When is healthy eating too much of a good thing?

[Viggoswife]

DS has attended two nurseries and is now in Reception. At both nurseries the only food allowed in packed lunches were Sandwiches and fruit and veg with milk/water to drink. No fruit juice, no cheese, no cereal bars, no crackers, no croissants in short no nothing that the average two or three year old is going to eat with enthusiasm. However at Reception when asked what restrictions were on packed lunches their rule is no sweets or chocolate and that is it. I try my utmost to feed my kids healthily my one year old is fab and fruit and veg wise eats anything my 4 year old eats brocolli, cauliflower, tomato based pasta sauce, oranges, peaches and drinks orange or apple juice and thats it. Packed lunches became a battleground with my DS eating nothing that was in it and coming home starving, having had massive tantrums because he was hungry, which the staff moaned about.

The difference in DS at his new school this week with a bit more flexibility about what is allowed in packed lunch in unbelievable.

Would really like to hear any opinions or experiences on this please? Has healthy eating in schools gone too far and become too inflexible?

FWIW an average days packed lunch for DS now contains a sandwich or Bagel, a piece of fruit, a piece of cheese or yoghurt, a carton of juice and a cereal bar. He eats the lot.

I can't see why no cheese

There's nothing wrong with dairy for nursery children unless they are allergic

cereal bars are an odd one. Some of them have loads of sugar; some are really healthy

The nursery rules sound loopy. My daughter (3.2) will happily eat plain children's hot food - pasta with tomato sauce or bolognese sauce or alla carbonara, sausages, roast chicken, roast veal, plain white rice, mashed potatoes, carrots in butter, peas etc. But cold savoury food is really difficult for her to manage and if she couldn't eat cheese or crackers for a packed lunch life would be very difficult indeed.

I bet i know why.

I bet half the things on their 'Unhealthy' list were actually just messy.

I'd put money on it.

The nursery rules were ridiculous surely? I think there's a difference between healthy eating for adults (sedentary perhaps, not growing, able to eat larger amounts) and young children. There could be a risk of them actually being malnourished.

banning cheese for tinies is ridiculous.

That isn't healthy eating.

LOL colditz - a neat little ham sandwich and a banana - I can see the advantages

I really really hate all this healthy eating malarkey. They haven't got a clue. I have heard of places where they won't let you take a home made cake, but will let you take in a fruit shoot to drink.

What makes me MAD is when my children come home from school and tell me that cake/chocolate/biscuits/puddings are BAD and you mustn't eat them. I tell them they are NOT bad, they are only bad if you eat TOO MUCH of them and a little cake is actually very good for you.

And when my 4 year old (who is well built) comes home and says 'My legs are fatter than my friend's legs. She has thin legs, I have fat legs.' it is slightly worrying. She is not fat. She is undeniably well built, but is very strong and fit, and very tall - I think she is going to be statuesque rather than petite, which is what her friend is.

For some reason I thought that these rules were pretty much standard in schools/nurseries now but I can see from the responses that this is not the case. Maybe I just got two uptight nurseries.

Very funny colditz - sure you have hit the nail on the head.

PS ds1 and dd's school don't have any rules at all about packed lunches which is LOVELY.

Apparently home made carrot and apple muffins with dried fruit in were unacceptable also. No sugar in these by the way the sweetness comes from the apple.

yeah, we have this at the mainstream school dd attends. But as she has severe CP she can't chew so sandwhiches are fruit are out. But she can suck chocolate buttons. They are still deliberating over what she is 'allowed' for lunch
ds1 is at secondary now and takes in a nutella sandwhich and packet of crisps. He eats healthily at home and I'm buggered if I fart around preparing salad pitta bread which will be soggy by lunchtime.

Viggo, I would point out that the school has no right to dictate what your child eats for lunch. Ask for the law and the part of the Education Act that says so.
Next thing will be the State taking babies at birth to 'raise them right' as us parents are obviously totally hopeless1

I know needmorecoffee but you just want to do the right thing dont you? DS is my first child and this nursery and school thing was a minefield for me. Am a bit more confident now and probably wouldnt put up with this sort of nonsense again. I thought the rules were standard but from the response on here I see that is not the case.

it all sounds absolutely ridiculous, children need fats, sugars and so on in their diets - they are not morbidly obese adults who need to think twice before eating 400 wagon wheels before breakfast but young growing people

No, it's definitely not the norm. There are no restrictions on what DS takes in his packed lunch to nursery, except that he doesn;t take a drink and they all have water. Milk is offered at snack time.

At school, which he starts in Sept, only fruit is allowed at break time, but there is no restriction on the content of the lunch itslef.

If DS is only eating fruit at break, then I will be making sure he has some kind of cake / biscuit / flapjack in his lunch as well as a sandwich or wrap and yoghurt, otherwise he'll be starving!

Our school does not encourage children to take in crisps and chocolates and sugary drinks, which I think is fair enough, after all, some children do get hyper on these foods which disrupts everybody's education- but cheese? Since when was that considered unhealthy for a child?

My son has packed lunches and the rules are no crisps, sweets, chocolate or fizzy frinks so you can pack the odd cake and wotnot.

What annoys the shit out of me is that these schools that say no cakes or brioche or whatever all give the kids a pudding:

www.christchurchcofeschool.co.uk/contents/en-uk/The%20Lunch%20Bunch%20Menu.pdf

The link above is just an example of the dessert options(jam sponge and custard, chocolate cake, crumble and custard). So it is OK for the school dinner eaters to have dessert, but not the packed lunches.

Seriously, if any of your kids are told not to bring a cake in, refer the school to their cooked meal plan!!!!