Could/would school help if Year 5 child isn't eating packed lunch?

[BalloonSlayer]

Year 5 DS1 - loves his food, eats loads at home - eats little of his packed lunch. I think this is because he wants to go and play - he'll often claim he wasn't given enough time but I don't buy that one.

Today it was untouched.

Obviously we need to sort this with him, and it's our responsibility.

But is it worth asking the school if they can do anything to help, or will they be laughing their arses off in the office if I so much as mention it?

I expect he is too old to be supervised - I wondered if he could be told to sit with the smaller kids for a week or something. But I guess that's unkind.

It's so frustrating as he is often awful on the way home, stroppy, awkward etc, and we end up having a row. Then I empty his lunchbox and see he has had two bites of a sandwich and none of his drink and understand why.

Today took the sodding biscuit if you pardon the pun.

He can't have school dinners, BTW.

It's worth asking, they may be open to checking that he eats at least some of it.

I had the same problem with DS when he was on school dinners - because it took so long queuing, he didn't get long enough in the playground. He was very tired and grumpy at the end of school which was awful.

We talked alot about him needing to eat for energy and I said that if he changed to packed lunches I would expect him to eat them. He does!

How much do you give him?

He only has a drink, a sandwich and a very small portion of fruit. He isn't allowed crisps any more because they were being eaten but not the rest - same old story.

The irony is that DD, who is the most dreadful eater, is allowed crisps in her lunchbox because she eats everything. She is in juniors now too so presumably has much the same amount of time.

School did help dd1 when she wasn't eating much lunch in Y4. It's worth mentioning to the teacher when you next see them - my dd's school have always seemed to think it's an important issue. She still doesn't eat much though, so it didn't really help! Comes home starving and grumpy too.

School really should help here. Ask them to check him and feedback to you. He will be rushing to get out to play - they'll have seen it before and should have a way of helping.

Some schools will help! As a teacher I can usually spot the hungry children a mile off in the afternoons. I usually teach Y5/6 and have made plenty of them show me their lunch boxes and given them time to eat their sandwiches in class whilst I'm doing the register or even teaching. Being me I will usually then speak to the mealtime supervisors and the person supervising football (IME it's usually the footballing children who try to get back outside before their bottoms have touched a chair in the dinner hall) and try to make sure the lunch-avoiding child is monitored more closely in the dinner hall and required to present an empty lunchbox to the football person before being allowed to join in.

definitely worth at least raising with school. dd1 is in y3 and awful at eating her lunch. she will also be stroppy etc as she will have eaten next to nothing becasue she " didn't have time". i have threatened to come and collect her and give her lunch at home and she has got better...

you can only ask

DS does this, barely eats. He reports that there are several others in Yr5 who also eat nothing or as little as possible (just a chocolate bar, a muffin, whatever).

I do not see how the school can do a single thing about it, I would not dream of asking them. The dinner ladies are mostly bothered about behaviour and crowd control, I'm sure those duties are already stretching them to the limits, and you can't make a child that age eat, anyway. Especially when there are several such culprits like DS who will eat as little as possible given the chance. There are too many of them for DLs to keep on top of each and every day.

Some schools monitor the infants and give stickers out if they eat all their lunch up. I've not come accross this for juniors though.

Shame all teachers arn't as understanding as SE13Mummy some of my mindees do complain that they don't have long enough to eat, but the same ones seem to spend ages over their tea a lot more talking than eating IYSWIM so I'm a bit when they make this excuse.

I definitely think any school should definitely make an effort to deal with this. It is not uncommon. I am a retired teacher and our dinner supervisor was very open to suggestions to monitor particular children and tell me how they got on. Forgodsake - everychildmatters!!!!! If they can't be bothered they should be called to account.

Thanks all.

Yes DS1 does say that he doesn't have long enough to eat, but DD is now in juniors and manages fine.

Today he claims he "wasn't hungry," yet was clearly ravenous for his tea. We had a big row about it < weary > with me trying to point out that the reason he was being so stroppy about it all was because he hadn't eaten.

I don't believe he wasn't hungry. I don't believe he sat there with his friends as they ate their lunch and didn't have his because he wasn't hungry.

I think he had a music lesson today, came into the lunch hall as his friends were finishing and going off to play and chose social over nutrition.

As CantSupinate says, the school has enough to worry about - why should they be asked to persuade a nine year old child - who should be able to manage basic personal care by now - to eat some food? I might as well ask them to help him wipe his bum.

Used the usual threats: if you don't eat your lunch you won't go to cubs blahdeblah.

< Heavy Sigh >

The school has a vested interest in helping, a child without lunch is less able to concentrate, work and be civil. Ask, no one should laugh at a perfectly reasonable concern.

I have a boy in my class (yr 5) who will not eat. We have tried sitting with him, made sure he sits by his friends, tried sitting alone( in case he doesn't like eating in front of others) watched over him,given him as much time as he likes, ignored him, even made him toast! He simply says he doesn't like whatever is in his lunchbox ( whatever that might be!) I cannot physically force him to eat and if I can't persuade him , he just has to go hungry.

atworknotworking - I'm not that understanding, just mean and horrible and find hungry children hard to teach!

DS isn't like that, primarymum, thank goodness.

I do think maybe he is just too lazy to open his lunchbox, get his lunch out and actually ingest it.

He can be like this at home but usually due to the telly TBH.

What I am saying is that I don't think kid gloves are needed as I don't think it's a psychological issue.