View Full Version : Lunch box - What the...?!
MumOfTwoBoys
02-08-2006, 08:10
That's it. I am officially angry and frustrated. If you run a poll here about developing healthy eating habits in children, I think, the majority will be supporting the idea. Then how comes that many other children in my son's school continously bring their lunch boxes full of chocolate muffins, lollies, chips and all other junk food imaginable?! Their school has an excellent program that educates children about the good eating habits. We also try to follow a balanced diet at home (don't get me wrong, I am not talking skinny milk or fat reduced cheese; I'm talking good food in right combination and quantity). Tell me please, as a parent, WHY would you fill your child's lunch box with sugar, artificial colors, preservatives, fat and salt??? Don't tell me:"That's the only thing he/she is eating". Theoretically, in a drastic expample, if this child finds him-/herself in Somalia, in 3 days time he/she will start eating ANYTHING.
How can I make my son eating his lunch when he is surrounded by lollies, hundreds-and-thousands and other c..p? When I pack his lunch he himself makes the choice, so he gets the stuff that he generally likes. But he is a kid and I understand that eating a cheese & lettuce sandwich when another kid has a chocolate muffin is.. difficult.
What makes you put junk into your childs lunch box????
RaryGirl
02-08-2006, 09:32
Last year when DD was in grade 2 the teacher actually checked their lunch box and praised the children who had healthly lunches. Made the children feel good about themselves.
DD used to complain that she doesn't have roll-ups/chips etc in her lunch box, but I explained that she can't concentrate in class if her body is full of sugar and she's bouncing and she'll never get her work done, so won't get a star (leading to rewards at the end of the week).
Now she sees the ads for LCMS, roll-ups etc and tells me they're not brain food!
kirstenriley
02-08-2006, 09:32
are you guys serious??? are you telling me you NEVER give your child anything other that fruit or vegetables? ever? thats ridiculous. Granted mine are no where near school age yet, but hopefully the food nazis are still not around when they are. I agree that kids should be eating 90% fruit and vege and with having the healthy options in the canteen.....key word here is OPTIONS. If i choose to send my child to school with a chocolate brownie or muffin that i have made for him as a special treat and i get a sad sticker on my lunchbox or some pretentious mum telling me how lazy i am.....they can kiss my a**!!!!
who knows....maybe he will swap lunches with some kid who has gone to school with a tuna salad or something.
Mummabear
02-08-2006, 09:50
Now she sees the ads for LCMS, roll-ups etc and tells me they're not brain food!
:yelclap: I LOVE it. Brain food - excellent way of educating them!!! :smiliedance:
My DS is only 1 but I am already very conscious of what he eats as I have struggled with my weight all of my life and DS is the spitting image of me so I want him to grow up with a healthy attitude to food. Yes, he gets treats (as much as a 1 year old can - i.e. arrowroot biscuits and fruit bars) but DH & I feel very strongly about our children growing up eating wholesome food, especially for school. DH takes a packed lunch every single day to work filled with pasta, fruit, nuts & dried fruit, etc so hopefully our children will just think this is normal.
I guess it comes down to what is considered 'healthy' and 'normal' by each family. I know some families that think that they eat healthily but in reality they aren't very well educated on what is healthy. For exapmle they think that giving their children Zero coke and low fat flavoured milk is a healthy option :confused:
kirstenriley
02-08-2006, 09:58
certainly not trying to come across as aggressive..apologies for that!
Mum&bubs
02-08-2006, 10:04
I will defintely try and inforce a healthy lunch box when my girls are at school. Of course they can have a treat at home but theres no way I'll be sending them to school with a whole lunch box full of sh*t :no:
kirstenriley
02-08-2006, 10:05
fair enough.....point well taken :yelclap:
I think I see where Kirstenriley is coming from. (maybe without the aggression, but she has already sorted that out.;) )
But in all honesty, I find the OP to be very judgemental.
Remember that your children don't go to school with 1 or 2 other children. We are talking about say 50 other households in that year level?
So it may well be that different children are bringing lunchboxes with foods you (and in some cases I) may disapprove of. What I'm saying is that it may not be the same parents doing this repeatedly.
Not every parent has the luxury of time EVERY day. Most parents work and don't forget, many of these kids have a single parent. She/he cannot possibly keep up with x number of children, the housework, work and extra curricular activities (plus the chauffeuring that goes with all of this) AND be expected to be able to pack a lunch box of fruit and vegies EVERY day. Sometimes it will be easier to put snacks in the box that will give the child energy to keep them going.
As for lollies, yes they are bad influence on other children, but some NEED to have those lollies as well.. have we taken into consideration the many children who don't have "I am a diabetic" plastered on their foreheads, but need to keep their sugar levels under control?
