Dinner nanny forcing kids to eat things they don't like

[ShelaghGunn]

Hi all, I'm new at this so forgive me if I prattle on!!
My daughter has just turned 5 and started in reception class this year, she's loving school on the whole but dinner time is really starting to distress her (to the point of not wanting to go to school at all) as one dinner lady (the token strict one that all schools seem to have!) refuses to let her leave the bits and pieces she doesn't like and also tells her off for eating some bread while she's waiting for her dinner to cool down.
My daughter made the choice to be vegetarian at only 3 yrs old (I'm not veggie) and has a generally good diet - she loves her fruit and eats enough veg to satisfy me. She is fit and healthy and it's devestating to see this dinner nanny ruining her first experiences at school.
I spoke to her teacher this morning and she fobbed me off by saying there are a lot of complaints about this one nanny but the kids get used to it .
Is there anything I can do?

[Cocolepew]

Does she have to have dinners? Would she prefer packed lunches? Don't be fobbed off -go to the Head. It's not fair on your DD that this is spoiling school for her.

[PoorOldEnid]

agree with coco

[hellywobs]

No it's not good enough for the kids to get used to it. The dinner ladies at my son's school seem to be lovely 9according to him). The ones at my school could be lovely...or nasty! It's not appropriate for them to say n what order the kids should eat or what they should eat. In my son's school (Hampshire) the kids have to eat a decent amount but are not pressed to finish, and they have to put their hand up before they can move onto pudding (probably not a bad thing, but can't see the problem with eating bread). Write a letter to the teacher, if you still get fobbed off, the head and then invoke the schools complaint policy. This woman is bullying and needs sorting out. Is there a school lunch policy - we have one.

[ShelaghGunn]

Thanks for your replies . The other parents from my daughter's class all seem a bit 'snooty' with me as we've just moved to the area so it's nice to know that there are others that feel the same way about these things.

My daughter has asked for packed lunches but being vegetarian, it takes a lot of work in the mornings to sort out everything she likes (pasta, rice etc). She's not keen on sandwiches and it all seems a lot of hard work when it's just because of one dinner nanny! She says that the others are all nice and she's loving the rest of school so I'll definately take it further and go and see the head - if there's so many other parents complaining about this nanny then I don't see why she's still working with the kids and hasn't been stuck behind the counter to whinge from a distance. It's unbelievable that there are still these people working in schools that have been stuck in their ways for probably 30 years or more!

[paros]

Shes not a nanny she is a dinner lady or a lunchtime supervisor .

[moosemama]

I am having a very similar problem with the lunchtime supervisor at my son's school - I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to do about it other than go back to sandwiches. (We are all veggie and I sympathise with the problems of producing a varied enough selection day in day out.) I would really prefer not to have to make 3 lunches (DH has packed lunch) every day as am expecting DC3 just after Christmas.

Have posted on another similar thread:

here

I still shiver from the memories of our headmaster 'policing' the scraping out bin and sending us back to eat cold, badly cooked food which we left in the first place because we hated it. There are still certain foods I can't face eating as a result.

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Why do I find the term dinner nanny so disturbing? It conjures up images of Emma Thompson with prostethic warts for some reason.