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

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:44 year old Preschool teacher here: I also teach that we eat our protein and veg/fruit first because that is filling. The dessert/sweet treats are always saved for last. When we talk about nutrition, we discuss foods we want to eat more of vs foods we want to eat in moderation.

Using sweet foods as a reward is a terrible idea.

The teachers want the kids to eat the most filling items first because they know many of them won’t finish their lunch because of visiting and nonsense and the teacher would like kids who aren’t hungry later. They learn better and behave better when they aren’t hungry . If you have this much angst about teaching that dessert is last you are not gonna like some of the other stuff kids are taught in school. You gotta start letting go and choose your battles.

I would always choose the battle where my 4 y/o isn’t learning potentially damaging and nutritionally useless “rules” just because a teacher doesn’t want to manage her classroom at lunch. Six year olds in this country think they need to go on diets.

Oh boy are you in for a rough 12 years. I recommend you homeschool if you don’t want your kids learning or being exposed to any ideas that are even slightly different than yours. Also don’t worry, your child’s friends will help her learn how to have food and body issues oh and they will also learn weird stuff about sex.

Not at four she won’t, she’d only pick up on weird food neurosis from adults around her at this age.

Different people do different things. She may go to a friend's house where they eat nothing but junk or eat super healthy and allow no dessert. You cannot raise your child in a bubble where you are the only influence. If you want to ensure that the only messages your child receives are those with which you agree then any kind of group setting is a poor choice. When you join a group, you make all kinds of compromises. Trust me there is a 4 year old in the class who is already talking about being skinny that she got from her mom. These orthorexic moms are doing as much damage as the other side of the spectrum. To operate in the the world, the child needs to be exposed to and learn how to consider all kinds of information. The mom could say 'some people think you should eat dessert last, but we don't. Do what they say at school and at home we do what we do." It is one meal of the day. Wait until you find out that kids can't read at recess or play tag and first graders can't go on the gym equipment or they can't go outside if it is cold. We modify ourselves in groups to help the whole group get along. It is not all about you.

No it’s not, which is why working with the teacher/school to change it the policy to a healthier one will benefit all kids.

You DO realize that there is another parent who thinks that dessert should be banned. there is another parent who thinks kids are fine eating nothing but lunchables and a twix? That's why you leave it up to the teacher to manage his or her classroom in the best way for them. They aren't doing a unit on good and bad food, they are just trying to get everyone fed in the most expeditious way.

Yes I do. The parent who is against deserts does not have to provide any. Parent feeding their kid lunchanles has a right to and who am I to judge? (Daycare bans chocolate and nuts so Twix is not allowed - I have no trouble with school wide bans). But I have a right for my child to be allowed to eat whatever I give her (and is allowed at daycare) the order she wants.

If we are guests and they serve dessert last I will say different stokes for different folks.

That does not apply to unhealthy school policies which affect my child every day.

You are literally insane. I wish your child luck. They are gonna need it.

Diff PP you only feel that way because her feelings go against your own food issues. If the teacher was like everybody eat dessert first or we dont eat 2 servings of dairy for lunch unless we finish our veggies because you need fiber more than cheese and yogurt (CONSTIPATION ALERT) or whatever other weird rules, you might have a problem. What if she said no pasta because simple carbs are bad.

No one should be managing a childs intake but medical professionals (include dieticians/nutritionists) and their parents. Not grandma. Not pre-k teacher.

Not eating dessert first is not a weird rule. It's standard. Also not the same as the other "rules" you mentioned at all. Also no one is suggesting anything -- anything at all -- to do with order of food eaten other than that dessert be last. Nothing else.

[Anonymous]

I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:44 year old Preschool teacher here: I also teach that we eat our protein and veg/fruit first because that is filling. The dessert/sweet treats are always saved for last. When we talk about nutrition, we discuss foods we want to eat more of vs foods we want to eat in moderation.

Using sweet foods as a reward is a terrible idea.

The teachers want the kids to eat the most filling items first because they know many of them won’t finish their lunch because of visiting and nonsense and the teacher would like kids who aren’t hungry later. They learn better and behave better when they aren’t hungry . If you have this much angst about teaching that dessert is last you are not gonna like some of the other stuff kids are taught in school. You gotta start letting go and choose your battles.

I would always choose the battle where my 4 y/o isn’t learning potentially damaging and nutritionally useless “rules” just because a teacher doesn’t want to manage her classroom at lunch. Six year olds in this country think they need to go on diets.

Oh boy are you in for a rough 12 years. I recommend you homeschool if you don’t want your kids learning or being exposed to any ideas that are even slightly different than yours. Also don’t worry, your child’s friends will help her learn how to have food and body issues oh and they will also learn weird stuff about sex.

Not at four she won’t, she’d only pick up on weird food neurosis from adults around her at this age.