I'm playing devil's advocate, but I just think many of us are too quick to judge other parents.
I don't have a child who goes to school yet. And I hope that when the time comes, my children will have healthy lunchboxes, but i'm not delusional. I know days are bound to come where it will be a quick stash of stuff in that lunchbox, because I will be working also.
We need to teach our children about what's right and wrong for them at home. They will be faced with a lot worse pressures than a roll up in the lunch box.
I have a 3 yo who is anaphylactic to nuts. We go to birthday parties and she can't eat cake or have the party treats. But she was taught very early on that somethings are not good for her and will make her sick. So at her young age of 3, she will question people if she can eat things they offer her (not question why the other kids are eating them). She is aware that she can't eat eveything that others eat. Because WE have educated her about it and make sure there are suitable substitutes for her.
She also knows that as a family, we only have take-away/fast food once a week. Anymore than that, and it would have be extraneous circumstances for a second meal that is not home cooked.
It starts at home and we also need to consider that we all have different lifestyles and for some making it to school and work on time and safely will be priority for that day.
So... I am awaiting the rotten tomatoes now ppl.. :laughing:
And sorry for the essay...:ecomcity:
No tomato throwing from me, Im with you on this one Lut. Although Bug is not at school age yet, I already pack us a lunch box when we go out for the day. I try to put healthy things in it for us both but as a single parent, its a case of whatever I can get my hands on and can afford. It also doesnt help that Bug has problems with eating so I prefer to put stuff in there that atleast I know she can and will eat!
AquaDevil78
02-08-2006, 11:07
My personal opinion on this is that people are generally lazy and it's easier to grab a packet of this and that then make a sandwich, salad or boil an egg, let alone actually go to the greengrocer and buy some fruit and veges:eek:
A friends child was teased and subsequently refused to take avocado for school lunch even though she loves it and it's nutritious.
Other parents sux in my opinion:banghead:
Maybe schools should supply hot lunches for all kids like in the UK so they are all eating nutritiously, can't see the gov spending money in this way though. Sorry rant over:o
I agree alot of parents and people in todays socitey are just that LAZY. I plan on making my own baby food etc, seriously how hard is it to cook some veges and the like and make it mushy in a processor? I also if i can plan to breastfeed as long as i can, probably 6 months and then the remining 6months breastmilk with introduced solids. As for when my child is older i will be teaching him/her healthy eating habits and as mum did with me when i was little, bad things such as sweets, chocolate, chips etc will be TREATS. But then every one has their own opinion and parenting style, but i do aggree stuffing your kids faces with excess sugar, salt and preservatives etc is just asking for trouble and in a way i see it as selfish, especially when you see over weight kids walking around. Thats just my opinion.
~Emmylou~
02-08-2006, 11:13
I've put alot of effort in encouraging Emily to eat properly - I've made all her food since she was weaned, and usually anything like muffins or what have you I make for her myself.
I'm very relieved that now at 20 months old she will eat the vegetables off her plate - including broccoli LOL - before she will touch anything else. She loves her food and will eat anything I give her. She has the occasional treat, but its exactly that - occasional.
If I send her to school and all this effort gets undone and she stops eating well because she's teased for what's in her lunchbox I would be so sad.
I do agree that generally it's laziness, I'm not a SAHM, I work full time but I still do this for her because to me giving her junk is not really an option. Plus it's all so expensive anyway! I can make a batch of muffins for her for a few bucks and freeze them and they last her for weeks :eek:
What frustrates me is the fact that some of these kids are hard to control by their parents, also deemed to be ADD and ADHD?!
My son at 15 months doesn't really know what cakes and biscuits are, though some mums in my playgroup seem to think that feeding their kids of the same age a muffin (yes, generally chocolate) for lunch is fine....... He gets excited over a piece of cheese, or rice cracker, or so shoot me .... his veges at night!
It is very confusing though nutritionally when they now show ads on tele saying dieticians recommend feeding your children reduced fat milk and dairy products after two years of age. Um, hello...... What about all those good fats?
mumtobenumber3
02-08-2006, 11:23
I have a six year old and a seven year old, I am pregnant with my third, I run my own shop 9am to 5pm, my children have extra curricular activities after school 3 times a week, I do all the housework, washing etc and I still manage to feed them a well balanced school lunch made up of sandwiches, fresh fruit, veges, yogurt, juice and the odd muesli bar for a treat. Seriously its about how conciencious you are as a parent. I think using no time, no money and the child not eating certain foods is a lazy excuse. The love of good food in a child all starts when they are little. We are suppose to be the ones in control aren't we????:confused:
MumOfTwoBoys
02-08-2006, 11:38
As I mentioned in my original post, we are talking normal balanced diet (forget the reduced fat, 'diet', 'light' and other stuff). Normally growing child needs fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins etc. I personally ignore dieticians altogether and make every effort to not ruin that natural ability of every healthy child to follow what his stomach tells him, not his eyes.
