What do you think? - School lunches topic

mckayleesmom wrote: Jessy mentioned in Celestrinas post that her school's policy is all healthy items and that they throw kids lunches away if they are unhealthy and make them eat a school lunch. Correct me if I misunderstood that correctly Jess. Personally I think that a childs nutrition is the parents responsibility..That said, although I like Mckaylee to eat healthy and she does..not everything I put in her lunch is always 100 percent healthy. I personally would be ticked if a school threw out my childs lunch and I don't think they should have any right throwing a childs lunch out. That might be all the parents could afford or what they had left in the house. McKaylee eats really well and loves her vegetables and has never had a problem eating what is in front of her..that is why I don't feel to bad when I toss in some cookies every once in a while

They do have snack time and you HAVE to send in something health...We usually do raisins, fruit, cheese sticks and crackers.....Personally I don't know why I bother with that one because it always ends up remaining in her backpack because the teacher gave them veggies..which she prefers.

This isn't the first time I have thought about this either because a lady at Leithans office made a snotty comment a while back that she would never send HER DAUGHTERS to the school I send Mckaylee to because of their unhealthy lunch program . As she said this to me I glanced over at her 8 and 10 year old daughters that both outweigh me and are both mildy obese. I couldn't help but find her statement shocking. I just told her that it didn't matter because I pack McKaylees lunch so most of the time I'm in charge of her nutrition anyways.

I personally think its great that a school practices healthy eating choices, but I don't think they should be allowed to have the right to be able to throw a childs lunch away because they didn't like what the parents packed. They are the parents.

Just a note...this post is not to sound hostile...I'm just wondering what peoples opinions were on the matter.

amymom replied: wow! I agree parent's first. Throwing away something, because of your opinion of what is healthy is not ok with me. Given I work in the schools, I could go on & on, but don't have the time. I will check this thread later tonight.

mckayleesmom replied:
Really I don't understand how that would be legal. That is somebody's money being thrown in the trash. Plus you don't know how the child eats at home...I monitor what my kids eat at home. Just because I have cookies in my pantry doesn't mean my kids eat them everyday..kwim?

boyohboyohboy replied: I totally agree, Jakob cant eat like other kids, he doesnt ever eat fruits and veggies, but he gets it from juice drinks and things I mix together for him as well as his pediatric formula, but if you saw him eat, just the things he can tolerate you would think he ate nothing but junk...
and if the school threw away what he could eat, they would be doing him harm.

our school doesnt do that.

mckayleesmom replied: I just re read the post and Jessy said its a new law and they get a warning home. I lived in ALabama for about a year, but it was before McKaylee started school and I don't remember hearing about it.

I think its great in Theory, but its flawed. If you are not the parent or guardian of a child, then you don't know their eating habits day in and day out. Sometimes what a parent sends might be the only thing they can get their kid to eat. Some kids are very picky eaters. A little boy in Mckaylees class last year wouldn't eat the school food and wouldn't eat a sack lunch because it wasn't hot. He only liked his Moms food..so she would bring him up her homeade food everyday.

My children only get one sugary type snack a day and that is only if they remember. I honestly don't keep it in the house alot .Usually I buy stuff once a month and when its gone, its gone. I don't find that bad because I personally believe that if you don't give it sometimes in moderation, then they will overdo it if they get the chance. My mom never let us have sugar and pop when I was growing up and now I'm a closet junk food addict. I think that if she would have let us have a little early on, she could have used it as an opportunity to manage the good with the bad.

ZandersMama replied: I don't agree with anyone throwing out my kids lunch. I send healthy stuff most of the time, but i'm seriously low income. Like, last year when i did my taxes my gross was 9700ish. Sometimes what you can afford just isnt the healthiest. Fresh fruits and veggies are expensive. I do the best I can, but when it comes down to either whole grain organic bread at 4.99 and plain old white bread at 1.29, well hes getting white bread.

I don't send him to school with crap either, but it's not always the healthiest.

My3LilMonkeys replied: I actually typed a reply to that last night but then didn't add it because I was really tired and afraid it wasn't coming out right.

I am absolutely all for eating healthy and in favor of the school supporting that, but if my kid's school ever threw their lunch away because it wasn't healthy enough, they would be getting a VERY angry phone call. Bottom line, it's my kid, and if I think they deserve a treat once in a while and let them have an unhealthy lunch for their birthday or whatever, it's my choice.

