When should a school intervene? Never? (school lunch issue)
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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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As a teacher I would not be asking a forum of people who mostly are not teachers for advice about one of my students. It would strike me as odd if my daughter's teacher used this as a source for decision making about my child. Especially considering the morons saying Doritos warrant a call to CPS. We don't know what else is going on the house because they have Doritos? seriously? Save CPS for the real abused and neglected children of the world. What a waste of time.
If you read my posts, you'll see that I had already made my decision ( along with the principal and school nurse) and wasn't asking for advice; I was interested in the discussion since the topic was in the news and this is a forum about nutrition/diet etc.0 -
As a teacher I would not be asking a forum of people who mostly are not teachers for advice about one of my students. It would strike me as odd if my daughter's teacher used this as a source for decision making about my child. Especially considering the morons saying Doritos warrant a call to CPS. We don't know what else is going on the house because they have Doritos? seriously? Save CPS for the real abused and neglected children of the world. What a waste of time.
If you read my posts, you'll see that I had already made my decision ( along with the principal and school nurse) and wasn't asking for advice; I was interested in the discussion since the topic was in the news and this is a forum about nutrition/diet etc.
yessss strong thread necro0 -
Nah I wouldn't intervene. I'd feel sorry for the kid, but that isn't my business.0
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rainbowbow wrote: »LoupGarouTFTs wrote: »rainbowbow wrote: »I would probably intervene if the child were up to 7th-8th grade. At that point i would acknowledge their own choices. I would be willing to assist them with making the right food choices, but if they are fat, get diabetes, and get picked on it's their own perogative at that point.
Now if it's a child child (?) then i would absolutely intervene**. I would only do so by collective the offending item and replacing it with something else. For example, in the breakfast situation i would collect the redbull and cheetos and give them an apple and a milk. Or a banana and a yogurt. something to that effect.
I would then send them home with the offending item and a handwritten note that they had received a healthier option instead. I would probably say something along the lines of... "XChild has had low energy lately" or "XChild seems to be having problems integrating and playing with the other students" or "XChild is having problems in PE/Recess" and it "may be because they didn't have a nutritious and healthy breakfast. So i bought them something that may be more beneficial to their studies/health".
If the parents are ballsy enough to send the child to class with the items again i would write them a serious fat-hating/angry/shitlord letter.
**Note: I would only intervene if the product was genuinely terrible for their health or completely lacking in any nutritional value. It'd have to be a meal of oreos, doritos/cheetos, and packaged donuts only for me to really step in. I dont presume to know their diet outside of school and i recognize that even in my own diet these things can be eaten in moderation. I wouldn't flip about one "bad" side or one "bad" portion. I'm saying if the entire meal was devoid of nutrition.
Unless the child is your child, it's not your business.
assuming it'd be my responsibility to discipline, teach, and shape the future of generations to come; i'd say it's my business.
Sorry. As a teacher you are to teach reading, writing Ect. As sad as it is, a teacher is not to shape my child's morals or eating habits.0 -
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Interesting thread. Is the child obese?
Does the child come from a poor school district?
Is the child showing signs of lethargy (doubtful due to energy drink)?
Is the child causing a disturbance during class time due to the energy drinks?
Is the child having headaches due to the empty calories she just consumed?
Is she experiencing a food crash later in the day due to lack of proper nutritional food?
If you answered no to any of these then I say butt out because if she isn't experiencing some type of bad effect then she's eating well the rest of the day.
While the energy drink is problematic, I would just send a note saying that energy drinks, gatorades and sodas are not allowed. I'm with the other posters who feel that people need to mind their own business when it comes to the doritos though, it's a snack...and while weird as a breakfast food, so are most sugar filled cereals, poptarts, and breakfast bars.
Before I get asked, yes I have children; six of them.
I also helped raised two younger siblings and one niece over the years so that's a total of 9 kids that I have helped raise and been responsible for feeding and caring for...phew...yes I was very tired for two decades..and of those 9, 6 are now adults.
And both adults and remaining children that I raised are neither fat or sick.
Snacks don't make you fat, overindulgence does.0
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