school tells mom that childs lunch is unhealthy and send bil

rjt1000

the whole thought of inspecting kids lunches makes me laugh. Especially since the school is selling them ice cream as their after lunch dessert treat. My kids lunches go from nutritious to junk depending on many factors, mainly that my kids usually make their own. They might take left over pizza or chicken or make a sandwich or have hummus and chips. Who knows.

And the school lunches are far from nutritious anyway. At the middle school level, they always have pizza as an option. Cheeseburgers, pizza, fried chicken nuggets and "breakfast for lunch" are regulars on the local menu.

I'd have been in the school office within 10 minutes of getting the bill for the school lunch. And I'd be demanding an explanation for why the school was forcing my kid to eat something that I didn't want my kid to eat.

purple1butterfly

What a great lunch. I would enjoy eatting it.
We change what goes into our childrens lunches daily so they dont get board, but it is healthy choices, if /when my daughter has crisps in her lunch most of the time she does not eat them.

LilysMom28

a friend of mine was just telling me how the lunch lady at her daughters school kept taking her juice box and fruit snacks away from her. And the only way my friend found out was that her daughter finally told her after weeks of this happening. The school never sent a letter or anything...they just kept her food. Crazy!

sofaking6

I like how they broke it down into food groups rather than what the girls school lunch actually consisted of. I am fairly certain that that is because the schools lunch consisted of crap!

Yeah exactly...there has to be more to this story, or else the moron "inspecting" these lunches needs to get a real job.

Reinventing_Me

This coming from a place that thinks pizza is a vegetable..I would have been royally pissed aswell...

Right! They can serve greasy Pizza and French Fries as vegetables but the home-packed lunch was unacceptable? C'mon, son! That is some BS. I wouldn't have called or written anyone anonymously... they would have known it was me.

sjtreely

Does the school have rules regarding lunch?

My child went to a school that did. And we followed the rules. That's what rules are.

I seriously doubt this was a public school (the one we went to was private), and the article doesn't specify the school or whether or not it had published rules.

Until I have more facts, I will hold my judgement.

You, sir, are genius.

uniquewrapz

I think that the lunch the mom packed was perfectly balanced. And as far as the chips go, some fat is good in a diet, especially if the child is an appropriately healthy BMI. Chips are not bad in moderation.

Rubbish! I would be a ticked off mommy if that was my child!

Mariposa187

most school lunches aren't even close to being that healthy!

Josee76

Does the school have rules regarding lunch?

My child went to a school that did. And we followed the rules. That's what rules are.

I seriously doubt this was a public school (the one we went to was private), and the article doesn't specify the school or whether or not it had published rules.

Until I have more facts, I will hold my judgement.

^^^^ this!

My girls attend a school that has guidelines with respect to what we are permitted to send in their lunch. At the beginning of the school year we receive a letter. We are clearly not permitted to send candy of any sorts (little dora candy in a bag that the manufacturers call real fruit are an absolute NO), no chips, no chocolate and nothing with nuts. We have to send 3 snacks a day, a lunch, 1 juice and 1 bottle of water... At the beginning, I felt this was like sending my kids to a school under dictatorship.... but after 2 years of this... I think it's brilliant! My kids barely eat any crap, they eat their vegetables and they drink water... why? Becauce every kid in the class does it!

Cris725

There was absolutely nothing wrong with that lunch! Frankly, it was better than the ones my daughter always wants. She likes a PB sandwich (lots of PB, no jelly), chips, some sort of treat (usually fruit snacks), and a capri-sun. She doesnt get it everyday (she eats hot lunch 3 days per week). If I were that mother, I would have gone straight to the district and they wouldnt have liked me very much.

idauria

My daughter attends school in Wake County. I make her lunch every day because frankly I am appalled at the lunch menus. I can't believe they have the gall to call what they feed students food and then berate this parent for sending her child to school with a healthy lunch. Another example of government being where it doesn't belong.

JWeaser

My 9 year old came home from school one day and asked if I could make him a chocolate sandwich like "so and so" had I said absolutely not. He asked why not and I said, "Because honey, I love you." waiting for the school to call me on that one as I am sure he repeated it. lol I hope they do call!!

hooligansmom

I was a little suspicious of this article, so I did a little more digging and found this expanded article about the subject:

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

There is a lot more information in this article, including the fact that the replacement meal contained chicken nuggets.

As everyone surely knows, chicken nuggets are MUCH MORE NUTRITIOUS than turkey sandwiches. :frown:

hsmithway

I'd be pissed if that happened to me. But I'm always highly skeptical of anything from Fox news, so I'm going to suspend my outrage until I have more details from a reputable source.

