School stopping my child eating chocolate

hollydays

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

My children go to a top rated school as well. The difference is though the parents are allowed to choose what to give their children for a packed lunch. They are however the people who are paying for the meals.

IMO the school lunches are not good enough, which is why I choose to send mine pack-ups. If I choose to put in a chocolate bun or flapjack, or a dilute full sugar drink, then I will and if the school decided that they thought that wasnt good enough and my child shouldnt eat it, then I would seriously consider moving them to another school!

It is nothing like asking a child to wear uniform, or to follow the rules, it is a dictation of something that is nothing to do with anyone else - how and what we eat is up to us. Considering what some people have written on here, I know more about healthy eating than a lot of others anyway! a plain bun could be less healthy than a homemade chocolate one and full sugar diluted drinks are better for a child than an undiluted fresh juice or a 'sugar free' anything!

Why do you say the school lunches are not good enough?

Oldernotwiser

viktory wrote: »

Wow, that is staggeringly bad advice. Either concede or disagree - but for heavens sake don't teach children to eat chocolate when no one is looking!

Or encourage them to disobey their teachers in a sneaky way!

Lifeisbutadream

hollydays wrote: »

Why do you say the school lunches are not good enough?

The school lunches at my childrens school are not good enough because they give them processed meat (such as turkey roll) and frozen soggy veg. The salad bar only has white bread and they often serve chips. If it is potato then it is usually mash, which they serve in a lumpy ball.

My DD is far from fussy and she hates the food!

None of these things I would dream of giving the kids at home so I wouldnt relish the thought of paying £3.60 a day for!

cfubar

Looks like ive stirred up quite a debate here.
If my daughter is denied this treat as part of a balanced lunch its my opinion she will be pushed to eat more when "no ones looking" which is obviously the last thing i want.
She is allowed to eat chocolate in moderation and almost always in the form of such as a kitkat or rocky bar which is mainly biscuit not chocolate.

Freddie_Snowbits

Name and shame this school and let us lock the teachers and all the workers up for a long weekend in the slammer. They should not be allowed to do this

MrsE_2

no.1swimmum wrote: »

When my youngest son was still at junior school they started a healthy eating regime, where the head would walk around checking what the children with packed lunch were eating and removing anything he felt was unsuitable - you could have 1 treat i.e. a pack of crisps or a chocolate bar but not both. This was a very small church school so he could do this. My youngest son is very underweight for his height (quite tall) and was under the school nurse etc as the school was taking part in a healthy weight healthy child programme - well on two occassions I was actually told 'your son is emmaciatingly underweight'!!! he is not the best eater, due to a mouth problem when he was born that was not completely rectified until he was two, so could not eat solid foods etc. ~ this has not helped with him trying new things, but saying this he is fit and takes part in lots of out of school activities like swimming.

One day in particular the head removed a homemade chocolate muffin from my sons lunch because he had eaten a packet of crisps ~ my son did not tell me straight away and the school did not communicate with me at all - when I found out I was furious and straight up the school, I sat and waited to see the head, and boy did he regret my visit.I told him that I packed my sons lunch with what I knew he would eat etc etc - he started his speel about no chocolate - got him - the chocolate muffin did not have any chocolate in it only cocoa powder, too much sugar no made with honey in fact it was made following a recipe by an olympic swimmers mother and was made with cornmeal instead of flour, milk and no fat, cocoa powder and honey to sweeten - i offered the recipe to him for the school canteen as on the day he had thrown my sons muffin away they were serving chocolate cake and custard of giant smartie cookies for dessert. I got up to leave and turned to him ' and if you ever remove anything from my sons lunch again I will take matter to the local authority, governors and further, I am his parent and if I deem that it is OK for him to eat then it is - after all I am a qualified chef and therefore think that I am more informed that you are to know the contents of food'

He never did it again with my son although I know that he continued with other children

How is the head teacher supposed to know the ingredients in your homemade muffins
I don't think "one treat" is an unreasonable policy.
If your son is "not a great eater" isn't it important that what little food he eats is decent & not crisps & cake?

FloFlo

aytch wrote: »

Do you know, I head a school, and it would be truly wonderful if we could be left to focus on education - but no, it is now (according to Government directives upon which we are judged) our role to
1. order, manage, dish out and clear up the mess from a Free fruit schemes
2. ensure that children eat a healthy lunch (cooked and or packed)
3. manage, dish out, clear up and take the flack for school milk
4. get them checked for eyesight and weight issues
5. supervise them from 7am to 6pm so parents can work
6. ensure they get enough exercise to counteract the electronic age


..... and so on.

