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Post by serrakunda on Nov 8, 2015 20:39:55 GMT
I have just discoverd that on two occasions in the last couple of weeks, Simba has bought three puddings on one day. I know they cannot police every child's individual choices but surely a one pudding per lunchtime rule shouldn't be too much to ask.
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Post by lankelly on Nov 8, 2015 21:26:00 GMT
Is he a member of the Pudding Club? ?
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Post by damson on Nov 8, 2015 22:22:57 GMT
Nope, no monitoring goes on. We did ParentPay for DS, and he had a week of larking about, buying rubbish for himself and mates. So we pulled the plug.
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Post by kstar on Nov 8, 2015 22:23:49 GMT
Unfortunately we don't police it either - we have a one pudding at a time rule, but it's impossible to spot if someone has queued more than once! However partly because of this,we have introduced a system of payment through fingerprints... This means parents can sign in and check what their child has spent money on at least. It's so so hard in secondaries because of the sheer numbers - we have 1500 students, and a system that works for 11 year olds rarely works for 16 year olds too. It's a tough one!
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Post by serrakunda on Nov 8, 2015 22:36:15 GMT
Yes we have the fingerprint system, there are only 500 children in the school. They get 40 minutes for lunch, I doubt he has time to queue three times
but the rubbish shouldn't be available
ive managed to stop him buying sausage rolls at break time, bottled water
lunch bag is one more thing for him to forget, lose etc. I'd rather he had a proper meal at lunchtime, he is out from 7.30 to 5.00
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Post by milly on Nov 8, 2015 22:42:45 GMT
We had similar issues in year 7. Dd's thing was buying two doughnuts at once. Her tutor was always trying to persuade her not to! I'd have changed her to packed lunch but couldn't be bothered with it so we just checked up online every so often and talked to her about healthy eating. She has got better re school meals but spoils it by buying sweets out of school whenever she can - passes through town on her way home so plenty of temptation. However they all seem to do it, most spend far more on junk food than she does.
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Post by milly on Nov 8, 2015 22:45:46 GMT
You're right though, they shouldn't have so much rubbish on sale. At dd's school they can buy food before school and at break as well as lunchtime. We had to stop her having burgers or pizza slices within half an hour of breakfast at home!!
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Post by rosie on Nov 9, 2015 0:13:21 GMT
We have had problems with poor choices too; though dd has got better. At primary school they were so hot on healthy lunch boxes; crisps or pastry foods only on a Wednesday, protein only in sandwiches, and chocolate sweets never, fruit every day etc.. It was almost too strict and made it difficult if you had a very faddy child. But suddenly at secondary you could choose anything! In year 7 she had wedges and cake every day for a while Fortunately with the finger system you can check so we were able to discuss this and explain sensible choices. I just wish they had a meal package with hot meal and pudding then it would be easier to make better choices; rather than choosing anything. We now do a combination of packed lunches and school cafeteria which works better for us. I sometimes buy her wraps from Tescos which she likes as this is no more expensive than the poor food on offer at school. I think an awful lot of children at secondary seem to binge on sweets, crisps every opportunity. Like Milly my dd will spend any spare money she has on sweets and food on the way home. dd does have food issues but most of her friends seem to do the same.
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Post by bop on Nov 9, 2015 15:07:07 GMT
From my experience its a common thing amongst those who've just moved up to High School (and not just adoptees) - they suddenly have freedom to choose and they do!
However the novelty also tends to wear off fairly quickly and they make better choices - took a few weeks for the girls; DS was a bit longer but probably only 6 months. Just keep talking to him about staying healthy and how that involves making good choices about food and exercise - making these sort of mistakes is all part of learning to be independent.
Bop
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Post by runmum on Nov 9, 2015 20:21:38 GMT
Excellent thread. Jealous Dog's menu choice record shows he has a muffin for breakfast (having refused weetabix at home), wedges most days with nothing else sometimes with hash browns followed by another cake. At first this was all washed down with a sugary fizzy drink. I suspected that this would happen and so I pulled out his year one school report which stated quite clearly that knowledge of a healthy diet was the only area of the curriculum where he could be described as having a secure knowledge as opposed to emerging or developing and reminded him that he had a great understanding of how to eat healthily. We talk about food groups all the time at home - I am a health care professional and our boys know full well what is best for their bodies.
You are right it's a common problem for all kids with the new freedom of secondary school. Some parents I know have switched to packed lunch. However Jealous Dog just does not eat any packed lunch items that are healthy.
He also did not eat any school dinner items at primary school when he was on those. We had a letter home expressing concern. I pointed out his secure knowledge and the fact that I knew from experience he would also not eat a healthy packed lunch - we tried he simply ate nothing and I mean nothing. We tried a few weeks of not having any unhealthy food in the house and so he ate - nothing!! not a scarp! After a few weeks of this we decided it was more important for him to have all his growth spurts - he is genetically likely to be pretty short under the best conditions. He also needs energy for all his sports.
