Lunchbox rage

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Lunchbox rage

by hanneviken @ 01.02.2006 – 16:14:54

Lunchboxes.. The source of nutrients and energy for the rest of the day for the little ones at school.. What powers we have, we as in adults and parents, we get to decide what they eat..or do we not??

At my six year old daughter's school they have packed lunches which I think is a good thing because then I am as a parent still left in charge of what my percious daughter puts in her mouth.

Now this is not always so easy because of peer pressure. Why would any parent choose to give their daughters and sons lunchboxes made in hell? White bread, cheese strings, crsips, chocholate, biscuits other processed foods claiming to be good like cereal bars. Read the labels parents! They are full of sugars! And what does sugar do to us? It rapidly raises our energy level in a steep curve for then to drop to under what it used to be. Result in school children is boysterous and loud children high on sugar. When the initial rush has worn off they feel tired and their ability to concentrate has dropped signinficantly.

Why would anyone want this for their child? Why do most children get this crap in their lunchboxes? Is it because people do not know what it leads to? Is it because parents are too weak to take the fight and be the ones who rules the household, not the children? Or is it because it was like this when they went to school so why not continue?

It is however rather tireing to have to tell my six year old over and over again that the reason she does not have chocholate, crisps or other unhealthy things in her lunchbox is because I love her and want her to grow up to be healthy and strong (like her mother ) I can see a much easier solution, BAN UNHEALTHY FOOD IN SCHOOLS! Why can they not only be allowed wholemeal bread (and the like) and fruit and veg as snacks. If that was the rule and everybody had to stick to it I do not believe the children would object for long. Other countries do this, so why not in the UK?

I for one refuse to give my child a lunchbox which is damaging to her health and makes her less susceptible to learning.
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14 Comments on Lunchbox rage

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- TheImaginativelyNamedWillsBlog
- 01.02.2006 @ 17:13:08
The lunches the schools themselves serve should be nutritious and good for the kids I completely agree. Otherwise the schools and state themselves are contibuting to poor health. The children should not be able to choose things like chips and pie for every meal. Children are obviously going to choose the thing most appitising to them rather than the best thing for them.

However if you decide to send your kid to school with a lunchbox then surely (as you're opting out of the school food system) it should be up the parents what they decide to put in there. Be it, wholemeal bread, crisps or whatever.

They should however, ban religion from state schools as this is the state forcing the children to believe what they want them to believe.
- - KarenF
  - http://www.lordbothwell.co.uk
  - 02.02.2006 @ 11:33:11
  I think religion is the least of it! I'm far more concerned about the rubbish they fill the kids' heads with the rest of the time.
  
  There's so much emphasis on testing, and learning things to pass tests, that all thought of learning being something to do for the joy of it has gone out of the window.
  
  Children are given 'model answers' and encouraged to memorise certain things. Individuality is discouraged because that might bring a fail.
  
  When I was at school my English teacher said, 'if you want to pass the exam, read Brodie's notes. If you want an 'A', think for yourself.' I doubt there's many teachers will be telling their children that any more. You get an 'A' for regurgitating Brodie nowadays.
  
  But this is what al Governemtn wants - citizens who don't know how to think or question, but who accept spoon-fed 'facts'.
  
  Anyone who questions will naturally question their faith.
  - - TheImaginativelyNamedWillsBlog
    - 02.02.2006 @ 11:56:02
    To a certain extent I agree, for example; in Maths it's standard to teach kids a quick and dirty way for manipulation 3 variable equations (called the Triangle method). This method helps the kids answer questions with three variables, but doesn't actually teach them Maths. Once they have to do anything else (for example 4 variables) then the child is buggered. They haven't learnt the basic principle.
    
    School teaching standards have been slipping for years (in France too according to a French colleage).
    
    You're right in that it's much more about memorising rather than understanding. A computer can memorise much better than you or I, but it's not intelligent or even learned.
    
    I'm not sure that the kids are encouraged not to be individual by the teachers, when I was a kid I remember wanting to fit in with the other kids because of peer pressure, not adult pressure.
    - - KarenF
      - http://www.lordbothwell.co.uk
      - 03.02.2006 @ 11:31:51
      I think wanting to fit in is fine - but again, you can do it whilst not believing in the things you are doing to fit in. I was like that with shoes for a while - I can really understand the whole way kids get sucked into that 'trainer' thing.
      