Different people do different things. She may go to a friend's house where they eat nothing but junk or eat super healthy and allow no dessert. You cannot raise your child in a bubble where you are the only influence. If you want to ensure that the only messages your child receives are those with which you agree then any kind of group setting is a poor choice. When you join a group, you make all kinds of compromises. Trust me there is a 4 year old in the class who is already talking about being skinny that she got from her mom. These orthorexic moms are doing as much damage as the other side of the spectrum. To operate in the the world, the child needs to be exposed to and learn how to consider all kinds of information. The mom could say 'some people think you should eat dessert last, but we don't. Do what they say at school and at home we do what we do." It is one meal of the day. Wait until you find out that kids can't read at recess or play tag and first graders can't go on the gym equipment or they can't go outside if it is cold. We modify ourselves in groups to help the whole group get along. It is not all about you.

No it’s not, which is why working with the teacher/school to change it the policy to a healthier one will benefit all kids.

You DO realize that there is another parent who thinks that dessert should be banned. there is another parent who thinks kids are fine eating nothing but lunchables and a twix? That's why you leave it up to the teacher to manage his or her classroom in the best way for them. They aren't doing a unit on good and bad food, they are just trying to get everyone fed in the most expeditious way.

Yes I do. The parent who is against deserts does not have to provide any. Parent feeding their kid lunchanles has a right to and who am I to judge? (Daycare bans chocolate and nuts so Twix is not allowed - I have no trouble with school wide bans). But I have a right for my child to be allowed to eat whatever I give her (and is allowed at daycare) the order she wants.

If we are guests and they serve dessert last I will say different stokes for different folks.

That does not apply to unhealthy school policies which affect my child every day.

You are literally insane. I wish your child luck. They are gonna need it.

Diff PP you only feel that way because her feelings go against your own food issues. If the teacher was like everybody eat dessert first or we dont eat 2 servings of dairy for lunch unless we finish our veggies because you need fiber more than cheese and yogurt (CONSTIPATION ALERT) or whatever other weird rules, you might have a problem. What if she said no pasta because simple carbs are bad.

No one should be managing a childs intake but medical professionals (include dieticians/nutritionists) and their parents. Not grandma. Not pre-k teacher.

Not eating dessert first is not a weird rule. It's standard. Also not the same as the other "rules" you mentioned at all. Also no one is suggesting anything -- anything at all -- to do with order of food eaten other than that dessert be last. Nothing else.

The parent packs it, the child can have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As many awful things the generations past committed, I long for the days when children just f***** did what the teacher says. Why must every parent have precisely their preferred method and manner of childcare rendered in their absence? Why must the rest of us suffer because your child cannot handle listening to their crotchety old teacher the rest of the children accept? Must everything be custom to your child?

Back in the day, teachers didn't micromanage lunch so there was no issue. No need for customization here. Everyone is allowed to eat what their parents give them in whatever order they like. Period.

Less work for the teacher. No need to figure out if something is desert or not. Much less work for the teacher than dealing with unhappy kids and unhappy parents.

Alternatively provide lunch and serve the lunch in the order you'd like. (although in many schools all of lunch is served at once and kids eat what they want in the order they like - which goes back to WHY oh WHy is this teacher micromanaging lunch when it is completely unnecessary.)

Teachers were wiser in the good old days.

What are you talking about? Does nobody remember grandma insisting “you won’t eat your dinner if you eat a cookie now”? I have no sympathy for parents who determined their child is too fragile to obey teachers lest their child be exposed to even mild frustration or (horrors!) even eye-rollingly dumb rules of old ladies. How about just telling your kid to eat the way the teacher says *because she’s the teacher* and I promise your child will be better off than the kid whose mom bit**es at Dementia Dawn over her illogical order-of-consumption rules.

And it is precisely because of the negative effects of such rules that childhood feeding experts recommend serving 1 portion of dessert (and no more) along side the meal. Science greatly advanced since our grandmothers' days.

Feel free to forgo all the scientific and knowledge advances of the last 50 years and live in the past. I prefer to live in the present with all the scientific, medical and other advancements we have made. I mean my parents had me loose in the back seat (my mother actually argued with me that i didn't need a car seat to take my kid home from the hospital! Sorry mom that's not the way it works today) They did a lot of stuff because they didn't know better.

Where I know better, I try to do better by my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:44 year old Preschool teacher here: I also teach that we eat our protein and veg/fruit first because that is filling. The dessert/sweet treats are always saved for last. When we talk about nutrition, we discuss foods we want to eat more of vs foods we want to eat in moderation.

Using sweet foods as a reward is a terrible idea.

The teachers want the kids to eat the most filling items first because they know many of them won’t finish their lunch because of visiting and nonsense and the teacher would like kids who aren’t hungry later. They learn better and behave better when they aren’t hungry . If you have this much angst about teaching that dessert is last you are not gonna like some of the other stuff kids are taught in school. You gotta start letting go and choose your battles.