So we now use vitamin and mineral tablets to cover that side of things and allow them to have anything that's vaguely healthy for any meal however odd whilst at home i.e. mashed potato for breakfast, porridge for dinner, reduced salt and reduced sugar baked beans and toast on tap, top up with milk at the very end of the day if we need to (i can tot up calories and protein in my head from years of doing it work wise so that's handy.) School wise I just let jealous dog know that I will be checking and encourage him make small changes. So far we have managed to swap sugary, fizzy drinks for flavoured water that has 5g sugar per bottle - not great but still quite a reduction (I made sure he checks the label in the per bottle column and showed him that most other flavoured water has 3 times that amount in case they change the brand.)
I would so love them to eat healthily it's such an important thing to me but I am learning to "let it go" within reason.
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Post by serrakunda on Nov 9, 2015 20:50:56 GMT
I have several issues with it all
Firstly, that certain stuff just shouldn't be available for them to buy, fizzy drinks being one such item
Simba loves fruit and veg, he had some level of choice at primary school, and did well, they had a healthy eating thing during his last two terms at primary, woe betide mummy if I didnt produce 10 different vegetables each week. He stills sits there totting up his 5 a day at home,
What's the point of putting all that effort in at primary if the are going to make junk available at secondary. I'm not naive, if it's there they are going to buy the stuff
As it happens, I told him if it happened again there would be no chocolate at Christmas. He had a cheese sandwich for lunch
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Post by pingu on Nov 9, 2015 23:11:43 GMT
It is very difficult for the schools too. I worked in the dinner hall at our local secondary. If they dont sell this stuff, the kids vote with their feet and buy it elsewhere. Our dinner hall lost about two thirds of pupils when a new supermarket opened nearby. They were doing quite well, panini's were popular with the kids and they sold lots , healthy fillings like tuna , ham, and cheese. And they only sold the lower sugar fiizzies that had some level of fruit on them. But they lost out to the supermarkets four doughnuts for a pound and a cheap Coke offers.they club together and get one of older kids to buy it, as younger kids are not allowed out at lunchtime. When i was at school, school dinners were a proper meal and none of us had money for a lot of sweets or fizzy drinks. Now the dinners are cafeteria style because " choice " is important, and shops sell the rubbish at ridiculously low prices and kids have much more money . The only thing that hasnt changed is that it is still more expensive to buy healthy stuff No solutions, as othrs have said , all you can do is talk to them. I try to present incentives for my sons to save or commit their pocket money elsewhere e.g. newest computer game for instance. So they have less free cash. We have parentpay which at least means ds2 knows i can check what he has eaten or not.
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Post by kstar on Nov 11, 2015 6:47:19 GMT
Gosh I can't believe in the post-Jamie Oliver era all that stuff is still available! I didn't realise until I read people's comments.
All fizzy drinks are banned in our school, not just for sale but for students at all. Any fizzy or energy or sports drinks are confiscated. Puddings are all made in house, so they might be sweet but at least they are relatively additive free. The most popular choice at our school is flapjack, could be much worse. In terms of meals, we do have a daily meal day - hot meal including at least two veg portions plus pudding plus Apple/ orange juice as a package. The other choices are paninis, jackets, pasta pots with a homemade sauce or cold sandwiches/ wraps. Fresh fruit, fruit bags, sugar free jelly and fresh popcorn are all the alternatives to cakes/ hot pudding. None of our kids are allowed to buy more than one pudding or cake at a time and they only rarely have time to queue more than once. Chips only once a week, plus hash browns or waffles or something once too.
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Post by flutterby on Nov 11, 2015 9:53:48 GMT
No-one should have to fight these problems. We are lucky. At my older daughter's school there is no tuck shop (shock, horror). It's an all through school so secondary as well. You can either choose from a menu one month in advance, all balanced, or bring your own lunch. Again, chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks not allowed. Of course, secondary kids can buy stuff before or after school, and I'm currently fighting that. Still, the message is clear and I don't see why this approach can't be rolled out nationwide. There still seems to be this pervading understanding that children must have pudding. It is no longer considered a treat, but an essential. Don't get it myself, but heyho.
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Post by serrakunda on Nov 12, 2015 9:34:11 GMT
To be fair, the menu at school is good, always fruit and veg on offer. I'd rather he didn't but I can live with him buying a cookie at lunchtime, as long as he's had a proper meal. But not three puddings on one day
He has also bought things for other children. I think if a child attempts to buy a round of hot chocolate they should have the nous to check if said child had permission to spend my money on treats for his mates
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