When I was at school (a good few years ago now) I didn't have a very healthy packed lunch, usually sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar and everyone else had similar. It wasn't a problem though, we soon used to run it off in and out of school. I think the main problem with unhealthy kids is not their food, but the fact they are effectively imprisoned in their homes because their parents are scared of the bogey man round every corner and the fact the public see kids as criminals for kicking a ball about or playing.
It really annoys me when people in our street tell kids off/have a go at their parents for having fun. What is wrong with people, I love the sound of kids playing, most people seem be against kids having fun in public though.
If parents let their kids out to run around, climb trees, play sport etc and people didn't moan about kids making a bit of noise while having their fun then there really wouldn't be a problem with children being overweight. It would also be good for the children's mental well being as well.
The goverment seriously need to get a grip when it comes to this food policing nonsense. It's gone so over the top it's just insane now.
Surely there are more important things they should be worried about than what we are eating?
We've created a nanny state I'm afraid. There's always someone campaigning to ban this or restrict that. Unfortunately the government actually take notice.
When I was at school (a good few years ago now) I didn't have a very healthy packed lunch, usually sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar and everyone else had similar. It wasn't a problem though, we soon used to run it off in and out of school. I think the main problem with unhealthy kids is not their food, but the fact they are effectively imprisoned in their homes because their parents are scared of the bogey man round every corner and the fact the public see kids as criminals for kicking a ball about or playing.
It really annoys me when people in our street tell kids off/have a go at their parents for having fun. What is wrong with people, I love the sound of kids playing, most people seem be against kids having fun in public though.
If parents let their kids out to run around, climb trees, play sport etc and people didn't moan about kids making a bit of noise while having their fun then there really wouldn't be a problem with children being overweight. It would also be good for the children's mental well being as well.
That's spot on.
The media have managed to instil an OMG PAEDOPHILES ARE EVERYWHERE panic into the general public to the extent people are scared to leave kids unsupervised at all. In reality, this is totally flawed especially when the vast majority of abused people know their abusers before the attack anyway.
So you get a load of kids basically babysat by their consoles and computers who never get out much because their parents are too busy and/or scared of paedophiles to let them go out doing sport so it does matter if they eat crap because they don't get the exercise to match. I can't really say I eat that healthily but I do walk around enough to not end up unhealthily fat.
As for kids playing it doesn't bother me at all provided they're not being anti-social and causing damage to property and threatening people. If they're out on the road on their bikes with friends or playing football that's fine, at least they're exercising and not socialising is bad. But then I guess some people would moan about a few 10-14 year olds in the street on their bikes as well even if they're not doing anything to them. But they need to do something, don't they?
The media have managed to instil an OMG PAEDOPHILES ARE EVERYWHERE panic into the general public to the extent people are scared to leave kids unsupervised at all. In reality, this is totally flawed especially when the vast majority of abused people know their abusers before the attack anyway.
So you get a load of kids basically babysat by their consoles and computers who never get out much because their parents are too busy and/or scared of paedophiles to let them go out doing sport so it does matter if they eat crap because they don't get the exercise to match. I can't really say I eat that healthily but I do walk around enough to not end up unhealthily fat.
As for kids playing it doesn't bother me at all provided they're not being anti-social and causing damage to property and threatening people. If they're out on the road on their bikes with friends or playing football that's fine, at least they're exercising and not socialising is bad. But then I guess some people would moan about a few 10-14 year olds in the street on their bikes as well even if they're not doing anything to them. But they need to do something, don't they?
Indeed they do. I don't suppose all these checks on adults who want to organise something for kids to do is a help either. People will just think it's not worth the hassle to organise sport, clubs etc for kids, as they are automatically treat as suspect paedophiles.
The government could also do with putting some money into youth clubs. I believe funding for this has been cut in recent times. I used to love youth club when I was a kid and a lot of the activities we did involved physical exercise.
I suppose they figure that telling people what they should feed their kids is cheaper though.
When I was at school (a good few years ago now) I didn't have a very healthy packed lunch, usually sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar and everyone else had similar. It wasn't a problem though, we soon used to run it off in and out of school. I think the main problem with unhealthy kids is not their food, but the fact they are effectively imprisoned in their homes because their parents are scared of the bogey man round every corner and the fact the public see kids as criminals for kicking a ball about or playing.
