It seems not a week goes by at the moment without a school related debate arising. Last week it was holidays, this week school lunches, again!
The Government are suggesting Head Teachers ban children from bringing in packed lunches to school and only serving school meals in new plans to tackle the rise in childhood obesity. Whilst I am all for helping educate people in healthy eating, particularly with regards to their children I think this is a huge step too far!
Already at my son’s school we have a huge list of things he is not allowed to take in his lunchbox, all fairly obvious items he very rarely has anyway such as fizzy drinks and ‘proper’ chocolate bars. Not long after he had first started school I gave him a small Freddo in his lunchbox one Friday as a treat and the dinner ladies told him he wasn’t allowed that, boy did I get a telling off when he came out of school!
For most parents I think it is common sense not to give your child lots of chocolate, crisps etc in their packed lunch and that healthier options such as fruit, yoghurts and cheese are a better choice. I don’t see why we should all be penalised for a few people that can’t seem to grasp this! Surely more education about healthy eating is the way forward, not banning everyone from being able to provide their children with what they want them to eat?
Little Mr A’s school do not currently provide school lunches anyway as they do not have a canteen. Even if they did, I wouldn’t really be very happy about him having school lunches at such a young age. By providing him with a packed lunch I can give him things I know he will eat and enjoy. If he is getting food from school I can’t be sure whether or not he is going to eat it.
My other thought is cost. At the moment supplying Little Mr A with a pack up is relatively cheap. I don’t want to have to fork out for school meals every week. It is an added expense that I’m sure a lot of families like us do not need.
If this does come into force and Little Mr A’s school joins in I will be taking him out of school for lunchtime!
What do you think? Am I overreacting? Do you think enforced school lunches would be a good thing or is it just another rule being imposed in this ever increasing nanny state we live in? I’d love to know!