I agree laziness is the key. Before you start calling me names, I am working full time (not from home), don't have takeaway, cook everything from scratch, run a household, have two children and a husband. "Not have time" for making a healthy lunch for a person you are ready to die for is mere a question of priorities. Make healthy lunch box a top priority in the morning and suddenly you've got time. Yes, I get up 10 min earlier. No matter how difficult that is, I am doing it for my son.
No, I'm not a food nazi. My son does get plenty of treats. Most of them at home. I occasionally put a couple of biscuits into his lunch box along with various sandwiches, fruit and veges. What drives me insane is lunchboxes that contain:nutella sandwich, chocolate muffin, a small pack of chips and a lolly. AND NOTHING ELSE!!! Only real nazi can hate their child so much as to give THIS for lunch.
I have a six year old and a seven year old, I am pregnant with my third, I run my own shop 9am to 5pm, my children have extra curricular activities after school 3 times a week, I do all the housework, washing etc and I still manage to feed them a well balanced school lunch made up of sandwiches, fresh fruit, veges, yogurt, juice and the odd muesli bar for a treat. Seriously its about how conciencious you are as a parent. I think using no time, no money and the child not eating certain foods is a lazy excuse. The love of good food in a child all starts when they are little. We are suppose to be the ones in control aren't we????:confused:
Hmm... I wasn't aware that the standard 9-5 was the only working hours ppl worked.
Someone should have told my mother this when she used to work 9pm to 5am, so that she could drive us to school and sleep the few hours between dropping us off and time to pick us up again.
And I dare say that both my parents were very conscientious about a healthy diet. But sometimes, :eek: we had some no so healthy snacks!
And yes, you are in control... of your children. We can't presume to know how other's cope in their households or the dietary requirements of other peoples' children for that matter.
I am not arguing that children require and should be given a healthy diet. I am saying everyone should concern themselves with those under their own care and be confident that they are teaching their children what's good and bad.
Princess N.. I agree.
It's wrong.
But what I am saying is that we don't sit in that lunch area everyday to see which children have repeatedly got bad lunch boxes.
It doesn't mean it is the repeat offenders (though i'm sure there are plenty of them).
I would love them to say "no nutella, peanut butter" etc at my child's school.. ok.. probably cos she could die if she came in the vicinity of those children.. but I can't.
That's what I'm saying. I can't judge those parents. They are their children and I have to make sure that my child knows that certain things are not good for her.
Ok... I think I have taken over the thread. This wasn't my intention. I was just wanting to bring another point across, that's all.
I shall bow out now.
And thank you for not throwing those tomatoes. :D
mumtobenumber3
02-08-2006, 12:09
Lut,
I am not assuming that everyone situation is the same and I also came from a household were my mother worked the same hours as yours but I still, as a child, was not allowed a lunch box full of treaties, we couldn't afford it for one!!!
But I look at the lunches over the years from preschool through to grade 2 and honestly I have been astounded by the amount of processed foods like chip packets, choc coated sweets etc that these kids have. I nearly died when I saw a probably grade 4 boy chugging down two cokes before class. I know he didn't get it form school and there are no shops close by so it must of come to school via home.
Small treats are fine, I am not a food nazi, my kids have chocolate and icecreams and chips but as treats on the weekend and sometimes after school. But when they are suppose to sit down and listen and learn why and how can we as the responsible parent suppose to expect them to do this with a lunch box full of perservatives and sugar?
I guess it comes down to what we buy off the shelves in the supermarket as to what we put in the kids lunch boxes. If the junk isn't in the cupboard we can't give it can we??
Mummabear
02-08-2006, 12:24
I would like to expand on the point that was made about ADD and ADHD children and bad food choices. I think this is a big part of behavioural problems and often overlooked because people just want a quick fix (usually drug based) option for their child.
My cousin was diagnosed with severe ADHD - he was a nightmare of a child. He was sent to school with bags of chips, choc bars, lollies, etc every single day because 'that's all he'll eat'. Hmmm - anyone see any links here?
My DH is allergic to dairy. Having 1 glass of milk will cover his body in eczema. If one glass of 'wholesome' milk can do this - what are we doing to our children when we load them up continuously with preservatives, addatives and processed junk?? I didn't spend 9 months growing this miracle inside me, providing a safe and healthy environment for it just to turn it into a walking preservative once on the outside.
