lunch box junk

[Emjay]

Originally Posted by kermi

As my children attended a Montessori school to start with, we were asked never to send anything like that (not that most of us would have anyway) and if a child was found to have these items in their lunchboxes, they would be removed and given back to parents when the child was collected.
My eldest two have always had healthy lunchboxes (especially Calen....LOL) and they have never complained....

Same. (Not the Montessori part but the rest). Every school/kindy/preschool my kids have ever attended there was a healthy eating system. For example at Ebony's Kindy the children must have a piece of fruit for morning tea, they can take cheese, yoghurts, dried fruit, savory crackers, sandwiches etc as additions to morning tea and for lunch but they are not allowed sweet biccies, chips, roll ups etc. Anything 'pre packaged' is discouraged. It is also a 'nut free' school due to one of the boys having a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. The only drink allowed is water. No cordial, no juice and they discourage milk because it needs to be refridgerated and the water bottles are within easy access of the kids all day.

The only time anything else is allowed is when it's one of the children's birthday and they bring in either a cake or cupcakes to share.

I just can't imagine sending CHOCOLATES or FIZZY DRINKS! The Kindy teachers would have a fit and who can blame them! I have to admit, I'm not a huge stickler for no junk, completely healthy etc. Their lunchboxes are always full of healthy food and they eat proper breakfasts and dinners but most afternoons they will sit down with a glass of milk and a few cookies each for afternoon tea. On the weekends they might share a bowl of chips and watch a movie and i'm cool with that. I'm not someone who says an unconditional no to junk but it's so sad that this is what people are giving their kids to sustain them.

[KristyMum]

I know heaps of kids that wont drink water, well thats because the parents only offer Cordial.

everyone thought we were depriving our kids that they were only offered water (and milk, buy ykwim)...
and on the water-refusal thing? I know a little girl who would point blank refuse to drink water, only would drink juice or cordial or etc etc...
to get her to drink water, the Mum would put a few drops of food colouring in it...
and she'd drink it...
and it didn't even *taste* different...

It's weird, I can pack some rice crackers and cheese and she won't touch them, but a pack of munchibals with cheese and rice crackers (identical) gets eaten it's all to do with packaging and tv commercials I reckon.

yes, and no, and yes. Yes in the sense that if they see it on tv, and see all their friends having it (which is the advertisers best advertisement) it can make a difference... and be a PITB
but, if they know *why* those foods aren't good all the time, that can help
and in our particular situation, with minimal tv, and not seeing those foods at school, and a lot of parties we go to offering healthy stuff, as well as knowing and understanding *why* it's not good to have that food all the time, it becomes less of a biggie, iykwim.
annoying but, huh.
The other thing, is you can use what you're saying to your advantage in that, if the unhealthy stuff isn't available, school encourages healthy stuff, her friends have healthier stuff etc etc then that's using 'outside influences' to your advantage...
what I mean is, it's like if you have one parenting style, then grannie does another then aunty does another etc then it makes it harder, not impossible just harder. If you can get consistency a majority of the time, it becomes easier, iykwim..?
anyhoo, just dribbling... off to make a cuppa!

[~Princess of Pink~]

I avoid the "what they see on tv" by only ever letting them watch ABC kids! No food ads, or brand name promotion...usually really good, non-violent cartoons...unlike all other stations morning and afternoon toons!! I don't take the kids food shopping, I take full advantage of the extended shopping hours and go after DH is home from work. That way they don't see all the crappy food that is out there! My daughter's school has a tuckshop but they totally fazed out all the junk last year and it now only sells healthy food....which is so much easier!! Nice to know as well that if we have a bad week and run out of food...that she can buy fresh fruit salad, carrot sticks, salad rolls, etc...

[Beanie]

This is an interesting topic. I'm very keen on giving kids healthy food too, but I do worry about how to prevent them seeing junk food as the forbidden fruit and therefore desperately desirable.

I guess I only think about that because that's what happened to me - Mum only provided healthy food (to the point that even cornflakes were not in our house), so I would sneak out and get junk food myself by any means possible!

Now as an adult I still really struggle with junk food and daily have to fight the idea that because it's there (ie at the shop or at a party etc) I MUST eat as much as I can in case it's not available to me any time again soon!

Having said that, I do appreciate being brought up healthy since I feel like I know what the healthy choices are at least, which is more than many of these poor kids can say.