MommyToAshley replied: I can see both sides of the coin, actually. I have volunteered in the classroom since Ashley was in kindergarten, and I have seen some of the stuff parents try to send to school as snacks. There was one little boy in kindergarten that had behavioral issues, and I have no doubt that part of his problem was due to his diet. For snack, we were all sent a letter stating that we should only send healthy snacks, and a list of good choices was provided. This little boy brought chocolate cupcakes and candy bars for his snack every day. The teacher spoke with the parents about it, but nothing changed. He had constant behavioral issues and so I am sure that his diet was not his only problem, but it sure didn't help. He was eventually asked to leave the school because his behavioral issues got so bad that he risked the safety of the other kids.

Anyways, the reason I am sharing that story is that some parents don't make the best choices and I'm not talking about choosing white bread over wheat or sending cookies as a desert for lunch once in awhile. I am talking about the parents that send nothing but junk food and it does affect the behavior of the child during the school day, which in turn, affects how much the other children learn. So, while the child is at school, I think it is fair to set basic guidelines (just like they do with what to wear) as long as those guidelines are reasonable. I don't see a problem with substituting a lunch for an appropriate lunch, as long as the parents were advised of the guidelines and the consequences in advance. I know I am in the minority here, but I don't see it as being different than any other school policy, like the uniform policy.

I don't think Ashley's school has a policy for the lunch program, but if it a child's diet at lunch was perceived as an issue, I am sure the teacher or the principal would discuss it with the parent on an individual basis. I don't think they'd just toss out the lunch or anything like that.

MommyToAshley replied:
I know what you are saying... fresh fruit and vegetables are ridiculously expensive. I've commented on that before in another thread. Do you qualify for free school lunches or will he not eat the lunches at school?

mom21kid2dogs replied:
I think if some state actually legislates what your child can bring to school for lunch, health care reform should be the LEAST of our worries!

DansMom replied: I was going to say what Dee Dee said. It's hard for me to imagine a lunch being thrown away unless it was a situation where it's truly "junk" and the child is visibly suffering malnutrition or behavioral problems as a result. However, the parents need to be informed and counseled first. The school would be putting themselves in jeopardy if they gave the child a replacement lunch and the child was allergic to something in that lunch.

Celestrina replied:
Personally I don't think you can compare the two. If a kid comes into school in something other than the uniform the clothes they are wearing aren't thrown out.

DansMom brought up a good point; what if there was something in that meal that contained something that the student was allergic to? For example, peanut allergies will cause an extreme allergic reaction. Even if the cooking surface (or the cafeteria worker themself) comes in contact with something containing peanuts or peanut oil it can be enough to trigger a reaction.

A&A'smommy replied: ok the law has to do with the lunch that the schools serve the lunch thing is a school policy. They aren't TERRIBLY strict they mean like if you send your child candy (which is a BIG no no), fruit punch (which is mostly sugar although now you can find it 100% juice and no sugar added) soda, things like that. Which I think is a good idea.. they DO allow you to send cookies, cake or whatever junk for celebrations like birthday,holiday ect. I sent Alyssa peanut butter sandwiches, yogo's and fruit snacks because she wont eat hardly anything else.

MommyToAshley replied:
What I meant in the comparison is that it is no different than having other rules or guidelines in school. In the uniform example, if the child is wearing something inappropriate they are asked to change or the parent is called and asked to bring appropriate clothing. I suppose they could do the same for lunches and call the parent to bring a new lunch -- I bet the parent would get tired of that real quick and start packing healthier stuff. But, like I said, I think Ashley's school would just have a conference with the child's parent if it were an issue.

My2Beauties replied: If my child's school ever threw out what I packed someone would get a severe cussing That's all I have to say, but I pack pretty healthy lunches with the exception of a Little Debbie cake or Rice Krispie treat sometimes so that's why they'd get a cussing