To say that it's easier or better to just give kids something they will eat and plop some junk infront of them is pure lazy, I don't care how you look at it. The only canned food my DS eats is baked beans because he loves to sit and share a can with his Daddy. He doesn't really like much meat other than sausages - to give him fatty sausages every night would, imo, be wrong so I've found other healthy alternatives, like lentils. Yet I still put lean meat infront of him a couple of times a week because one day he might just give in and have some and realise that he likes it. How can parents say that their children won't eat anything other than junk when they don't continuously provide them with the opportunity to choose the healthy options???
kirstenriley
02-08-2006, 12:43
I think my original coments sidetracked the issue...sorry for that.....my interpretation of the original comments were "any junk at all and youre a bad mother"...since my comments were not interpreted the way i meant....i can see how that might have been wrong....lol
As Cookie monster now says (according to Elmo on Rove the other week) ....cookies are sometimes food....thats really all i meant...
Mummabear
02-08-2006, 12:48
As Cookie monster now says (according to Elmo on Rove the other week) ....cookies are sometimes food....thats really all i meant...
how sad is it that our children's shows are going all politically correct now :no: but that's another thread, lol.
I think we are lucky in that my girl goes to a good school that fosters important values and are good with teaching children about certain things. My girl is embarrassed to have junk in her lunch box which makes my job that much easier. If you are interested click on 'my kids' in my sig to read my article on lunch boxes(the content thereof). It is a real issue.
I find you need to educate your children about 'sometimes' foods but not be too rigid (as I may have been in the past) though I have never ever said never foods, but restricted certain foods to sometimes.
However I have tried to educate my children through primary school, but it gets harder when they hit teenage years and highschool. When they have pocket money - which is theirs, and also money from work. I pack my teenage daughter a healthy lunch each day - salad sangers, fruit, and maybe something like a fruit bun or popcorn thins/rice thins. Occasionally chips. However, most of the healthy food will come home again - she will either not eat til dinner time, and then you have to supervise, or she will use her money to buy food from the canteen. Maybe if I had been a bit more lenient on the sometimes foods, she wouldnt feel the need to have them now? Who knows. Maybe it is just teenage rebellion??
BTW she chooses her own fruit and fillings each day.
Jess is not school aged but When I go out for the day pack a snack pack for Jessica of raisins, dried bananas, dried apricots. If I'm at home and feel adventorous I make low fat blueberry or apple or pear, or apricot muffins depending what I have in the cupboard. I admittely get some yoghurt and she has that. She loves her vegies and she gets heaps of them
bearsmummy
27-09-2006, 11:55
I have 2 school aged sons, one 7 and one 4 (who is in kindy 2 days a week).
I am a firm believer in not feeding my kids junk on a regular basis. In my opinion, it is alot cheaper to give them a salad sandwhich and healthy snacks rather than buying boxes of junk and jars of spreads etc all the time.
Dont get me wrong on the rare occasion they will get a muffin or something similar as a treat. But not a boxful of junk every day like my son tells me alot of his friends do. The other surprising thing is that as as a treat my son would prefer some fruit salad or some crakers and cheese.
The other thing is that he doesnt seem fazed that he is missing out, he knows that eating what he does is best for him to grow.
My sons school run a healthy eater award programme, where kids are given a raffle ticket into a draw to win a healthy canteen lunch if they bring a healthy lunch to school. Seems to be working really well with some of the junk eaters....:rolleyes:
Most kids, once they get used to eating well (even if it takes time) dont seem to miss the junk after a while.
:D
bearsmummy
27-09-2006, 11:58
I find you need to educate your children about 'sometimes' foods but not be too rigid (as I may have been in the past) though I have never ever said never foods, but restricted certain foods to sometimes.
However I have tried to educate my children through primary school, but it gets harder when they hit teenage years and highschool. When they have pocket money - which is theirs, and also money from work. I pack my teenage daughter a healthy lunch each day - salad sangers, fruit, and maybe something like a fruit bun or popcorn thins/rice thins. Occasionally chips. However, most of the healthy food will come home again - she will either not eat til dinner time, and then you have to supervise, or she will use her money to buy food from the canteen. Maybe if I had been a bit more lenient on the sometimes foods, she wouldnt feel the need to have them now? Who knows. Maybe it is just teenage rebellion??
BTW she chooses her own fruit and fillings each day.
I have to admit that as i child i was never allowed any junk at all.... never ever, and now i confess i have a very very bad sweet tooth :o
luckily i have no problems with my weight, but i think it has alot to do with being soooo restricted as a child.
I guess it all comes down to moderation :D
Mummy-2-2
27-09-2006, 12:22
my daughter has dried fruit, popcorn, rice cakes, cruskits etc for her snacks and a wholemeal sandwich for lunch. She is not allowed to eat chips or "normal" sweet biscuits, I make her biscuits and cakes for her. That said, I will give her something if she has seen it and really wants it (if it is on the table at home, not at the shops)
I cna really tell the difference between when she has had sugar and not. She gets hyper, she gets tired very quickly, she throws tantrums and I have to deal with it. I make everything for her with xylitol, it has a GI of 7 as opposed to the 65 of sugar, has no side effects and is in a lot of kids toothpastes as it reduces tooth decay.
