Is it realistic of your childs school to give them poached fish/chilli/curry for lunch and expect them to eat it?

[avenanap]

Just a thought. ds doesn't get any choice of what to eat at school so he often goes hungry. If your child were to be fed this at school would they eat it or is my ds being unreasonably fussy?

Chilli and rice (he hates spicy food)
Curry and rice
Smily faces
Poached fish, bolied potatoes, green beans and parsley sauce.
Fish pie

What does your child have for lunch? Enlighten me!

colon bracket = emoticon

ok. I shall take something a bit more substantial and try paprika in his spag bol.

I can't understand the holidays at private schools, ds gets just under 4 weeks for christmas and easter, and just under 8 weeks for summer with each half term lasting 1 week. He's moving to a new school (they have a buffet type lunch so he can choose himself, I have a feeling it will be no vegies, no curry, no chilli!), his holidays will be shorter but two weeks for half term. It's hard trying to work because of the lack of childcare in the holidays, holidy clubs only run for the state school holidays. He works really hard when he's there though.

if i gave any of the things in the original post to any of my charges they would have all eaten it without any fuss

yes i think its completely reasonable for school to feed children delicouse nutritouse food.

Can you come and work for me and do some magic?

I am just curious, curry/chilli/fish can be an acquired taste. I want to encourage ds to eat a bit more of the above so I was asking whether it was normal food served in schools and whether is's only a problem for my ds, I don't have a problem with it. It sounds like a sarcastic thread title when I re-read it

give him apacked lunch

my dds wouldn't eat that menu but then they have a choice of four different meals each day so it's not a problem

avenanap.... my previouse charges favourite 2 foods in the whole world were smoke haddock and olives...

his sister favourite breakfast was smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels.

I love fish and all my charges love fish.

IMO children eay waht you feed them and what you le them eat.... IMO chilli is an evloved version of bolognese, which almost all chidlren like, and mild currys with lots of coconut milk in or mild thai are delicouse as well, and yes all the chilren eat and enjoy them....

i guess they are used to having lots of different meals / flavours every day with lots of new flavours.... they also have to try food (and the more you try the more your taste buds learn to like foods), and if the dont try / refuse to eat much food they get nothing else except water until next meal.... (would never make then eat something the obviously hated though)

BTW in my old charges school (one of the best prep schools in the area) there is ONE choice for lunch each day, so they have to eat it or be hungry, (there is also 1 vegeterian option but only the vegeterains get offered that) and they have all sorts of wierd and wonderful foods and the hungry children do all seem to enjoy them (there is als no 'packed lunch' option)

No packed lunches. At all!

He was fine until he started nursery. He did used to eat curry. It's very sad. he's missing out.

It's not sad. He'll eat som eof it

No. Never. Only a bit of rice. Curry going to waste. It's sad .

Is he given a dessert? What kind of thing is it? Does he eat plenty of that?

I hope my dd doesn't go fussy, I really won't know what to do with her, we're not a fussy family. I can honestly say there isn't any food I don't like (possibly why I'm a couple of stone overweight )

She used her first two teeth to eat rare steak as we thought any more cooked would be a)not as nice and b) too hard for her two teeth. Apparently this is not the normal weaning procedure.

chocolate mouse (sp?). Not very filling IMO.

I hoped he wouldn't be fussy either, which is why he used to eat vegetables, mild curry, fish.... Then he started nursery with a group of children that didn't know what vegetables were. Was such a shame.

Mine would eat all of those - on proviso that the chilli and the curry were mild (at home they eat my own recipes for korma and for kedgeree)

My school-age child would eat any of those. I bet she'd choose the smiley faces though because doesn't have then at home [saintly emoticon]

I've banned those aswell. Evil things!

I don't offer them at home, but I don't ban them when eating out. Don't see the point of nutritional extremism

I ban them because they taste of cardboard. I can manage the nutrition (by ignoring the experts and trying to keep it as balanced as I can), I just hate bland food.

Yes they are bland and really quite repulsive - I do agree...(but when we are eating out my food rules are relaxed because happy uncomplaining children, replete with junk food, means I get to enjoy my meal )

Don't be embarassed. I bet we all do that, I do. I took ds to a french bistro last week, lovely menu, he had.....omlette and chips. We do the McFillyourarteries sometimes aswell. No fruit shoots though. The odd sausage roll here or there....

I haven't read all your thread avenanap but surely being faced with food you don't like at school is a rite of passage?

I decided to become a vegetarian at primary school but hadn't realised that meant you kind of had to, erm, eat vegetables. Including the mashed up over-boiled ones you got at school. So I existed for a few months on potatoes.

My brother only liked shepherds pie and fried egg yolk. lord knows what he ate at school.

AVENANAP.... NONE of my 3 boys would eat ANY of that menu.

AND even though i am a SAHM my boys often have their evening meal at 6.30 or 7pm

So you are NOT alone

(mine also drink coke, fruitshoots and all kinds of 'unhealthy' junk food.)

What do you do? Would you send something else in with them or send them without knowing they will be hungry? I've been feeding him up over the easter holidays so he has a waist and bum now, he used to be tiny. I don't want all my work to go to waste. I know he should eat what he's given, he never makes a fuss though, he just says he's not hungry.

At our school you can pay for the days you want dinner- so on a day with that menu- my ds3 would take sandwiches

Ds2 & 1 stopped having school dinners in reception.

Can your ds take a packed lunch on 'bad' days?

I absolutely dread the day when jamie oliver gets the government to dictate to us not only what schools have to cook...but what we are allowed to put in lunch box.

My soulution then would have to be that i would have to bring them home for lunch.

Ds2 ONLY has choc spread sandwiches,mini cheddars/pommebears or plain hulahoops, a small twix/kitkat & blackcurrant fruitshoot/bananna yazoo milkshake- no fruit...no cheese...no yougurt.

ds1 is on medication which supresses his appetite...so he eats heavily at home in evenings- and takes junk things like jaffacakes and mars bars to snack on at lunch time (he is 14 and at his secondary school they only have a 30min lunch- otherwise i'd have him home for lunch and in a relaxed environment he would eat a sandwhich- but not in the chaos of school.

My concerns are that ds1 is losing weight at the moment- 2 or 3 pounds a week- since he was nagged at school for not eating 'proper lunch'- and though i've told him to 'sneak' his snacks- by leaving them in his bag and just snapping little bits off as he goes from lesson to lesson.....he has recently been coming home having not touched his food.

So...will be glad when holidays start!

I have to be honest now...my boys all have Aspergers Syndrome- which is Autism- and ds1 also has ADHD...so food is a bit of an issue in our home- let alone at school- so as i have mentioned many times b4- what i'd like my kids to eat is nothing like i end up allwing them to eat.

i rather they eat something- than nothing.

My neice is 18 months old and still eats anything you offer. I hope it lasts. her dad is very judgemental of me (he's my brother) as to what i let my boys eat- and having looked after his baby i can see why he simply does not understand why etc my boys don't eat like she does.

there is a programme on itv monday night called "My Child Won't Eat".... which sounds good- and is about kids who aren't just fussy- they genuinely have phobias about food.

I shall be watching it and looking for ideas to help!