cameragirl21 replied: Personally, I think it's wrong to throw out food, period. There are so many hungry people in this world that nutritious or not, throwing it out for me would be a huge no no. If I heard of any school doing that I'd be so far beyond livid I can't even express it.
I also think nutrition is ultimately in the hands of the parents and unless a kid is malnourished, others should butt out. I am very against eating meat and have read that it's very unhealthy but when I was babysitting back in the day, I would take the kids to McD's and buy them happy meals with hamburgers and chicken nuggets because their parents allowed it and it didn't matter if *I* am 100% certain it's unhealthy. Unless there is poison in it and it can seriously harm or kill someone then it's no one else's business. Also, I am very against artificial sweeteners, like nutrasweet for instance and have read that it's very dangerous for kids but I once babysat for a boy whose parents "trained him" (their words, not mine) to drink diet coke instead of regular coke because they didn't want him having a lot of sugar. Again, their rules, their kid, so I held my tongue and ordered him diet soda.
If a kid is rambunctious and is eating lots of sugar and his/her diet is suspect then the parents need to be called in for a conference to discuss it. Also, if there is food that's against the rules, like candy bars or whatever then I think it is fine to take it away and send it home with the kid later but not to throw it out.
Intervention by other is only good for as long as it's reasonable. A school's job is to educate and look for any potential problems like abuse at home, etc but their job is not to provide nutrition unless it also doubles as a kids' weight loss camp or something to that effect. Meals served by the school are another story altogether but should not be forced upon kids or their parents just because the school does not approve of the food the parents feed their kid.

A&A'smommy replied: is all I can say!!!! first of all if they threw out my childs lunch I wouldn't be angry but honestly they aren't THAT strict they have a list of things you are NOT allowed to bring to the school (which is NOT a bad idea considering some kids aren't allowed to have those things anyway and I would be ticked off if someone brought something my child couldn't have) if you bring them they throw it away and so far they have NOT had to do that this year I don't know about in the past but I know about this year. AND if you break a rule at THEIR school then you SHOULD have to pay the consequences its JUST the same if a child broke any other rule, or parent for that matter!!
They don't allow a lot of sugary things because it does make some kids bounce off the walls and then causes distractions and makes it harder for some kids to learn. I KNOW that sugar makes Alyssa wild so yeah I do NOT want her to have too much sugar at school. I think that its a VERY good rule!!

Boo&BugsMom replied: I'm on the fence, but I more or less agree with Dee Dee. Working in schools before, I have seen a lot of parents who just don't care. One girl would bring a Capri Sun and Bacon Bits for her lunch every day. NOTHING else. I know some kids are picky, but that was an instance where parents never put towards any kind of effort in fostering any kind of good eating habits in their child. If parents are not going to care about their child's nutrition, then someone else has to. The kid would whine about what she wanted, and the parents never stood up to act as parents and just let her eat what she wanted! Even the pickiest kid will eat things aside from bacon bits...it's up to the parent to foster that and not give in when they want junk! I don't think this has anything to do with white bread versus whole grain. The schools are really just trying to rid of the extreme cases, like the ones I and Dee Dee mentioned. The kids who bring cookies and cake every day as a main meal, or kids who you never see with any kind of fruit or veggie EVER. Even if it's not fresh, a small can of pears is better than nothing.

Would I be ticked if my children's lunch got thrown out?? ABSOLUTELY! However, I pack my children a well-balanced meal. It may not be healthy by many "health nut" standards, but it's well-balanced by common standards, which is what schools are trying to enforce. They're not looking to take away the white bread and the occassional treat...they're just trying to enforce common sense among parents...which in my opinion, really is lacking in many individuals these days. If someone isn't equiped with the proper common sense, then someone has to step up to the plate for the child's sake.

coasterqueen replied: Hmmm, I'd probably be ticked if the school did that to my child, for sure. We have rules no soda or candy, which I agree with. The problem I have is with sending snacks for Megan. With her food allergies she can't have what they have so I have to send her own food. She is used to eating lots of fruits for snacks, but since I have to send a bag of snacks weekly, I can't really send fresh fruit, besides apples - she eats the fruit at school when they have it. So that leaves me to a very small amount of things I can send her since EVERYTHING has in it what she's allergic too. So I do send pre-packaged rice crispy treats, might not be great, but I don't have many choices. I also send Cheerio mix, and organic fruit leather. There isn't much pre-packaged stuff I can send with her. So if a school was going to throw out Megan's rice crispy treats because they think they are unhealthy, it doesn't leave me with much left to send.

ZandersMama replied:
Our schools don't have lunches until you get to High School. There is pizza day, every wednesday, and subway day, every friday, so I do try to let him participate in them, but it's 5.50 a week for that, so 22.00$ a month, plus milk money, 5.60$, plus 1$ a day for popcorn recess. I can't wait until Zaviers therapy is finished so I can start working. So far he hasn't had to miss out on any of it.