I use wholemeal flour with no additives and like I say, I can tell when she has been eating other things.
I will only think about sending her to a school with a no junk policy, but will allow small amounts of junk so she is used to the choice and doesnt binge later in life. I will also not "treat" her with junk. I treat her with fresh pineapple or strawberries and at family gatherings, she has been refused salty, fatty chips etc and was quite happy to get some banana chips instead. If there is not another way, she will not take it.
She knows other kids eat different things to her, but she will still eat what she is given.
Its all a matter of choice really. money isnt an issue when it comes to kids health and making things is cheaper than buying them. Time isnt an issue as it just as easy to put in nuts/dried fruit packs as it is lollies and chips, and it makes it easier to deal with the calmer child.
rynosmum
27-09-2006, 12:36
My son goes to daycare 3 days per week and they really do foster healthy eating.
His lunchbox yesterday consisted of a vegemite sandwich on wholemeal, grapes and strawberries, a tub of yoghurt, a little banana and some cheese. All very easy things to grab quickly.
We also take along an extra piece of fruit and for afternoon tea, the kids help to make fruit salad with the fruit they have all brought along from home. They then site together and eat it all.
He certainly gets the odd sweet biscuit and a meal of chicken nuggets and chips on the weekend. All other nights we have home cooked meals with plenty of veges.
I think it's important to foster healthy eating early on and to lead by example. We have 'anytime' food and 'sometimes' food.
My DD never had choc till my MIL gave her some at my SIL's birthday last year :no: . We made Jess her own birthday cake last year and she hardly ate it but loved the crumbs
SamanthaJane
27-09-2006, 13:13
My lunch box as a kid was never full-on healthy. But it was varied. I think most foods are fine, in MODERATION. If my children get to primary school and want a small packet of chips in their lunch box once a week, then i will let them. But they will be taught that they have to make up for it by eating an extra serving of fruit or vegetables.
In my opinion, no junk food policies don't work unless every single kid in the school goes along with it... I remember "trading" my lunch box snacks with other children as a kid ;)
I was allowed a pkt of chips a week when I was a kid too but I had a terrible sweet tooth and I used to buy $2 worth of Jelly Babies on Saturday morning with my allowance and they were gone by Sunday evening. But now I buy the Natural Confectionary Lollies and can gorge about a million jelly babies or all natural fruit jellies.
We cook all Jessica's food at home unless we go out and I try to get as healthy as possible food when we go out. If my mother baby-sits Jess which happens at least once a week otherwise she never gets to see her now that my grandfather is slowly dying from cancer. She loves cooking healthy food for her and sending home some so that Jess has leftovers for the next couple of days
SassyMummy
27-09-2006, 22:44
I think what's "healthy" and what isn't, also has a bit of grey area.
Some people mentioned rice cakes...and while rice cakes don't have many calories/much fat, they also provide basically no nutrional value...and so you might as well feed your kids cardboard. IMO, rice-cakes aren't healthy, especially since they're made from WHITE rice... most "white" foods are high in sugar and contain plenty of empty calories...and rarely provide much fibre or other essential nutrients. Rice Cakes have also been found to not really make people feel "full"...
There's no denying that giving your kids chocolate/cakes/chips all the time is very unhealthy, but I just thought I'd point out that not all things that are deemed "healthy" actually don't have much nutritional value at all (even if they can be useful for adults trying to lose weight).
It really depends on "how healthy" you want to get, and what you actually consider to be "healthy"...some people would consider butter to be "fatty and unhealthy"...but in actual fact, butter is healthier for you than margerine. Margerine is full of chemicals and not REAL ingredients. It also doesn't contain very much calcium at all - butter does (low-fat butter is actually LOWER in calories than low-fat margerine is too...plus it had heaps of calcium!).
Giving your kids pasta, as some have suggested, is GREAT, but again, WHOLEMEAL pasta/bread/etc is what's actually GOOD for you...not "WHITE" pasta/bread. Just because you give your kids pasta, rather than a chocolate muffin, doesn't mean you're doing them a great favour...it really depends on the ingredients in those actual foods. A "chocolate" muffin, may have minimal cocoa, and be made at home with juice instead of sugar, and wholemeal flour. That could very well trump the spaghetti bolognaise someone else has made - with white pasta and mince (since white pasta isn't great, and mince isn't lean - it's just full of fat).
