Quite cross - since when did fruit juice become a no no?

[contentiouscat]

DS came home today and told me he had been told off for having fruit juice instead of water in his lunch bag. Well im really puzzled and cross about this for a few reasons.

He also had a bottle of water which he knows he keeps in the classroom - last year it regularly came back for refilling but they are obviously not encouraged to drink it now as since he changed classes as it is hardly touched. This isnt because he has the juice as he has always had both.

I was given a 'pack a healthy lunch-box' leaflet when he started at the school this was produced by dietitians for the county and suggested.

1. "Plain or flavoured milk" - hardly practical as their food is just kept in the cloakroom and not in a fridge.
2. "Pure fruit juice" -
3. "Low calorie squash or fizzy drink" - I dont give them artifical sweeteners, they have fizzy drinks as a treat but not for school.

I think the stuff is revolting but he loves cranberry juice and I was under the impression it was rather good for him, contains vitamins and counts as 1 of his 5 a day?

I hardly send him with a crips & chocolate feast!! He has a (wholemeal or 50/50) sandwich containing grated cheese, cheese spread or meat. A fromage frais and sweet treat (eg home made flapjack, oat biscuit or carrot cake)

Excuse the length of this I just needed to vent!!

how old is he? i can't believe they tell a young child off over this rather than speak to the parent - and given the particular item seems v wierd that it is a no no anyway.

have you asked the school why it's a no no?

You are his parent not the school. If you wanted to send him with fizzy pop it wouldn't be any of their business! I can see them drawing a line at hot drinks in a flask for safety reasons but honestly...

Can I preface this with " I agree with you".

However,cranberry juice isn't actually "cranberry juice" but about 10-15% cranberry juice with added sugar and water,flavourings etc.

Not preaching,just thought you may be interested.

School is out of order though.

our school the same, they were all given clear plastic bottles that they can fill with water. They are not allowed juice, reason we were given is that juice is sticky if spilled or if they had fizzy juice it could fizz up.

think this enters the realm of going way over the top. sometimes i think schools goe way over the top, you are the parent not them

this whole "what is/isn't acceptable in lunch boxes" thing is going way too far and is teaching children to have issues over food that are simply not necessary imo. I believe that some fruit juice is very acidic and can erode teeth, but if he likes it and if you want to give it to him then that's your perogative. if it was a litre of coke I could understand it more but fruit juice ... at least it's healthy.

One of the mums at preschool was saying that she put a finger of fudge in her ds' lunch box, and that he was told off for having it and it was taken away.

madness.

I think it's good they police lunchboxes - they spend a lot of time teaching healthy eating habits at our school and parents should adhere to them when doing lunchboxes, IMO - water is a totally adequate drink. Plus whole fruit to eat, much better than a carton of juice, IMO (ie, more fibre/no chance of any additives- sugar etc)

I guess they looked at it and decided that it's a fruit squash which isn't low cal.

They shouldn't have told you son off, they should have just slipped a note into his book bag. I would speak to his teacher.

Oh I have NO problem with them requesting I dont send chocolate or sweets...they are ultimately treats and if he is fed with them constantly what do I then give him that is special!! Also I wouldnt send him with things like that as my parents couldnt afford them and I would hate to make someone elses child feel like I did nursing my sad little dry wafer when they had penguins and yoyos (strangely enough I hate both now!)

He is 6 and tbh drinks a lot of water at home - he sees me do it and know that it is the best thing to drink if you are really thirsty. But hes not keen on fruit and veg (in fact only eats apples which boys being boys he will not take the time to do at school) I dont want him to start thinking that fruit juice is bad - I thought cranberry was particularly good?

Perhaps I should send a note to his teacher with a copy of their guidelines? I dont really want to make a major issue out of it as she has been a superb teacher for him.

i think we still have to have the final say on what our children eat. it was cranberry juice in there not a kebab! healthy eating:absolutely but final responsibility for our children falls to the parent so the final say on what they eat should too

I see what you mean about the 10% cranberry tbh we mostly drink pure orange - I did at one point try making my own but the fruit you get in the supermarket is so manky it tasted like hell!

but, Penmack, some parents are clueless about healthy eating (not suggesting OP is for a minute).