It really annoys me when people in our street tell kids off/have a go at their parents for having fun. What is wrong with people, I love the sound of kids playing, most people seem be against kids having fun in public though.
If parents let their kids out to run around, climb trees, play sport etc and people didn't moan about kids making a bit of noise while having their fun then there really wouldn't be a problem with children being overweight. It would also be good for the children's mental well being as well.
My own lunch in secondary school was very similar and nobody said anything (mind you I went to secondary school in Ireland).
I mentioned this to my eldest son this evening (he's 12). He voiced the opinion that someone could have the healthiest lunch box in the world then go home via the chippy, a battered sausage and chips later he gets home and eats a Mars bar whilst doing his homework then guzzles full fat Coke and snacks on popcorn whilst playing on his XBox.
Why can a 12 year old figure this out but not Ofsted or the like?:rolleyes:
I mentioned this to my eldest son this evening (he's 12). He voiced the opinion that someone could have the healthiest lunch box in the world then go home via the chippy, a battered sausage and chips later he gets home and eats a Mars bar whilst doing his homework then guzzles full fat Coke and snacks on popcorn whilst playing on his XBox.
Why can a 12 year old figure this out but not Ofsted or the like?:rolleyes:
Because if you give a kid a chance to make intelligent comments often they surprise you. Quangos are full of jobsworths.
When lecturing us on lunchboxes the governent go on about how childhood obesity levels are rising and how school dinners are so much healthier because they have so many points of goodness etc. Which makes me wonder who are school dinners aimed at? Obese children, children in danger of becoming obese or normal, healthy active children? Becaue these children will all need different diets. Child obesity may be rising, but children are also developing eating disorders at younger ages and the government are just encouraging us to make kids even more obsessed and worried about food. I encourage my children to eat healthily, but I also want them to have a healthy attitude to food which to me means enjoying food and not feeling guilty about treats. The government has also not helped with obesity levels with their obsession with driving up literacty and numeracy levels which has resulted in other subjects, including PE being reduced. When telling parents that school dinners are so much better than packed lunches they are essentially saying "you don't know what's right for your children and we do". As a parent I really resent that attitude! The solution: Stop paying OFsted inspectors to snoop round kids lunchboxes and plough more money into parks, youth centres, subsidising sports and anything else that encourages children to be active.
Nothing surprises me. re. Ofsted. Friend of mine's sister in law is an Ofsted inspector - she's dodgy in every way you can imagine but has this front of respectability.
When this council wanted to close down special schools/units they used Ofsted to do it. My son (autistic) was very happy in a brilliant, well resourced specialist unit as part of a school. They asked for parental feedback - we all praised the school to the skies. The report did not reflect a word of what we felt or said or the kids or the teachers. I was in school as a volunteer parent doing crafts one afternoon when the inspectors were in. The school was clearly thriving and doing great - but they gave the special unit a bad report so they could close it down (save money). My son went from being in a class of 6 where he was 'normal' cos everyone else was like him, to a mainstream school class of 30 - where he was lonely, terrified, and seen by the 'normal' kids as a freak. Ofsted should be broken up. My younger kids had them in last week too, and it causes nothing but stress. League tables and Ofsted reports are just a load of rubbish and the money could be better spent directly on improving schools.
You know what, I don't think I've read as much twaddle for a while. OFSTED giving bad reports so that they can shut down special units to save money? I suppose you have the evidence to back this up (other than hearsay from a distant relative of some friend)? What was the unit's performance over the previous three years? Had they achieved their pupils' IEP targets, or their provisional mapping goals? How would you know if they had? If OFSTED were broken up, what would replace it? How would you know how well a school was doing? You do realise that there have been school inspectors for generations.
Dinner lady told me she had to present the Ofsted inspectors with lunch up in the staffroom, and they were whining cos of (their) various dietary fads she had to cater for - she said she made em sarnies in the end and they moaned about the yogurt she gave em, apparently. Apparently they expect the school to feed them but won't just sit down for school dinners with the kdis to REALLY find out what goes on.
Wow, that must have been some hardship for her. I wonder if she had to have a lie down afterwards. What are "various dietary fads?"
My son only started school 3 weeks ago but we had a list sent home of what they are not allowed to take in for lunch. This includes chocolate, biscuits, crisps, cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks.
