School note for parents who give children unhealthy pack lunches - The Times

[SchoolFoodTrust]

Did any of you see in the press the story about packed lunches (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4201035.ece).

Realise the way that this was reported sounded a little draconian so just wanted to post to say what we (the School Food Trust) actually were saying about packed lunches! Firstly we only developed the advice because schools were asking for it. Secondly we don't have any legal control over lunch boxes - it's ultimately up to mums to put in what they want - we were offering advice which schools are free to take and introduce as their own "policy" if they think it will work. And, throughout all the advice we offered we were careful to say that it has to done with the agreement of the whole school, and that includes parents and children being consulted on what restrictions best suit that school. We are doing everything we can to improve school lunches but would love to hear your thoughts/ good or bad!

didn't see the article and I can't make your link work, but it seems quite decent of you to come on and explain...

that link doesn't work when copied and pasted.

Do you take dietary restrictions into account? just that we had something similar but as ds1 is dairy and gluten free, I think I do a pretrty nutritionally sound job.

you need to pay i think
[email protected]

here you go - off to read it now

you need to pay - you school food trust devil

keep your hands off our parenting!

Thanks Miaou I am new at this thing!

Having skimmed it - Justine was asked to comment too and I think the OP is partly in response to that.

lol
i LOVE the school food trust.
my sons love the lovely lunches provided by hc3s whoa re fantstic
outs is a new school were we wondered if school dinners were a good idea.
and they so are

school meals are different imo

schools should provide healthy meals

but if i provide a lunchbox containing healthy sandwich - healthy fruit healthy yoghurt and a pkt of crisp - i dont need the fking food police letter home telling me how to parent.

the lunchbox monitors are fking ridiculous imo

but i do want my school to make sure my 5 year old eats his sarnies.

we have various sad cases where kids are sent in with crap( liek three cheese strings) for a lunch,
for some reason the parents dont get free ones.

but as usual the tendnecy is to treat us ALL like we are absolute idiots, and not to offend the parents who ARE by teling them so.

indeed

I don't quite understand why parents are told to limit biscuits and cakes in their kid's lunchboxes when school dinners always, every single day, provide a pudding.

I'd rather my kid had a jaffa cake in his lunchbox than sponge and custard, or jelly

I would go WILD if a note appeared in my DS's lunchbox.

Now, if a child is repeatedly sent to school with nothing but a box of mini-rolls and a can of tango I would expect the teacher to have a word along the lines of 'X is finding it hard to concentrate in the afternoons because he is hungry and a bit hyped up and it might help if he had a sandwich' - i.e intervene in extreme cases if genuinely necessary.

I am also happy to comply with things that make sense on a peer pressure or H&S issue - avoid sweets, glass bottles, peanuts.

BUT a general commentary on the overall balance of a lunch? No thank you - keep your bossy patronising nannying to yourselves! DS's diet overall is very balanced (I am an educated aware, concientious parent with a keen eye for good food and health) but his lunchboxes are NOT. Unless he has an avocado sandwich, (which he does twice a week) or an 'Innocent' smoothie there is usually NO fruit and veg content in his box. That is because he hates most transportable fruit and veg. He has fresh fruit for breakfast and loads of cooked hot veg for his dinner and for w/e lunches.

If you can't see the whole picture, shut up about the bit you glimpse through the keyhole.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I am fed up with the self-importance, comeptitivenes, jugementalism and smugness being generated about basic food. It's a whole industry in itself.

WEll, quite, OYDB, the only time in his life that DS has had a (sweet, probably margarine-laden) pudding at lunch is at school!!

And another thing, SchoolFoodTrust - DADS often decide and provide the content of lunchboxes too - or he does in our house.

GRRRRR sorry - but 'patronising' seems to be part of the DNA of your whole approach.

my dd wants to go onto packed lunches when she starts school ft and its this policy that has me considering nnot allowing her to.

im not having a go at the policy itself, though i dont think many mums or dads would like to find a note in their dcs lunchbox, i think its great that you are encouraging healthy eating in kids.

buts whats your stand on underweight dc's? my dd1 is getting a lot better now but i know that if she went to eating only sandwhiches, fruit and yoghurt for lunch every day things would go downhill quickly. she has two cooked meals a day here, good food but high in calories iyswim?

so am bit stuck. i dont want her to have be singled out and be the only one allowed to bring in cakes etc and i dont really like her eating rubbish either. but fruit and sarnies wont be enough for her.

Sorry Blu - the mums reference is because I am posting on mumsnet - no intention to patronise.

The point I was trying to make is that the story in The Times didn't cover any of the other parts of the suggested policy, such as consultation with parents and children in the first place. It was also written with schools.

The School Food Trust don't put these policies in place, we posted a template on our website a year ago and it got picked up by The Times yesterday, just because something is in the press it doesn't always mean it has been accurately reported.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away.....

'just because something is in the press it doesn't always mean it has been accurately reported'

I think we'll all agree with you there SFT.

FFS - the parents that send their DCs with a load of crap do not give a toss - a letter will achieve nothing.

Glad to see that my taxes are supporting yet another self appointed lot of busy bodies who will achieve nothing.

Well said Blu