School Policy's?

[lizzydrippin]

I'd appreciate a little feed back on this. My son who's a single parent, received a phone call from his 10yr old sons school today telling him, in no uncertain terms, that he is not to put 'sweets' in his sons lunchbox as they have a ' healthy eating' policy at the school. My grandson was told by the headmistress that if he ate the 'sweet' he would be in alot of trouble. Now the sweet in question was one of those little fruit lollies and my son (who was needled by the phone call from the school) decided to do a little research and discovered that the lollie which had no artificial flavourings or colourings was in actual fact more healthy than a bag of crisps (which apparently is acceptable by the school). It had less fat than a slice of bread and had 75 calories in it. The rest of his lunchbox had a cheese sandwich, 2 fruit yoghurts, an apple and a fruitshoot drink. Its not every day that he gets a lolly but he asked for one this morning and my son popped one in. Is my son overreacting by being annoyed? Surely the school can only make requests about these things, not demands?

[ChuckFickens]

SO your grandsons school has a healthy eating policy.... and your questioning it on a technicality??

Errrrr... does the obvious really need to be said?

Yeah it may be over the top to say he will be in trouble for a lolly... but give him an apple next time and be thankful the school is actually worried about it's pupils health.

[ChuckFickens]

Oh sorry missed your last sentence!!

Surely the school can only make requests about these things, not demands?

Yeah discipline isn't all that important in schools for young kids is it.... just let them do what they want.... it will all turn out OK

[Ice.Maiden]

Most schools these days insist on wholesome, healthy food, and unfortunately, nearly all sweets contain a lot of sugar, which is bad for teeth.
Having said that, my autistic son has difficulty in eating a variety of food, so I was advised by his doctor to pop a couple of fudge fingers into his lunchbox. it's not ideal, but keeps any hunger at bay until he gets home, and the school allows this.
In the case of children with no special needs, I'd have to agree with the school's ruling though. The lolly might be alright in itself, but then you'd see other sweetstuff being brought in by the pupils, and it'd all be back to square one.

[pinktwink]

it is important for schools that parents support the rules otherwise teachers have ongoing difficulties managing childrens behaviour. Whikst it may appear petty to you by undermining school rules with a child so young may lead the child to disregard other rules in the future .

I agree with chuck it is great that the school has a healthy eating policy. if they make an exception for a lolly today what if another child brings the natural confectionary company no artificial jelly sweets tomorrow ??? the rule ends up being futile if not respected . I think your son is over reacting by going as far as researching what is in the lollipop, Does he do as much research on ways to promote his sons education and learning abilities.

Parents are expected to respect the schol rules and if they dont like the ones in a certain school they should find a school they are happy with,

How would your son feel if the school interfered in what dinner he gave his son or his bedtime. It is up to your son to reinforce to his own son seets are not allowed in school and if he fancies a lolly he can have it when he comes home.

I am interested in how your grandson ended up getting the lolly when his dad knew it was not allowed was it to give in to a tantrum ???

[lizzydrippin]

Ive obviously made a lousy job of getting across what I mean. It wasn't the healthy eating policy that was the problem, but the schools attitude towards enforcing it and why it was a demand and not a request.
ChuckFickens, I havent got any idea at all of what you're talking about, was it a joke? Im hopeless at getting jokes, try me with another one,only keep it simple!

[pinktwink]

rules by nature are demand led and require co operaion to be inforced if it was just a request then a lot of parents may not seem the importance of it and then children may bring in more unhealthy foods. Schools have a right to demand standards of parents in order to enforce discipline the sweets are only a side issue it was your sons disregard to school rules that is the issue it may be sweets today but will he disregard uniforn regulations if his son wants to wear a track suit next year.