Today I had to fill in a school health form - question 6 "how many teenage pregnancies do you expect to deal with this academic year" ...... I am at a primary school .... am hoping none

Don't get me wrong, I love my job with a passion, but education often seems to be the last thing on my list - God bless the Government and the all their expense claims!

Schools are expected more and more to take on what used to be parental responsibilities. We have children now starting school who are not fully toilet trained.

When parents start behaving more responsibly then perhaps the burden will be eased on the schools.

Smidster

Good!

You really shouldn't be feeding your child junk!

hollydays

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

The school lunches at my childrens school are not good enough because they give them processed meat (such as turkey roll) and frozen soggy veg. The salad bar only has white bread and they often serve chips. If it is potato then it is usually mash, which they serve in a lumpy ball.

My DD is far from fussy and she hates the food!

None of these things I would dream of giving the kids at home so I wouldnt relish the thought of paying £3.60 a day for!

Frozen veg isn't all bad you know.It can be just as,sometimes fresher than the fresh stuff.But on a positive note-they have a salad bar-but presumably no kit kats? I think I would want to know why they are serving only white bread though.A bit of lumpy mashed potato never harmed anyone.

One of the things I have to thank my mother for is that she always encouraged me to try all foods and to appreciate the value of it,it was sacrilege to be fussy over food at home,and as a result I will eat/try most foods without fear or trepidation. People/kids who say they don't like something before they have tried it make me cross!! Kids who persuade their parents they want a packed lunch with goodies in rather than plain food have to much power,in my opinion.
Much the same as kids who tell their parents they have to have £150 trainers or they will be bullied.Contentious,I know .((Ducks))

ALIBOBSY

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

The school lunches at my childrens school are not good enough because they give them processed meat (such as turkey roll) and frozen soggy veg. The salad bar only has white bread and they often serve chips. If it is potato then it is usually mash, which they serve in a lumpy ball.

My DD is far from fussy and she hates the food!

None of these things I would dream of giving the kids at home so I wouldnt relish the thought of paying £3.60 a day for!

My god! £3.60 a day:eek:. My daughter is at primary who charge £1.85 a day. The meals are pretty good, they only have chips or those potato faces oven chippy type things once a week. There is a salad bar and baked spuds everyday. The pudding are usually fruit based and virtually everything is made from scratch (I know one of the cooks). They only serve brown bread as standard (same with the toast kids can buy at break time) but they can ask for white if they prefer. Once a year they have an open session where parents (aimed mostly at new parents, but anyone can attend) can try some of the dishes and get an idea of what they serve. The wholemeal flour pizza is yummy and again made from scratch.

My son is at high school and they seem pretty heathly as well (my next door neighbour works in a kitchen at a different school, but it is a standard list of meals they have at all schools/colleges across the education area on a 4 week rotation) it is based on a balanced diet. For £2.10 they get a main course, pudding and drink.

I certainly couldn't afford £3.60 a day no matter how good the food was.

My kids sometimes have packed lunches sometimes go onto school lunches. If I do pack ups I usually do either a wrap or sandwich (not with a sweet filling lol) a yoghurt or peice of fruit and some kind of homemade treat (not a shop biscuit full of saturated fat as alot contain) I would be very angry if someone at school tried to dictate to my kids what to eat, it should not be a part of the schools job and I am sick of the whole nanny state attitude. 99% of the food my kids get at home is made from scratch, healthy and filling. Despite the fact I have weight issues (I believe caused from childhood-long story for another day lol), my kids are all healthy weights and eat a wide range of foods (they espcially love fish and seafood). I refused permission for the school nurse to weight either of my eldest as I believe it sends out the wrong message to children. I got annoyed when my son was in his last year at primary as he is a big eater (burns off alot of calories in his lifestyle tho lol). He is tall and thin and is obviously very healthy and yet someone at school tried to take a homemade cake off him because he had also had a packet of crisps. The rest of his meal had been a wholemeal chicken wrap, a banana, a pear and very watery squash. It was his only packet of crisps that day and in fact probably only one of 3 or 4 over the week.
They have no right to do this as they can have no idea of the balance of food a child eats outside the packed lunch/school.
However if a child repeatly brings in a unbalanced box, say a can of pop and a bag of crisps and a choc biscuit with nothing else, then the school should have a quiet word with that parent. If children are seen to be obese at a young age (they don't need to be weighed for this-you can spot a child who is slightly podgy as opposed to very overweight) then a sensitive referal to the school nurse is in order.
ali x