School lunch rant - Would you complain?

sp1987

I would hate to be a child now. I really would have struggled with the lunchbox police. My mother wasn't some halfwit who couldn't tell a cucumber from a burger as she always bought mountains of fruit and vegetables for me to leave. If I had my chocolate taken off me I wouldn't have been able to stomach the apple I tried to eat simultaneously. Even now I need to mix cottage pie with veg so I cannot taste the vegetables . I actually know someone who at school only ate a plate of baked beans, a bread roll , a packet of ready salted crisps and a kit kat. Every day, for about 5 years. Her father actually imports fruit and veg for a living so no problem with access, and her mother is a cookery teacher. Some children just will not do it.

All I can say is if my child takes a lunch that is not packed with sugar or fat and manages to eat it, I'll be completely happy.

If someone dared steal his lunch I would be fuming. What would happen if the child had an allergy triggered by an enforced school meal? I cannot imagine I'd have managed to leave, I'd still be there whining now.

GobbledyGook

clairehi wrote: »

Good!
I realise you would rather this had never happened, but thank goodness the head teacher is apparently disciplining the TA, and the menu choices are being questioned.
One point though - you mention pushing the PTA re the schools packed lunch policy. A PTA (parent teacher association) is a fund raising group and does not have responsibililty for running the school. I think you actually mean the school governors here.

Actually in the case of this school I did mean the PTA. The PTA contains a few highly prominent people including a GP, nurse and various others. It's a standing joke locally when anything happens that A, B, C and D (4 PTA members) have brought in a new rule. Not in a bad way, they just seem to be very influential with the Head as she really respects them.

I'm not sure exactly what is happening with the TA, but I could tell that the Head was livid. It's good to see, although I am concerns about what could come of it in the future. Obviously my daughter is not going to be popular with this TA for kicking this off and I've no idea (yet) of the reaction of other staff so I'm a bit nervous really as a big battle with the school is the last thing my daughter needs (she's had her parents split up, a new baby on the way and a house move) at the moment. Fingers crossed the Head keeps on top of it.

Thanks
Gemma x

itsallinthemind

GobbledyGook wrote: »

Head is unhappy with as she accepts my point about the fact that I either have to tell my child that the TA was right, which I won't do because she wasn't, or that the TA was wrong. I'll also have to explain somehow why the TA doesn't have to apologise when the children have to apologise when they get things wrong and if I have to tell my daughter it's because the TA is rude (which is what I say my daughter will be if she doesn't apologise when she needs to) then that will undermine the TA more than any apology.

GobbledyGook wrote: »

Obviously my daughter is not going to be popular with this TA for kicking this off and I've no idea (yet) of the reaction of other staff so I'm a bit nervous really as a big battle with the school is the last thing my daughter needs (she's had her parents split up, a new baby on the way and a house move) at the moment.

Even though she is young, I would still explain that the TA was wrong with her actions and in lying and that she should apologise for both. Then explain why it is important not to lie and to apologise when wrong. Trying to avoid the fact the TA is rude. She must be aware that adults are not always right?

I would also tell your daughter that if the TA acts unfavorably towards her that she must tell you.

I think you are teaching your daughter a valuable lesson on how to make a stand in a dignified manner

andrealm

moggylover wrote: »

Which is all very well and fine if we assume that all parents are intelligent, educated and able to decide what is and what is not a balanced lunch box.

However, having seen the dross thrown into many of the lunch boxes that some of the children were taking into primary school whilst my sons were there I fear that it appears few parents know what constitutes a healthy lunch for their children: or alternatively they are too mean and/or too lazy to provide such a lunch.

Since there is much pressure upon schools to try to improve the health of the children placed in their care I am afraid that whilst I do understand your stance, I think it places them in a very unenviable position and that a far better situation would be achieved by parents being more willing to assist schools in managing the cases of "problem" lunchboxes, which can often result in "problem children" for the afternoon.

