Letter: Stop telling children what to eat
Thursday 4th March 2010, 8:17AM GMT.
Letter: The student-organised boycott of school meals at Church Stretton School shows how unhappy children are with government dictating what they should eat.
It is no use providing “healthy meals” that children will not eat and that are mostly thrown away to stop them being counted.
Council staff at the Shirehall and patients at Shelton Hospital have far better food than school children.
Maybe parents and governors should be permitted to make unannounced visits so as to ensure no special meals are cooked in order to sample the fare that children have to eat?
There should be an end to the Jamie Oliver-inspired meals, and central government prescription on menus.
There is an old adage that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink!
Children are certainly not going to get fat on the portion sizes schools provide, never mind the content.
Name and address supplied
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The sad reality is this – I work with children, mainly late teens more than children and NOT ONE of them will eat vegetables or choose veg with their meal. One particular teen will only eat chips, nothing else. I dont blame the schools for this, I blame their home lifestyle. Simple.
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And the point you’re making is that you don’t like healthy meals, or that you don’t like the government providing healthy meals and that you’d like them to provide unhealthy meals, or that you do like government provided healthy meals but you wish the portions were bigger, or that you just don’t like that Jamie Oliver ?
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agree in principal but why “patients in shelton hospital get better food” – is there a reason why they should’nt get good food??? very strange remark!!!
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Nail on the head Dee, Our children eat vegetables because we eat vegetables. if we only ate nuggets and chips so would our children, if your kids don’t eat the right food then don’t blame Jamie, its your fault because its you they mimmick.
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The point is children will eat whatever they like, as long as it isnt a huge portion and that they get some form of exercise it shouldnt really matter. Active children will burn off the calories anyway, we need to look at the culture of Playstations, Wii etc where you sit there scoffing food whilst doing nothing but move your wrist and fingers. The onus is on the lifestyle they lead.
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I’m sure most children would also prefer to playing in the woods rather than learning Algebra, however that is why they go to school! to be educated, and being educated as to what food they should and should eat is just as important to the rest of their lives as anything else.
You are quite right that the food should be of a high standard, however you can’t leave the kids to choose their own dinners, they would just have Chocolate and Chips!
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The problem is parents not making there children eat healthily at home, so of course they will refuse at school. Children will eat eventually if they are hungry, dont give them anything else.
I think Jamie Oliver has done a fantastic job and should be applauded, just got to get the parents to follow suit now.
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People in “Chips taste better than Broccoli” shocker!!
We all know that eating veg is best for you, but we all know we’d rather have chips. Let them eat cake, that’s what I say.
(and ban Jamie Oliver, get his smug face of my tele. He’s allowed to teach me how to cook a pig or make a Vodka Melon. He is not allowed to tell me how to live. Fascist!)
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The writer of this letter truly shows their ignorance in this pointless rant…
“Certainly children aren’t going to get fat on the portion sizes schools provide”
Well, when I was at school all we had was burger and chips, with a dessert to follow. That, in conjunction with how inactive our kids are is certainly too many calories for lunch, which should not be a transfat laden meal such as the schools used ot provide in my day. And lets not forget the amounts of hidden sugars and salts in heavily processed food.
If the writer wants their kids to grow up obese then pack them off to school with a lunch box full of fat and sugar, but dont ruin other kids’ lives through your own ignorance.
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I am heartened by the replies to this McLetter.
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Kids have a good choice of meals at school, even the difficult kids can find something to eat. We can’t go backwards and start offering chips with everything again. The letter writer needs to grow up.
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When I worked at Shelton in the late 1970s I remember the food was really healthy/good, I,m glad to hear that is still the case.
I could never afford school dinners for my children and so a sandwich or slice of pizza, flapjack and a peice of fruit with a drink was much more economical and mean’t we could eat togther in the evening.
As I have said before, when my son started at Priory School a junk food machine was installed (the school was given £500 by the company!) which I complained about but it was not removed until years later.
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Well done schools for trying to get kids to eat healthily – as said already if kids are hungry they will eat it regardless – kids these days are just faddy! If you don’t want to eat your shcool dinner take a packed lunch!
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That should say school – fine example I am lol!
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Why not scrap all lessons and open a bar? I’m sure thats what most of the kids of today want. Education and discipline is soooo yeaterday. If the future of this country is in the hands of a bunch of fat drunken indisciplined illiterates who cares?
