Child not eating school dinner

j.e.j.

McKneff wrote: »

Its all very well having all thus debate but answer me this.


Would any of you honestly eat a plate of something you did not like.


I certainly wouldn't.....

There are some foods I could not eat, however starving hungry I was. Chicken livers, for example _pale_


My ex F-i-L used to serve this, with rice that wasn't quite cooked, and tasted like stones :eek: Unfortunately there was no cat to give it to, either :rotfl:


I just didn't eat it. I physically cannot swallow food I really dislike, sorry


OP, I would be more concerned at the seeming lack of attention the teacher is giving to the problem than the food itself. I don't think the school would be giving the kids anything too way-out and adventurous. A packed lunch might be a better option if the problem continues.

skintchick

I haven;t read the other replies, sorry.

I have a similar issue. My 5yo DD is in year 1 and won;t eat most meals, certainly mothing on the school menu would pass muster.

So she has a school packed lunch, which she will eat most of, and at home we ensure we sit down at 6pm and have tea together, it is a family meal, she doesn;t have to eat it BUT there is nothing else till breakfast if she doesn't.

I serve meat and veg, pasta, casseroles, etc some of which she likes and some she doesn't, but the rule is the same, and I've noticed she is getting less fussy as time goes on. I don;t make a big fuss, just "this is tea, sit at the table with us till we're all finished, eat or don;t eat, but there is nothing else, and if you eat it all there may be dessert".

Cuold you do similar? It's not up to the school to do this really, and they don;t have the time. Send a packed lunch of what your son WILL eat and address the food fussiness at home.

Janepig

Person_one wrote: »

I do think you might be perpetually disappointed if you expect schools to provide care for your child that is as individual, personalised and adapted to her specific personality as the care you as a parent provide. Its just never going to be achievable.

I have to say I agree with this. One of the children DS plays rugby with has just started at his third different primary school (along with his sister) in the last three years - and that's just in the time I've known him, it might have been more than that. His mother knows better than everyone so I imagine she's probably up the school every day telling the teachers how it should be done and keeps voting with her feet in a vain attempt to find an education for her children tailored to them alone.

She's like that on the side of the rugby pitch too, she's got "good advice" for all the coaches. Everyone pretty much ignores her really. And that's the problem, occasionally she might be coming up with something sensible, but that's filtered out, along with everything else she moans about.

Thankfully I don't think she's ever going to send her children for WM education so DD/DS's school won't have to put up with her. She'd have a field day there though, there's much to moan about. I've got issues with the teacher DS has got this year and I've yet to find anyone who has a good word to say about him, however, I'm not going to change him, or how he does things, and the school aren't going to sack him on my say so, but I have choices - leave DS where he is and say nothing (what I'm doing at the moment), or move him to another school (which DS goes into hysterics about if I so much as suggest it).

Jx

Carmina-Piranha_2

I think the reception teachers are there more for helping the kids through the queue line rather than actually watching them eat. That will most likely tail off after a few weeks, and the teachers will be having their own lunch break.

His teacher should be able to mention to the dinner person assigned to his year group that he might require a bit of extra attention though.

Personally I would go against the majority on here and I'd give mine a packed lunch, then try again in a term or so (or even a year) once he had settled into school and was more confident.

RCDOCT

Hi

I work as a cook in a infant school. I do understand all your concerns regarding the children eating.

My personal experience over the years is to try it and see. Sometimes because there friends are having it they will try it. The little ones find the whole lunch thing quite intimidating, but I feel its my staff and I job to make it a pleasurable experience, due to this outlook we have very good meal numbers.

I dont know about other areas of the country, but we are allowed to change items on the menu if its not popular, or adapt as necessary, after all I'd rather cook and it got eaten than cook it and bin it!