My own thoughts are that school lunches should return to the kind of plain and sensible food (leaving little room for fads and fancies I'm afraid, but healthy) that my own school days (60's and 70's) involved and NO packed lunches allowed AT ALL. They were not allowed then, you either ate a school lunch or went home for lunch if your parents felt they could do better for the price.

Perhaps then the kids would learn to eat food without the sad and irritating fussiness that seems the norm nowadays, as well as eating healthier meals.

Yes, I do realise that many schools would have to bring their catering up to scratch (indeed a return to proper school cooks employed by the LEA would probably go a long way to ensuring this and cutting out the added expense of lining the pockets of private catering companies) but in the long run it would be best for the children and the cheapest alternative. Very few children (even the least sporty amongst us) managed to get fat in those days: but then food was not the big (and rather stupid) issue that people insist on making it into today.

I think it's a bit patronising to suggest that you have to be intelligent and educated to make a child's packed lunch. You don't need to be a qualified nutritionist to throw a sandwich and a bit of fruit into a lunchbox.

Fair enough if parents are sending their kids in with a mouldy lunch or sweets and nothing else then have a word with the parents but surely parents that do that are in a minority? I never saw anyone who had anything like that when I was at school in the 80s and 90s, everyone seemed to have sandwiches,fruit,yoghurt,crisps, Club biscuits etc. Some of these things would no doubt have been banned by today's lunchbox police but I never saw anyone without sandwiches.

Have you seen the price of school dinners these days?It would cost about £80 a month to pay for school dinners for 2 children. I'd much rather send a packed lunch of things I know my child likes than spend a lot of money on food that often won't be eaten. I wouldn't be at all happy if a school banned packed lunches. Going home isn't an option unless you live very close to the school and don't work.

Back in the day most children walked to school and they probably spent more time running about outside than they do now.

The_Sparkly_One

I've just read through pretty much the entire thread and just wanted to share this with you all.... I mentioned this thread to my mum this morning (she's a school cook) and she laughed - turns out that one of the veggie options available on Friday (they provide more than 1 option as most of the kids love them!) was hummus (sp?), chopped carrots/celery/peppers and pitta. So basically what the OP provided for her daughter. It's crazy that there are so many different 'guidelines' around. I remember coming home from school and crying my eyes out after a supply teacher took it upon themselves to call each packed lunch eating child to the front of the class to show what they had in their lunch box where the whole class was given a 'lesson' on healthy eating. I had the misfortune of having a fruit shortie biscuit in my lunch box (along with a wholemeal bread ham and salad sandwich, fruit yogurt, apple and a small bottle of squash). I spent 5 minutes at the front of the class being told I'd get fat if I continued to eat the contents of my lunch box every day. It caused some pretty interesting conversations with my Mum and the Head Teacher...

GobbledyGook

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Even though she is young, I would still explain that the TA was wrong with her actions and in lying and that she should apologise for both. Then explain why it is important not to lie and to apologise when wrong. Trying to avoid the fact the TA is rude. She must be aware that adults are not always right?

I would also tell your daughter that if the TA acts unfavorably towards her that she must tell you.

I think you are teaching your daughter a valuable lesson on how to make a stand in a dignified manner

She is aware that adults are not always right. The rude things stems from a period where she decided one day not to apologise to her sister. Her father and I told her that when you did something wrong or made a mistake that affected someone else then it was very rude not to apologise to the other person. So if I tell her the TA made a mistake then she'll think it rude that the TA hasn't/won't apologise.

If she asks me (which she will) why the TA doesn't have to apologise for making the mistake when she would have to apologise then I have to find a way of explaining it that doesn't make the TA rude or be honest with her and tell her it's because the TA has no manners!


moggylover - I do understand why the schools feel they need to get involved in children's lunches. However there are better ways to encourage children to eat healthily than allowing unqualified people to remove children's lunches from them. My daughter was upset and very embarrassed - that doesn't encourage her to eat healthily, it makes her want to go to the McDonalds or KFC opposite the school because "then Mrs XXX can't embarrass me in front of everyone".

