When should a school intervene? Never? (school lunch issue)
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skinnyinnotime wrote: »The school should have a policy on what foods are allowed to be eaten there.
If a child isn't fed a nutrional diet it is neglect.
you can tell an entire child's diet from ONE bag of doritos and ONE can of red bull?
I'm impressed- can you tell me the lotto numbers for next week too?
PS- don't look at my weekend. It pretty much looks like I straight up had a weekend fling affair with the Debil.
You know- because Sugar = Debil.
Man.. the number of times I gave away my 'healthy' food in order to buy ice cream sandwiches for lunch... Super glad I wasn't living now, where my parents would be hauled away for perceived neglect. ^_^ Still managed to win a lot of track & field medals, guess that 'junk food' wasn't making much of a dent in my health.
This post sums it up for me. Ate ice cream sandwiches and won life.
Hovering over and coddling our own children has become the societal standard to such a degree that we are now hovering over and coddling other people's children. Because we somehow feel justified in telling other people how to live their lives and raise their children. And justified in doing things like calling CPS to rip apart a family because their children were walking down the street without their parents (for example).
It's ridiculous to be on such a high horse as to tell other parents how good or bad a job they are doing. People need some degree of struggle and hardship in order to grow and develop properly, both as children and as adults.0 -
However, none of the above has anything to do with someone stepping in and parenting other people's children for them. It's nunya. Take care of your own kids.
Excuse me but I do take care of my kids and some that don't have food to eat. I take care of their parents too. Where I am the people still believe that it takes a community to raise a child. I share my food with the less privileged so as not to waste it. I give water to those I see nearby who are thirsty and don't have any money to buy for themselves. I am no Mother Theresa but I try my best to help out especially with the kids in the school my kids attend. Sometimes other parents need a hand sometime and helping is not illegal, that's why there are social workers and councillors.
do you find the wind messes up your hair at that altitude?
Yeah, that was my thought too-also are there no drinking fountains around or places with free water (like every restaurant), that someone has to provide water for others? My gosh where has allz the water gone?!0 -
i'm surprised that the energy drink is allowed at an elementary school and frankly that bothers me.... Here we aren't even allowed soda at schools (but for some reason high sugar "fake" juices are allowed)....
I think elementary and middle schools should be monitored pretty closely as far as what food and drinks are allowed, then once high school comes around let the kids start to figure it out and put what we've taught them to the test.
I'm in the camp of who cares about the doritos, the energy drink would make me very uncomfortable.0 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »Fascinating thread of ad hominems, red herrings and fallacious arguments. On one side we have busy bodies, snitches, too many cooks and on the other negligent and abusive parents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGrOK8oZG8
I . . .I love you0 -
veganbettie wrote: »i'm surprised that the energy drink is allowed at an elementary school and frankly that bothers me.... Here we aren't even allowed soda at schools (but for some reason high sugar "fake" juices are allowed)....
I think elementary and middle schools should be monitored pretty closely as far as what food and drinks are allowed, then once high school comes around let the kids start to figure it out and put what we've taught them to the test.
I'm in the camp of who cares about the doritos, the energy drink would make me very uncomfortable.
It does make me question whether this question was intentionally invented to make people reply due to the energy drink, but then be attacked for playing food police over doritos. It's too convenient. Doritos and Pepsi, probably a lot less people would care.0 -
veganbettie wrote: »i'm surprised that the energy drink is allowed at an elementary school and frankly that bothers me.... Here we aren't even allowed soda at schools (but for some reason high sugar "fake" juices are allowed)....
I think elementary and middle schools should be monitored pretty closely as far as what food and drinks are allowed, then once high school comes around let the kids start to figure it out and put what we've taught them to the test.
I'm in the camp of who cares about the doritos, the energy drink would make me very uncomfortable.
It does make me question whether this question was intentionally invented to make people reply due to the energy drink, but then be attacked for playing food police over doritos. It's too convenient. Doritos and Pepsi, probably a lot less people would care.
funny how the energy drink got ignored in most of the posts.
I freaking love energy drinks. But I don't want my kid drinking them...and therefore I won't drink them....
although my 2 year old asked me for coffee this morning....0 -
you're one of those people who call police every time you see a child in the car alone don't you? Mom's going to do jail time for "neglect" or labelled as negligent offenders because they ran inside rite aid to get toilet paper while their child who hasn't slept all day is finally asleep in the car.
