School stopping my child eating chocolate

vyle

when I was at school in the early 90s my school had this policy. I can't remember the reason (I was a preteen after all) but it never harmed me. So i didn't eat chocolate and had something healthier instead, what a shame.

My cousin's daughter, by comparison is constantly given chocolate buttons to get her to do anything and takes them as part of her lunch and she's turning into a right blob.

Two extremes but a ban on chocolate won't hurt anybody.

fishingcinema

I do understand the schools healthy eating policy with all the child obesity but as so many other posters have mentioned how is it that there can be chocolate cake ect offered with the school meals but you can not put a chocolate bar in your childs packed lunch

i also understand as another poster has put one child had a can of pop and a chocolate bar in there packed lunch yes that is wrong but as the op has said they obveiously had packed other healthy things in there lunch

in my opinion you pay for your childs packed lunch if you want to put a chocolat bar in then you should be able to

maby if the government stoped all the petty rules then the teachers would actualy have more time to teach the childeren like a head had posted there are so many silly procedures to follow before they can get down to what they love best teaching our childeren

Money_maker

Alikay wrote: »

Fine in theory, until you get a few little horrors bouncing off the walls pumped up on blue pop and Tangfastics disrupting everyone's learning whilst the teacher is powerless to use any sanctions to rein in behaviour! Not to mention the theft and bullying which sweets in the playground have always generated.

Given the choice of foods available I can't imagine anyone would find it a problem to save chocolate for after school and stick with sandwiches, fruit and maybe a bit of plain cake for lunchboxes.

Dont forget the E numbers in marg and bought cakes. Sugar alone will not cause this behaviour - its the additives.

Personally, I don't regard a kitkat or penguin as a chocolate bar. They tend to be a biscuit based snack ideal as a 'pudding'. No fizzy drinks here - milk or water are the preferred options. No overweight children either.

As they say - everything in moderation.

alison999

My DD's school has this policy of no chocolate. Personally i think its a joke, especially when you see the mess that the school canteen serves up, a jelly pudding full of sugar is just as bad (if not worse) than a twix.

But, this is the school rules and I feel ive kept it in perspective, she just goes without but it would be nice to give her a treat once or twice a week.

What made me even more cross over the rule was when my DD first started at school, I didnt know about the no chocolate thing and SHOCK HORROR there was a club biscuit in her lunch bag and the dinner lady told her she could have it on the way home which resulted in a huge tantrum when I said that she couldnt have it until after her tea!

jennypdolphin

Also for all people are saying that schools serve cake and jelly everyday as school meals that is not necessarily true. Some days there will be fresh cakes etc but there are the other days when it is fresh fruit (usually always available anyway) and yogurts, sugar-free jellies and so on. Each school of course will be different in this respect. I apologise for spelling errors also, preggo brain is really hitting me today!!

Oh and also someone mentioned educating the parents rather than "policing" the lunchboxes... well we're trying but often those are the parents that don't come to the "healthy lunchbox workshops" and if they don't come then really what else can we do?

nikki2804

My school couldn't have gave a f*uck what we ate. I'm sure they were just pleasantly surprised that students chose to show up.

I had an eating disorder for a year. The school was notified and stated they would supervise my eating. Never happened. (Not the schools responsibility I know but when they say they'll do something ...)

They put on someones report card " There far to overweight to take part in Physical Education so we make them sit out" Charming.

Any wonder they were bottom of the league table?

If you didn't have a parent that was a teacher, a minority or a total suck up then you just didn't matter!!!

Edit: My mum brought me up to be a healthy eater but ive always had a sweet tooth, alway will. Im certainly not overweight.

jennypdolphin

Oh and I forgot to say I am talking about my experience in infants school here, not Juniors or secondary schools - where upon the pupils will (hopefully) be "policing" their own lunches in respect to the healthy eating education that we have previously attempted to endow them with.

remembered_nights

God my school didn't care at all. When I was a dinner monitor in Year 6, I still remember a kid who every day had choc spread sandwiches, chocolate bars and a milkshake for lunch - every day!

beth464

When I was at primary school in the 90s, there were no such rules. I was a fussy eater (still am) and never had a particularly healthy lunch box. If I'd had sandwiches everyday I would have gone without rather than eat them, so my mum preferred me to at least eat SOMETHING, no matter what it was.
It's done me no harm, I am still classed as underweight and have a good appetite and no issues about food, I eat what I want, when I want. It should be up to parents what their children eat.

The only thing I'd disagree with is fizzy drinks such as Panda Pops (do these even still exist?) which are filled with additives/E numbers, or having a can of coke in school. The caffeine makes me jittery even now so I dread to think what it does to primary aged children.

Becles

We had the lunchbox police at our school for a while, but I found it was teaching my son too many confusing messages.

For example: he was taught that a home made muffin or slice of fruit cake is a healthier choice than a Cadburys Mini Roll, but the dinner ladies just said all cake was bad full stop. He was taught that it's healthy to have crisps once or twice a week rather than every day. The dinner ladies just said crisps were bad and should never be eaten. He was sitting being told his fruit cake was bad, while the school dinner children were tucking into desserts like chocolate sponge pudding and custard, which also confused him.

I don't agree with foods being labelled as bad. I think it's better for children to grow up with the attitude that all food is fine, but it's better eating a lot of healthy food and a little bit of unhealthy food so everything balances out over a week rather than just one meal.

Then two incidents happened, first when he was asked not to bring in sardine sandwiches because another child found the smell of them distressing Surely it's easier to move the "distressed" child or my son than ban a very healthy food?

Secondly, he was told that a sandwich made up of home made brown bread and natural cheddar cheese was bad because cheese is high in fat. This was told to a child that looks like a stick insect and certainly has no need to be on a low fat diet.

I had to go into school and complain about the mixed messages my son was getting and had to request that the dinner ladies didn't give him nutritional advice on his lunchbox. The stupid thing was at the time I was studying nutrition and working on a research project looking at labelling and nutritional claims on children's foods, so I knew I was doing him good by giving him things like natural cheese rather than processed brands like Dairylea which I refuse to buy due to the ingredients. I was told the dinner ladies had no nutritional training at all and were just doing it as a favour.

I do think it's a difficult and with so many processed foods for children that it is hard to draw a line on lunchbox contents. There's the is it a biscuit or is it a cake problem that has been mentioned, plus normal crisps versus lighter baked crisps. Even with healthy foods like yoghurt, you now get brands targetted toward children that are full of sugar and additives and have sweets to stir into the yoghurt which are a worse choice than a plain fruit yoghurt. I think the final choice of foods should be left up to the parents, unless there is a clear case of a parent needing help such as the can of pop and chocolate bar meal that was mentioned.