When should a school intervene? Never? (school lunch issue)

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/28/school-lunch-returned-not-nutritious/26498493/

Im just going to leave this here...

Unknown

Personally I think the whole issue about schools "policing" kids' food is laughable at best. When my kids were in elementary school they stopped allowing the kids to eat candy at the Halloween party that was held at the last half hour of the day. The school said they would provide the snack, because candy was not healthy. Their solution? A sugar cookie. The hot lunches always looked plain out nasty to me. The food may have been "healthy" but it never looked appetizing to me. My kids currently attend a high school that is, in some buildings, four stories high and wraps around 3 sides of a football field. They have lockers but no time to run and get a cold lunch and they aren't allowed to carry their backpacks around. They eat what is available and what they have time to grab and go. The only thing I can really do is make sure the food at home is what I want them to eat. I began realizing this year how little control we eventually have over what our kids eat, and maybe this a factor behind some of the obesity in the US right now. Perhaps we should be teaching, not controlling?

Unknown

Do the healthy eating lesson and then leave it alone. From other posts made by the OP it seems like the child is doing well in school and her mother is working overnight shifts. I agree that the Red Bull should be banned, but that's a decision the School Board needs to make.

The Doritos aren't an issue in my mind. I used to eat out of vending machines during lunch. And by the way, most schools aren't providing a healthiest meal options either. I know my school didn't and I went to a very good public school. They had plenty of money to provide better options.

If you were the child of a working parent, they didn't have time to make you a full course breakfast in the morning. I know my parents didn't. My mom and dad would buy toaster strudels, poptarts, and cereal and it was my job to make sure I ate in the morning and caught the bus on time because they had to get to work to made sure we a roof over our heads.

Things are not as black and white as some of you are trying to make it. It sounds like this woman is doing what she can to keep her family afloat and to call CPS on her is ridiculous.

Also, who's to say that that little girl isn't grabbing the Red Bull without her mother's knowledge? 6-7 years old are very aware of how to get away with things that their parents would not approve of. Think of all of the crap you did as a kid without your parents knowledge, including food choices, and you'll see this little girl is probably working the system to her advantage. I'm sure she's a sweet kid, but even sweet kids have devious ways.

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MikaMojito wrote: »

softblondechick wrote: »

We don't know. The worst thing is to create defensive environment with parents. If food problems are an issue, it should be referred to social work and the school nurse to review and approach a parent. My job is to teach, not be the "food police".

In Germany we only call social services if a child is being seriously mistreated and I as a normal teacher wouldn't even be allowed to do so. I'd have to tell the principal if I think a child is being abused and he can choose to inform child services. German schools also don't have school nurses - what do they do in America? We have school psychologists but usually you share one between 2-5 schools and they're not "real" psychologists, they only did an extra course at uni.

I understand things are different in different countries but over here it's not just "teaching" that's our job but preparing kids for life and part of it is watching out for their health. You don't have to be "food police" or fat-shame these kids. But ignoring these things doesn't really help.

If a kid gets sick, you send them to the nurse and the nurse will determine if the kid is faking it or is actually sick and needs to go home. They also have band aids, and if a girl started her period and didn't have any pads/tampons you could go to the nurse and get some to last you through the day.

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7elizamae wrote: »

I have a student (2nd grader) who usually comes to school eating from a gigantic bag of Doritos and drinking a brightly colored energy drink. That's her breakfast. Sometimes she has Cheetos instead.

I don't intervene. Would you?

I'd definitely talk to your supervisors about it before intervening. Find out what school policy is. It may be more of a nurse/counselor issue. Unfortunately bad food choices is not the same as neglect/abuse so you really are stepping your boundaries if you were to intervene in my opinion. I've seen lots of kids go through stages of refusing to eat but one thing...

Nothing wrong with working in some "healthy daily habits" to your teachings though! You'd be suprised what kids pick up on. A woman at my gym gets super embarrassed when out with her kids and the start pointing at people walking by and going "Mommy look, McDonalds is bad...it's bad, right mommy?"

Unknown

I remember going through a phase in school where I ONLY ate Cool Ranch doritos and drank diet mountain dew for lunch...that lasted about a solid year! My next obsession was Little Debbie "swiss rolls" and I would carefully peel off the outer layer of chocolate first, eat that, then systematically eat the rest of it. LOL I was always thin throughout high school, I got good grades and I generally ate a pretty balanced diet the rest of the day. I wouldn't be too quick to judge if the student is generally doing OK in school, doesn't seem to be "starving", etc. Sometimes kids just like what they like - it doesn't mean it always warrants an "intervention".