i do both.

mojomummy am loving the love

well ditch the chocs and save yourself a pound?

no chocs allowed a l'ecole Enid

I like it not because I am anti-choc but because dd1 doesnt think her healthy lunch is weird

tiggiwinkle I think ds1's teacher will be apopleptic if they ban any more foods. I'm leaving it to him to sort out. He has the problem 5 times over (assuming all the kids in the class are equally funny about food).

Anyway I wet into school today and we all had bread and jam - ds1 was taken out of the hall at that stage- presumably to be given a gluten free biscuit. But if we're allowed jam still we'll be ok. He can have toast and jam at lunch (faaar healthier than the banned potato waffles- not), but at least he won't be hungry.

As for juice- well of course I would rather he ate an orange- but he won't, so his carton of juice is his one and only portion of fruit and veg a day- I won't lose sleep over it.

Agree with custy about the school dinners/packed lunch distinction.

I am totally jumping in on this thread. I teach and the affects of trying to teach students who a) havn't eaten breakfast or have been drinking fizzy drinks etc at break times is v disruptive to the childs education and that of others. I personally do not see the problem with natural juice but I can understand why schools are now imposing stricter guidlines on what students consume - it is part of health education for a healthier future. Any parents who object should observe such dusruptive lessons or try and teach such students for even 15mins.

I might add in fairness. In my experience of dealing with many different parents over the years it is useful to point out that many parents unfortunately wouldn't have take the time to even bother entering into a discussion about what's good for their child - and there are plenty.

bigscareyeyes - now we're cooking with gas

My son has school dinners some days and sarnies on others. If I got a diktat like this from his school I'd be tempted to write back and say "Yeah, fine, as long as you promise to put NOTHING on the school dinners menu that's processed or fried and then also promise to FORCE him to eat his green veg." I wonder how long that would last.

My son is a pretty good eater on the whole but does on occasion eat chocolate. I tend to do a pretty healthy lunchbox (sandwich, banana, squeezy yogurt, ribena drink) but if I want to put a mini mars bar in thenI damn well will.

I am all for promotion of healthy eating and applaud the efforts taken in my child's school to get the message across, but I honestly believe that by dictating to parents what they are allowed to put in lunchboxes that they are paying for is bloody ridiculous and self-defeating. I am on most accounts a fine upstanding member of society but being told what to do tends to make me do the opposite (I always made sure I smoked on no-smoking day, for example, before I gave up totally without being forced to).

I think schools should put their own house in order before telling parents what to do. Advising, yes, but compelling, no.