And I have used chocolate peanut butter and chocolate soynut butter in my son's PB&J sandwiches from time to time. Doesn't mean I don't love him.

hooligansmom

And here is what the children at that school were offered for lunch today, according to the Hoke County Schools website:

Beef-A-Roni
Steamed Cabbage
Spiced Apples
Constitutional Cornbread
Valentine Sugar Cookie

Cold_Steel

At the beginning, I felt this was like sending my kids to a school under dictatorship.... but after 2 years of this... I think it's brilliant! My kids barely eat any crap, they eat their vegetables and they drink water... why? Becauce every kid in the class does it!

No offense but if that is a public school... You are already on the path of indoctrination to a dictatorship. Making rules what parents can send with their kids for food? Seriously. Every hope for this country slips away when suddenly we find this acceptable. The state or other public institutions taking the responsibility to raise our children is one step closer to an authoritarian government and the saddest thing is people do not even notice it... It is one of those things that you do not even realize is happening but it is.

LaurasClimb

I was a little suspicious of this article, so I did a little more digging and found this expanded article about the subject:

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

There is a lot more information in this article, including the fact that the replacement meal contained chicken nuggets.

As everyone surely knows, chicken nuggets are MUCH MORE NUTRITIOUS than turkey sandwiches. :frown:

Thank you for posting that link.
I am very familiar with the Federal Guidelines that dictate what child care centers HAVE to serve children in their care. Even though this was in a school, this situation is still considered child care. Since the child was in the program, i.e. under their care, the provider (in this case, the school) is required to follow Federal Guidelines.
Under the Federal Guidelines, a serving of protein (in this case turkey & cheese - cheese is usually considered a protein not a dairy) HAS to be 1 1/2 ounces. So was there enough protein? Was the cheese actual cheese or was it "cheese product?" 2 slices of bread (even white bread) more than covers the requirement for grain. A banana and a juice (providing it was real juice and not kool-aid) meet the 1/2 cup requirement.
It's a pretty good chance that this "inspector" was only there to inspect the Pre-K children's meals. Of course I didn't see the meal but it sounds like to me that a carton of milk would have been the only thing needed to round off this meal. I am certainly not defending the inspector! Just trying to look at both sides.
Did the parent understand what the program is required to feed the children for each meal? I would guess so since it's February - at least 5 months into the school year. So what motivated the parent going to the media? Was she concerned other parents were getting charged or was she seeking attention? Believe me, that does happen!
So, should the parents get charged for meals that do not meet the Federal Guidelines? I'm on the fence on that one. If it is a mistake, no don't charge them. But there are people who would abuse it just to get their kid free lunches when they don't qualify.
This program is most likely funded by state and federal monies. It may be seen as dictating what a child can eat but the guidelines are there to ensure each and every child is offered a nutritious meal. If the program does not meet the guidelines set, they will lose their funding and have to close. Then none of the children will get the benefits of a Pre-K program.
Now, I'm not saying chicken nuggets are healthier than turkey however this is what I do know about those two meats - I don't believe any school deep-fries their food so these were baked. Foods such as these need to meet certain guidelines. Deli turkey, on the other hand, has tons of sodium. I think I asked the last time I was at the deli and 1 serving of Roasted Turkey Breast from the deli had at least 1/4 the daily sodium recommended for an adult. So, actually, I don't think either one is better than the other.
I am by no means an expert but I do know that most news stories are one-sided. There is almost always more to it.

cloud2011

I once read that in Italy, schoolchildren receive grades for their eating at school...how well they were eating, what they ate, etc. Of course the food in question is much better quality. No sloppy joes or mystery meat.

lungry1980

This irritates the crap out of me. My son who is 6, is over weight. Long story short, he used to be underweight and the doctor thinks he will grow out of it. I on the other hand think that we need to eat healthier and show our son that we can eat good and stay moving. That is why I am trying hard to lose weight and eat healthy. I started packing my son's lunch 3 times a week and feed him breakfast at home everyday. He has lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks just from that not eating school food. His class gets a snack everyday that is provided by the parents. Yesterday he had cake. The day before that he had pixi sticks. Who the hell sends their child with sugar for a snack?!! I can not control what they give him for the snack time except when it is out turn to provide. The school nurse was suppose to have the teacher send notes home stating that snacks need to be healthier especially at this time of year when it is hard for kids to be outside. Why dont the food police at school monitor snack time and worry about what is actually in the school lunch such as high carbs, sugar and sodium??

godblessourhome

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

thanks for that link and expanded info!

ashley67203

They ought to send that inspector back into the kitchen. When I was in high school my mom was a lunch lady. On several occasions she walked up to me while I was waiting in line and told me I needed to eat the salad bar that day because the slop they were serving was unsafe in some way. Sometimes the food was expired, other times it had been in the freezer for longer than a year and in one gross, gross instance another lunch lady's false finger nail (which were banned, by the way) fell off into the cooking pot and disappeared.