You mean, people who are concerned that a child doesn't have adequate supervision & education,randomtai wrote:This is why I want to home school my children. Too many busy body (sic) people.
is consistently eating junk instead of a nutritious breakfast, and is having a drink which could cause
serious health problems?
That's not being a busybody, that's showing concern for the child. More people need to do it.
not every case is one of "concern for the child" it really is being a busy body.
Why do police have so much power they only go to school for six months yet screw up so many lives with a simple ticket or arrest often times for BS!! I think their power hungry no one pulled over should get out of a ticket its not their job at that point. They saw a crime and should ticket not play judge jury and prosecuter on the side of the road to satisfy some perceived power they have given themselves?? WTF. I use to support the police but now creating traffic jams to stop everyone just to check if u have a license F-Them this is my city and I Vote!!
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Michael190lbs wrote: »
you're one of those people who call police every time you see a child in the car alone don't you? Mom's going to do jail time for "neglect" or labelled as negligent offenders because they ran inside rite aid to get toilet paper while their child who hasn't slept all day is finally asleep in the car.
You mean, people who are concerned that a child doesn't have adequate supervision & education,randomtai wrote:This is why I want to home school my children. Too many busy body (sic) people.
is consistently eating junk instead of a nutritious breakfast, and is having a drink which could cause
serious health problems?
That's not being a busybody, that's showing concern for the child. More people need to do it.
not every case is one of "concern for the child" it really is being a busy body.
Why do police have so much power they only go to school for six months yet screw up so many lives with a simple ticket or arrest often times for BS!! I think their power hungry no one pulled over should get out of a ticket its not their job at that point. They saw a crime and should ticket not play judge jury and prosecuter on the side of the road to satisfy some perceived power they have given themselves?? WTF. I use to support the police but now creating traffic jams to stop everyone just to check if u have a license F-Them this is my city and I Vote!!
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I would not intervene because you don't know the whole situation to judge. I would try to get a garden started at the school, if there isn't one already. Every child should have the opportunity to learn where their food comes from.0
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softblondechick wrote: »Don't do it. And don't judge. At least this kid has food. She probably packs her own food, from what is in the home. I doubt anyone packs her lunch, or even pays much attention to her.
Some kids just survive childhood.
That is so sad, so if the parents don't care the teacher shouldn't either?
You can care about kids, without alienating parents and creating problems. Offer the child a banana. Make a classroom assignment to write food eaten for each meal for three days, and look at the assignments, is the Doritos and Red Bull a part of a day with pot roast and veggies for dinner?
We don't know. The worst thing is to create defensive environment with parents. If food problems are an issue, it should be referred to social work and the school nurse to review and approach a parent. My job is to teach, not be the "food police".0 -
When the OP says that the child comes to school eating Doritos and energy drinks, am I to assume that this is out on campus before the start of the school day? My school does not allow students to walk into classrooms eating though we do serve free and reduced-price breakfast to qualified kids. If that is the case, the issue is not the Doritos, per se, but having food out at all. As for the health qualities of food brought to school, my only interaction with parents regarding food is to request that the parents of my yearbook students help me stock my classroom with nutritious snacks for late afternoon work times. I give examples of granola bars, nuts, etc. and say that I would prefer not to have a lot of candy and chips. I've never had a complaint.
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softblondechick wrote: »
We don't know. The worst thing is to create defensive environment with parents. If food problems are an issue, it should be referred to social work and the school nurse to review and approach a parent. My job is to teach, not be the "food police".
In Germany we only call social services if a child is being seriously mistreated and I as a normal teacher wouldn't even be allowed to do so. I'd have to tell the principal if I think a child is being abused and he can choose to inform child services. German schools also don't have school nurses - what do they do in America? We have school psychologists but usually you share one between 2-5 schools and they're not "real" psychologists, they only did an extra course at uni.
I understand things are different in different countries but over here it's not just "teaching" that's our job but preparing kids for life and part of it is watching out for their health. You don't have to be "food police" or fat-shame these kids. But ignoring these things doesn't really help.
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Im from the UK so not sure how old a second grader is... im guessing about 6-7 in which case that is atrocious!
