Is Soreen Malt Loaf healthy?

easy

You know, one of the reasons this makes me sooooooo cross is that schools are getting involved in all that intervention, whilst (in many cases) failing at what is supposed to be their core activity, the ACADEMIC education of children.

In our area, 23% of children leave primary school aged 11 with a reading age below 7 ! The statistics for maths ability are even worse (can't remember details of them right now, but know they are shocking). Bullying in our primary schools is endemic.

I would rather schools concentrated on getting the kids' basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills up to scratch, and worked WITH parents to get their behaviour into some semblance of order, instead of annoying/undermining parents by nit-picking about the peripheral stuff.

We all know there will be some children from deprived/uneducated homes who need to be helped over stuff like this, and schools should be getting social services involved if diet is soooo appalling as to immediately endanger a childs health. But the current faffing about is too invasive into ordinary folks lives.

Margaret52129

Sorry I've not read all the thread but wanted to say that many moons ago (20+years) I was a dinner lady at a J&I scool. Whilst I was working there, the council decided to change the school dinners from having no choice (well, there was one choice - you ate it or you left it), to having a choice of starter and dessert, the choices being supposedly being more healthy.

The then Head decided upon a 'healthy eathing' policy for the sandwich takers. As a DL I had to 'vet' the childen's lunches and most of the time I didn't do anything, but on one occasion, a boy brought it a 4 finger kitkat and I had to tell him it was not classed as a biscuit, but a chocolate bar (2 finger ones were ok).

His mom and I were (and still are) friends and she was horrified that he couldn't take a 4 fingered biscuit for dinner and said she was the one who decided what he should and should not take for his lunch, not the school! Even now 20 years later, she still wonders why he couldn't have it!

Soreen is a favourite at out house and I would give it to my grandson of 3 years.

The SD at the time were also changed for the worse in my opinion as instead of queing up for dinner, then dessert, they served them both up on a sectioned tray (as prisoners seem to get), so that if you ate your dinner first your pudding would go cold, and try telling infants that they had to ignore the pudding till they ate their firsts! The standard had also gone down dreadfully, from being tasty, to being bland. My DD's who attended the school then decided to go onto sandwiches (which I made up with care - just in case!)

Amanda65

I have just read through this thread completely open-mouthed. All my children are beyond primary school age and didn't have packed lunches until secondary but this was before the days of inspecting lunch boxes! I cannot beleive some people's comments about fruit being 'bad' for the children, sugar contents of grapes etc. etc.

This is a 4 year old with a balanced lunchbox - protein, carbs, dairy and a sweet 'treat' of a piece of malt loaf.

Perhaps if, as well as issuing guidelines about healthy eating, the children actually got off their butts and did more PE / games and were allowed to run and play at breaktimes (oh, sorry, forgot - lots of 'games' are against health and safety regulations in case little Jonny falls over and bruises his knee and his parents sue the school) we wouldn't have an obesity problem. The country has gone completely barking :mad::mad::mad:


Just re-read above - am putting my application in to appear on 'Grumpy Old Women' later today

anniemf2508

These guidelines always seem a bit hypocritical to me, my daughter is in her 2nd year at secondary school, we had a list of guidelines about lunches and one that stands out as questionable being that sausage rolls or pasties should be served in lunchboxes in moderation (ie maybe once a week), yet in her school canteen, they are on sale every day....are they going to ration those kids who choose a pasty everyday?

My sons school don't allow chocolate in lunchboxes or fizzy drinks....their are some children in his class who seem to be exempt from both rules tho which i don't quite understand.

My husband used to help in his nursery last year and no word of a lie there was a set of twins (aged 4) who brought just a packet of chocolate digestives in for their lunch.

Frogletina

My children used to come home for lunch almost until secondary school, but shortly before my son went there he took a packed lunch. There were times when all he wanted in his sandwiches was jam. Anything else wouldn't be eaten, and as an adult he said that he often threw away other healthy things. Crisps and chocolate biscuits were not banned, and I don't suppose anyone checked any lunchboxes back then.

He had a healthy breakfast, cereal, beans or eggs on toast and a good evening meal (with the only vegetables he would eat!) He now eats extremely healthily - I just think he wanted high energy foods at school, was extremely wiry then and always tearing around the school playground.

Becles

Margaret52129 wrote: »

The SD at the time were also changed for the worse in my opinion as instead of queing up for dinner, then dessert, they served them both up on a sectioned tray (as prisoners seem to get), so that if you ate your dinner first your pudding would go cold, and try telling infants that they had to ignore the pudding till they ate their firsts! The standard had also gone down dreadfully, from being tasty, to being bland. My DD's who attended the school then decided to go onto sandwiches (which I made up with care - just in case!)

That's what it's like at ours. My middle one was part of a trial in his last year at primary school and all the children in County Durham got a free school dinner every day.

He said the portions were small and the food was bland. I was still cooking a meal from scratch every night for the rest of us, and he was still having a normal sized meal with us as he was always "absolutely starving" when he came in from school. They take turns going in for dinner and he hated when it was their turn to be last, as you just got random left overs instead of a meal, which didn't always go together.

Not had the "staving" problem with lunchboxes and they're happy to wait until tea time without asking for extra food.

Mentioned it to the teacher this morning, and the teacher said she had no problem with malt loaf and she would encourage children to eat it. She's going to have a word for me and see if she can find out what happened.

Can understand them banning drinks though, as they had problems with people putting unsuitable drinks in water bottles like fizzy drinks that sprayed everywhere and made everything sticky, or drinks that make bairns hyper like Powerade.

Gillyx

Powerade/Lucozade and even Red Bull :eek: are my pet hate with children. Why the hell do they need energy drinks?!? When I went for my last scan at the hospital a couple came in, with there young son, obviously for a scan themselves, he must have been 2 at most and had a bottle of blue powerade? I honestly could not hide the shock on my face.

Buttonmoons

There is a boy in my DD's school that brings a pita bread in for lunch everyday, every single day......a pita bread is his lunch. Apparently that is all he will eat. Nice healthy diet then!

easy

Buttonmoons wrote: »

There is a boy in my DD's school that brings a pita bread in for lunch everyday, every single day......a pita bread is his lunch. Apparently that is all he will eat. Nice healthy diet then!

yes but you don't know what he does eat for breakfast & tea, His mum is probably doing her best, and frankly what is the point in her sending him stuff he doesn't actually eat?

If he want's to bring a pitta bread every day, then that really is between them, unless he is suffering from scurvy or some such.

I have a child who will eat everything and anything, so I don't know how you get a child to eat if they don't like anything at all. I do think that forcing & fighting won't succeed tho'

Buttonmoons

My daughter is incredibly fussy, at one point she only ate toast and yoghurt, and that was it, but encouragement and being consistent - and she has finally got a more balanced diet.

At age 8 and my child was only eating pita breads? Id be a bit concerned. If he eats something different for breakfast and dinner then good for him, but as his snack at playtime is also a pita bread, Im still thinking, his diet at 8 is seriously lacking.