These are kids who are 4 and 5 years old and the powers that be are already trying to tell them what they can and can't eat. My son has a pretty balanced diet, loves most fruit and quite a few types of veg, gets his daily calcium from dairy products and is very active as are most of his friends. They spend playtime and lunch break running around and burning off energy so much so that he's always starving when he gets home.
I don't see a problem with him having chocolate or crisps are part of a varied diet. I refuse to make him think of foods as 'good' or 'bad' at this young age too.
I don't see your problem here. The schools do not want thirty hyperactive children, hyped on sugar all day long, running amok through the classroom. I am sure that you would be the first person to complain that the classrooms were a battlefield.
He's a bit too young for me but I can see where you're coming from. (I had to Google him ).
Educating kids about healthy food really should be a parent's job, and it's not as if there isn't a wealth of info out there about diet and nutrition should parents be unsure.
Keep it out of the schools and definitely away from the league tables (which are also a waste of time IMO but that's a whole new thread!)
Trouble is too many parents are NOT educating their children at all. That is why we have record cases of obesity in children, a growing problem of increased numbers of young children developing type two diabetes and developing other health problems. What should we do about parents who refuse to heed the warnings about a bad diet?
I don't think anyone has a dietary need of two Mars bars, a packet of crisps and a can of cola for their lunch.
Unless they're a diabetic in need of a quick burst of sugar:p? We had a lady going through checkouts the other day who had to just grab something off the shelf and eat it, as she was on the verge of passing out.
Very tue. My old next-door neighbour's son had severe PKU and had to eat a special paste 3 times a day. He wasn't allowed any meat or fish, or anything that contained proteins or aspartame. His mum used to pick him up from school and feed him at home, but had she sent his lunch into school for him I imagine there would have been some raised eyebrows about the contents of his lunch box, especially from nosey Ofsted inspectors!
I would have thought that would have been considered a "banned" item.
I mentioned this to my eldest son this evening (he's 12). He voiced the opinion that someone could have the healthiest lunch box in the world then go home via the chippy, a battered sausage and chips later he gets home and eats a Mars bar whilst doing his homework then guzzles full fat Coke and snacks on popcorn whilst playing on his XBox.
Why can a 12 year old figure this out but not Ofsted or the like?:rolleyes:
Because what happens outside of school is not in OFSTED's remit. They can only be concerned about what happens in school.
The media have managed to instil an OMG PAEDOPHILES ARE EVERYWHERE panic into the general public to the extent people are scared to leave kids unsupervised at all. In reality, this is totally flawed especially when the vast majority of abused people know their abusers before the attack anyway.
So you get a load of kids basically babysat by their consoles and computers who never get out much because their parents are too busy and/or scared of paedophiles to let them go out doing sport so it does matter if they eat crap because they don't get the exercise to match. I can't really say I eat that healthily but I do walk around enough to not end up unhealthily fat.
As for kids playing it doesn't bother me at all provided they're not being anti-social and causing damage to property and threatening people. If they're out on the road on their bikes with friends or playing football that's fine, at least they're exercising and not socialising is bad. But then I guess some people would moan about a few 10-14 year olds in the street on their bikes as well even if they're not doing anything to them. But they need to do something, don't they?
To be fair, I think kids today have plenty of entertainment at home nowadays and just don't want to go and play out like they used to do. In my day it was either go out, read a book or watch Coronation Street.
My nephew, for example, is always glued to the computer or a games console and him not wanting to go out a lot has nothing to do with any paedophile fear. They can also still chat with their mates that way too.
To be fair, I think kids today have plenty of entertainment at home nowadays and just don't want to go and play out like they used to do. In my day it was either go out, read a book or watch Coronation Street.
I had my commodore 64 and a spectrum, those three hours waiting for Bubble Bobble to load were great:D!
When lecturing us on lunchboxes the governent go on about how childhood obesity levels are rising and how school dinners are so much healthier because they have so many points of goodness etc. Which makes me wonder who are school dinners aimed at? Obese children, children in danger of becoming obese or normal, healthy active children? Becaue these children will all need different diets. Child obesity may be rising, but children are also developing eating disorders at younger ages and the government are just encouraging us to make kids even more obsessed and worried about food.