But htis post made me think about a girl in my year when we were about 11-12, her mum would give her £5 each morning for breakfast as she seemed to struggle to get herself and her daughter to work each morning. This girl was TINY but with that £5 each morning she bought a fizzy drink, a large pack of fresh baked sugar coated filled doughnuts and a side snack like crisps or chocolate or fresh baked smarties cookies or something. Needless to say, she wasnt teeny tiny for very long, and she currently has to order her clothes online due to poor choices starting 13-14 years ago.
Could you do a healthy eating lesson?0 -
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/28/school-lunch-returned-not-nutritious/26498493/
Im just going to leave this here...0 -
Personally I think the whole issue about schools "policing" kids' food is laughable at best. When my kids were in elementary school they stopped allowing the kids to eat candy at the Halloween party that was held at the last half hour of the day. The school said they would provide the snack, because candy was not healthy. Their solution? A sugar cookie. The hot lunches always looked plain out nasty to me. The food may have been "healthy" but it never looked appetizing to me. My kids currently attend a high school that is, in some buildings, four stories high and wraps around 3 sides of a football field. They have lockers but no time to run and get a cold lunch and they aren't allowed to carry their backpacks around. They eat what is available and what they have time to grab and go. The only thing I can really do is make sure the food at home is what I want them to eat. I began realizing this year how little control we eventually have over what our kids eat, and maybe this a factor behind some of the obesity in the US right now. Perhaps we should be teaching, not controlling?0
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Do the healthy eating lesson and then leave it alone. From other posts made by the OP it seems like the child is doing well in school and her mother is working overnight shifts. I agree that the Red Bull should be banned, but that's a decision the School Board needs to make.
The Doritos aren't an issue in my mind. I used to eat out of vending machines during lunch. And by the way, most schools aren't providing a healthiest meal options either. I know my school didn't and I went to a very good public school. They had plenty of money to provide better options.
If you were the child of a working parent, they didn't have time to make you a full course breakfast in the morning. I know my parents didn't. My mom and dad would buy toaster strudels, poptarts, and cereal and it was my job to make sure I ate in the morning and caught the bus on time because they had to get to work to made sure we a roof over our heads.
Things are not as black and white as some of you are trying to make it. It sounds like this woman is doing what she can to keep her family afloat and to call CPS on her is ridiculous.
Also, who's to say that that little girl isn't grabbing the Red Bull without her mother's knowledge? 6-7 years old are very aware of how to get away with things that their parents would not approve of. Think of all of the crap you did as a kid without your parents knowledge, including food choices, and you'll see this little girl is probably working the system to her advantage. I'm sure she's a sweet kid, but even sweet kids have devious ways.0 -
MikaMojito wrote: »softblondechick wrote: »
We don't know. The worst thing is to create defensive environment with parents. If food problems are an issue, it should be referred to social work and the school nurse to review and approach a parent. My job is to teach, not be the "food police".
In Germany we only call social services if a child is being seriously mistreated and I as a normal teacher wouldn't even be allowed to do so. I'd have to tell the principal if I think a child is being abused and he can choose to inform child services. German schools also don't have school nurses - what do they do in America? We have school psychologists but usually you share one between 2-5 schools and they're not "real" psychologists, they only did an extra course at uni.
I understand things are different in different countries but over here it's not just "teaching" that's our job but preparing kids for life and part of it is watching out for their health. You don't have to be "food police" or fat-shame these kids. But ignoring these things doesn't really help.
If a kid gets sick, you send them to the nurse and the nurse will determine if the kid is faking it or is actually sick and needs to go home. They also have band aids, and if a girl started her period and didn't have any pads/tampons you could go to the nurse and get some to last you through the day.0 -
I have a student (2nd grader) who usually comes to school eating from a gigantic bag of Doritos and drinking a brightly colored energy drink. That's her breakfast. Sometimes she has Cheetos instead.
I don't intervene. Would you?
I'd definitely talk to your supervisors about it before intervening. Find out what school policy is. It may be more of a nurse/counselor issue. Unfortunately bad food choices is not the same as neglect/abuse so you really are stepping your boundaries if you were to intervene in my opinion. I've seen lots of kids go through stages of refusing to eat but one thing...