Why is your son so upset about being spoken to by the school surely he wants the best for his son and to support the school in their quest to educate him. His son also needs to know his dad respects the school rules

[ELVIS68]

Although it`s a good idea schools have introduced a healthy eating policy, I`m sure most parents put a healthy lunch in their kids lunchboxes anyway

But they should also consider bringing back proper PE lessons, a few years ago the government wanted to abolish any competitive sports in schools to avoid any kids getting upset if they lost

Then there was the selling off of school playing fields, and now Labour bang on about getting our kids involved in the 2012 olympics! What at ....beanbag catching?

[ChuckFickens]

No not a joke... the school has made rules... surely as a grandparent you should be saying to both your son and your grandson that those are the rules and they need to be followed.

You shouldn't be trying to help them find a way past these rules, especially at such a young age.

Sorry if I seem harsh but this has irritated me, kids need to be taught to follow rules have have a sense of discipline, they shouldn't have their parents and grandparents trying to find ways around the rules for them

[ChuckFickens]

can do jokes if you want though

http://www.jumbojoke.com/warning_read_this_war ning_495.html

[slinkycat]

Oh dear, so I take it schools have now employed lunch box police? i'm all for encouraging healthy eating, but isn't this taking it a bit far? i don't think your son is overreacting at all, surely by opting out of the school meals he can choose what to put in his sons lunchbox, it seems that he is being sensible about that but the school is taking a rather Big Brother stance, as long as his lunchbox has a healthy balance then whats the problem with the occasional treat?

[Ice.Maiden]

If you want your child or grandchild to be able to have sweets at lunchtime, then let him come home for his meals.
I also don't see why the odd treat can't be included, but short of checking all the lunchboxes each day, this'd soon get abused.
Our school's had this strict eating policy for a while now, and actually, I agree with it. One of the reasons they're acting so keen, is because with many parents being out at work these days, they don't make the time to provide a healthy, balanced diet at home. Feeding chips, burgers - fast food in general, isn't the way to feed children properly, so schools are trying to ensure at least one healthy meal a day's being eaten by them.

[ELVIS68]

I agree with Ice Maiden to some extent, but schools making kids eat healthy lunches isn`t going to stop kids eating crap at home

As for the discipline mentioned by chuckfickens, discipline should be taught in the classroom not the dinnerhall

[EngTeach]

Oh Elvis, so we should allow all sorts of behavior in the dining hall and no discipline? Try supervising one where discipline is absent.

As for the health content of the lolli, I think the concern is the sugar. Imagine 25-30 10 year olds hopped up on sugar after lunch? Many grade schools in the US have even eliminated the classroom birthday party with cake or cupcakes. I have no objection to the cake but it does take away a lot of instructional time.

[ELVIS68]

EngTeach..I`m not saying there shouldn`t be discipline in the dinnerhall, I`m saying discipline should be taught in the classroom and carried on in the dinnerhall regardless of what the kids have in their lunchboxes

You can`t blame kids misbehaviour on what they have to eat at lunchtime

[pinktwink]

filling children full of e numbers and sugars will effect their behaviour.

Childrens misbehaviour cqn stem from their parenting experience. If children see parents flaunt school rules this will not encourage them to conform to school rules either

[jno]

quite right, pinktwink - no teacher wants to teach children who've just stuffed themselves with sugar. Is lizzy's son so desperate to assert his authority that he can't even fit in with the school's healthy eating policy? Maybe he's had too much sugar himself...

[Ice.Maiden]

As I said Elvis - a lot of children DO get fed rubbish at home, and that's why schools are trying to implement a healthy attitude towards food. I don't blame them, quite frankly, although, as in my own child's case, there are individual needs that should be looked at.
I totally agree about the amount of sugar that sweets contain. It's not just additives that're the worry. then again, just a small handful of grapes contain a lot of sugar, so children and parents alike need educating.

[EngTeach]

Point taken regarding the dining hall Elvis. But.....

The food can affect their behavior. Cookie + Juice x 25 = scary times!!! LOL

[ELVIS68]

Point taken EngTeach but ...bad behavior = detention, if done again = cane = won`t do it again

That was the policy in my school and it worked then and school dinners didn`t come into it