Child not eating school dinner

quidsy

The problem I have found is not that they don't like the food more that they have never tried it & want what they know or "think" they don't like it.

The rule for us is try it at least once then you can leave it, if you don't like it then fine but more often than not my son will like it & eat it.

As we eat a very SE Asian diet some of the things he has to try are very odd to the western pallet, parts of fish & meat that westerners throw away. My son will now pretty much eat anything given but he really does know what he doesn't like & I trust him when he says so.

Part of this I think is that he is involved in the cooking processes, has what he is eating explained to him & as we adults are also eating it, it doesn't make it like a punishment. He also eats mostly home made food, not a lot from packages & things like nuggets & chips is given when we are running low on food/ running late or one of us adults can't be bothered to cook. It isn't a daily staple. The more exposure to different herbs, spices & flavors the better imo.

WestonDave

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.....

Nope - and whilst I'm all in favour of my kids trying new foods (and they generally get a reward if they do, even if they don't like it), we took one look at this term's menu and thought !!!!!!! Mondays were Cauliflower, Spinach and Tofu curry (for the veggie and meat option) and Fridays instead of their long standing fish and chips (the only time chips are on the menu all week) they'd changed it to "fishcakes and fennel coleslaw". I'd be wary of those two! We decided ours would be having packed lunches on those days - we don't get free meals so its probably cheaper anyway. One week into term, letter comes home, words have been had, chef spoken to and both of those two meals are off the menu, fish and chips back on with something more mainstream in place of the Tofu thing.


I've no doubt that the original choices were healthy - trouble was they were weird beyond most kids palates and the likely result in some cases would be switching to rubbish packed lunches and eating junk at home. The ones that are going to eat healthily will do so at home and in their packed lunches - the ones that are eating unhealthily at home need their palates stretching gently towards healthy options, not a nuclear option on day one!

System

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.....

I agree but most kids just take a look at whats on offer and turn their noses up at it if they don't like what they see.

None of my kids were particularly keen on vegetables but I still put it on their plates anyway. Ok most of the time they left it (but I used the vegetable water in the gravy).

They all love vegetables now they are adults.

maman

If this was simply a thread about children's eating habits I'd give an opinion but with my usual rider of 'each to his own'.


But it's not. This thread is about school meals as much as it's about children's eating habits. There is no way a school is going to be able to engage individual children in their eating to the level that OP seems to want.


So since you're never going to be pleased just engage your child in making her packed lunch then everyone's happy.

notanewuser

maman wrote: »

If this was simply a thread about children's eating habits I'd give an opinion but with my usual rider of 'each to his own'.


But it's not. This thread is about school meals as much as it's about children's eating habits. There is no way a school is going to be able to engage individual children in their eating to the level that OP seems to want.


So since you're never going to be pleased just engage your child in making her packed lunch then everyone's happy.

The OP has a son.

peachyprice

maman wrote: »

If this was simply a thread about children's eating habits I'd give an opinion but with my usual rider of 'each to his own'.


But it's not. This thread is about school meals as much as it's about children's eating habits. There is no way a school is going to be able to engage individual children in their eating to the level that OP seems to want.


So since you're never going to be pleased just engage your child in making her packed lunch then everyone's happy.

I don't think it's the OP that wants that, her thread seems to have been hijacked

Flora_Poste

What difference does it make if it's a boy or a girl?

notanewuser

peachyprice wrote: »

I don't think it's the OP that wants that, her thread seems to have been hijacked

Unintentionally, I would add.

You don't think it's reasonable to ask a school to allow all pupils (whose meals are being paid for) to choose what they eat and not cover it with gravy?

notanewuser

Flora_Poste wrote: »

What difference does it make if it's a boy or a girl?

It doesn't.

There are 2 of us with (different) issues re school dinners. One with a girl, one with a boy. Maman seems to have confused us.

onlyroz

McKneff wrote: »

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

But you're not a 5-year-old child, are you? You have a free choice of what you eat because you're preparing it yourself. Did your parents give you a free choice of what you ate when you were 5?

And we're talking about school dinners here - not some exotic dishes from different cultures with names you can't pronounce. School dinners are designed to be palatable by as broad a range of children as possible. Sure, you can argue about their nutritional value but I doubt school caterers make a habit of filling their menu with outlandish flavours.