Nothing wrong with working in some "healthy daily habits" to your teachings though! You'd be suprised what kids pick up on. A woman at my gym gets super embarrassed when out with her kids and the start pointing at people walking by and going "Mommy look, McDonalds is bad...it's bad, right mommy?"
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I remember going through a phase in school where I ONLY ate Cool Ranch doritos and drank diet mountain dew for lunch...that lasted about a solid year! My next obsession was Little Debbie "swiss rolls" and I would carefully peel off the outer layer of chocolate first, eat that, then systematically eat the rest of it. LOL I was always thin throughout high school, I got good grades and I generally ate a pretty balanced diet the rest of the day. I wouldn't be too quick to judge if the student is generally doing OK in school, doesn't seem to be "starving", etc. Sometimes kids just like what they like - it doesn't mean it always warrants an "intervention".0
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I'm a teacher as well. I've had this situation & just suggested to the student that they save the chips/doritos for a snack after lunch. My school has free breakfast for all children so I would tell them to get something from the breakfast bin instead. Some of you are assuming that the parent knowingly packed chips & said, "Here's your breakfast." In reality, the kid probably just grabbed them on the way out of the door. Students aren't allowed at my school to bring soda or anything like that, so I would tell him no on the energy drink. I wouldn't contact the parents over something like this. I work in an inner city school. This is the least of our problems!0
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The bigger issue is teaching high quality classes on nutrition. Teach this every grade level, every year. An 18 yr old should walk out of high school with a Masters Degree in food.0
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skinnyinnotime wrote: »The school should have a policy on what foods are allowed to be eaten there.
If a child isn't fed a nutrional diet it is neglect.
you can tell an entire child's diet from ONE bag of doritos and ONE can of red bull?
I'm impressed- can you tell me the lotto numbers for next week too?
PS- don't look at my weekend. It pretty much looks like I straight up had a weekend fling affair with the Debil.
You know- because Sugar = Debil.
Man.. the number of times I gave away my 'healthy' food in order to buy ice cream sandwiches for lunch... Super glad I wasn't living now, where my parents would be hauled away for perceived neglect. ^_^ Still managed to win a lot of track & field medals, guess that 'junk food' wasn't making much of a dent in my health.
This post sums it up for me. Ate ice cream sandwiches and won life.
Hovering over and coddling our own children has become the societal standard to such a degree that we are now hovering over and coddling other people's children. Because we somehow feel justified in telling other people how to live their lives and raise their children. And justified in doing things like calling CPS to rip apart a family because their children were walking down the street without their parents (for example).
It's ridiculous to be on such a high horse as to tell other parents how good or bad a job they are doing. People need some degree of struggle and hardship in order to grow and develop properly, both as children and as adults.
So... much... this!!!0 -
novasunflower wrote: »I would call CPS...but I'm an *kitten* who thinks parents who can't manage (read:neglect) to feed their kids properly need some guidance from the state.
I'd have thought CPS would have plenty of more important issues to deal with than bad eating, sadly enough. There are children being abused, so I think eating crisps for breakfast would come low in their list of priorities. Yes, not giving your child a proper breakfast isn't the best parenting, however at least the child is being fed.
I teach at secondary school and I've confiscated energy drinks before, but the kids are teenagers, so I can't stop them buying them. I won't allow them to drink rubbish like that in my lesson though.
We have a healthy schools policy here in England, and at school you can't buy fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps etc, and if you have a child at primary school you're not supposed to send junk in their packed lunch. I hear some parents moaning about it, but I certainly wouldn't want to teach a class of young kids after they've eaten chocolate and sweets. I've seen how my own children behave at birthday parties after eating party food!