Again, I know there's no denying that roll-ups, chips and the like are probably generally bad for you...but it can be REALLY difficult for people to actually understand what IS healthy, and what isn't...and where to draw the line between the two.
reAllytee
27-09-2006, 23:21
I agree with Stacey its all good & well to say you give your kids say a muesli bar or fruit rather than a packet of chips etc but sometimes funnily enough the "healthy" stuff contains more sugars or fats than that packet of chips !
I was allowed a packet of chips every day in my lunch & you know what so will Boof because the fact of the matter is i know he will be eating other various things not just what he has at school as well as doing many other activities after school meaning he wont be sitting on his bum to help our obesity "epidemic" as they like to call it now ( sorry but i still find that a weird thing ).
Honestly who is to say what the child takes every day just because one day you see them with a box full of junk doesnt mean the next it isnt fruit or what they are having at home etc.
I would also hate to see how you would judge my nephew who has ADHD im sure you would all make comments without any idea of what is really going on behind the scenes. My sister has tried all different various diets to help his behaviour to no avail even his pediatrician has offered many various ideas again to no avail. Yes he now takes medication to help him concentrate in school & to help him stay in school otherwise he wouldve been suspended by now ! He also often eats buckets loads of junk .... OH NO !!! BAD PARENT !!!! Oh please :rolleyes: The reason behind this is because being on the medication he is on which is a speed like drug means he loses weight at an incredible speed & loses his appetite which makes it very hard to get him to eat. He needs copious amounts of many various foods to keep him going & often enough the only thing during school hours my sister can con him into eating is junk & even the pediatrician has okayed it because he needs to eat. What you dont see is that before school he has a glass of sustagen again to help with weight etc a bowl of weetbix & toast or a banana then when he gets home he has a full home cooked meal totally balanced. This all has to be forced into him due to no apetite & he often brings home his "junk" just as much as he refuses his vegies but the main thing is to get him to eat so he stops losing the 2kgs a week & either maintains it or if possible puts on some if he can.
But its all very easy to judge a parent when you dont know the full story.
luckytiger
28-09-2006, 00:17
I give alot of praise to those mothers who can feed there children mostly healthy foods in there lunch box my DP has a 8yr old son if we tried giving him healthy foods in his luch like crackers, healthy biscuits, salad sandwiches, and nothing he dosn't eat it and he does go the whole day without eating and that is not good for him either. Either way he still looses concertration, wether it being from not eating at all or the junk either way we cannot win............:banghead:
anna
donīt worry just keep doing what youīr doing.
i have problems- sometimes wiht thigns getting hidden (uneaten). because they do not like them, because XY has better stuff in their lunchbox....
i keep on putting healthy stuff in only, without fail! they do get their treats, donīt get me wrong, but i do not think school is the right place for this.
my kids already realise there is "****" food out there and they already say "MaC----" is making you sick :thumbsup:
you are a real GOOD MUM
Anna - I'm often shocked by what I see children my son's age pull out of their lunch boxes (he's in grade 6), but what is worse is what I see some children with at preschool!! They are supposed to have a healthy eating policy at DS2's centre, and the rubbish that some kids have is apalling.
I honestly think that a lot of people are lazy when it comes to food preparation for their kids lunches. They pack chips, lollies, 'muesli' bars etc because there is no prep involved, you just chuck the packet into the box and off they go. I hate it :gloomy:
Kids don't need a lunch box full of empty calories each day. They need good nutritious food with fibre and vitamins and minerals, not sugar and preservatives.
Allyoo - I don't think anyone was having a go at a Mum struggling with her ADHD son. But surely your nephew could be taught to eat food other than junk (especially since as you pointed out yourself he isn't eating it anyway)? Foods like nuts, seeds and dried fruit would provide him with valuable calories, and he would need to eat a lot less of them to get the same number of calories as a rice bubbles LCM's bar or a bag of chips.
Feeding our kids isn't just for now, it is setting their eating habits for the rest of their lives, and I think we should keep that in mind each time we reach for a pack of chips, or turn into a drive thru.
reAllytee
29-09-2006, 22:40
Allyoo - I don't think anyone was having a go at a Mum struggling with her ADHD son. But surely your nephew could be taught to eat food other than junk (especially since as you pointed out yourself he isn't eating it anyway)? Foods like nuts, seeds and dried fruit would provide him with valuable calories, and he would need to eat a lot less of them to get the same number of calories as a rice bubbles LCM's bar or a bag of chips.
Feeding our kids isn't just for now, it is setting their eating habits for the rest of their lives, and I think we should keep that in mind each time we reach for a pack of chips, or turn into a drive thru.
He wont eat during the day because once the meds kick in he has no appetite so this is the same even during school holidays where its a fight to get him to eat anything.
