If there’s one thing mums worry about, it’s giving our children healthy meals that they will enjoy.
When they’re at home, we can keep an eye on what they eat but when they’re in school it’s a different story. It can be difficult to both please your child and adhere to stringent healthy eating policies that are now in place in most schools and playschools.
All mums know the struggle of putting together the perfect lunchbox and sending it to school hoping our little ones won’t be swapping their lunch for that of their best friend.
And while we’ve heard the stories of mums receiving notes for including the odd sweet treat in a lunchbox, this story left us feeling a bit baffled.
This mum was confused when she received a note telling her that her daughter's snack of sultanas was "unacceptable" due to their “high sugar content.”
The bizarre note read: "Please help us to encourage nutritious eating habits in children. Our healthy eating policy asks you to provide healthy and nutritious snacks for your child to eat in kindergarten."
But reading further down she realised the note completely contradicted itself as it listed “dried fruits” and “fruit bread” as healthy snacks.
“Acceptable items include fresh, dried or tinned/packaged fruit/vegetables, vegetable dips, cheese, crackers/dry biscuits, yoghurt, fruit bread/muffins, sandwiches with healthy fillings."
Hmm. we’re a bit confused by this! Surely the kindergarten staff have seen far worse things than sultanas in lunchboxes.
The mum listed off the ingredients of her daughter’s lunchbox which amounted to a nutritionally balanced healthy meal. It contained a sandwich roll, two boiled eggs, an orange, kiwi fruit and a handful of sultanas.
She felt the note was unjustified as she never includes packaged food or refined sugar in her daughter’s lunchbox, according to 9Honey.
Unfortunately, this practice of reprimanding parents is becoming more common as recently another mum found herself receiving a note for including a slice of chocolate cake in a lunchbox.
Her friend Melinda Tankard Reist took to Facebook to share the note on her behalf.
Melinda shared a photo of the note which read: “Your child has 'chocolate slice' from the Red Food category today. Please choose healthier options for Kindy.”
The teacher was referring to a traffic light system that grades foods according to their nutritional value.
“My friend (mother of eight healthy children…) received this today from her three-year-old’s Kindy teacher. I told her to put in two slices tomorrow and tell them to get lost,” Melinda said.
What do you think of this practice mums? We would love to hear your opinions on the matter.
