It irks me that both schools my kids attend are bossy about what to pack for lunch

[Anonymous]

I pack my kids lunchables sometimes. And they attend a big three school, gasp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is too funny. DD and I have had so many chuckles about heavy girls whose moms were thin perfect exercise obsessed. The nutrition zealots at schools often had the most un-fit kids.

Wow, you guys sound really charming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:14 here again. My post was not about laughing or making fun of fat girls. It was about the irony of the parents and dynamics. Like it or not when some of the heaviest girls have the thinnest most food obsessed moms one has to wonder.

My children all had/have access to schools with lunch available for purchase or part of tuition. Over the years I have heard mom's complaining about the desserts and other items. Main complainers were a few who had heavy DD's and seemed to blame the school. If the child was eating multiple desserts and does that mean moderate consumers should not have any available?

I think it's a mistake to attribute these girls' weight issues to their mother's food obsessions. I was a chubby kid. My mom was naturally skinny and she never put any pressure on me to be thin. She liked me the way I was. I had a slow metabolism- I never ate more than other kids but I put on weight easily. When I grew up I learned how to eat so that I would stay on the thin side but the metabolism is still there. I have a kid who was naturally chubby too. I have never given her a lot of sweets or junk food. People might think that she was chubby because of me and this is only true in that she inherited my metabolism. Fortunately for her, she also learned healthy eating from me and now that she is a teen she is continuing those habits and she is slim. She will never be one of the skinniest girls but she looks great. So, in essence, I still think you are horrible to mock people when you don't know what you're talking about.

Oh dear. I do know what I am talking about with these individuals.

[Anonymous]

These rules are in place because some people really don't know about healthy eating. When I was a high school teacher, I can't tell you how many students I saw eating flaming hot cheetos and a coke for breakfast. Healthy eating habits are established at a young age. Kids that eat cheetos and coke for breakfast in high school probably ate something equally appalling in elementary school and middle school because their parents either didn't know better or weren't around to fix them a proper lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These rules are in place because some people really don't know about healthy eating. When I was a high school teacher, I can't tell you how many students I saw eating flaming hot cheetos and a coke for breakfast. Healthy eating habits are established at a young age. Kids that eat cheetos and coke for breakfast in high school probably ate something equally appalling in elementary school and middle school because their parents either didn't know better or weren't around to fix them a proper lunch.

Not necessarily. I lived on those things in high school, as did most of my friends. I ate them because they were yummy, quick, easy, and as a teenager earning my own money no one was really picking out my food so I bought the stuff I wanted.

Growing up however, my mom cooked very healthy foods, simple meals, often veggie, always lots of fruits and vegetables. We might have fast food or restaurant food maybe once a month to celebrate someone's birthday or the first day of school and sweets truly were a treat. If I ate at home as a teen, it was the same healthy fare.

Given the choice as a young adult, I picked junk, in spite of how I was raised. (Think of how so many teens make many bad choices in life, in spite of what their parents taught them. Food is no different than drinking, smoking, speeding, sex, staying out past curfew, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. School is about rules that work for the majority of people. So maybe your kid is thin and your kid doesn't get high off sugar and preservatives, but other kids do. So they prohibit for everyone. Duh. Maybe your kid doesn't act out super hero characters because of a cartoon lunchbox but others kids do, so no cartoon lunch boxes. Just go along with it, it won't kill your kid not to have candy for lunch. If you get this upset this early in the year because of this small thing, you are in for a long hard year.

ITA 100%!!!! Although I think a lot of this stems from the "you cannot tell me how to raise my child" mentality.

We had a school wide parent meeting witht the adminstrators last year. One of the counselors said something that stuck with me. Parents (mostly new parents) were complaining about a longstanding prohibition on backpacks with wheels. The counselor said "This is a private school and you are choosing to have your kids attend. This school is a community and when you chose to come here, you agree to the customs, values and rules of the school community - like them or not. We have a waiting list a mile long so you have to decide what is best for your child."

It was harsh and borderline obnoxious...but it did hit home on a few points. First, this is a choice. Nobody is forcing you to send your kids to THIS school. Second, many people are willing to pay for the rules and structure and lot of us are willing to live with some stupid rules to have our kids in that environment. Third, is this really an issue you want to fight about?

Well, when you are making the choice what you're told is that the school has a progressive approach to education, a commitment to diversity, small class sizes, experienced teachers, etc. The no-wheeled-backpacks, no ziploc bags, no junk food, can't walk your kids onto campus or park legally in the neighborhood type rules get rolled out later -- after you've signed the contract. They aren't part of the deal, so to speak. And these so-called communal norms aren't communally generated -- they're imposed top down. Basically, it's a my way or the highway response premised on scarcity and the power it conveys. And, usually, it's all talk and no enforcement. Not a pretty picture.

This is true. We did not get our student handbook until DC was enrolled in the school.

Fair points! But I guess the schools figure that folks would not make decisions based on these rules....if they say that are in the best interest of the students. I am not sure that any of us would turn down an otherwise worthy school because DC could not bring certain snacks. Thus, our only recourse is to gripe about them.

I'm a horrible parent because the ability to bring PBJ made my list. My kid loves it and eats it better than he eats cold cuts.