The fact of the matter is getting a kid to eat when he doesnt want to is hardly going to see him want to eat something like dried fruit or nuts especially when something like a bag of chips is "tastier" to him.
Im really tired so cant get my brain working atm not that it ever really does but yeah unless you have been there you cant really say whats easier etc.
Trust me when i went to live with them i thought id change it all but hardly even made a dent !
I would love them to say "no nutella, peanut butter" etc at my child's school.. ok.. probably cos she could die if she came in the vicinity of those children.. but I can't.
Just wanted to join in here and say. Our school has vowed a "Peanut Free" school. We have a number of children who are severe Peanut allergic so it was chosen by the school council that there is no peanuts allowed. This means, nothing with peanuts or chocolate in it! I have to say, there were a 'lot' of complaints initially however parents complied and kids soon learnt that they just cannot have these items as it was too dangerous for some kids.
I do find it hard as a parent of my last child attending school, not to just throw in some 'easy' items. I am lazy at times and do have some items that probably shouldnt be. When I make the lunches, the box is filled with healthy things and occassionaly I put in a treat. My dh however is the opposite. I have to literally nag him to 'not' put in all treats and a sandwich! He is the junk food king and I avoid at all costs to have the kinds of junk he just loves avail to him but he still manages to go off to work and buy it there (no matter what i say or do!!)
On lunch order days (we only ever do one a month) he will order garbage such as a hot dog, a donut and a flav milk! I often leave for work at 6:30 so he opts out while I'm not here. I have cut him back to just a hot dog but he has to fill the lunch box with fruit and vege pieces if that's the choice he makes! Fortunately, school council (I am on it) have made the choice to remove all junk foods from the menu so that children can only make healthy choices. This means no more pies or pastries, no cakes, no lollies and no icecreams!
Because I am not the one making the lunches in the mornings I do try to have several choices for him to put in the box. I buy veges, which I'm sure he has no idea exists! Fruit, cheese and yoghurt. When I get home I will find the yoghurt not eaten nor the fruit. Why? Because he has filled the box up with crapola and my dd has eaten them first and left the good stuff. I have since removed all junky things from our cupboards so he cant use them, and so he goes to the shop and buys it instead. Says there is nothign to give her! I cant win! I suggest different things to try in the box and he says "why would she want carrot sticks or celery sticks?" Ugggghhhh!!!
We have just recently been on holidays for 3 weeks and the whole time all he did was teach my dd how to eat ****! I am so over it. In the end when we did go out for dinner, my dd chose roast instead of chick nuggets! She wanted veges but when it came to the table there was none! I couldnt believe it. I told them to take it back and put some on it!!
Oh gosh, better get off my high horse about my dh lol. Sorry! Looks like I have some retraining to do. It seems that my junk food addict of a dh (which I'm sure he wasnt like this when I married him many years ago!) needs to have a lot of work!
Great topic by the way. We need a "suggestions of food items for lunch boxes" now! I'd love to hear what others make for their kids!!
MumOfTwoBoys
16-10-2006, 08:53
I think what's "healthy" and what isn't, also has a bit of grey area.
Some people mentioned rice cakes...and while rice cakes don't have many calories/much fat, they also provide basically no nutrional value...and so you might as well feed your kids cardboard. IMO, rice-cakes aren't healthy, especially since they're made from WHITE rice... most "white" foods are high in sugar and contain plenty of empty calories...and rarely provide much fibre or other essential nutrients. Rice Cakes have also been found to not really make people feel "full"...
I agree. But my kids actually look at them as a treat because I don't buy them much for the exact reason you mentioned. I do believe that making junk a "forbidden fruit" will only make things worse. So I prefer to give DS a rice-cake once in ablue moon rather than an Milo bar (~40% sugar!!!!!). It's like chooseing between bad and worse...
[..]
It really depends on "how healthy" you want to get, and what you actually consider to be "healthy"...some people would consider butter to be "fatty and unhealthy"...but in actual fact, butter is healthier for you than margerine. Margerine is full of chemicals and not REAL ingredients. It also doesn't contain very much calcium at all - butter does (low-fat butter is actually LOWER in calories than low-fat margerine is too...plus it had heaps of calcium!).
Giving your kids pasta, as some have suggested, is GREAT, but again, WHOLEMEAL pasta/bread/etc is what's actually GOOD for you...not "WHITE" pasta/bread. Just because you give your kids pasta, rather than a chocolate muffin, doesn't mean you're doing them a great favour...it really depends on the ingredients in those actual foods. A "chocolate" muffin, may have minimal cocoa, and be made at home with juice instead of sugar, and wholemeal flour. That could very well trump the spaghetti bolognaise someone else has made - with white pasta and mince (since white pasta isn't great, and mince isn't lean - it's just full of fat).
