Should kids be kept in schools at lunchtimes to keep them away from fast food?

[AB Asks]

Glasgow council has been encouraged to stop children from leaving school grounds at lunchtimes. The idea is to stop them from going and getting fast food and so keep them healthier. Is this really the answer? Or is it a step too far in restricting kids freedom?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_an d_west/7093676.stm

[LoftyLottie]

I think kids should be kept in school at lunch time full stop!

[Loosehead]

pointless gesture, they'll get their junk food by other means. Remember that school a few months back that introduced healthy food for lunch? The kids' chav parents went up and fed them pizza/burgers/KFC through the fence! Can't have little Chesney-aquascroat going without his lard fix can we!

[cazzz1975]

the problem is they are the product of their environment, if the parents eat rubbish all the time then it is all the kids will end up eating, most of the problems with kids are down to the parents who are normally an older version of the same behaviour patterns..

[Louisa 69]

Yes i think it's a step too far. What's the next potty thing they're going to come up with?.....residential school, to stop them eating junk food on their way home or at home.

[andy-hughes]

Joking aside - this, like so many malaise in our society can be cured by one simple system. It's called education.

Not the political football punted about by politicians who can't leave a curriculum alone for up to a twelve-month period without starting all over again.

Not the system that puts the early years training of our future generations in the hands of poorly paid unmotivated teenage girls who go into childcare becaue they really donp;t know what else to do with thier lifes and 'quite like chilren ...'

Education needs serious financial investment, a large dose of listening to teachers instead of educationalists, and the willingness to face up to the fact that it will take two, maybe three generations before the benefit is felt.

It won;t happen, so today's junk-food kids will be tomorrow's obese binge-drinking adults.

It's cyclical - but since they can't grasp that simple concept in regard to something as simple as 'global warming' - they won;t ever grasp it about changing soceity for the better.

Education starts are nursery level - put the money in there, watch the benefitis rise through the generations as they grow.

No?

Ok then - as you were ...

[natalie_1982]

We were never allowed out of school at lunchtime anyway, it only meant that we'd stop at McDonalds on the way home.

[Louisa 69]

I agree Cazzz, but do you not think that mans progress has made life lazy?
Years ago my gran would cook a good nourishing meal, she baked her own bread, cakes, scones. Nowadays everything is all ready available in supermarkets ie ready meals, microwave dinners, it's really sad.
I'm not saying everybody chooses to eat that way, but for some it's the lazy option.

[funnygirl]

We too were locked in at lunchtimes. Only the real die hards managed to get out and get chips from the chippie over the road.
I don't think this is the answer, as Natalie says, you will only stop off after school.
The only way is to shut down all fast food outlets completely and have salad bars!! (yuk)

[Reverandfunk]

When I was at skool only 5th years were allowed out the rest had to stop in

[cazzz1975]

I think you are right louisa, When I was a kid..not that long ago ;D We never ate takeaway foods, very rarely we would have a portion of chips for tea, all of our meals were vegtables and meat largely, I never had any interest in mc donalds, kfc ect

there is too much doing stuff on the run, including preparing food, most ready meals are crammed with fat,salt and one shepherds pie I looked at actually had a warning on the side saying "contains fish"

my mom like your nan used to make pies, scones and bread from scratch, I never felt the need to eat ready foods
I always cook proper foods at home and my daughter is the delight of her dinner ladies as she loves to eat up her vegetables!

[smudge]

More often than not, I used to go home for lunch & there was never any question of what we would get up too - Mum's dinners were too delicious to miss!

The pupils who did have school dinners, were still allowed outside the gates afterwards - until the bell went!

Mind you, this was way back in the 1950' & 1960's!

[Reverandfunk]

To be honest when kids are let out of school at lunchtime, what are they going to do apart from annoy local shopkeepers and annoy local residents?

lol

[cambus]

As long as its diet fast food, I don't see the problem.

[sleepyj]

my kids are not allowed out of school at lunch time which i think is right ..its better they do have to stay in at lunch

[dannyday5821]

this is pointless. everyone remember the photo of parents outside school gates giving kids chips and so on. kids will get junk food end of. if by parents, at a friends house, pocket money etc. this simply WILL NOT work. when will councils and the government learn? the only way to stop obescity in kids, is to educate the parents who feed them, and to find a way to facilitate the change of attitude in society. how? who knows? this is not the way. unfortunatley, for a society to change, this can take a very long time, the same in relation to the way this country treats the elderly. its a societal problem that can only be changed via attitudes, not money, or stupid things like locking kids up in school at lunchtime.

[funnygirl]

Cambus 'diet fast food' such as???!!!!
Grilled burger sans bun and oven baked potato wedges.
Yeah I can see that going down a storm with the kids.

[Reverandfunk]

When i was a lad....

You had school dinners full stop. No alternative, if you didnt like what was being served you went hungry. No food machines, I could count the number of times we had chips on one hand lol

[funnygirl]

Very good Wiz!
And when they're out of your sight, straight into the nearest McDonalds!

[LoftyLottie]

Rev, you are giving your age away!! I have similar memories though. Grey mashed potato, soggy overcooked cabbage, fish pie, watery grey mince with no seasoning and worse of all that awful semolina! Those were the days!!!