I'm kind of appalled...

Oh, excuse me. The OP just opened the kid's lunch and then proceeded to gossip with the lunch ladies about it. You think the kid didn't notice?

The child was no where near when I asked the teacher later if that was normal. I seriously think you're delving into your own personal issues here and imagining a scenario that didn't happen.

You asked the teacher if this child's lunch is "normal"? Who the hell are you to ask a teacher about another child? If I was this poor child's mother you and i would have serious issues. Who are you to judge another parent or to discuss it with the teacher? I am appalled by YOUR actions. Disgusting.

Throughout this thread the irony has just been monumental. It's downright comical how many posters are judging the OP for judging someone else.

I love people.

She put herself out here to be judged. The parents of this child sent their child to school with her lunch. They were not looking to be judge by her. Yet this woman is questioning the teacher if this girls lunch is normal? Absolutely she will be judged- she is on a internet forum.

Just so you know...

...I'm judging you right now...

...harshly.

Being Judged, sometimes make people make better choices ! The problem today is that we don't judge enough!

Only if they know it's an issue.... people talking behind other peoples' backs solve NOTHING. Bringing it to the parents' attention, or asking questions of HOW TO HELP the situation is what gets things solved.

Huh? Awareness and discussion are not part of the solution process??? Egads. What an incredibly simplistic world in which you must live.

Gimme a break... All I'm saying is that if SOMEONE said something to the parents (in this case) MAYBE there would be a change, talking about it HERE doesn't do anything good for this little girl. Turn my comment into whatever you need to in order to make it okay to talk behind people's back instead of helping a kid. No skin off my nose. :flowerforyou:

No, singling out the parent like that is not the best solution.

should have never given her that junk to begin with then she wouldn't be a "picky eater" picking terrible things to eat. Ridiculous.

Spoken by someone who has never truly known or been a picky eater.

SPOKEN by someone who was raised to eat it or be hungry. Guess what...I may not have liked it but as long as I was hungry I would eat it or just stay hungry. I don't bring that junk home for my kids...if they are hungry they will eat what we have...and it's not junk food. It's time for parents to be about parenting....can you HONESTLY say you'd feed your children M&M's and crap food KNOWING the results of that lifestyle can seriously harm them rather than "fight the battle" of buying good nourishing foods and them growing up on healthy stuff. 95% of the time how/what children will or won't eat is learned. Yes I am aware of allergies and behavioral issues that cause some children to not tolerate certain foods but if you didn't ever feed her M&M's I'd be willing to bet she would have eaten something else.

And, again, you have NO IDEA.

I was a very picky eater. I would go days without eating if it was between that or eating something I didn't like.

In fact, my parents were vegetarians when I was born and they had to start eating meat again because I would starve myself rather than eat the vegetarian meals.

thank you for proving my point...they started eating meat again...not junk food....

I did not proove your point. I pointed out that a truly, truly, TRULY picky eater will not eat someothing he or she does not like rather than go hungry. I never -- even still -- had a problem with feeling hungry. I actually quite like the feeling of hunger.

You have totally swayed my thought process. I would so let my kid live on candy now

I'm in no way trying to tell you what to feed your kids. I'm pointing out (as I did in my very first post in this conversation) that YOU do not have experience with a truly picky eater.

If you did, if you REALLY knew a REALLY picky eater, you would not be claiming they wouldn't be picky if parents didn't allow it.

This is pretty messed up. I always take care to make sure my kids get great nutrition at lunch. Don't just throw crap in your kid's lunch. Give them something healthy.

when they come home... the granola bar will be gone, and part of the yogurt drink. The cheese may be completely in tact, it may be eaten. the chicken and rice may or may not be touched.

They don't eat cheese?

You have demon spawn children???

My son won't eat cheese unless it's melted on a burger or a pizza...I has shame :embarassed:

they eat it at home like crazy. I can't get them to leave it alone.

But at school?
NOPE.

This thread has been hugely entertaining. Some of the opinions here are just delicious.

Well at least we know you aren't going hungry....like the OP's little girl whom she gave lovely chicken breast to.

You know since she had sugar snacks in her lunch

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

^^^^This. All of those reasons just stated above are the reasons that I do not want to reproduce. The world today is full of freaking whimps- (a better word begins with a P and rhymes with "wussies"....)

My mother packed me a lunch and if I chose not to eat it, I went hungry. I learned to eat what she packed or go hungry for the rest of the day.

The way that most of us were parented even 20 years ago would land most us in jail for child abuse these days. But it looks like most of us turned out fine......RIDICULOUS.

