What is not allowed in a childs lunchbox?

[Emmielu]

I put in DD's lunchbox today: One small kitkat (came from a multipack from sainsburys, were on offer) Cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, cheese sandwich & a drink. DD came home telling me she got told off for having the kitkat in her lunchbox. DD doesnt like crisps & i only ever put 1 chocolate bar or a biscuit or 2 in there, the rest is all healthy stuff she does eat. So what exactly is it that im NOT allowed to put in her lunchbox aside from the obvious packet of haribo's etc? I was under the impression when she started that school that fizzy drinks, chewy sweets & packets of sweets brought single & not from a multipack were not allowed.

Does make me wonder what is better for kids lunch? Lunchbox made from home or school dinners?

Oddly enough, at our school, children on hot school dinners have a choice of desserts: chocolate or blueberry muffin or banana with chocolate sauce or any piece of fresh fruit or supermarket value yogurt.

Admittedly here, it is often sponge pudding.

Ours say no to fizzy drinks, chocolate, sweets and nuts. Chocolate biscuits are fine though and nothing's ever said about crisps so the DCs usually have a sandwich, piece of fruit or salad bits and a 'treat' which is usually either packet of crisps (cheapo maize snacks that are about 60p for 12 bags), chocolate biscuit (not often), homemade cake when I can be arsed making any or yoghurt.

But the chocolate or blueberry muffin will have no sugar and very little fat content (and taste delicious ) [yuk]

i can't believe the sh*ite they are allowed. in our school no chocolate, no sweets and no fruit juice. anything else is fair game. lunch boxes checked and contraband food removed. meanwhile the school dinners kids tuck into their chocolate sponge and pizza.

I forgot to leave the lunch box this week and my child came home saying it was school dinners from now on please because of the at custard'. Not sure how this is healthier than, say, a carton of organic orange juice. but hey.

It's so illogical. If you look at the average school dinners dessert list it's full of stuff that's - er - sweet. And not just fruit either.

And supposedly 'healthy' things like fruit yoghurt are packed with sugar.

Our caterers know how to make really chocolatey muffins (with big chocolate chunks) and the blueberry muffins can compete with the best IMO (any left overs go to the staffroom and they are truly delicious).

Its funny talking about all of this actually, me & my mum were talking about how now apparently popcorn is good for you. In fact better than fruit or veg. My mum said something to me & it made me think "You cant do right by anything or anyone these days. We're all worried about what to feed our children & going by what researchers supposedly find out. Kids cant be kids anymore" I didnt realise until she said that just how different my childhood was to DD's whether it be what i was fed in my lunchbox to what games i played, nursery rhymes i sang etc.

anything goes at ours, except nuts. Parents are trusted to decide what to feed their children. No one goes rifling through our lunch boxes. Thank goodness.

Ask your school, not here, they all have different rules.

emmielu I have had a child in the school for 12 years, currently ds3 (5.9). When 'we' started I was easily cowed by the establishment but I now stand no nonsense. That said ds has school dinners most of the time but has been having a packed lunch on Monday's for the last few weeks at his request so it may be that they haven't spotted the contraband yet!

God...we're allowed anything we want! State school, outstanding Ofsted, UK.

i too thinki its got a bit silly with staff 'patroling'.
the no nuts thing is a good thing obv because of nut allergies and im not sure i like the idea of sweets in a lunch box or fizzy pop but surely as long as you have other things in moderation, ie not crisps every day, not chocolate every day etc .
I work in a preschool and we arte trying to promote healthy eating as we often have children sent in with just a chocolate bar/cake and some sweets in their lunch box! BUT i def don't want to be telling parents that they are not allowed to put certain things in. its up to them what their child eats (within reason of course - nuts etc)
some children are really picky at preschool age aswell and need to eat SOMETHING at lunch to keep them going.

A letter?!

Considering sending him in with a Happy Meal on his first day to gauge reactions...

jocie - the thing with nut bans though, is it actually leads to a false sense of security regarding dangers to nut allergic children and completely disregards dangers from other allergies. Both my ds's have multiple allergies - ds2 carries an epipen because he gets an anaphylactic reaction on skin contact with dairy products, but you can not ban all children in a school from eating cheese and yoghurt for example. The anaphylaxis campaign is also against nut bans in schools.

My children are allowed to take in whatever they want now (and no, they don't take in nuts as both are allergic), after a long standing arguement with the school. They usually only take in healthy stuff (e.g. pasta with tomato-based sauce, soya yoghurt, fruit and a drink), but I don't see why I shouldn't give them the occassional treat. They don't get sent in with crisps on a daily basis and how do some schools figure that crips are OK, whilst good-quality (70%+ cocoa) chocolate is not? (They may not have read the literature, but I have - it is part of my job.)

