Teacher dictating which parts of daughter's lunch she can eat in which order?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age does spreading out a selection of foods and letting your child pick what they are going to eat stop? Because most people don't eat meals at a buffet. Most people eat meals like this: appetizer, main course, dessert. So at some point you're doing your DC a disservice to continue letting them act like a toddler learning to eat and not teaching them to eat like everyone else. What point is that? My guess is when they enter school. OP's child is no longer a toddler.

You should read up on DOR but it’s not “a buffet of food” it’s several items (like a sandwich, yogurt, berries and an oatmeal cookie for example!) all of which you are fine with your DC making their whole meal. Then how much and which items they eat is up to them. Kid wants to have just yogurt today, fine, kid wants to have second sandwich, fine. It’s a a much more adult way of eating because an adult isn’t forced to eat whatever items another adult puts in front of them, and if they dislike something they’ll just eat more of something else.

[Anonymous]

The school should have “lunch” sent in with NO COOKIES then serve a”snack” later. Have the parents separate snacks from lunch. No policing. Parents decide. If the teacher has a problem with baked oat meal in a circular shape (ie a cookie) she can tell mom not the five year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

No, put in the oven they're an oatmeal cookie. That's what most people call "baked oatmeal."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk if this is worth a discussion with the teacher. Yesterday was my DD's first day of preschool (4yo). I packed her a sandwich, yogurt, berries, and oatmeal/banana "cookies" that I made. She ate her sandwich first and then said she went to eat the cookies and she said the teacher stopped her and told her she can't have the cookies until the rest of her lunch is eaten. DD started crying and the teacher explained that we have to eat the healthy food before the treats. By the time DD calmed down, she ate the berries and then the teacher said lunch time was over and she had to pack up the rest of her lunch to take home. She did come home with the yogurt and cookies in her lunch bag.

My DD is 99% for height and a huge eater. What I packed is a typical lunch for her and the sandwich and berries alone definitely wouldn't have been enough for a 7:45am-2:45pm school day. I don't want to be a crazy parent, but should I address this with the teacher? We are of the camp that we provide our kids with balanced meals and they choose which and how much to eat. I'm fairly certain DD would have eaten everything in the order of sandwich, cookies, then mixing the berries in the yogurt. I also don't like that the teacher called the cookies unhealthy. They were bananas mashed and baked with oats and cinnamon. We don't really discern good vs bad food in our house because we don't have many sweets anyway so when we do, we don't make it a big deal.

Thoughts?

That you’re a busy body clown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age does spreading out a selection of foods and letting your child pick what they are going to eat stop? Because most people don't eat meals at a buffet. Most people eat meals like this: appetizer, main course, dessert. So at some point you're doing your DC a disservice to continue letting them act like a toddler learning to eat and not teaching them to eat like everyone else. What point is that? My guess is when they enter school. OP's child is no longer a toddler.

You should read up on DOR but it’s not “a buffet of food” it’s several items (like a sandwich, yogurt, berries and an oatmeal cookie for example!) all of which you are fine with your DC making their whole meal. Then how much and which items they eat is up to them. Kid wants to have just yogurt today, fine, kid wants to have second sandwich, fine. It’s a a much more adult way of eating because an adult isn’t forced to eat whatever items another adult puts in front of them, and if they dislike something they’ll just eat more of something else.

So at what age does that end?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school should have “lunch” sent in with NO COOKIES then serve a”snack” later. Have the parents separate snacks from lunch. No policing. Parents decide. If the teacher has a problem with baked oat meal in a circular shape (ie a cookie) she can tell mom not the five year old.

"Would you please teach your child our rules? Because I'm not allowed to teach in our classroom. That is the parents' job."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

No, put in the oven they're an oatmeal cookie. That's what most people call "baked oatmeal."

Except an oatmeal cookie has sugar, butter, etc. which is why a teacher might classify it as junk food. Neither plain oats, nor bananas, nor cinnamon are inappropriate “first course” choices unless literally the shape of the food and not it’s nutritional content is what triggers the need to assert power here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age does spreading out a selection of foods and letting your child pick what they are going to eat stop? Because most people don't eat meals at a buffet. Most people eat meals like this: appetizer, main course, dessert. So at some point you're doing your DC a disservice to continue letting them act like a toddler learning to eat and not teaching them to eat like everyone else. What point is that? My guess is when they enter school. OP's child is no longer a toddler.

You should read up on DOR but it’s not “a buffet of food” it’s several items (like a sandwich, yogurt, berries and an oatmeal cookie for example!) all of which you are fine with your DC making their whole meal. Then how much and which items they eat is up to them. Kid wants to have just yogurt today, fine, kid wants to have second sandwich, fine. It’s a a much more adult way of eating because an adult isn’t forced to eat whatever items another adult puts in front of them, and if they dislike something they’ll just eat more of something else.

So at what age does that end?

Well, how old are you? Because that’s how you probably eat as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

No, put in the oven they're an oatmeal cookie. That's what most people call "baked oatmeal."

Except an oatmeal cookie has sugar, butter, etc. which is why a teacher might classify it as junk food. Neither plain oats, nor bananas, nor cinnamon are inappropriate “first course” choices unless literally the shape of the food and not it’s nutritional content is what triggers the need to assert power here.