[waawa]

I find it interesting that people are lumping chocolate in with worst-possible foods like cheezels and lollies and cookies and soft drink, then placing things like sultanas on the other side of that "healthy/unhealthy" divide. A couple of squares of quality chocolate, while high-energy (not a big deal for active and/or underweight kids - Luke is both right now), is actually quite nutritious - good fats (no trans fats), very high in antioxidants, and so on.

I hope no one's freaking out when Luke gets a couple of dark choc bits or some baked goods he has cooked himself, along with his sandwich and fruit in school lunch - muffins packed with strawberries are a favourite, he also sometimes makes brownies made with olive oil and real chocolate.

He's always had relatively free access to all kinds of foods. Here are a couple of meals he had chosen completely for himself in the past few days:
- tuna and tomato sandwich on soy & linseed bread
- four half corn cobs, some cabanossi, and a container of mixed berries
- pasta spirals and chilli con carne (packed with four bean mix and mushrooms)

I think we'll survive.

Lara

[Beanie]

Lara I doubt that the junky lunchboxes people are talking about had nice quality dark chocolate like you're giving your son! It is more likely to be a packaged mini cadbury bar or other sugary highly processed chocolate.

Sounds like your boy is very healthy, not one anyone should worry about or judge!

[mum2henry]

One of the schools here (a mainstream public and often called a problem school) has just introduced the no junk policy. All kids have "Brain Food" time in the mornings. They kids are allowed to eat their "brain food" in the class room, but it needs to be home made, and no choccies or added sugar (well too much) or fruit and a drink of water. It was introduced by the kindy teacher who is a friend of mine. All the kids are far better behaved now.

The reasoning behind it is that many of the kids come from disadvantaged backgrounds and often don't eat breakfast or if they do it is crap and sugar loaded.

H doesn't like to eat much fruit - but loves veges and pasta. He flat refuses to drink cordial or juice, but if he finds an unguarded beer can - it's worth a taste

Even as a kid, we didn't take junk - maybe a frozen popper occassionally - other than that, it was a sandwich and fruit, and maybe a biccie - but nothing else really.

[AlternaMum]

I was given a copy of our preschool's food policy when my boys started, which included no chocolate, no lollies, no chips, etc. My children are on our own variation of FailSafe, so I am very particular about what they have, anyway.

But my children come home and tell me that so-and-so had chips, or chocolate, or whatever that day, so I guess the rules aren't enforced too heavily.

I usually give them a combo of sandwhich with ham and cheese (S&L bread), chopped up fruit, yoghurt, cherry tomatos, carrot sticks, homemade pancakes or pikelets. Sometimes a LeSnack as a treat.

But today I did give them something special - homemade oatmeal and raisin cookies made with whomemeal flour and organic oats. I'm curious to see if their teahcer with say anything to me about them.

And I'm really looking forward to watching "Honey, We're Killng the Kids" tonight.

[~Princess of Pink~]

When I was doing my nursing degree at uni we did a combined psych/health lecture on how never giving your kids the 'bad foods' actually creates huge problems later in life like the pp said....There have actually been studies done on it that showed that having everything in a good moderation is far better than going the total healthy approach. Teaching moderation is a great preventative of obesity. I think the key is to always have the large majority of nutritious, filling foods...with the odd treat now and then...but not using that treat as a reward...just something different...in small quantities!!

[KristyMum]

I too think it's important to teach children a healthy eating attitude - just like you would 'teach' them about anything else, so that when you're not there, they have the information, and the critical thinking know-how, to make a good decision for themselves.

I'm very keen on giving kids healthy food too, but I do worry about how to prevent them seeing junk food as the forbidden fruit and therefore desperately desirable.

like has been said, knowledge of why xyz foods are good/not so good/preferable etc plus having a little of something every now and then - and you can get good 'treats' too, yk? These guys will even say, after they've had a little too much of something (which is quite a small amount relatively speaking), ooh Mummy, I don't think I should have that much next time, or, they'll ask can they put away xyz for tomorrow, because they've had enough. (usually well-meaning people bringing treats or the odd birthday party where the not so healthy outweighs the healthy.)
So they know. Of course, they're kids and love 'fun stuff' as much as the next, but they still know, and include in their 'fun foods' list things like watermelon, strawberries, kiwi fruit etc etc