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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Whoever is against the healthy eating policy, say "I"...

105 replies

purpleduck · 10/09/2008 12:39

Ok, well, I am not really against it, but it seems to be an excuse take away some of the kids rights.

For example, my dd had half a jam sandwich in her snack box. On whole wheat bread. This was after she had 3 portions of fruit for her breakfast, and was going to have another four in her lunch...
The LSA looked in her snack box, and said "That's not healthy.."

I am so angry!!! As a girl, my dd will face so much pressure about her body/diet etc - how dare they start her feeling anxious about it at age 6?

Now my daughter -who is a fantastic eater- is anxious about her snack.
I am fuming - she sits quietly through her lessons, does as she is told, and gets along with everyone...

While I agree in principle with promoting healthy eating, surely this should take the form of EDUCATION????
And if a child really is having trouble sitting still, THEN look at his/her diet.

I just feel my rights as a parent are being sidelined....

What do you guys think? Has it gone a bit far?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

rebelmum1 · 10/09/2008 15:54

I find it unbelievable it's the parents they are policing. That is not the job of the school.

muggglewump · 10/09/2008 15:55

rebelmum, our school do healthy meals, they also don't police lunchboxes, just request they are healthy (no one listens from what DD tells me) but still, so many kids have packed lunch.
Perhaps they are all fussy eaters but I find it hard to believe none of them will eat a sandwich or jacket potato with cheese, ham or tuna which are offerred every day along with three other choices and a soup!
I can understand that parents don't want to pay school meal price for a sandwich but I know a fair few on benefits entitled to school meals who don't have them.

GivePeasAChance · 10/09/2008 16:15

Excellent point from Saltire.

I have done the full on healthy lunchboxes and it resulted in hungry children.....

In a perfect world they would eat everything given to them, but mine just don't and hence the lunchbox is not 'perfect'. And in fact I would rather they weren't hungry at school and I had the 'arguments' in the evening to get the 5 a day into them.

Overeating is the key for obesity? Don't see how a jam sandwich is contributing to obesity. Everything in moderation. And making it the naughty food is just utterly ridiculous and self defeating.

Sign me up for the end of the lunchbox police.

KatyMac · 10/09/2008 16:31

I accept what you are saying - but with a 10yo DD who thinks she is fat & has a fat belly & a fat bum

So she mustn't eat chocolate, bread, potatoes, pasta, cheese etc

Except she is a s thin a a rake & you can see her ribs - she exercises 4/6 times a week plus playtimes/PE etc - I really struggle to keep her weight acceptable - if she doesn't eat the pounds drop off her

So this fascination with healthy eating has two outcomes imo children who become obese and ones who are in danger of becoming anorexic

Neither is a good outcome imo

Original poster

purpleduck · 10/09/2008 16:33

Nooka, I take your point about obesity and a publicly funded health care system... but surely making big issues around food can create psychological problems, which will also be a stress on the health system...?

My dd got the jam sandwich because she had a home-made smoothie for lunch, and had tons of fruit and veg in her lunchbox - she needed something to fill her up a bit, and sometimes she is just not in the mood to eat lots in the morning.

Like someone said, someone is looking at a very small bit of their diet, and making judgements about it.

OP posts:

Original poster

purpleduck · 10/09/2008 16:38

Katymac - what a worry for you.

I had my niece here for 3 weeks in the summer- she is tall and thin and gorgeous..she too was worried about what she ate, and for ages would not eat much more than salads. Interestingly enough, after about 2 weeks, she began to relax a bit, and eat more.

I am terrified about what the future holds for my dd..I worry that no matter how hard I try to instill the "balanced" approach, it will mean nothing in the face of all these other uninformed people spouting their nonsense.

OP posts:

Original poster

purpleduck · 10/09/2008 16:40

sorry, dd had a smoothie for breakfast

OP posts:

KatyMac · 10/09/2008 16:41

My daughter doens't have full fat milk/cheese etc because it affects her asthma

So anyway I can get 'good' fat into her is a bonus - by good fat I mean olive oil/proper butter not hydrogenated fats and pretend fats

But she is repeating this idea that processed low fat is better than a sensible amount of natural foods - which I believe to be nonsense

saltire · 10/09/2008 16:56

DS1 told me that pasta was bad for you as it is a carbohydrate whcih puts weight on

wasabipeanut · 10/09/2008 17:03

I'm with the OP on this one. I have yet to encounter the school food police but just because a minority of parents and by extension their kids eat a shit diet, the majority of parents with some common sense and an idea of balance shouldn't be harassed. Or, worse, their children be harassed and made to feel naughty because they eat a pack of Quavers once a week.