Oh come on. Are seriously suggesting that children suffering from eating disorders is the government's fault because they have recommended that children eat healthily. You don't think that maybe it is down to media hype, about ultra-thin models and teen pop stars, or the feelings of inadequacy and peer pressure, raised by their own self-doubt, perpetuated by what they watch on televison and read in magazines?
I encourage my children to eat healthily, but I also want them to have a healthy attitude to food which to me means enjoying food and not feeling guilty about treats.
No one is stopping you from doing that. If you feel you can't do that, what would be the alternatives?
The government has also not helped with obesity levels with their obsession with driving up literacty and numeracy levels which has resulted in other subjects, including PE being reduced.
Again, are you serious? The fact that the government want more children to able to read and write is making them fat? When will you complain that not enough time is spent on literacy classes? How much time has been lost from PE lessons? Would you be complaining that they have dropped history, for example, in favour more literacy and numeracy lessons?
When telling parents that school dinners are so much better than packed lunches they are essentially saying "you don't know what's right for your children and we do". As a parent I really resent that attitude! The solution: Stop paying OFsted inspectors to snoop round kids lunchboxes and plough more money into parks, youth centres, subsidising sports and anything else that encourages children to be active.
When have the government told parents that "school dinners are so much better than packed lunches?" I don't remember them saying that. My childen have never been told that.
I don't think the money saved stopping OFSTED asking how schools are promoting a healthy lifestyle is going to pay for, "more money into parks, youth centres, subsidising sports and anything else that encourages children to be active." The cost to OFSTED, in comparison to those things, is quite small.
Unless they're a diabetic in need of a quick burst of sugar:p? We had a lady going through checkouts the other day who had to just grab something off the shelf and eat it, as she was on the verge of passing out.
Having been a type one diabetic since childhood, I can assure that none of that would be necessary to be included in a child's lunch box. That said, it would be understood by the school of the child's need to have these.
Having been a type one diabetic since childhood, I can assure that none of that would be necessary to be included in a child's lunch box. That said, it would be understood by the school of the child's need to have these.
To be honest, I doubt anyone's lunch box would contain only those items, I never saw anything like that while I was at school...
Has anyone seen an OFSTED report that gave a school less points because of some child's lunchbox containing a packet of crisps? Or is it that the school was simply ignoring the advice given by DCFS, as to how to deliver the healthy living programme?
To be honest, I doubt anyone's lunch box would contain only those items, I never saw anything like that while I was at school...
I have seen them, constantly, at a school I used to work at. Oddly enough there were an awful lot of kids who had ADHD (what sane parent would give cans of non-diet cola to a child with ADHD is beyond me), or were grossly overweight, despite the advice given by the school on what constitutes a healthy diet. The school never got marked down because what was in the children's lunch boxes. It would have, if they could not demonstrate their commitment to delivering the message that healthy food was good for you.
Comments
Lol, I have to go get ready for work!
Catch x
It really annoys me when people in our street tell kids off/have a go at their parents for having fun. What is wrong with people, I love the sound of kids playing, most people seem be against kids having fun in public though.
If parents let their kids out to run around, climb trees, play sport etc and people didn't moan about kids making a bit of noise while having their fun then there really wouldn't be a problem with children being overweight. It would also be good for the children's mental well being as well.
Surely there are more important things they should be worried about than what we are eating?
We've created a nanny state I'm afraid. There's always someone campaigning to ban this or restrict that. Unfortunately the government actually take notice.
That's spot on.
The media have managed to instil an OMG PAEDOPHILES ARE EVERYWHERE panic into the general public to the extent people are scared to leave kids unsupervised at all. In reality, this is totally flawed especially when the vast majority of abused people know their abusers before the attack anyway.
So you get a load of kids basically babysat by their consoles and computers who never get out much because their parents are too busy and/or scared of paedophiles to let them go out doing sport so it does matter if they eat crap because they don't get the exercise to match. I can't really say I eat that healthily but I do walk around enough to not end up unhealthily fat.
As for kids playing it doesn't bother me at all provided they're not being anti-social and causing damage to property and threatening people. If they're out on the road on their bikes with friends or playing football that's fine, at least they're exercising and not socialising is bad. But then I guess some people would moan about a few 10-14 year olds in the street on their bikes as well even if they're not doing anything to them. But they need to do something, don't they?