+1. TIL if it’s a circle and it went into the oven, it’s a cookie now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

No, put in the oven they're an oatmeal cookie. That's what most people call "baked oatmeal."

Except an oatmeal cookie has sugar, butter, etc. which is why a teacher might classify it as junk food. Neither plain oats, nor bananas, nor cinnamon are inappropriate “first course” choices unless literally the shape of the food and not it’s nutritional content is what triggers the need to assert power here.

+1. TIL if it’s a circle and it went into the oven, it’s a cookie now.

If this is the public school model of teaching nutrition, we’re doomed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age does spreading out a selection of foods and letting your child pick what they are going to eat stop? Because most people don't eat meals at a buffet. Most people eat meals like this: appetizer, main course, dessert. So at some point you're doing your DC a disservice to continue letting them act like a toddler learning to eat and not teaching them to eat like everyone else. What point is that? My guess is when they enter school. OP's child is no longer a toddler.

You should read up on DOR but it’s not “a buffet of food” it’s several items (like a sandwich, yogurt, berries and an oatmeal cookie for example!) all of which you are fine with your DC making their whole meal. Then how much and which items they eat is up to them. Kid wants to have just yogurt today, fine, kid wants to have second sandwich, fine. It’s a a much more adult way of eating because an adult isn’t forced to eat whatever items another adult puts in front of them, and if they dislike something they’ll just eat more of something else.

So at what age does that end?

Well, how old are you? Because that’s how you probably eat as an adult.

No, as a matter of fact I don't. If I ate dessert first I would be in terrible health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parents appreciate that their child learns the importance of eating their main food first instead of those chocolate kisses sent in. Problem would be solved if you didn’t pack sweets in the first place. Maybe the parent should learn what a healthy lunch consists of and that their child will eat those red peppers and humus by watching their classmates eating healthy too and won’t even miss a “dessert”.

Uh, excuse me, it's baked oatmeal.

All high quality people understand that the baking process makes the sugars disappear. Humph.

If her DD came in with a thermos of plain oatmeal, with cinnamon and sliced bananas on top, none of you would be screaming “omg don’t send cookies”. Those exact same ingredients put in the oven are suddenly an Oreo? This is why parents and not teachers decide what their children should eat.

No, put in the oven they're an oatmeal cookie. That's what most people call "baked oatmeal."

Except an oatmeal cookie has sugar, butter, etc. which is why a teacher might classify it as junk food. Neither plain oats, nor bananas, nor cinnamon are inappropriate “first course” choices unless literally the shape of the food and not it’s nutritional content is what triggers the need to assert power here.

Teachers have power over preschoolers. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age does spreading out a selection of foods and letting your child pick what they are going to eat stop? Because most people don't eat meals at a buffet. Most people eat meals like this: appetizer, main course, dessert. So at some point you're doing your DC a disservice to continue letting them act like a toddler learning to eat and not teaching them to eat like everyone else. What point is that? My guess is when they enter school. OP's child is no longer a toddler.

You should read up on DOR but it’s not “a buffet of food” it’s several items (like a sandwich, yogurt, berries and an oatmeal cookie for example!) all of which you are fine with your DC making their whole meal. Then how much and which items they eat is up to them. Kid wants to have just yogurt today, fine, kid wants to have second sandwich, fine. It’s a a much more adult way of eating because an adult isn’t forced to eat whatever items another adult puts in front of them, and if they dislike something they’ll just eat more of something else.

So at what age does that end?

Well, how old are you? Because that’s how you probably eat as an adult.

No, as a matter of fact I don't. If I ate dessert first I would be in terrible health.

What a weird idea. If you eat the same food in a different order it doesn’t impact your health unless you think offering nutritionally balanced meals means every meal has cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk if this is worth a discussion with the teacher. Yesterday was my DD's first day of preschool (4yo). I packed her a sandwich, yogurt, berries, and oatmeal/banana "cookies" that I made. She ate her sandwich first and then said she went to eat the cookies and she said the teacher stopped her and told her she can't have the cookies until the rest of her lunch is eaten. DD started crying and the teacher explained that we have to eat the healthy food before the treats. By the time DD calmed down, she ate the berries and then the teacher said lunch time was over and she had to pack up the rest of her lunch to take home. She did come home with the yogurt and cookies in her lunch bag.

My DD is 99% for height and a huge eater. What I packed is a typical lunch for her and the sandwich and berries alone definitely wouldn't have been enough for a 7:45am-2:45pm school day. I don't want to be a crazy parent, but should I address this with the teacher? We are of the camp that we provide our kids with balanced meals and they choose which and how much to eat. I'm fairly certain DD would have eaten everything in the order of sandwich, cookies, then mixing the berries in the yogurt. I also don't like that the teacher called the cookies unhealthy. They were bananas mashed and baked with oats and cinnamon. We don't really discern good vs bad food in our house because we don't have many sweets anyway so when we do, we don't make it a big deal.

Thoughts?

I have not read anything but the first few posts in this thread.

OP: Your daughter is quite fortunate to have such a caring teacher.

You made such a great healthy lunch, why spoil it with sweets ?

Your daughter is blessed to have such a caring mother and teacher.