Ours can't have nuts, sweets, no sugary drinks, no chocolate covered biscuits etc or crisps. They can have cake (and I seem to get away with choc chip in plain cake). They often have jelly which is below their radar - I make my own and freeze in batches. I put some sort of fruit or puree in. I don't mind not giving them crisps or choc biscuits as I don't feel so bad if they have a packet as a pre swimming snack or something. That way school is the bad guy and I'm the good guy!

They have to put their hand up and get permission to eat whatever the lunchtime supervisors deem to be pudding which really annoys me as I put cheese in for them to eat when they have finished cake or fruit to reduce acid and prevent tooth decay. It defeats the point if someone makes them eat it before fruit. A grumpy note left in their lunchbox to show to lunchtime supervisor seems to do the trick.

Anything goes at ours BUT I did have a quiet word with the mum who sent her child in with 2 chocolate bars, a packet of crisps...and nothing else ... especially as she badgers us incessantly about getting her child assessed for all manner of special needs because 'he can't concentrate on his work and is always complaining he's tired after school, he must be dyslexic.'

It may be complete coincidence but he's doing a lot better at his work now he has a sandwich and a drink included with his lunch (we gave him water before, but 'he doesn't drink water' so the poor tyke was dehydrated AND hungry) and milk at breaktime...

its only nuts that we arent allowed to put in, anything else goes. They do have healthy snacker awards and there is always a bit in the newsletter about trying to provide healthy snacks/lunches but they dont patrol them.

Nuts, fizzy drinks and chocolate bars are a no-no. Just think about what you've give your DD at home for lunch. I certainly wouldn't give mine a chocolate bar every lunchtime - even my 14 year old.

Only as the DCs have got older have I given them crisps or Cheddars. When they were younger, I'd buy a large bag of the small cheese biscuits and give them a few of those.

Basically, it's a wrap, roll or sandwich, cucumber and carrot sticks, crisps, fruit juice, apple or clementine and some kind of home-made cake every day - flapjack, rock cakes, chocolate chip cookies, blueberry muffin - but I am catering for three and I can knock up a batch of muffins or flapjack in no time.

My Year 6 doesn't always get through everything and will sometimes have the cake when he comes out of school, or not until much later. For the two secondary DCs, I see it as something to get them through the whole day.

The only thing the lunch police don't like is Babybel cheeses, as the wax casing ruins the dining room floor.

I don't put in choc biscuits as my DD would expect them everyday. We don't tend to have treats (choc biscuits inc) in the house as the kids just whine until they get them or I eat them all!! Mine have one sandwich, grapes/strawberries or similar, cheese stick thing and if they're lucky a pack of yoghurt raisins. I think you should start as you mean to go on. Mine also have bit of toast or hot cross bun when they get home.

I'd be interested to know what is provided for school lunches. They are carefully planned in terms of calories and nutrition, but ours always include some kind of cake or biscuit. Sometimes there is ice-cream and jelly. Once a week there are roast potatoes and once a week chips. Children need a balance and banning all of this stuff is going to give them inadequate calories for their busy day at school. Our school bans fizzy drinks and chocolate purely because of the mess they create. Some children's lunch boxes are dreadful, but our HT is against getting involved in lecturing parents about what their children should be eating.

I used to go to a lot of effort thinking of healthy-but-filling things to put in my DD's lunchbox and I've finally realised that all she actually needs is sandwiches and a drink and that's plenty to fill her up until she gets home (they do have a snack at morning playtime though). If she was at home during the day then I wouldn't give her sandwiches and a cake and some fruit and a yoghurt etc. - it'd just be sandwiches. I put a bit of fruit in as well but she hardly ever eats it at lunchtime and has it when she gets home. It's made lunch planning a lot easier and cheaper!

I have had a rather lengthy discussion with our primary school about this. DS and dd3 were told their lunch boxes of GU chocolate singletons were not permitted on the same day that they served chocolate sponge for the school dinner lots. On top of that they have gone down the route of good and bad food and I had a lot of discussion with the children about this explaining there is no such thing as a good and a bad food but there are foods that are healthier for us to eat and all things should be eaten in moderation (you forexample would need to eat a lot of cucumber if that was all you ate but cucumber generally is a healthy food to eat) After some discussion back and forth they have backed down and say no sweets no nuts and no fizzy drinks/glass bottles Chocolate in moderation. So your kitkat within the set up you explain would be fine but a big kit kat with a packet of crisps and a capri sun would not be ok.

They have changed how they teach the children about food no longer using good and bad food labels but speak of what ones are the healthiest and what ones should be eaten in moderation. I am pleased they changed this however I would love to see crisps on the banned list. (I know plenty would go up in arms about this but no you don't need crisps in every lunch box)

I would actually take it to the school and gently challenge them about this. If you can draw comparisons to their school dinners even better.