[Anonymous]

Is chocolate milk healthy or not? I have also seen people with very unhealthy salads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These rules are in place because some people really don't know about healthy eating. When I was a high school teacher, I can't tell you how many students I saw eating flaming hot cheetos and a coke for breakfast. Healthy eating habits are established at a young age. Kids that eat cheetos and coke for breakfast in high school probably ate something equally appalling in elementary school and middle school because their parents either didn't know better or weren't around to fix them a proper lunch.

Not necessarily. I lived on those things in high school, as did most of my friends. I ate them because they were yummy, quick, easy, and as a teenager earning my own money no one was really picking out my food so I bought the stuff I wanted.

Growing up however, my mom cooked very healthy foods, simple meals, often veggie, always lots of fruits and vegetables. We might have fast food or restaurant food maybe once a month to celebrate someone's birthday or the first day of school and sweets truly were a treat. If I ate at home as a teen, it was the same healthy fare.

Given the choice as a young adult, I picked junk, in spite of how I was raised. (Think of how so many teens make many bad choices in life, in spite of what their parents taught them. Food is no different than drinking, smoking, speeding, sex, staying out past curfew, etc.)

Right. But that doesn't mean we should just stop trying to be a positive influence. So according to you, we shouldn't bother making rules to encourage healthy eating because they will just end up making bad choices anyway.

[Anonymous]

21:44 No, not at all. I am just disagreeing with pp who thinks that teens are eating badly (cheetos and soda) because their parents didn't teach them to eat correctly. That might be the case with some teens, but many are eating badly because they are teens and are making their own choices, in spite of what they have been taught and in spite of what they eat at home with their parents. Teens make bad choices, even those with wonderful parents. Eating is no different, so you can't really put a teens habits under the same scrutiny as a child's eating habits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:44 No, not at all. I am just disagreeing with pp who thinks that teens are eating badly (cheetos and soda) because their parents didn't teach them to eat correctly. That might be the case with some teens, but many are eating badly because they are teens and are making their own choices, in spite of what they have been taught and in spite of what they eat at home with their parents. Teens make bad choices, even those with wonderful parents. Eating is no different, so you can't really put a teens habits under the same scrutiny as a child's eating habits.

So if those things aren't allowed in the school then problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Cigarettes weren't allowed at my highschool, and guess what? Everyone of the stoners knew exactly where to go to light up. When they added a salad bar everyone loaded the salad with cheese and ranch dressing. Kids brought candy in their purses, and chips/sodas in their backpacks. Eating is such a basic, personal human function, let everyone else eat what they want and worry about yourself and your own kids. Items sold at the school should be healthy, but if you bring food from home it shouldn't be anyone else's business. The schools need to first worry about educating the kids. When they fix that, then they can start policing lunch boxes for whether or not mommy sent in a cookie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cigarettes weren't allowed at my highschool, and guess what? Everyone of the stoners knew exactly where to go to light up. When they added a salad bar everyone loaded the salad with cheese and ranch dressing. Kids brought candy in their purses, and chips/sodas in their backpacks. Eating is such a basic, personal human function, let everyone else eat what they want and worry about yourself and your own kids. Items sold at the school should be healthy, but if you bring food from home it shouldn't be anyone else's business. The schools need to first worry about educating the kids. When they fix that, then they can start policing lunch boxes for whether or not mommy sent in a cookie.

. . . . So said the proud mommy of public school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cigarettes weren't allowed at my highschool, and guess what? Everyone of the stoners knew exactly where to go to light up. When they added a salad bar everyone loaded the salad with cheese and ranch dressing. Kids brought candy in their purses, and chips/sodas in their backpacks. Eating is such a basic, personal human function, let everyone else eat what they want and worry about yourself and your own kids. Items sold at the school should be healthy, but if you bring food from home it shouldn't be anyone else's business. The schools need to first worry about educating the kids. When they fix that, then they can start policing lunch boxes for whether or not mommy sent in a cookie.

. . . . So said the proud mommy of public school kids.

Our school concerns themselves with the whole well-being of the kid. Thankfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"This is a private school and you are choosing to have your kids attend. This school is a community and when you chose to come here, you agree to the customs, values and rules of the school community - like them or not. We have a waiting list a mile long so you have to decide what is best for your child."

This. Abide by the rules or work to have them changed. Don't just take what you want and ignore what you don't. Use it as a teaching moment for your children. Otherwise, please withdraw from the school so that we might have a chance to go to that school (and follow its rules).

Or just have your nanny or ao par shop for and pack the lunches so that you don't have to deal with so eying thatnupses you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cigarettes weren't allowed at my highschool, and guess what? Everyone of the stoners knew exactly where to go to light up. When they added a salad bar everyone loaded the salad with cheese and ranch dressing. Kids brought candy in their purses, and chips/sodas in their backpacks. Eating is such a basic, personal human function, let everyone else eat what they want and worry about yourself and your own kids. Items sold at the school should be healthy, but if you bring food from home it shouldn't be anyone else's business. The schools need to first worry about educating the kids. When they fix that, then they can start policing lunch boxes for whether or not mommy sent in a cookie.

. . . . So said the proud mommy of public school kids.

I'm confused by this. Private school kids don't eat cookies? Public school kids don't eat healthy food? What a bizarre, elitist statement.