admin
The mom of a two-year boy was surprised, and a bit upset after part of a homemade lunch, she made for her son was sent back by his nursery school for being “too unhealthy.” Recently, there have been concerns over the health of young children which has sparked a controversial movement around reducing sugars and other ingredients that, in large servings, can be unhealthy in school lunches. School administrators around the country have since struggled to encourage parents to send their kids to school with healthier lunch choices. However, it seems that this particular nursery school may be on the far extreme end of the “lunch policing” spectrum. The mom posted a comment in response to a Plymouth Live story in which teachers talked about the most unhealthy homemade school lunches they had seen their students bring in.
Cornwall Live posted the story on Facebook and asked their readers to share their own examples of some of the worst school lunches they had seen. Laura Lee, however, decided to take the conversation in a different direction and even included a photo of the school lunch she packed for her toddler. “‘I sent my 2.5 yr old son to school with this, and the cookies got sent home because they’re unhealthy,” she wrote. “There were 3 MINI cookies.” Most folks felt that this lunch seemed pretty healthy. It even had little cucumber slices with the middles cut out into cute little flower shapes.
As long as her son ate the rest of his lunch, it seems like three mini chocolate chip cookies would have made a nicely balanced dessert. However, the nursery school still saw fit to send the cookies home, claiming they were “unhealthy.” Really? Does this school allow the kids to have any sugar?
Many of Sarah’s friends also found the school’s decision questionable.
Meanwhile, other parents and commenters replied to Laura’s post expressing their outrage and shock over how anyone could deem her child’s lunch to be unhealthy.
“I work in a nursery and believe me, I have seen some terrible packed lunches in the past!” said one. “This looks perfect to me!”
“Looks like you took time and effort to his lunch ‘fun’ and appealing,” said Susan McGowan. “Absolute rubbish that he wasn’t allowed to get those small cookies. Everything in moderation surely.”
Other parents offered similar experiences with schools sending back parts of their children’s home-packed lunches.
“That looks great and well balanced,” wrote Christina Robinson. “My son’s drink got sent home because it was fizzy, it was sparkling water.”
Then there’s also the fact that most of the lunches served by schools are nowhere near as healthy as the one Laura packed for her son.
“Amazing, when a child’s free school lunch can have a syrup sponge and custard for a pudding,” Stephanie Hughes pointed out.
In America and abroad, there have been recent movements with the goal of getting children to eat healthier foods.
This comes after decades of harmful advertising targeted toward young children for drinks, snacks, and morning cereals that are loaded with sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, on top of any number of other artificial ingredients.
School started combating this unhealthy culture by encouraging both parents and their children to choose healthy lunches while trying to provide more vegetables and other nutritious options in their own lunch programs. Some schools have taken the extra steps of monitoring parent-packed lunches and banning certain foods.
There’s an example of one school district in Richmond, Missouri which banned all fast food on their school grounds. However, some parents believed this was a case of the school overreaching in its authority.
“I thought it was overstepping at its finest,” said one father of five. “It’s up to parents what their children eat.”
Other schools even took the extraordinary step of banning healthy foods such as nuts out of concern for children suffering from serious allergies. While this is understandable, it seems pretty unlikely that a few mini cookies are going to hurt someone.
In Laura’s case, she’s not quite sure what her son’s nursery will send home next.
“I packed a vegan bar yesterday that’s made of dates, Raisins and nuts but looked like chocolate,” she wrote. “Expected that to come back in a bag too.”
Laura’s story has since gone viral and has built up quite a few comments from frustrated parents who share her sentiment.
“Schools should concentrate on teaching and not being the lunch box police,” says one commenter. “No good being skinny fit but finish school knowing nothing.”
Then again, there are also those who side with the school’s decision.
“I think parents often forget their child is not the only one in the school, and rules are implemented to make everything work as well as possible,” an anonymous individual wrote. “Even the pack lunch pictured is carb heavy and even the most foody of our children would leave half.”
Still, Laura’s lunch represents a much healthier choice than the cold, fat-saturated, sugar-laced food found in McDonald’s Happy meals or something called a “Monster Munch” and a big can of Red Bull, for example. These are actually things teachers saw their students bring in for lunch. So, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Do you believe Laura’s son should have been allowed to have his cookies? Let us know what you think in the comments section and be sure to share this story with your friends and family.