This has the potential to cause far more issues than it solves.

Guidelines being enforced by officious clipboarders has a definite part to play in this as does Ofstead/target culture and all the bollocks that goes with it.

Perhaps the government should let schools focusing on teaching children to read and write and let their parents teach them about food?

Mercy · 10/09/2008 17:04

Children need calories.

dinny · 10/09/2008 17:06

AYE

Cloudhopper · 10/09/2008 17:25

On picking up dd1 yesterday from second day ever at primary school, also her birthday.

Me: "How did you get on at school today? Did you have a nice birthday?"

dd1: "Well it was rubbish because it is a healthy school".

Me: "What do you mean?"

dd1: "Well, it was wonderful, all the children sat round while we had a birthday cake, and they sang happy birthday. It was so much fun and we had sweets."

Me: "Really? I thought you said it was a healthy school."

dd1: "Well, I mean that is what would have happened if they weren't a healthy school but instead it is a healthy school, so we didn't do any of those things"

Then we went straight after school to a treehouse where we had afternoon tea with cakes, scones and everything. She said "this is heaven".

Cloudhopper · 10/09/2008 17:28

Sorry, forgot to say that I do agree with the idea of the healthy school thing, but the way it is being implemented needed a bit more thought, rather than instilling a 'food police' attitude in all and sundry workers at the school.

Perhaps there should be a dietician per 5 schools to advise. I feel very sorry for parents of fussy children who will really struggle to feed them.

The point about school is you are not there, so you can't adapt and give them something else if the food is taken away.

Cloudhopper · 10/09/2008 17:28

Perhaps there should be a dietician per 5 schools to advise. I feel very sorry for parents of fussy children who will really struggle to feed them.

The point about school is you are not there, so you can't adapt and give them something else if the food is taken away.

Cloudhopper · 10/09/2008 17:29

sorry

aGalChangedHerName · 10/09/2008 17:36

I wouldn't mind the dc's lunches being "policed" tbh but, the school dinners are bloody shite in our local school.

Turkey dinosaurs or hot dog on a roll. I don't feed crap like that at home.

It's worse when they go to high school. Sausage or bacon roll available in the morning and pizza/burgers/ etc at lunch.

What right do they have to then say that my dc can't have a chocolate biscuit or cake sometimes along with the fruit etc in their lunch boxes?

tink123 · 10/09/2008 17:37

dd gets crisps and fruit shoot in her lunch, plus 3 portions of fruit and sandwiches.

I think it is up to parents what to feed their kids at school. Obviously no fizzy pop should be allowed,

catweazle · 10/09/2008 18:02

I think if they are going to have strict rules about what you can and can't have then they need to send home a list of foods that are and aren't allowed, and some suggestions of what to send.

I always had terrible problems deciding what to put in the kids lunches when they were little. When I tried "healthy" food it just came home again and they ate nothing.

Someone at the start of this thread said "you should see what the children have on a trip" (or something similar). Mine did have school dinners for quite a long time, and on "trip" days they got crisps, kitkat, etc because it was a treat. They didn't have it every day!

Bridie3 · 10/09/2008 18:29

Jam on wholemeal is NOT unhealthy. Blooming Nazis.

solidgoldbrass · 10/09/2008 18:45

Unfortunately, as well as the rather fuckwitted approach to 'healty' eating that you are going to get when you assign the job of lunchbox monitoring to people who know only what they read in proleporn mags (sweeties/cake/carbs baaaaaaad, ultraprocessed cardboard 'Low-Fat' rubbish gooooooood) there are also cases of politicians listening to utter cranks - like that fish-oil business whereupon they forcefed all the kids cod-liver oil tablets to little or no discernible effect (whether or not they benefit specific problems is unproven) or the rubbish that is Brain Gym.

Bridie3 · 10/09/2008 19:02

That's interesting. I'm just re-starting our fish oil programme at home. In the hope that it will help with the children's asthma, rather than making them brainy. There does seem to be some evidence that omega 3 helps reduce inflammation. We shall see.

cocolepew · 10/09/2008 20:19

My DD did some brain Gym and it helped her a lot, she also takes a high does of fish oils. If she doesn't get the oils (I was ill for a few weeks and let it slide) I notice a change for the worse.

MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 10/09/2008 20:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Doobydoo · 10/09/2008 20:36

Agree with OP.Ds1 sometimes had a nutella or jam sandwich[wholemeal,homemade bread]Frowned upon.If,like friends he took in processed white bread with spam,no probs

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