I would always choose the battle where my 4 y/o isn’t learning potentially damaging and nutritionally useless “rules” just because a teacher doesn’t want to manage her classroom at lunch. Six year olds in this country think they need to go on diets.

Oh boy are you in for a rough 12 years. I recommend you homeschool if you don’t want your kids learning or being exposed to any ideas that are even slightly different than yours. Also don’t worry, your child’s friends will help her learn how to have food and body issues oh and they will also learn weird stuff about sex.

Not at four she won’t, she’d only pick up on weird food neurosis from adults around her at this age.

Different people do different things. She may go to a friend's house where they eat nothing but junk or eat super healthy and allow no dessert. You cannot raise your child in a bubble where you are the only influence. If you want to ensure that the only messages your child receives are those with which you agree then any kind of group setting is a poor choice. When you join a group, you make all kinds of compromises. Trust me there is a 4 year old in the class who is already talking about being skinny that she got from her mom. These orthorexic moms are doing as much damage as the other side of the spectrum. To operate in the the world, the child needs to be exposed to and learn how to consider all kinds of information. The mom could say 'some people think you should eat dessert last, but we don't. Do what they say at school and at home we do what we do." It is one meal of the day. Wait until you find out that kids can't read at recess or play tag and first graders can't go on the gym equipment or they can't go outside if it is cold. We modify ourselves in groups to help the whole group get along. It is not all about you.

No it’s not, which is why working with the teacher/school to change it the policy to a healthier one will benefit all kids.

You DO realize that there is another parent who thinks that dessert should be banned. there is another parent who thinks kids are fine eating nothing but lunchables and a twix? That's why you leave it up to the teacher to manage his or her classroom in the best way for them. They aren't doing a unit on good and bad food, they are just trying to get everyone fed in the most expeditious way.

Yes I do. The parent who is against deserts does not have to provide any. Parent feeding their kid lunchanles has a right to and who am I to judge? (Daycare bans chocolate and nuts so Twix is not allowed - I have no trouble with school wide bans). But I have a right for my child to be allowed to eat whatever I give her (and is allowed at daycare) the order she wants.

If we are guests and they serve dessert last I will say different stokes for different folks.

That does not apply to unhealthy school policies which affect my child every day.

You are literally insane. I wish your child luck. They are gonna need it.

Diff PP you only feel that way because her feelings go against your own food issues. If the teacher was like everybody eat dessert first or we dont eat 2 servings of dairy for lunch unless we finish our veggies because you need fiber more than cheese and yogurt (CONSTIPATION ALERT) or whatever other weird rules, you might have a problem. What if she said no pasta because simple carbs are bad.

No one should be managing a childs intake but medical professionals (include dieticians/nutritionists) and their parents. Not grandma. Not pre-k teacher.

Not eating dessert first is not a weird rule. It's standard. Also not the same as the other "rules" you mentioned at all. Also no one is suggesting anything -- anything at all -- to do with order of food eaten other than that dessert be last. Nothing else.

The parent packs it, the child can have it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a terrible lunch, I'm sorry.

Sandwich = bread = carbs = sugar
Berries = carbs = sugar
Yogurt = carbs = sugar
Banana = carbs = sugar
Oatmeal = carbs = sugar

Sure, berries & bananas have natural sugar, but bananas are a fruit that has one of the highest sugar contents.

The teacher probably saw all that sugar and wanted to cut the kid back so there wasn't a crash after lunch or behavior issues.

Hello, eating disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As many awful things the generations past committed, I long for the days when children just f***** did what the teacher says. Why must every parent have precisely their preferred method and manner of childcare rendered in their absence? Why must the rest of us suffer because your child cannot handle listening to their crotchety old teacher the rest of the children accept? Must everything be custom to your child?

Back in the day, teachers didn't micromanage lunch so there was no issue. No need for customization here. Everyone is allowed to eat what their parents give them in whatever order they like. Period.

Less work for the teacher. No need to figure out if something is desert or not. Much less work for the teacher than dealing with unhappy kids and unhappy parents.

Alternatively provide lunch and serve the lunch in the order you'd like. (although in many schools all of lunch is served at once and kids eat what they want in the order they like - which goes back to WHY oh WHy is this teacher micromanaging lunch when it is completely unnecessary.)

Teachers were wiser in the good old days.

What are you talking about? Does nobody remember grandma insisting “you won’t eat your dinner if you eat a cookie now”? I have no sympathy for parents who determined their child is too fragile to obey teachers lest their child be exposed to even mild frustration or (horrors!) even eye-rollingly dumb rules of old ladies. How about just telling your kid to eat the way the teacher says *because she’s the teacher* and I promise your child will be better off than the kid whose mom bit**es at Dementia Dawn over her illogical order-of-consumption rules.