Again, I know there's no denying that roll-ups, chips and the like are probably generally bad for you...but it can be REALLY difficult for people to actually understand what IS healthy, and what isn't...and where to draw the line between the two.
I can't agree more on butter. I also believe that butter is much better than margarine with the calcium, vitamind D and A and the lack of trans fats. With the pasta though I can argue that pasta made from the hard wheat (most of the medium- good brands) is much more nutrisios(sp?) than a chocolate muffin. Mince - buy premium mince, very little fat...
But I generally agree that not everything that is considered "healthy" is actually healthy. I'd just say variety+moderation+common sense make it healthy.
Some people mentioned rice cakes...and while rice cakes don't have many calories/much fat, they also provide basically no nutrional value...and so you might as well feed your kids cardboard. IMO, rice-cakes aren't healthy, especially since they're made from WHITE rice...
My kids love rice cakes. They are made from brown rice. They only have 2 ingredients listed - brown rice, sunflower oil. I think that a rice cake with a smear of peanut paste or a slice of cheese is a great snack. Since it is only for a snack, it doesn't really need to fill them up.
karcarcor
20-11-2006, 11:52
I always send my girls to school with a piece of fruit, a sandwich or crackers with polony,ham or cheese, and a treat.
The treat is generally yoghurt or a home made fruit/meusli bar or home made muffins - generally apple or banana, but I do sometimes make chocolate chip, and sometimes I will give them a piece of left over cake from a birthday, or a packet of pretzels(as opposed to chips). and I don't see anything wrong with this.
They don't always eat their treat because they know that as long as they eat their fruit and sandwich then Mum is happy (DS1 started not eating her sandwiches, because she "wasn't hungry" - she's a slow eater and her friends would finish first and want to play!)
I occasionally will put 1 small lolly(ie, a jelly babyor a marshmallow) in their lunchbox just so they have something special - this keeps them happy when other kids have junk. But this only happens once a term I don't tell them when I do, and they come home all excited!!
After school we always have fruit for afternoon tea.
BOSS302WMOM
26-11-2006, 22:26
are you guys serious??? are you telling me you NEVER give your child anything other that fruit or vegetables? ever? thats ridiculous. Granted mine are no where near school age yet, but hopefully the food nazis are still not around when they are. I agree that kids should be eating 90% fruit and vege and with having the healthy options in the canteen.....key word here is OPTIONS. If i choose to send my child to school with a chocolate brownie or muffin that i have made for him as a special treat and i get a sad sticker on my lunchbox or some pretentious mum telling me how lazy i am.....they can kiss my a**!!!!
who knows....maybe he will swap lunches with some kid who has gone to school with a tuna salad or something.
I love your way of thinking:thumbsup:
I let my DD have "junk" and she will when she is school age.....she would rather eat a piece of fruit than chocolate anyway.....I spend close to $40+ on FRESH fruit on a slow week and thats for her alone!
(And thats only apples, pears and a few bananas for her smoothies!)
kirstenriley
27-11-2006, 09:32
Hi Miyamommy, to be honest, looking back at that thread now im a little embarrassed about the wording...i still agree with what i said but it came across a lot more agressive than intended.
BeachBaby3
20-12-2006, 16:00
Mostly my school age son has healthy food for packed lunch but sometimes he gets 'treat food"
A word of warning to all those smug people who feel their child will not have junk at school. I have a mother at the school who confidently told me how her son only had healthy food in his packed lunch. However my son has laughed to us about how L always throws his lunch away ( he keeps the cling wrap etc for authenticiy) then he pinches/steals/begs for other food!!!:thumbsdown:
It is important to teach children healthy eating habits but dont be too cocky about it.
When i was a teacher it was quite simple really, we actually had a healthy food policy and if i found any junk at "lunch box inspection" time it was not allowed to be eaten. We did alot of healthy choice education and set examples ourselves. All children had to eat in the classroom, given 10 minutes and then were allowed to go outside to play. Our tuckshop followed the same rule.
As teachers we did not see why we should have to put up with poor little minds that cant concentrate due to inconsistent insulin levels.
Our eating times were also 11 am and 1:45 pm. A "snack attack" was allowed at 9:30 in the first learning session. We provided parents with examples of menus. We had no probs really. Its the school that sets the standard.
I believe parents who pack just prepackaged and sugary items are lazy. Its not that hard to organise a couple of pieces of fruit and a sandwich!
When I was in school my mum ALWAYS packed good lunches with good snacks etc sometimes she would pack a treat in once a week or whatever like small bag of chips but never lollies soft drinks etc So I will be doing the same to my DD and future kids as it is terrible what is happening with junk food.. I read or heard somewhere that parents are coming around to the school giving them mcdonalds etc!!!:eek:
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