School lunches

And what about parents who don't agree with parts of current healthy eating advice? There are some valid objections to be made.

Whose job is it? I'd say primarily the parents'. It's the job of schools primarily to educate, not enforce.

That said, the problem that ariadne highlights is still there, but is it usually because parents can't feed their children properly or because they make different choices from what is advised? Even if (I did say if) the latter, at what point does it become someone else's responsibility? The lines between freedom of choice and authoritarian government are becoming too blurred for my liking.

Theseus and I have known each other from our school days. He and his mates would eat their packed lunches at break, then sneak out of the back gate at lunchtime to buy chips....that was 50 odd years ago.

Nowadays, I know of primary schools that do not have kitchens or canteens, but have chosen to use the space productively. The lunch boxes are monitored but I can't say I like the idea. I agree with Bags "food police". But again, who will protect and feed the children who desperately need decent food?

One of the teaching assistant's rang me from school one day to say that she'd made Minibags a piece of toast in the staffroom because Minibags hadn't eaten any of the school lunch that I'd paid for. I gathered she hadn't been eating most of it for a while. I said: "OK, I give up" and sent her with cheese sandwiches (two thick doorsteps of homemade bread containing ground linseeds and hemp seeds, plus whole poppy seeds, plus a fruit bar (compressed fruit, no added sugar) everyday for the next two years. She scoffed the lot every day.

That probably wouldn't be regarded as 'healthy' but the child was healthy. Isn't that what it's really about?

I object to food police anywhere, including in schools.

My daughter makes great lunchboxes for her twins. Sticks of carrot, celery and red pepper, hummus or broad bean dip, granary rolls with hummus and cooked meat or slices of roasted mediterranean veg, compartment of berries, grapes, raisins, home made soft drink...........then they swap with their school pals!

They come home with empty chocolate wrappers and Cheddars bags in their lunchboxes. She would pay for them to have school dinners but they don't like what is offered.

It seems to me anachronistic that school lunch services are obliged to provide a "dessert" out of the tiny amount of money they have to provide a meal. It would perhaps be better to have a nutritious first course - and a filling one, as what is served up is no more than a snack. (slice of thin crust pizza and a salad is not a lunch for a teenager, it's a snack).
I have seen (in secondary) atrocious lunch boxes e.g. 2 chocolate biscuits
I have also spoken to kids who are given a fiver to buy lunch and spend the whole lot on sweets on the way to school, every day.

That's a good point!

Seems a bit ironic (?) that Downing Street is backing off doing anything about cigarette packaging, but wants to ban sandwiches.

I hated school lunches - my mother (who worked) gave the money to my aunt who provided me with a good lunch every day. Just because it is supplied by the school doesn't necessarily mean it is perfect! My aunt was able to cater for my allergies and dislikes.

I appreciate things are different these days but I think most parents (or grandparents) are aware of what makes a good packed lunch - nanny state again!

And, of course, the obesity thing is nothing to do with all the u nhealthy BOGOF s the supermarkets put out is if?! No, blame the parents.

Exactly janea!

How long will it be before government inspectors are sent round to private homes to check what we're all having for dinner?

Well yes Mamie. My thoughts exactly. What is the difference between a piece of home made chocolate cake and school lunch chocolate pudding? My dgs's school stipulates no sweets or chocolate. I go along with that. They do allow cake.

Schools already do ban items from lunch boxes. There is an interesting thread about it on Mumsnet today. I just don't believe the figure about only 1% of packed lunches meeting nutritional guidelines quoted in some articles. Yes some lunch boxes have dreadfully unhealthy stuff in them, but many are much better than the stuff that gets served at school meals. Some schools ban cakes and biscuits of all kinds from lunch boxes, but every school meal has a pudding.

Some schools do try to control the contents of lunch boxes. I used to cook then freeze a load of chicken drumsticks which were thawed by their lunchtime. I have since discovered that my DSs bartered these with their friends for crisps and other non-nutritious items. I confess that I also used to buy a big bag of 'fun-size' Mars bars or Milky Ways - and keep them in the freezer - for their lunches, but didn't think these were too bad because scarcely a mouthful! Would those make me a bad mother nowadays?