Actually, there's an argument that this "clean your plate" mentality is at least partly responsible for some of the obesity problems we are seeing today.

That said, I'm more in agreement with the above concepts than I am in disagreement.

Throughout this thread the irony has just been monumental. It's downright comical how many posters are judging the OP for judging someone else.

I love people.

She put herself out here to be judged. The parents of this child sent their child to school with her lunch. They were not looking to be judge by her. Yet this woman is questioning the teacher if this girls lunch is normal? Absolutely she will be judged- she is on a internet forum.

I get the impression you're the type of parent who would send their kids to school with candy as lunch, at least that is the impression you're portraying and you are trying to justify it....

Being Judged, sometimes make people make better choices ! The problem today is that we don't judge enough!

Only if they know it's an issue.... people talking behind other peoples' backs solve NOTHING. Bringing it to the parents' attention, or asking questions of HOW TO HELP the situation is what gets things solved.

Huh? Awareness and discussion are not part of the solution process??? Egads. What an incredibly simplistic world in which you must live.

Gimme a break... All I'm saying is that if SOMEONE said something to the parents (in this case) MAYBE there would be a change, talking about it HERE doesn't do anything good for this little girl. Turn my comment into whatever you need to in order to make it okay to talk behind people's back instead of helping a kid. No skin off my nose. :flowerforyou:

No, singling out the parent like that is not the best solution.

Now I am just even more curious... You don't believe that the best solution to changing the way a PARENT packs a "lunch" is to talk to the PARENT?

Edited to say that I don't even care anymore... I'm completely confused by all of it... If there is an obvious issue with the way that a child is eating, behaving, dressing, etc. I would think that it is well within a teacher's right (maybe right isn't the right word) to speak up and say something... "You know, I noticed that So-so's lunches are lacking in xxxxx and she seems (insert word here: hungry, tired, whatever) a little while after lunch. I just thought you should know. She seems to like chicken maybe we could try hot lunches sometimes?" and see where it goes. But no. you are right. Let's talk about it HERE and hope little So-so's mom figures it out after a while... who knows? Maybe she reads the MFP forums!? Issue solved. See ya folks! It's been... interesting.

^^^^This. All of those reasons just stated above are the reasons that I do not want to reproduce. The world today is full of freaking whimps- (a better word begins with a P and rhymes with "wussies"....)

My mother packed me a lunch and if I chose not to eat it, I went hungry. I learned to eat what she packed or go hungry for the rest of the day.

The way that most of us were parented even 20 years ago would land most us in jail for child abuse these days. But it looks like most of us turned out fine......RIDICULOUS.

See, this works well if you're a wussie child. I on the other hand for example took the "Oh? I will just go hungry? Good, i'll show you. And i'll make you feel horrible and worthless for not feeding me". It seemed to work pretty well.

Was this because my mother was just a *ussy? No, it's because i was strong willed and I'll be damned if someone controls me like that.

it is what it is.
most kids are like that
I worry about my own

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

Yup - infact my husband and I just took an extracurricular activity one night away from our almost 6 year old. Why, becasue I said if you don't eat supper, you won't go. I try to serve my kids food they like - but she was trying to "be the boss". So, as she cried we told her she wouldn't be going. We also told her, when she was hungry, supper would be there waiting. And if she didn't eat it, guess what breakfast was and so on.... She ended up finishing supper right before bed and then last night (when her activity was) she gobbled up supper.

People have serious rose-colored glasses when talking about their own childhoods.

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

My post was purely speculation. I do not have kids, nor did my mother pack lunches full of candy for me as a child. I am also of the mindset that picky eaters can eat what is prepared or go hungry but maybe that's why my nephews never come over for dinner.

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

^^^^This. All of those reasons just stated above are the reasons that I do not want to reproduce. The world today is full of freaking whimps- (a better word begins with a P and rhymes with "wussies"....)

My mother packed me a lunch and if I chose not to eat it, I went hungry. I learned to eat what she packed or go hungry for the rest of the day.

The way that most of us were parented even 20 years ago would land most us in jail for child abuse these days. But it looks like most of us turned out fine......RIDICULOUS.

Actually, there's an argument that this "clean your plate" mentality is at least partly responsible for some of the obesity problems we are seeing today.

That said, I'm more in agreement with the above concepts than I am in disagreement.

Wasn't including the "clean your plate" mentality in there... I think that's BS also. BUT... I was referring to the mentality when I was growing up that if I didn't eat what I was sent to school with (which was usually fairly healthy) that I was going to be hungry until I got home and ate dinner. The mentality of parents giving their kids junk to eat so that "at least they eat something" is BS.