Packed lunches and the "food police"

Zed42

I've read this thread from start to finish with great interest, so many thanks to all.

My DD has just started school and is currently doing "school dinners", the menu looks good, locally sourced and fairly balanced. The downside is .. DD has complete reign over what she chooses and then eats.

So, I've made the decision that I'm going to "let" her do school dinners for the complete rotation of the planner (4 wks) and then take it from there. Whereby if she a) doesn't like it and it doesn't sound wonderful to me either or if b) there must be a b ... then we'll be doing "packed lunches" on those days and it's great to see all the alternatives which you guys are doing

My (oh I mean hers .. apparently I've already been to school and anyway I'm too big for the uniform .... ) school has a no-junk policy on snacks, but not packed lunches .. go figure, because I can't ... except Fridays .. when apparently all hell can break loose ... so she got dried apricots and loved them .... for her snacks we've been doing dried fruit and the school police "kids" told her that they were sweets .. she told them they were wrong and what they were (go girl!) .. she's 5 on Oct 31st .. I don't think she's going to let them bother her

kazmeister

Sorry havent read the whole thread but I think my response would be " my mummy made my lunch with love not bought it in the b****y supermarket".

My DS now in 6th form has mates who (playfully) beat him up for his home made muffins

maryb

I haven't really had a problem with other children sneering at the contents of the packed lunch but apparently my children always get/(or rather, got- DD1 off to uni in a couple of weeks ) flak when I send things in old marge pots etc.

The same children probably go home and lecture their parents about recycling!!

craftlady

DD has a wheat allergy so her lunches have always been different. Sometimes it was a problem but dinner ladies and friends started saying 'I wish I could have that for my lunch' smoked salmon salad, chicken/ham salad on sitcks. DS(13) also takes PL and friends often asked to buy his sandwiches from him. All his friends like to come to our house as I always have homemade cakes 'Hello, have you made cakes today' is a frequent greeting!!:rolleyes:

spaghetti_monster

Reading the juice/squash versus water comments reminded me of various refrains from my childhood when we were all nagging my mum inbetween meals, claiming great hunger/thirst:
"there's water in the tap"
"there's fruit in the bowl"

Of course then we discovered we weren't so hungry/thirsty as we thought!

Lizalu

MrsE wrote: »

I'm amazed at the amount of posts on here who refer to other children saying the lunches are not the same as everyone else, ect as bullying.

Is that really seen as bullying nowadays?

Whatever happened to banter between kids?

Are kids not allowed to take the mick a little & tease each other anymore with it being bullying?

When I had a packed lunch at school for days trips ect I ALWAYS had egg sandwiches, I liked them, they were my favourite, so I asked for them.

Before the day even came the other kids used to say XXXXX you're not taking egg sandwiches again are you they smell!

I would bring my egg sandwiches:D

After a while they smell a bit & someone would say XXXXX you brought egg sandwiches!

And I would say yeah:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

It wasn't bullying, it was banter. I would tease them about things;)
Can kids not do that anymore

Banter is friendly teasing, when a child goes back to their mother crying it's gone past banter. Kids can be so cruel, and being singled out for whatever reason can be a horrible experience.

Having said that, the kids in your class had a point - egg sandwiches smell horrible, particularly on a school trip coach.

mama67

Sarahsaver wrote: »

Great idea!
My DS1 has now got one of those Stanley food flasks, about £5 from Wilkinsons, so he can have hot food from time to time. Ha had risotto last friday He's 8 years old and a bit of a gourmet foodie already!
Today they have cheese sandwich, a flapjack, a fruit and a drink. I am still doing the 'treat day' thing on fridays, so then have a small bag of crisps then. I am annoyed that last week DS1 came home with crisps twice because one of his friends was given TWO BAGS of crisps by his Mum in his lunch bag. DS said he sometimes gives his friend a fruit because his friend wants to be healthy like him :eek:
Shame the 'lunchtime supervisors' don't pick up on this in the same way that they like to pick up on what my kids eat. Several times I've had the 'what is that you are supposed to bring a sandwich' comment relayed back to me

My son (aged 10) wanted to take hm soup in for lunch and when i queried it with the head it is not allowed under health and Safety regulations, not for him spilling it etc but through another child knocking it.

Hopefully though we will be getting school dinners back, providing there is enough interest.

In his packed lunch he has:
2 slices of hm bread with ham/cheese/tuna/egg with cucumber sticks in a tub
or 2 ham salad wraps
or a tub of tuna pasta salad

a piece of fruit
hm cake/cookies
a yogurt drink/hm yogurt
squash in a plastic bottle
crisps

All this is in small cooler type bag with a cool block in throughout the year.

They have access to a water drinks machine and all were given a sports type bottle to keep on their desks.

Fruit is also given to the Under 5's but if there is spare left over at the end of the day the older children get to share it.

We also purchase milk daily for first break.

Sarahsaver

That's preposterous. I hope they stop the teachers having hot drinks then!
I guess the school meals are cold so as not to cause injuryLOL;)

caledoniaquine

Ive got one of these food flasks for my daughter

http://www.kiddieskitchen.co.uk/store/images/thumbs/funtainer%20pink.jpg

I gave her homemade soup in it one day and some of the older girls were teasing her about it. I told her their mummys probably cant cook and dont love them enough to make them homemade soup lol

My brother used to love grated cheese and tomato sauce sandwiches and I made it for her one day at home for a change, she loved it and asked for them at school and when i gave them to her she got teased for that too.

I think thats the only time she was teased about food.

Her school makes them take back all the uneaten pack lunch box stuff as well.

pigpen

I had eggy fart sarnies for my lunch... LOL

One child at our primary had a whole packet of bourbons for her lunch one day, another child had 11 chocolate bars in her box.. it is these parents who need educating.. but in the case of many children at our primary they have very little/no english and they choose to give their children these 'treats' for their lunch as they want to give them nice things as oppose to whatever they had as children. Resulting in some VERY overweight children, one little girl was referred to paeds and dieticians as at 5 years old she weighed around 7 stone.. she was collosal.. BUT her parents simply didn't understand.

Chocolate & crisps can be eaten as part of a healthy diet.. 'a bit of everything and everything in moderation'

Children swap bit a of food and eye up whatever anyone else has.. Tiddles (3) asked for a 'chocolate yoghurt' (choc mousse) in hers because she had never had one and she saw someone else with one.. I think of it as a way to get them to try new things.

Mine are the freaky children that take HM bread and tubs of cheese and raisins etc.