Packed lunches and the "food police"

Lyndsay_21

Well done to your son for standing up for himsefl :T it musn't of been easy esp since he was bullied.
My DD is only 3 and she has PL at nursery 2 days a week i try to vary her lunchbox as much as poss normally with breadsticks and cubed cheese/raisins/HM cake of some sort (i made a load then sliced and froze it)/wholemeal sandwhich or more recently rolled up tortillas/some kind of fruit or a carrot and some water,
i dread to think whats in some childrens lunchboxes and i'm glad that i'm sensible enough to give her a healthy lunch as i know some of my friends think a lunchable, crisps and a chocolate bar is ok :eek:, i must admit that i bought some of the individual packets of pringles but thats a treat and once they're gone that it.

Spendless

Hi everyone

i worked as a school dinner lady for 6 months. The school had healthy eating status for its dinners but certainly many of the packed lunches were terrible. Amongst the things I saw were a half of the cadburys chocolate bar (the one that costs £1), full packet of biscuits, jelly tots and monster munch that makes your tongue turn purple. And before anyone asks no they weren't part of a balanced lunchbox. I never saw a child with anything other than white bread, and crisps were in the boxes every day.

At my sons school they also have healthy eating status but DS begged for a poacked lunch, guessing the same was happening there as at work I did him my version(wholemeal bread, yogurt, fruit and water) and at the end of the week he wanted his dinners back.

OP-I would suggest that getting the school on your side is your best option. Point out they have healthy eating over their dinners, and tell them about what is happening re packed lunches.

Sarahsaver- We did not allow the kids to swop items. We had a few kids with nut allergies and swopping food could be potentially fatal-again I think you need to raise this with the school.

Apologies if this offends anyone, but squash in a packed lunch is a bugbear of mine. Water is only allowed in the classroom, and the kids on dinners only get water, so I'm against it being allowed for packed lunches.

Prudent

Please keep going with the wonderful packed lunches. I have seen so many children with lunch boxes that are causing their bodies more harm than good. One child regularly bought in a jam sandwich, a packet of crisps (usually space raiders) and two packets of sweets.

I always think it is a good idea to do a mini topic with a primary one class (are they called reception in England?) on lunches. I use the book 'The Lighthouse Keeper's lunch'. We discuss all the wonderful, healthy and unusual things you can put in lunch boxes, try making some, tasting them and giving them imaginative names. The children love it and it stops these kinds of comments.

thriftlady_2

Spendless wrote:

Sarahsaver- We did not allow the kids to swop items. We had a few kids with nut allergies and swopping food could be potentially fatal-again I think you need to raise this with the school.

Apologies if this offends anyone, but squash in a packed lunch is a bugbear of mine. Water is only allowed in the classroom, and the kids on dinners only get water, so I'm against it being allowed for packed lunches.

My school does not allow any swapping of food because of my dd's nut allergy.There is a strong message that 'if it's in your lunch box your parents want you to eat it and not anyone else'.

I'm against squash as well.It's water only for my kids because they have to take a water bottle and I can't be doing with 2 bottles for each child.I've sent juice in the past but it makes the inside of the bottles go funny and there's no way I'm buying individual cartons- wasteful and expensive!

kittiwoz

Kids can be really mean. If they are picking on someone then something like the contents of their lunchbox is just an excuse, not the cause. Make sure your kids understand that people bully other people because they are insecure and need to put other people down to make themselves feel big and that people like this are not worth getting upset about.

It's certainly true that parents have a massive role in kids attitudes to food. I remember one of my brothers friends who had dinner at our house saying his mum gave him, "Proper vegtables, out of cans!" And the number of times I've heard parents say to their kids, "Oh no, You won't like that!" About tomatoes or gherkins or whatever without even letting the child try it. I also recall some parents being quite impressed and asking my parents how they got me and my brother to eat vegtables. They were always very surprised when my parents said they just gave them to us and we ate what was on our plate but the point was we were given vegtables from a very young age and it wasn't until I heard my parents being asked how they did it that I ever realised that there was any sort of expectation that children wouldn't like vegtables.

I have to disagree with Spendless on the issue of squash I'm afraid. My experience working on playschemes is that made up strong it provides poor rehydration and the sugar and e-numbers turn a lot of kids into hyperactive little monsters. On the other hand it can be very hard to get kids to drink plain water and in hot weather dehydration is a real problem leading to headaches, stomachaches and moody, tired kids. We found that big jugs of very weak squash served up very cold made our jobs a lot easier.

Spendless

kittiwoz wrote:

it can be very hard to get kids to drink plain water .

This is exactly why I'm against squash in packed lunches. Kids don't get used to drinking water and so don't want to, especially when there is a sweeter alternative on offer. I used to tell my Dad the "I don't like water" too. His reply was if I was in The sahara dying I'd drink it.

Wirenth

It can depend on where you are. When I was a kid, I'd drink the tapwater from home with no problems - it was cold and it tasted lovely and sweet.

The stuff at the school was from a different supply and had been fluoridated. I found it really nasty and wouldn't drink it unless a bit of squash had been put in to disguise the taste.

The school used to provide weak squash for afterschool games - it would help keep us rehydrated.

stressedoutmumof1

My DD has packed lunches, she won't eat school dinners (unless it's sausage and chips day (Tues) :rotfl:) Funnily enough she brags about mummy's HM bread and the other kids think it's great - the mum's are a little bit in awe, and they all stay at home whilst I work!! However she won't take Wotsits to school (probably good job - she doesn't come home orange ) as she gets teased for eating them All the kids love my HM flapjacks, muffins, cakes etc

sandymogs_2

I buy those little zip seal bags that come in different sizes from Viking. I fill them with all sorts - such as carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, sliced kiwi fruit, dried fruit, pumpkin seeds anything healthy really.

honey28

stressedoutmumof1 wrote:

All the kids love my HM flapjacks, muffins, cakes etc

Is this recipe anywhere on the site? I fancy making some of them.
Thanks