I think it's out of order. Yes I agree there are some parents who would give their children a dairylee lunchables plus several packets of crisps followed by a slab of chocolate and a vat of coke, but let's face it most parents are not like that, and it's about moderation surely?

nothing wrong with:

sandwich, fruit, home made biscuit/cake, fromage frais, water/fruit juice, and maybe a small bar of chocolate/packet of crisps if no cake/biscuit|? do we all eat diets that are totally devoid of anything vaguely unhealthy? all drink nothing but water? so why, if we as parents don't, should we tell our children that they have to? as long as they're eating a healthy diet there's nothing wrong with a treat, and as for a school taking a small fudge bar off a child, that is totally out of order.

think they have to have set rules about what is/isn't allowed in school - do what you want at home, but in school all boxes should be totally healthy, Imo, that is!

The problem with cranberry (and it is a fab-super-friut) is that you could not drink it as a pure juice-it owuld turn you inside out.
The best you could home for would be a "Pure apple and cranberry" juice which is pure juice because the apple adds the sweetness.
Undfortunately-not sold in small cartons.
However,think school is being unreasonable.

Would he drink pure apple/orange?

but what message does that send to a child, if mummy gives you something, and school takes it away, they're saying that mummy is wrong, to a small child anyway.

makkapakka i dont think most are that clueless. and do the powers that be think that banning things is the way forward. in our county sure start run lots of healthy eating and eating on a budget courses for parents, i think these are much more helpfull in educating parents. some schools goe too far and it all gets a bit silly

makka whilst I do agree some guidelines are necessary I think if we steamroll our children into healthy eating too much the first thing they will do when they get their first pay packets is gorge on McDs, chocolate, crisps, squash etc etc.

The most desirable things are always those which are forbidden - the very worst children I ever babysat for were the ones with really strict parents, as soon as the parents were out of sight they went WILD.

Phew, CC. I'd be seething, tbh. My ds hasn't started school yet, but that would make me very cross indeed.

Can't offer much advice, but I'd stand up and be counted if I were you. If it says fruit juice on their literature, they're banged to rights.

I'm rushing off now to purchase shares in Ryvita

When they prove to me that there is no hydrogenated fat, added sugar, excess salt, deep fried food at all on the school lunch menu I'll take advice on lunch boxes from them.

so it seem sit comes down to a person's interpretation of what exactly a fruit juice should be. is it ok if it has sugar added? is it ok if it's from concentrate? get the school to clarify.

On one hand I think it is good to 'police' lunchboxes - some poor children get given the most awful stuff to eat and I feel so sorry for them. On the other, I think it is ridiculous to say children can have squash or fizzy drink if it is low calorie. That means packed with artificial additives. If I buy my children squash it is the organic stuff which is NOT low calorie.
Anyway 'low calorie' is SUCH bollocks. Study after study shows that so called low calorie drinks do not help people keep their weight down. Your body is not that easily fooled.

He doesnt like apple juice on its own and he does often have orange but I dont want to give him too much as I assume its even more acidic than other juices? May have to try the apple and cranberry though.

I have stood up for pre-schoolt when other parents have got in a tizz about requesting no choc or sweets as I know its difficult to explain to a 3 year old why one child has sweets and he doesnt. Its a very small compromise to make and stops the staff from having to deal with a toddler meltdown after all they do a valuable job for pretty dreadful pay!!

To be fair, legally, juice from concentrate is labelled 'juice'. Juice with added sugar is labelled 'juice drink'. (Ok, it's a bit more complicated than this, they can add sugar and not put it on the ingredients, if they are correcting an insufficiently sweet batch of fruit . Hence me not liking juice at all.)