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Children eat what the adult gives them , school meals healthy or not have little impact on the child. It is down to what the adult feeds them at home and what they do at home . If they sit on their backsides at home watching dancing on ice and the x factor stuffing their faces with unhealthy food they will become unfit obese children if infact they ate rubbish food and burned of the calories they would infact be slim unhealthy children you just wouldnt be able to see it.
So feed children a healthy balanced meal etc let them have treats and make them get away from comp games and the goggle box and ensure they have exersise.One final thing no need to make jamie rich by giving him so much hyped publicity.
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I ate school dinners till I left in 1955 and they were much healthier then, we NEVER saw burgers and chips and as a result we were healthier too. You only have to look at America, the kids over there, the majority anyway, are grossly obese simply because they eat junk food. If the UK wants to see their children looking like that then heaven help the future generation.
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I’ve had school meals with my children at school. I am pleased that they are healthy but the meals that I have had are very bland. Curry that doesn’t taste spicy, gravy that tastes like water, potatoes and vegetables that taste of nothing. Other parents have said the same. How about adding a few herbs and spices to school meals to make them a bit more appealing?
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I’m fed up with all these people screaming about rights and about how we should be able to do what we want. We can’t do what we want. We should have more guidance from the top, not less.
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I never thought I’d see almost unanimous agreement in response to a letter. I add my own “hear, hear” to those comments. The well being of children is of paramount importance. For several hours a week out of a few years of their lives they are subject to the parenting of the education system. I would much prefer that parenting to include decent healthy food rather than the unhealthy options that the letter writer would apparently like available. Sometimes choices have to be made for us. They are called standards, rules, expectations and laws. Learning this is part of a child’s education.
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i personally think the school dinners have greatly improved. my boy goes to primary school admittedly but he loves his school dinners and he used to be a very fussy eater.
but we encourage him to eat fruit and veg and he does.
it all starts at home as other have suggested!!
if they were hungry they would eat it!!
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Thats the thing about kids, they are gaining an education, not educated and certainly not wise in matters of life, even some of us adults suffer from that affliction….so let’s educate our kids about the foods that are good for them and lets encourage them by making the best choices easiest to make by not offering temptation at school. In fact I like vege’s better than junk food because thats how I was bought up and my palate has developed to suit. At the end of the day as my mom says – if they are hungry they’ll eat.
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Look, Its simple, Im sure that most parents try to give their kids a healthy balanced diet, with the odd treat here and their. The sad fact is that alot of parents (alot in the Telford area anyway) are kids themselves and realy could not give a care in the world what they eat, what language comes out of their mouths or how they behave. Im probably going to get ranted at for saying this but it’s true, just take a good look around you next time your in town. My daughter is 3 and im dreading her going to school.
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@23, Don’t get too worked up about it Lee, I’ve lived in Shrewsbury and Telford and they are pretty much both the same. The new schools such as Madeley Academy, Hadley and soon the Ab Dab just about edge it in terms of schooling and i dare say with their modern kitchens the meals will be better also. Don’t go wasting your money trying to move to what you think is a nicer area as you’ll only end up disapointed..
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Lee,
I think you’re being pretty paranoid about your daughter and her future at school, and basing your views on a very limited view of life in Telford or any other town.
My own children have been at primary schools in Telford (one of them still is) and we have friends who have sent their children to a variety of T & W primary schools.
Whilst there are variances in standards, the schools all have their plus points, and generally do a pretty good job. There are a few ‘problem’ children, but the majority are pretty well-behaved (in school at least). Our experience of primary schools in Telford has been a positive one.
The school dinners these days are well planned and delivered, with parents given full information about menus and options for their kids to eat. For those taking packed lunches there is advice on healthy options, and a recommendation not to include too many ‘treats’.
The letter writer complains that his/her child won’t eat healthy food – I would suggest that is something in his/her control – schools can only advise encourage. It always has been a challenge to get children to eat certain foods (sprouts for instance!), partly due to their less well-developed palate, but there are many other options for getting a healthy 5 a day. Perhaps the writer’s rant is prompted by guilt at their own lack of effort?
Parents would perhaps do well to take a lesson from our neighbours in France. You don’t see French kids brought up on junk food – right from nursery they are brought up on a variety of healthy freshly-cooked foods. We’re moving towards that in this country, but from the evidence of this letter writer, there are sadly still some who would rather live in a world of junk food.
But I still don’t like sprouts…!
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There seems little point in having schools if you are willing to let the uneducated rule the roost. As far as I am concerned you can eat what you like but don’t expect my hard earned tax contributions to pay for your gastric band when you reach 25.
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It sounds to me like “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” You should send this student back to the Marches the where they might feel happier and they obviously belong.
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