I'm kind of appalled...

If that's her lunch imagine her dinner... and her breakfast.

My niece goes to school with a little girl that is always starving and asking the other kids if she can share their lunches. Some of the parents got together and talked to the Teacher and the principle about this and neither had any idea there was an issue - turns out the parents didn't pack her lunch ever. She is 8.

She now has a lunch provided by the school, but had some of these parents not been concerned it would have went unnoticed.

I think asking a teacher if that is the norm is fine, its not like you were all "OMG did you see her lunch I think her parents are neglecting her" You simply asked if it was normal, perhaps the teacher can monitor and make sure she is getting good nutrition, because improper nutrition believe it or not does affect the learning ability for her but also can cause disruption in class.

So those that are all uppity about her judging the parents STFU.

Today was my first day volunteering in my son's cafeteria for lunch. I'm just there to help open containers, pick up spills, fetch the forgotten salt & ketchup, etc... This is a small private school where hot lunch is made by the women at church, generally not too shabby as far as nutrition goes, and a whopping $1.75.

Todays hot lunch was chicken breast sandwich, corn, applesauce, and dessert with milk.

One little girl's lunch (her zipper was stuck, so I opened it), was Applesauce, Dora Fruit Snacks, M&Ms, and a purple drink thingy. She's five. Pick up your game mom & dad and give your child some real food. If the child is packing their own lunch, they shouldn't be... There's a very off chance the child swapped lunch stuff, so I asked the teacher and she said it's like that daily.

I just judged. Yup. Sure did. Give your kid some real food.

Someone probably already said this (I didn't read all the pages).....but just in case, I'm going to say it again:

You've been there one day and you're already judging these other parents? How do you know that this day wasn't an anomaly? How do you know anything about this child and her home life? Maybe she chucked the sandwich in the trash can or maybe they ran out of bread and the mom just grabbed what she could. Maybe the kid is a picky eater and eating something is better than nothing. Maybe she has her "treats" at lunch and eats a nice nutritious breakfast and dinner. Maybe mom gets paid today and gave her daughter the last of what they had before she could get to the store.

There are a whole lot of things here that you don't know and I would suggest that you stop jumping to conclusions about other people without knowing anything about their circumstances.

Because if you actually read the post the OP said that she asked the teacher and the teacher said this is how her lunch is daily.

Which makes me wonder why the teacher hasn't had a talk with the parent? Or perhaps she did and just didn't feel that the parents situation was something she should talk about with a stranger.

If the school has discussed with the parent or anything else, I do not know and wouldn't be informed. Teacher confirmed she is aware and that's all I can/will do, and all the teacher should discuss with me.

I wasn't being snarky at you. I was pointing out pretty much what you summed up.

Poor kid, she can't be doing well in school with that kind of food. No nurishment for the body, no nurishment for the brain either...

The brain runs on glucose. Sounds like lots of nourishment for the brain. The body is what's suffering.

Oh, so is that why you have a high then a crash when you have nothing but sugar for a snack? You can't tell me that that kid can focus after she has crashed...

I don't. I do when I eat a high carb lunch, but that's a different story. The brain still runs on strictly glucose. There is nourishment. It's your endocrine system that is messing you up when you have this problem.

Okie dokie... You got me. Since that is the case, I will now be packing my kids stricktly twinkies and ding dongs so they can be really really smart... :flowerforyou: :drinker:

I never said to pack your kids twinkies and such. I just pointed out that the brain would not be starving based on what the kid had for her lunch. Way to go way beyond and read more into it. I have known plenty of kids who survive and do well academically on crappy sugary diets. They just fail to thrive.

SMDH

There is a serious lack of critical thinking here today.

And a high level of emotion.

Is it a high level of emotion, or a low level of intelligence?

Hmmm.

Poor kid, she can't be doing well in school with that kind of food. No nurishment for the body, no nurishment for the brain either...

The brain runs on glucose. Sounds like lots of nourishment for the brain. The body is what's suffering.

Oh, so is that why you have a high then a crash when you have nothing but sugar for a snack? You can't tell me that that kid can focus after she has crashed...

I don't. I do when I eat a high carb lunch, but that's a different story. The brain still runs on strictly glucose. There is nourishment. It's your endocrine system that is messing you up when you have this problem.

Okie dokie... You got me. Since that is the case, I will now be packing my kids stricktly twinkies and ding dongs so they can be really really smart... :flowerforyou: :drinker:

I never said to pack your kids twinkies and such. I just pointed out that the brain would not be starving based on what the kid had for her lunch. Way to go way beyond and read more into it. I have known plenty of kids who survive and do well academically on crappy sugary diets. They just fail to thrive.

SMDH

There is a serious lack of critical thinking here today.

And a high level of emotion.

Is it a high level of emotion, or a low level of intelligence?

Hmmm.

I would love to run a correlation on critical thinking, and emotional level, and this site is the ultimate place to gain samples.

Did anyone else notice that my opinion on a Dora Fruit Snack & M&M lunch is more controversial than assisted suicide?

I love you MFP. I love you long time.

I noticed that too.

Good 'ol MFP

SHE HAS A NICE THIGH GAP!

nice isnt the word I would use.

To the chiquita banana who never feeds her kids any kind of junk food ever: my brother and his wife went all crazy paleo a few months ago (I have no issue with Paleo, I like it really), they do not allow any milk, bread (grains in general), limited fruit, obviously no sweets...you see where I'm going? Now, my beautiful nieces (4 and 2) are very sad. I don't necessarily worry that they are sad about that, but they aren't allowed any sweets ever (that makes me very sad). The 4 year will go to grandma's house and BEG for a piece of bread. She will get a hold of candy or gummy snacks, hide and then proceed to eat them until she is literally sick. Why? Because they are naughty and she feels deprived. Me? I let my kids have snacks when they want, they're in the cupboard. We might go through a box of fruit snacks in a week (they have free access to the snacks most of the time) and that's probably more because the hubsters and I LOVE fruit snacks. My kids are active and very healthy. See, I feel like if I never allow sweets/snack "junk" food around my kids, they will start hiding behind the couch eating entire boxes of fruit snacks in one setting.....

You're absolutely right! I was a terribly picky eater and a skinny kid. Mom would pack anything I would eat. Usually a piece of meat wrapped up. Piece of cheese and a piece of buttered bread. I was allergic to milk so she had to pack soyalac. not the best meal for a kid ... but it was all I'd eat. Dont' judge parents. Maybe she eats a very real rounded meal at home.

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.

Yep. I think people are seriously misremembering how unpleasant forcing a child to eat something s/he has an aversion to genuinely is. My brother was a seriously picky eater, my dad hated it, and every night was a battle. Screaming, tears, generally a horrible experience.And guess what? While my brother isn't as picky as an adult as he was at age 7, he still has a lot of food aversions. So it's not like the fights turned him into some amazingly adventurous eater.

You can call me a rhymes-with-wussy all you want, I'd still rather give my kid a freaking bowl of cereal for dinner than replicate that at my own dinner table as an adult.