Talking of school promoting healthy eating, why is ds coming home with lollipops and sweets several days a week?

[thegrammerpolicesic]

I've always been one of those boring mums who rations the number of sweets ds has and tries to avoid those which have artificial gunk in. Two or three times a week he's coming home with sweeties from school. Sometimes they're party bags for kids whose birthdays it was but who didn't have a party which is fine as that's down to the other parents but sometimes they are from the teacher.

I'm talking lollies and wine gum type sweets.

I'd rather he wasn't eating all this crap stuff on such a regular basis - I don't mind occasionally.

I suppose this is an AIBU really. It does seem to go against all these healthy eating campaigns.

[deaddei]

Sorry- you mean the teacher gives them to him?

[thegrammerpolicesic]

Sometimes yes - not just him, the whole class. The teachers have given out haribos and stuff which is not from the parents.

So the other day they had party bags for a class party they had (definitely organised by the teachers) and they had those sherbet lollipops in.

[LynetteScavo]

YANBU.

I guess I'm going to be in a minority about this again, though.

[thegrammerpolicesic]

I wouldn't mind if it was, say, the last day of term, but it's quite a lot. I guess I should be grateful that they're getting given sweets in a way but....

[deaddei]

I agree- last day of term, but not regularly.
My kids don't actually like sweets (chocolate is another matter!).
Are they given out as rewards?

[golgi]

I agree, YANBU.

The other day, son came home with two things. One, a leaflet from the healthy eating police with ideas for healthy snacks etc.
Two, a letter from PTA saying "please bring money to buy cakes for children in need".

On his first day at school he didn't eat his lunch as was given cake "from someone's birthday" first! He often came home from nursery with sweets.

Tricky one to handle though - I don't want him to be the only one in the class not getting sweets, and we do allow them at home but just as a very occasional treat.

So I try to remove sweets, say "we'll have them later" stick them in the cupboard and ration them or hope he forgets about them. In which case I eat them myself.

I've just finished off a chocolate orange "for the boys" from great-grandma that I managed to intercept.

[choccyp1g]

I agree, it is ridiculous that a self-styled "healthy" school condones sweets being given out for:
children's birthdays
return from expensive holidays taken in term time
some afterschool clubs give a sweet or lolly at the end of every session
some gave at the end of half term
football club gives sweets to "player of the day"
teacher gives lollies to "table of the week"
occasional treats for cultural festivals, e.g. fortune cookies for Chinese New Year.

The last one is the only one I have any sympathy with.
People say it's only once in a while, and I know it is meant kindly, I think it is out of order.

That said,it is gradually improving. I think years 1 and 2 were the worst.

[MrsGently]

I agree choccyp1g, my child has been introduced to loads of junk food through school approved methods and they have the nerve to preach to me about healthy eating.

[Ixia]

DD has just done a sponsored walk to raise money for the PTA to use for school equipment. Said PTA wanted to buy sweets for all the kids for Xmas, cost is 5x the money DD raised and she raised a considerable sum. It does my head in.

Why do they need sweets in school, DD does have sweets, I'm not totally anti sugar. But it shouldn't be at school.

[choccyp1g]

And as for the Christmas Fair, it is usually a total E-number sweet and cake fest.

[LynetteScavo]

It seems to be a universal thing though. We have staggered hom from a summer fayre ladden with 6 huge bottles of coke and lemonade.

[MrsGently]

As long as the kids aren't eating the sweets they are given on school property then maybe it doesn't count against them and their Healthy schools status.

[SpodgeMcBiscuit]

Ah this rings true. I am also a "boring mum who rations the number of sweets ds has" but I see it as caring mammy who is doing what she personally thinks is best. If you want to give your kids sweets big whoop. Prob won't do harm, but it is a personal parenting choice.

Son's teacher hands out a full size bag of haribo a week for the most housepoints! I mean what the fudge! I'd feel really mean taking them from my son. I'm scared to complain to the school incase I ruin it for everyone else who doesn't mind. I don't want to be that mammy.

He recently came home with one of those snack swap wheels. I felt like sending it back. I know what healthy is thank you. I may whip it out next time they send home junk food. ahhhhhhhh rant over

[slng]

Ah! We've got one of those snack swappers as well. What is the difference between a fruit pie and a fruit flan?

I'm also well pissed off with school constantly sending them home with all kinds of nasty sweets. I let them eat it all at once (with me helping and some surreptitiously into the bin) because if we take it home they keep whinging for it and it makes life hell.

My DS1 says to me that it's OK to have sweets as long as you don't have too much of it too often and you have eaten your healthy meal. >

[mrz]

If you have a real problem with your child receiving sweets at school why not tell the teacher that you don't want your child included?

