Packed Lunches

[JaneyOH]

Hi mums. I took my daughter off school dinners because the choices were poor - pizza and big brekkies for main and for pudding she was given half a doughnut one day and a packet of crisps the other!!! Today I packed her lunch - wholemeal sandwich, fruit, yoghurt and I put in a snack sized packet of biscuits. The headmistress went over to her whilst eating and announced this was not a healthy eating choice. I am quite annoyed by this comment publicly to a 9 year old in front of her. My daughter has a very varied diet and has just undergone a sugar review with a nutritionist and she has less than the recommended sugar intake for her age. She is also incredibly active - gymnastics, running and swimming weekly. I've written to the school and am awaiting a reply. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Classic case of the school having double standards, isn't it? It is fine for them to hand out cakes, sweets, biscuits, sugary drinks etc but if you dare to put a sweet or a biscuit in the lunchbox you are evil personified and get the lecture from the school and are made to look as if you are clueless about nutrition.

Completely! At the school disco last week - they were given drinks, sweets and crisps!

has just undergone a sugar review with a nutritionist

And your point is? I cook from scratch, no processed foods. My parents grow all of their own veg which I use and she eats a healthy amount of fruit. She eats porridge for breakfast - so I'm not that uptight about giving her a biscuit.

That is a bit rude of her. I understand that parents have a responsibility to provide a good nutritious lunch it's not down to her to decide what's appropriate.

Ours have a ham and lettuce wrap, two different fruits, a yoghurt, chocolate bar and crisps with water. Nobody has questioned the lunches which we send but if they did I would tell them to mind their own!

I think the confused face was the fact you'd had a "sugar review" or indeed what a "sugar review" might even be, children don't have a recommended amount of sugar for an age - calorific demands, let alone the exact nature of their calories don't really go by age.

It's similar to the "swimming weekly" being incredibly active, it just sounds a bit odd. Yes of course the head mistress also sounds a bit odd, but then so many people have odd ideas about food it's generally best just to nod and smile and not visit nutritionists for diet reviews unless you actually have a severely resticted diet for some reason.

Hi - we had a review because we have a history of gluten intolerance within our family. We've been keeping a food diary and reviewed this with the nutritionist, which also covered her sugar intake.

With regards to swimming weekly - I was just making the point that my daughter does many extra activities outside of School and is very active child, therefore the odd biscuit didn't seem excessive.

our school are like this, they are allowed to do unhealthy food but packed lunches cant contain a small cake or apple pie etc. i have given up and am just counting the days until my girls leave. my daughters are both underweight and eat freshly prepared home cooked stews, casseroles, meat/fish and two veg type food at home. I don't need t worry about them having odd biscuits or cakes and the amount of exercise they do burns off loads of calories. I used to have biscuits as snacks and grew up slim, no loasting health issues. I think schools are far too involved nowadays to be honest.