The most frequent reason she'd warn me about the food was when it had a ridiculous fat content. The one I remember as the worst was the hash brown triangle with 50 grams of fat. I can only imagine how much fat that girl sucked down with those three chicken nuggets.

Tammysueless

I have been told by the school nurse that my boy needs to eat at school or that i need to send in things that are more healthy for him to eat. In all fairness my boy is diebetic and does need to eat better, I agree. But after paying for school lunches that he refused to eat and tossed in the garbage I said he could take his lunch. At frist i tried all kinds of things ( soup, hotdogs etc.. that he loves) I was hoping he would eat at lunch time but he is 12 and extreamly stubbron. So he would play 'ball' with the apples and give away the juice pouch etc.. These are all things he likes and will eat at home, go figure. So I started putting in a bottle of water, granola bar, vitamine fortifyed cereal, fruit snacks made with real fruit juice, and some peanutbutter & crackers. I was still told that i needed to provide him with more protien! This boy still tosses, gives away or plays with some of the food I send but he drinks the water and the rest is hit or miss but he does eat at least 2 or 3 things i send. So i started putting in a 1/2 a peanutbutter sandwich just to shut her up and told her if she had any ideas of how to force him to eat i was open for sugestions! It galls me that they want me to provide him with the choices of foods that he has told them that he will not eat/ told me he wont eat it and he dosent even eat it at home! His Dr.'s all have said that he is healthy and he will eat if/when he is hungry (he eats a good breakfast every morning at home before school) If they( the Dr.'s) are not concerned with his lunch habits at school I dont see why i should waste money better spent elswhere on food he wont eat just so they can try to make him fit into what they think he needs to be doing!!!

lwood42

I know that they have come a long way to provide veggies and fruits at the public schools but the main menu is still so full of FAT!!! None of the teachers eat it cause they know they will get fat eating it too!!

littlelily613

Wow! So instead of letting her eat her turkey sandwich and banana (ooooookaaaaay), they refuse to let her eat it and give her chicken nuggets instead??? Ummm....chicken nuggets are processed chicken-mystery meat, with a deep-fried coating...even if they are later baked. How is that healthier than a turkey sandwich and a banana? That is absolutely pathetic, and I don't blame the mother for being so angry about it.

chipaddict

I don't know if this has been said, but lunch inspections are commonplace in the UK. That's what we get for spawning Jamie Oliver

Okieace

At the beginning, I felt this was like sending my kids to a school under dictatorship.... but after 2 years of this... I think it's brilliant! My kids barely eat any crap, they eat their vegetables and they drink water... why? Becauce every kid in the class does it!

No offense but if that is a public school... You are already on the path of indoctrination to a dictatorship. Making rules what parents can send with their kids for food? Seriously. Every hope for this country slips away when suddenly we find this acceptable. The state or other public institutions taking the responsibility to raise our children is one step closer to an authoritarian government and the saddest thing is people do not even notice it... It is one of those things that you do not even realize is happening but it is.

^^^ THIS ^^^

phinners

I cant see anywhere on that link what precisely the lunch consisted of. Can anyone shed any light please?

How about these for a school menu? Not too shabby I'd say

http://www.cokethorpe.org.uk/index.cfm?page=info.content&cmid=226

My youngest is registered for there. Oh god it's going to bankrupt me haha



And this is my eldest's lunch menu http://www.woodgreen.oxon.sch.uk/restaurant/restaurant.htm




Jamie Oliver has done wonders for school grub without a doubt. Kids today should not be fed the trash we had when I was a kid.

xonikitashafferxo

I would be outraged! That is just ridiculous and very petty. The only thing "bad" were the chips, but should we really not let our kids have any "bad food"? That's just insane to me. That girls lunch was a lot better than some lunches I saw when i was in school, not to mention in high school they had HORRIBLE things to eat in the lunch room.

MaggiePuccini

I don't know if this has been said, but lunch inspections are commonplace in the UK. That's what we get for spawning Jamie Oliver

I love Jamie Oliver, reeeeeespek to him for his efforts, even though they fell on deaf ears in some quarters. It's sad to think of those dumb mothers pushing doughnuts through the fence for their children. My children are at school in Ireland and they're only allowed brown bread. Chocolate spread is only allowed on fridays! no croissants, no brioche doree, no crisps, no biscuits, no chocolate................... thems the roooolz. It's good news and it means children aren't nagging you for junk becase their little chums have it. Jamie Oliver's "effect" has rippled out to Ireland (although we have our own initiatives as well).

MaggiePuccini

ps, it's also shocking to think of primary school children (elementary) having access to chips in a canteen every day. Obviously they're going to choose chips and pizza if their mums aren't around to police their choices. I know my kids would eat those things if there was a canteen at their school.