Teachers didn’t micromanage lunch. Get over yourself.

You missed pp's point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

Exactly!

It’s the bare minimum. At least the preschool teacher is paying attention and isn’t just someone with a pulse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

Exactly!

It’s the bare minimum. At least the preschool teacher is paying attention and isn’t just someone with a pulse.

My kid goes to public preschool, and she told me for breakfast yesterday they had a chocolate bar (granola) and a cup of fruit (syrup and canned fruit). With chocolate milk. I’m pretty sure it covered 250% of my child‘s weekly recommended sugar intake, in one sugary meal at 8 am. Thank you, government!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a terrible lunch, I'm sorry.

Sandwich = bread = carbs = sugar
Berries = carbs = sugar
Yogurt = carbs = sugar
Banana = carbs = sugar
Oatmeal = carbs = sugar

Sure, berries & bananas have natural sugar, but bananas are a fruit that has one of the highest sugar contents.

The teacher probably saw all that sugar and wanted to cut the kid back so there wasn't a crash after lunch or behavior issues.

Another failed childhood nutritionist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As many awful things the generations past committed, I long for the days when children just f***** did what the teacher says. Why must every parent have precisely their preferred method and manner of childcare rendered in their absence? Why must the rest of us suffer because your child cannot handle listening to their crotchety old teacher the rest of the children accept? Must everything be custom to your child?

Back in the day, teachers didn't micromanage lunch so there was no issue. No need for customization here. Everyone is allowed to eat what their parents give them in whatever order they like. Period.

Less work for the teacher. No need to figure out if something is desert or not. Much less work for the teacher than dealing with unhappy kids and unhappy parents.

Alternatively provide lunch and serve the lunch in the order you'd like. (although in many schools all of lunch is served at once and kids eat what they want in the order they like - which goes back to WHY oh WHy is this teacher micromanaging lunch when it is completely unnecessary.)

Teachers were wiser in the good old days.

What are you talking about? Does nobody remember grandma insisting “you won’t eat your dinner if you eat a cookie now”? I have no sympathy for parents who determined their child is too fragile to obey teachers lest their child be exposed to even mild frustration or (horrors!) even eye-rollingly dumb rules of old ladies. How about just telling your kid to eat the way the teacher says *because she’s the teacher* and I promise your child will be better off than the kid whose mom bit**es at Dementia Dawn over her illogical order-of-consumption rules.

And it is precisely because of the negative effects of such rules that childhood feeding experts recommend serving 1 portion of dessert (and no more) along side the meal. Science greatly advanced since our grandmothers' days.

Feel free to forgo all the scientific and knowledge advances of the last 50 years and live in the past. I prefer to live in the present with all the scientific, medical and other advancements we have made. I mean my parents had me loose in the back seat (my mother actually argued with me that i didn't need a car seat to take my kid home from the hospital! Sorry mom that's not the way it works today) They did a lot of stuff because they didn't know better.

Where I know better, I try to do better by my child.

This. Those grandmothers? Fed the current obese adults.

[Anonymous]

This thread is wild BUT I can relate.

Today my 4 year old was told to “eat a real lunch” in reference to his food brought from home - sugar free yogurt, Chex mix, an apple, and a small pack of fruit snacks. He was entirely perplexed by the comment and kept saying he didn’t understand because he was not eating food from the play kitchen.

Not great.

School doesn’t have a lunch policy. I let it go, for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

Exactly!

It’s the bare minimum. At least the preschool teacher is paying attention and isn’t just someone with a pulse.

My kid goes to public preschool, and she told me for breakfast yesterday they had a chocolate bar (granola) and a cup of fruit (syrup and canned fruit). With chocolate milk. I’m pretty sure it covered 250% of my child‘s weekly recommended sugar intake, in one sugary meal at 8 am. Thank you, government!

You can decline the breakfast. Or pack your own! But you’d rather complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just cracking up at this. I work in a public school as a kindergarten aide. We have to supervise K lunch. I couldn’t care less what your child packs or eats. I’m there to make sure they stay seated, don’t bother their neighbor, and clean up when lunch is over and line up nicely. That is all. If you could avoid packages and containers I have to open for them, that would be awesome.

Exactly!

It’s the bare minimum. At least the preschool teacher is paying attention and isn’t just someone with a pulse.

My kid goes to public preschool, and she told me for breakfast yesterday they had a chocolate bar (granola) and a cup of fruit (syrup and canned fruit). With chocolate milk. I’m pretty sure it covered 250% of my child‘s weekly recommended sugar intake, in one sugary meal at 8 am. Thank you, government!

You can decline the breakfast. Or pack your own! But you’d rather complain.

I can’t. The school policy is that every child has to eat breakfast unless they have dietary allergies, in which case they are allowed to bring breakfast from home. But thanks for offering your uninformed opinion as fact!