[SpodgeMcBiscuit]

Mrz I see your point. Seems obvious doesn't it lol. We have some children who are J.Witness at our school and in some celebrations their mother has requested that they are not included. Christmas and Birthdays, Halloween etc. Which is reasonable, but my reason for objecting is purely personal. I don't want to draw attention to my son as the boy not allowed sweets.

Plus then the teacher would either have to not give my son anything, or she may feel she has to provide some other form of reward for him. I don't want to dishearten him my taking his rewards away nor add to the teachers worries.

Personally if I had my own way, I'd like to see the local greengrocer giving vouchers to the school for fruit etc. But again that is my personal parenting choice and I'd never aim to push it on anyone else.

[slng]

Because it is not about sweets. It is about sending mixed messages. My children have sweet things, as part of a healthy meal. I don't tell them that it is bad, and I don't tell them it is a special treat. It is not a reward. It is just a fact of life, and is a nice thing that we like that we have in moderation. I don't like school telling me I can't give my child a piece of chocolate as part of his lunch while the school feels free to distribute sweets and then it is down to me to police the consumption. (FWIW my dentist says that apparently studies showed that eating sweet things as part of the meal has no detrimental effect to teeth while having it outside meal times has bad effects.) Before anyone starts I understand why school has guidelines about packed lunch etc and I don't undermine them. I just wish they would not undermine their own messages and my efforts.

Also how would a child feel if everyone gets handed out sweets (which is a reward/treat, apparently) while they get missed out?

[mrz]

The whole Healthy School thing has got totally out of control IMHO.
Teachers policing lunchboxes?

As has been sensibly said what is wrong with including sweet things as part of a balanced meal?

I've met teachers who nearly faint at the idea of allowing a child to bring in a birthday cake to share with the class..."but we are a healthy school" they wail!

Common sense seems to have disappeared along with the full fat milk for infants!

Oh and recent research has shown some under fives are malnourished because of healthy schools ....

[MrsGently]

Most school kids are over five - how are the under 5's diet controlled by Healthy Schools?

[SpodgeMcBiscuit]

Many state nurserys are now linked to primary schools. The dinners are all provided by the local authority.

[savoycabbage]

The sweets on birthdays and holidays thing really gets on my nerves. I had a showdown with my dd's teacher on her second day of school about it as I thought it was weird that she was getting sweets because someone had been on holiday. The guidelines are soooo strict for school meals that I didn't understand why they were cramming them with Spanish sweets. I wouldn't mind if it was cake, at least that's a food.

Anyway, the School Food Trust says

"Birthday cakes provided by the school must meet the standards and therefore should not contain confectionery and should be provided at lunchtimes only. It will be for schools to decide whether to have a policy that allows parents to occasionally bring food onto school premises to share amongst pupils (e.g. birthday cakes) and, if so, whether that food will need to meet the standards. Birthdays can be considered as occasional events, but we would urge schools to consider this decision in the light of the ?whole school approach? to healthy eating."

[SpodgeMcBiscuit]

Great link there savoycabbage!

Liked the info on cooking in schools too. I must cheer my primary as my son is in his second year of primary and has made a selection of healthier biscuits (oatmeal and low sugar etc) which he has brought home with him.

I always think the type of mums who bother with mumsnet are the types who bother to cook healthy and teach kids about balanced diets, but some children get nothing but rubbish at home and this healthy healthy approach while seeming overkill to us at times is the ony healthy stuff these kids get!

[mrz]

By MrsGently Sat 21-Nov-09 11:47:42
Most school kids are over five - how are the under 5's diet controlled by Healthy Schools?

Only 2 of my reception class are five - so lots of schools have under 5's on role next consider all the nursery classes/schools and you might see how Healthy Schools is having an effect.

[gorionine]

YA definitely not BU.

We get told off if we give a snack that is not a fruit, even if said snack is healthy.

Thursday DS2 came back with 2 chuppa chups from music teacher and Friday he came back with another one from his teacher.

DS3 used to get chocolate every Friday and DD1 gets biscuits and chocolate at her sawing club after school (run in the school by a teacher).

I do not mind them getting sweets as they do not get masses of them at home but I do object strongly to the "do what I say not what I do" that our school healthy food policy seems to be doing.

[mrz]

A leading British nutritionist has criticised a government scheme to distribute free fruit to primary school children for being scientifically flawed and misleading. Professor Tom Sanders, head of nutrition at King's College London and a member of a government advisory body on food policy, said that giving fruit to children each day could backfire on ministers. An explanatory document released when the National School Fruit Scheme was launched in February was littered with misleading claims that could undermine the aim of ensuring children had a balanced diet, he said.

"The Government could be doing a lot of damage to a sensible campaign to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption by coming up with inaccurate statements and exaggerated health claims," Professor Sanders said. "Too much fruit and veg in under-fives can cause malnutrition ........