Yr1 Not eating lunch, should I be expecting school to check?

[popgoestheweezel]

For the last few weeks ds has been leaving his packed lunch virtually untouched. Sometimes he might eat one of his sandwiches, sometimes just a bite out.
I have asked the teachers three times to ask the lunchtime staff to check he has eaten something before he is allowed out to play but everyday his lunchbox comes home full.
Am I being unreasonable to ask them to check this? He has lots of behavioural problems and I pointed out that he would probably behave better if he'd had something to eat at lunch.

But do you know that they are definitely not checking? If they ask him to eat something and he still refuses, what can they reasonably do? Presumably you would not be happy if they made him spend all of lunch break staring at his lunchbox? And that wouldn't help his behaviour in the afternoon either.

Have you spoken to him about why he has stopped eating? Would he prefer hot lunch? Is he being distracted by his friends? Would he like different things in his lunchbox?

My ds2 used to come home with a full lunch box every day too, it turned out a lot of the boys he wanted to play with were school dinners and they went in to lunch first and he wanted to go and play with them. Could that be the problem with your dc?
My DS now has school dinner and the lunchtime supervisors are very vigilant about them eating most of their food so he eats a lot better now, would that be an option?

Are you sure he can open the packaging?

I've just found out the reason DD yr 1 wasn't eating alot somedays was she couldn't open the sandwich (I thought she could). School rule is sandwich first.

So DD was sitting with her hand up waiting for help opening then only having time to eat a bite or two before end of lunch. The fruit etc that she could have eaten unaided was untouched as she wouldn't dare disobey the school rule.

He can def open the clingfilm wrapped sandwiches and has been eating his lunch up until the last few weeks.
The reason he doesn't eat is because he's too keen to get out and play. I put in his favourites and even peel his satsuma so it is quick but still no good.

They can't make him eat, they can only try and persuade. If he is stubborn and refuses, there is absolutely nothing the lunchtime supervisors can do, would you want them to force feed him?

I work in Y1 and our lunch staff do check. They are encouraged to eat most, if not all, their lunch and to leave anything not eaten in their lunchbox.

If someone was refusing to eat then the lunch staff pass on messages to the teaching staff.

Ds says that no one checks if they've eaten or not. I certainly don't want him to be forced to eat but there is a huge difference between that and a gentle reminder.
I know that some of his friends are not eating either, then they all go out into the playground and start fighting, resulting in regular injuries. They often come out of school with bruises, scratches and bite marks which they have inflicted on one another. They are in a social communication group to help with this so school know it's a problem, but I feel that for this group particularly, ensuring they've had something to eat before releasing them into the wild of the playground is only common sense.

I wouldn't expect your son to own up to the fact that he ignores the supervisors... I'd expect him to say that no one checks regardless of whether they actually did or not.

In our school the lunchtime staff would try to persuade a child to eat at least half of their lunch - depending on what had been put in. Like other schools, the children take everything home with them that is not eaten. The children are supposed to put their hand up to have their boxes checked before they leave the lunch hall. Some do sneak out. Our lunchtime staff are very good at highlighting issues with particular children. I agree with the advice about checking with your DS. At school we get a huge number of children saying they don't like what's in their lunchbox.

My son and his friends went through a phase in year one of racing to eat their lunches in order to be first out to the playground. He would eat a quarter of his sandwich. I think the dinner ladies didn't notice/mind because they want the kids to eat quickly.

I told the teacher and some of the other mums about this and the dinner ladies kept more of an eye on this racing and they stopped doing it.