My four year old is ONLY allowed to bring CRISPS for a playtime snack. Is this normal? Or am I weird...

[savoycabbage]

Have had information pack from the Infant school that my dd will be starting in September. The school says that they provide fruit for all of the children that want it and if you want you can bring a packet of crisps for morning break. Nothing else. Not a nice home-made flapjack or a biscuit. We are going to the parent's meeting soon and I can't decide if I should say something or not as there is NO WAY MY CHILD IS EATING FIVE PACKETS OF CRISPS A WEEK FOR THREE YEARS!!! But I sometimes have difficulty in deciding if I am normal or not.....I don't want to make a tw*t of myself before she even starts. What do you think?

[TooTicky]

I would say something. Perhaps they have just worded it very badly? Extremely badly? No, I think they are mad.

[Gobbledigook]

Umm, I would not send my child in with crisps. We hardly eat crisps in our house. At our school, at break time they eat the fruit/veg that is on offer or nothing (which is fab because ds2 and ds3 will now eat raw sugar snap peas!).

[Porpoise]

Er, that is a bit odd, I have to say!

Healthy-food police at my dcs's school would confiscate a bag of crisps in a flash...

[mylittlepudding]

Could she just have fruit?

But I agree it sounds very odd.

[belgo]

That's very odd. I think four is very young to be eating a whole packet of crisps every day.

[Twiglett]

they are saying fruit will be provided so don't bring anything .. school fruit includes carrots by the way for some reason ..

the reason they're saying crisps is so that noone brings anything biscuity in .. biscuits / flapjacks (even home-made) are inappropriate and risk nuts entering school

they are not saying you should send in crisps .. I think it is just bad phrasing .. but if they are then they're idiots and deserve to be shouted at

[Twiglett]

also some parents think nuts, yogurts, chocolate are appropriate so it will be impossible to say you can have a flapjack but not a penguin

[Porpoise]

Can't crisps be a nut hazard then, Twiglett? Surely some of them must be made in the same factory as nutty things?

[FrannyandZooey]

I reckon some children need more than fruit between meals
fruit is v healthy but not many calories / energy
the crisps thing is abysmal

[savoycabbage]

Me neither but I think that I am quite strict with food and so can't tell if I am being over the top now.

It says

BREAK TIME

You may send crisps in if you wish for morning break - NO SWEETS OR BISCUITS PLEASE. We are in receipt of free fruit under the National Fruit Scheme Initiative which is funded by the National Lottery. If you would like your child to receive free fruit daily please fill in the form.

So, she does love fruit and will eat it but to encourage crisps and ban other things which at least have the possibility of being health and delicious....

[savoycabbage]

Ironically she is being tested for a nut allergy the day before the meeting so I did search the letter for any mention of not bringing nuts in but there wasn't anything about it.

[Twiglett]

I agree with the sound of the crisps thing being odd but the focus is on no sweets or biscuits which is fair enough

do you really believe children can't go 3.5 - 4 hours with a snack of fruit and water whenever they want?

[LynetteScavo]

I'm suprised you need to fill in a form for them to recieve friut. Our school just dishes it out, and there is no option to bring anything else. I'd be damn annoyed if it were an option, as I know DS would nag me for them.

Say something now. I'm a big beliver in parents speeking up if they're unhappy.

[nailpolish]

id be happy with just fruit if milk was on offer too

they DO NOT need a bag of crisps at this age

[muggglewump]

That's really weird.
Could your DC just have the fruit they provide?
I'd question what the rest means though as surely it can't mean they have to have crisps if they won't eat fruit?
(FWIW, I buy 12 packs of crisps a month for DD. Asda Smartprice ones which are potato, salt and oil and are in smaller packs than brand names.)

[LynetteScavo]

for crisps. duh!

[louii]

U could make your own vegetable crisps, yum

[lou33]

crisps are not allowed at my kid's schools, cheese or fruit yes.....crisps, sweets, no

[savoycabbage]

No I don't, quite the opposite really as I don't give mine any snacks at all. Not even at mother and toddler group. I am known as 'the food Nazi' which is why I can't tell if this is normal. I know she will eat this fruit with gusto and that she will eat her breakfast and not be hungry until lunchtime as this is what she gets now.

I think I am not happy about her being in a playground with kids all eating crisps when she doesn't even know what they are yet. I don't want her to be any more different that she already is, (she is mixed race in a very, very white community) and her mother is 'the food Nazi'

[nailpolish]

there will be some children with crips no doubt but the majority wont be

[Twiglett]

it's the kids who have the packed lunches that have 3 packets of crisps, a couple of chocolate biscuits and an sugar and e-number drink that make you want to cry really

[Twiglett]

especially when they're sitting to the packed lunch kid with the home-made hummous, crudites and olives

[nailpolish]

popcorn is sold in little paper cups at our school tuck shop for 5p. obv not the butterkist kind. its v v popular

loads of children take twiglets too - crisps are frowned upon