Schools also seem to be forgetting 1 huge factor imo - how many primary school children shop for and prepare their own packed lunch? I know some people who will put whatever crap in their kids lunchbox, however no matter how many times you tell wee Johnny his lunch isn't suitable it's not going to help because wee Johnny has no say in his lunch box - in fact wee Johnny is lucky some days that his Mum remembers to give him a lunch box. All getting on and on and on at wee Johnny does is give the kids more hassles and give the other kids more things to laugh at wee Johnny for. Different when the kids are 15 and can be responsible for their own lunches, but we should not be making children of 5, 6 and 7 feel "bad" for having the wrong lunch when the contents of that lunch will not be dictated by them.

shoperholicnot

reehsetin wrote: »

Exactly

it's really not hard to do a veggie version,

meat eaters get meat lasagna, veggies get veggie lasagna, same goes for pasta, pizza's whatever else they choose to make! millions of people manage to live off a veggie diet without eating the same meal days in a row!

p.s. when I was veggie and everyone I know who is veggie has never touched macaroni cheese!

I was a veggie for 5 years and never ate macaroni cheese..in fact I hate it, as i think most veggies do.
Its the easy option with no thought and it used to really annoy me when so many places did it as their veggie option.....either that or cod and chips!!! lol

dizziblonde

poet123 wrote: »

I think it is rather patronising to assume others cannot provide suitable lunches but "we" can.

There will be kids who take in unsuitable lunches, just as many kids watch unsuitable films/TV,are exposed to unsuitable or unpalatable facts of life, but where do you draw the line? to me, there are far more important issues around child welfare than a lunchbox containing some crisps. In fact, I think we are taking action is this area because we are impotent in so many other areas of infuence which affect the lives of kids.

The behaviour of kids in school is dependent on many factors, the least of those imo is often the contents of their lunchbox.

In my school in the 60's and 70's we were allowed packed lunches, so I assume yours must have been somewhat different.

I've seen kids come in with a packed lunch comprising of 2 dry Jacobs cream crackers and half a chocolate Easter egg. I've seen kids sent in with a lunch of Nutella sandwiches, chocolate biscuit, chocolate bar and chocolate milkshake... now, I'm all for the acceptance of chocolate as the best food group of all... but seriously that was going a bit too far!

I hate the schools that have swung the other way too far though - my class used to get the winning table in a week's table points competition to have the reward of one small fried egg sweet a week - the kids loved it, it kept them motivated, it was cheap (well apart from staff raiding the tin), cheerful... not allowed to do that these days. That's when it gets ridiculous.

xxvickixx

I've been lurking on this thread and simply cannot believe how poor some school meals still are. About 15 years ago I complained to the school about our food as it was usually chips or sauted potatos and beans or hoops as the "vegetables" There were about 5 plates of salad available on a first come first served basis. Or we had the burger lady, serving burgers and school chips in fast food style containers. The other option at the third hatch was and I'm not making this up. The pot noodle lady who would put the water on and mush it all up for you.
When I complained I was told by the head of cooking or whatever she was called that they had to provide two vegetables each day whichthey did as " hoops is a vegetable" I decided that I was banging my head against a brick wall and asked Mum for packed lunch which I hated as warm sarnies make me gag.

poet123

dizziblonde wrote: »

I've seen kids come in with a packed lunch comprising of 2 dry Jacobs cream crackers and half a chocolate Easter egg. I've seen kids sent in with a lunch of Nutella sandwiches, chocolate biscuit, chocolate bar and chocolate milkshake... now, I'm all for the acceptance of chocolate as the best food group of all... but seriously that was going a bit too far!

I hate the schools that have swung the other way too far though - my class used to get the winning table in a week's table points competition to have the reward of one small fried egg sweet a week - the kids loved it, it kept them motivated, it was cheap (well apart from staff raiding the tin), cheerful... not allowed to do that these days. That's when it gets ridiculous.

I agree some parents leave a lot to be desired,my point was that if they send kids into schools with such obviously unacceptable lunches, then that is the tip of the iceberg, and there are other more pressing welfare issues going on.