      I don't think it is that the teachers don't *want* the children to be individual, just that they are victims of the system too.
      
      Education no longer seems to be about nurturing a child's own interests and gifts - it's more about churning out unthinking little consumers - knowledgable, but unable to apply, it, as you said.
      
      Ironically, the perfect way to fit in is to stick out like a sore thumb.
      - TheImaginativelyNamedWillsBlog
        
        03.02.2006 @ 13:49:44
        
        With some experience of sticking out like a sore thumb, I can say that I haven't found it a perfect way to fit it.
        
        Sticking out, having people laugh at you, yes. Fitting in.. not so much.
        
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- hanneviken
- 01.02.2006 @ 20:28:20
Well... You would think we have opted out of school meals, but our county council do not provide them.

I think the content of many of these children's lunchoxes speaks for themselves; some parents do not know how to feed their children, and this makes a problem for everybody who wishes to feed their children healthy nutritious food.
One persons freedom might mean another ones jail!
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- TheImaginativelyNamedWillsBlog
- 02.02.2006 @ 10:00:54
I don't understand that. Why should you dictate what other people feed their children?

I sympathise that it's difficult if other parents are feeding their children things which might be appealing to your child, and it's your right to have your child eat what you think is best. It's not your right to tell other people what they should feed their children, even if you do think it'd be better for them.
- - hanneviken
  - 02.02.2006 @ 11:08:01
  Not MY right but perhaps the nation's. And perhaps it is time for the state to have their say. When we hear on the news a young person dying from malnutrition should we not then take action? The govenrmental bodies interfere in many arenas of our lives, and obisety and malnutrition is a growing problem in this country, which eventually will increase the pressure on the NHS and your tax money. Just because politicians and parents are too weak to be the decision makers our children suffer, and that is the sad fact, which ever way you turn this they are the ones who looses.
  With a rule saying children can only have wholesome food at school we would ensure those with parents less educated or weak at least one healthy meal a day.
  And it works! Having experience first hand both as a pupil, teacher and parent at schools\nurseries not allowing any crap, there really is no problem for parents or children.
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- TheImaginativelyNamedWillsBlog
- 02.02.2006 @ 11:21:58
I don't think force works. I think tackling the basic problem of why parents are feeding their kids crap is what we need to do. We need to educate people as to the problems of eating badly.

What would you told the parents they aren't allowed to give their kids crisps and then the child turns up with nothing but junk food? do you make the child starve?

Isn't it a bit fachist to control people in that way?
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- KarenF
- http://www.lordbothwell.co.uk
- 02.02.2006 @ 11:27:06
At Little Un's school they are not allowed to take in snacks other than fruit, and parents are very strongly encouraged to provide healthy lunchboxes. However, they do excellent school dinners, so he has those. These include a pudding, but that is fine, as I think it is also important that children know how to eat sweet things as part of their diet without it going out of control.

If children are brought up eating a wide range of foods, they are more likely to be able to choose for themselves sensibly. I think we've all had times when only chocolate will do, but other times when we crave orange juice or broccolli. Little 'Un is like that - he'll sometimes want an Aero, but he'll more often want raspberries or blueberries or whatever.
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- (Visitor)
- 08.02.2006 @ 09:22:41
You say you like having lunch boxes so the parent has control over what their child eats and then you say you want the school to ban certain foods and take away all this control.

I can't believe some schools have just given up on trying to serve a hot meal for a child.For some children this could be their only chance of a nutritious meal once a day (speaking as a person who was often sent to school with margarine sandwiches!).Thats where the problem is...its also a valuable chance to teach children themselves what they should be getting in their diet.
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- richard_arnold
- http://www.blog.co.uk/index.php/guardedreason
- 21.02.2006 @ 15:30:42
schools both past and present to which i have entrusted my son have had a no sugary snacks policy but the one in north devon did allow crisps so he had those one day a week.

but control over what your daughter puts down her gob ? you've never heard of swapsies...
- - hanneviken
  - 21.02.2006 @ 16:11:32
  No??? Please enlighten me.
  
  I wish my daguhters school, and all the schools in the country for that matter banned all sugary and salty snack.
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- richard_arnold
- http://www.blog.co.uk/index.php/guardedreason
- 21.02.2006 @ 17:18:32
the practise of children swapping with each other thus your daughter might leave home with a cheese salad sandwhich on homemeal bread but chocolate spread on white might be what actually goes down...it does happen.
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