Furious mum gets lunchbox shamed by her five-year-old daughter’s TEACHERS for giving her too much food
WHEN your little ones are just starting off at school, there are all kinds of new routines for them to get used to - including having lunch away from home.
So it's only natural that mums want to make sure their packed lunches are as full of healthy snacks and little treats as possible.
That said, one furious mum claims she was lunchbox shamed by her five-year-old daughter's teachers for giving her too much to eat.
Posting on the Facebook group , the woman proudly showed off the lunch she'd prepared for her child on her first day of kindergarten.
The lunchbox contained a sandwich wrapped in foil, a bag of mini chocolate chip cookies, a packet of chicken flavoured crisps, a raspberry yogurt, a cup of strawberry jelly and some chopped carrots too.
The mum wrote: "Daughter's first day of kindergarten today, she ate everything. And I got told it's too much..."
What the NHS recommends schoolkids have for lunch
The NHS gives a number of suggestions and guidelines on their Change4Life website:
- Base the lunchbox on foods like bread, rice, pasta and potatoes - wholegrain ideally - too keep kids fuller for longer
- If your child isn't keen on wholegrain, try making sandwiches with one slice of white and one slice of wholemeal bread
- Try to keep lunchboxes interesting by using a variety of shapes like bagels, pittas and wraps
- Make food fun as lunches can be more exciting if the child has to put them together, like having foods for dipping and makes a change from sandwiches every day.
- Opt for low fat foods, like lean meats or fish.
- Cut down on the amount of spreads you put into sandwiches
- Always add a bit of salad and vegetables to the meal
- Cut down on the crisps
- Chop up some fruit or peal satsuamas and add those instead of sweets
- Cheese can be high in fat and salt so pick strong tasting ones or go for low-fat varieties
- Get the kids involved in making the lunch - they'll be more likely to eat it if they helped make it
However, other members of the group have rallied around the mum - and insisted that every child's appetite is different.
One replied: "I think you know your child's appetite better."
Another added: "Better than not enough!"
"Sometimes your educators will tell you it's too much because your child spent a huge amount of their day eating," a third wrote. "Ask them how long she's taking to eat her lunch. If it's under 30 minutes, I'd continue to pack that amount."
"If she eats it all then that's a good amount," one replied. "Some days my daughter comes back saying she ate everything at morning tea and her lunch box was super full! Other days she comes back n its still got a few of the packet items."
But not everyone was so supportive - with other members arguing that it would encourage the girl to overeat.
"Just because a child eats everything doesn’t mean they ‘need’ everything. Some kids do overeat," another pointed out.
Meanwhile, one mum replied: "Maybe give more filling foods like extra protein etc so that way your kid is full and the teachers have nothing to moan about."
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