Indeed they do. I don't suppose all these checks on adults who want to organise something for kids to do is a help either. People will just think it's not worth the hassle to organise sport, clubs etc for kids, as they are automatically treat as suspect paedophiles.
The government could also do with putting some money into youth clubs. I believe funding for this has been cut in recent times. I used to love youth club when I was a kid and a lot of the activities we did involved physical exercise.
I suppose they figure that telling people what they should feed their kids is cheaper though.
Same here, nobody should tell you what you can eat.
My own lunch in secondary school was very similar and nobody said anything (mind you I went to secondary school in Ireland).
Why can a 12 year old figure this out but not Ofsted or the like?:rolleyes:
Because if you give a kid a chance to make intelligent comments often they surprise you. Quangos are full of jobsworths.
You know what, I don't think I've read as much twaddle for a while. OFSTED giving bad reports so that they can shut down special units to save money? I suppose you have the evidence to back this up (other than hearsay from a distant relative of some friend)? What was the unit's performance over the previous three years? Had they achieved their pupils' IEP targets, or their provisional mapping goals? How would you know if they had? If OFSTED were broken up, what would replace it? How would you know how well a school was doing? You do realise that there have been school inspectors for generations.
Wow, that must have been some hardship for her. I wonder if she had to have a lie down afterwards. What are "various dietary fads?"
I don't see your problem here. The schools do not want thirty hyperactive children, hyped on sugar all day long, running amok through the classroom. I am sure that you would be the first person to complain that the classrooms were a battlefield.
Trouble is too many parents are NOT educating their children at all. That is why we have record cases of obesity in children, a growing problem of increased numbers of young children developing type two diabetes and developing other health problems. What should we do about parents who refuse to heed the warnings about a bad diet?
I don't think anyone has a dietary need of two Mars bars, a packet of crisps and a can of cola for their lunch.
Unless they're a diabetic in need of a quick burst of sugar:p? We had a lady going through checkouts the other day who had to just grab something off the shelf and eat it, as she was on the verge of passing out.
I would have thought that would have been considered a "banned" item.
What did his lunchbox contain?
Because what happens outside of school is not in OFSTED's remit. They can only be concerned about what happens in school.
I dunno anyone whose parents go to the school to make the packed lunch, that usually is done at home, so is then none of their business:p.
To be fair, I think kids today have plenty of entertainment at home nowadays and just don't want to go and play out like they used to do. In my day it was either go out, read a book or watch Coronation Street.
My nephew, for example, is always glued to the computer or a games console and him not wanting to go out a lot has nothing to do with any paedophile fear. They can also still chat with their mates that way too.
I had my commodore 64 and a spectrum, those three hours waiting for Bubble Bobble to load were great:D!
Oh come on. Are seriously suggesting that children suffering from eating disorders is the government's fault because they have recommended that children eat healthily. You don't think that maybe it is down to media hype, about ultra-thin models and teen pop stars, or the feelings of inadequacy and peer pressure, raised by their own self-doubt, perpetuated by what they watch on televison and read in magazines?
No one is stopping you from doing that. If you feel you can't do that, what would be the alternatives?
Again, are you serious? The fact that the government want more children to able to read and write is making them fat? When will you complain that not enough time is spent on literacy classes? How much time has been lost from PE lessons? Would you be complaining that they have dropped history, for example, in favour more literacy and numeracy lessons?
When have the government told parents that "school dinners are so much better than packed lunches?" I don't remember them saying that. My childen have never been told that.
I don't think the money saved stopping OFSTED asking how schools are promoting a healthy lifestyle is going to pay for, "more money into parks, youth centres, subsidising sports and anything else that encourages children to be active." The cost to OFSTED, in comparison to those things, is quite small.
Having been a type one diabetic since childhood, I can assure that none of that would be necessary to be included in a child's lunch box. That said, it would be understood by the school of the child's need to have these.
To be honest, I doubt anyone's lunch box would contain only those items, I never saw anything like that while I was at school...
I have seen them, constantly, at a school I used to work at. Oddly enough there were an awful lot of kids who had ADHD (what sane parent would give cans of non-diet cola to a child with ADHD is beyond me), or were grossly overweight, despite the advice given by the school on what constitutes a healthy diet. The school never got marked down because what was in the children's lunch boxes. It would have, if they could not demonstrate their commitment to delivering the message that healthy food was good for you.