Children are also taught about healthy eating at school. When my son was 4 and in reception class they talked about it. He's nearly 6 now and asks me about what he's eating all the time, wanting to know what's healthy and what's not.0 -
I would think a lot of us on this site got here from poor eating habits as a kid. I know I did. My hefty grandmother would cook breakfast for me then I'd stop at the store and I'd buy hostess fruit pies. My skinny grandmother always let it be known that 'husky' wasn't good but my mother and I both had a f**k you attitude-that family dynamic thing...(she ended up dying of a stroke due to complications from diabetes because she wouldn't listen to her 2 pharmacist grandsons-so there!) So whoever mentioned 'detrimental to the kid' can manifest in different ways. As an adult I know she was right, but she wasn't the one to change my habits as a kid. ( In fact in my case, no one could. Despite my mother's efforts to get me to 'pick up and put away' my house is still a slovenly mess.) So many parents want the truth to be sugar-coated...and don't want to hear the blunt truth. I think, if you put the honest truth out there people can take it or leave it but your conscience is clear. (Of course I'd feel differently if this were a case of obvious and immediate harm to the kid.)0
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In my county, we have 1 nurse rotating between a dozen schools. They are primarily dealing with the kids who have major medical problems - seizure disorders, feeding tubes, colostomy bags, diabetes, things like that. The chances of a nurse being available to a kid (and their parents) to discuss doritos and energy drinks would be slim to none.0
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Yes, teachers are mandatory reporters. However, Doritos isn't exactly abuse. And it isn't the teacher's job to raise someone else's kids. Nor do you really know what's going on in the kid's family or home. So if you don't want her to have energy drinks, ask the school to make a policy. And if you want the government to stop subsidizing junk food and make healthy food affordable, stop voting for people who are making the policies. Hell, more acutely, START voting! Either way, it isn't appropriate to interfere with the child just because you are holier then thou. CPS is massively underfunded and overworked. I've worked with both CPS and APS extensively in my years as a nurse and they don't have time to be running down a mother because of Doritos for breakfast.
Yep. I have worked extensively with CPS as an RN as well. Someone calling the hotline to report a kid being sent to school with doritos and an energy drink would likely result in nothing more than a report being logged (unless the family had other reports suggesting abuse and/or neglect). Believe me, CPS has much bigger fish to fry. Don't believe me, ask to sit next to a hotline intake worker at your local CPS office for an hour.
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the school i work in checks the childrens lunches and if they are really full of rubbish and junk then a note is sent home to the parents and includes suggestions for healthier alternatives. Obv have to use common sense before sending a note home, an odd biscuit or bag of crisps every now and then is fine, but if the child brings them in daily then likely to get a note. At the end of the day the school has a duty of care towards the children and if they notice parents are not providing the child with adequate nutrition then steps need to be taken.0
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I have a student (2nd grader) who usually comes to school eating from a gigantic bag of Doritos and drinking a brightly colored energy drink. That's her breakfast. Sometimes she has Cheetos instead.
I don't intervene. Would you?
I would.
At the very least I'd enlist the assistance of the school principal to make contact with the child's parents to find out if they were aware of the situation. We all know 7 year old children can not be expected to make all the right choices. Some families are pretty loose with allowances even for young kids, or don't monitor what their kids are eating and drinking and what's being pulled from the pantry, so there's an outside chance they are completely unaware of what is happening. If so, they'll thank you.
Of course there are some parents who aren't well versed in nutrition and will think nothing is wrong. If so, they likely won't thank you and there's nothing more to be done. Too bad for the kid.
Quite apart from this, instituting a once a semester "bring a different healthy snack each day this week" sounds like a good class project!
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My district won't let kids eat that way. I guess it depends on how strict the environment where you work is.0
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Michael190lbs wrote: »
you're one of those people who call police every time you see a child in the car alone don't you? Mom's going to do jail time for "neglect" or labelled as negligent offenders because they ran inside rite aid to get toilet paper while their child who hasn't slept all day is finally asleep in the car.
You mean, people who are concerned that a child doesn't have adequate supervision & education,randomtai wrote:This is why I want to home school my children. Too many busy body (sic) people.
is consistently eating junk instead of a nutritious breakfast, and is having a drink which could cause
serious health problems?
That's not being a busybody, that's showing concern for the child. More people need to do it.
not every case is one of "concern for the child" it really is being a busy body.
Why do police have so much power they only go to school for six months yet screw up so many lives with a simple ticket or arrest often times for BS!! I think their power hungry no one pulled over should get out of a ticket its not their job at that point. They saw a crime and should ticket not play judge jury and prosecuter on the side of the road to satisfy some perceived power they have given themselves?? WTF. I use to support the police but now creating traffic jams to stop everyone just to check if u have a license F-Them this is my city and I Vote!!
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This discussion has been closed.
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