 |
The nanny state and the school food rules
by Most developed, consumer driven countries are in the grip of an obesity epidemic. Australia, despite its sun and surf lifestyle, is, quite sadly, the same as everywhere else - a large percentage of our population, including children, are overweight.
There are a million bad reasons behind this problem, including everything from over-indulgence, to lack of love and physical affection, to a fast-paced lifestyle. This probably isn't the time or place to be debating the ins and outs of what causes it. I'm more interested in what's being done about it.
The situation in Australia has become so dire that the Government and the Powers That Be have decided to take matters into their own hands, and introduce what I'll call, collectively, the School Food Rules.
The School Food Rules are, technically, governed by each individual Australian state, so they go by seven different names, depending on where you live. They have slight differences, state to state, but basically the rules are based on a ‘traffic light' system, and go something like this...
Green Foods are healthy, ‘all the time' foods that can be eaten as often as desired. Obviously, this includes things like fruit, yoghurt, sandwiches with healthy fillings, popcorn and raw vegetables.
Amber Foods are ‘sometimes' foods where only one serving per day is recommended. Foods like most biscuits, fruit juice, muesli and health food bars fall into this category.
And Red Foods are all the bad junk that's recommended ‘rarely or not at all'. Potato chips, soft drinks and lollies. Evidently.
To make things a bit easier for time-poor mums and dads, foods that are marketed to kids can be labelled with their traffic light status on their packaging. That is awesome. It makes shopping easier and much less guilt-inducing. Which is always helpful. Suddenly, upon discovering chocolate Tiny Teddy biscuits are categorised as an Amber food, not a Red one, I feel a blessed aura of good-motherhood emanating from me as I pop them in the trolley.
That saintly aura lasts just until I get the phone call from my son's daycare. I have misunderstood the School Food Rules, it seems, in relation to daycare attendance. Green foods only. No Amber foods, ever, and certainly no Red foods. The offending packet of biscuits will be returned to me this afternoon at pick up time.
The shame.
And this is where the problem with the School Food Rules lies. Parents, me included, are now feeling patronised, chastened and very much like children themselves.
It's one thing to advise parents what to feed their children. It's another to insinuate that most parents aren't responsible enough to see those recommendations through. While our government and health authorities may feel as though they are taking the very best course of action to nip the nation's weight problem in the bud and see a healthier outlook for the next generation, it's the equivalent of saying ‘We don't trust you to feed your children properly, so we'll take it out of your hands.'
So, ladies in the Powder Room, I'd love to know- what do you think? Is this necessary, or another example of a nanny state putting parents on the naughty step? Are we alone in Australia with our School Food Rules, or do the countries you're all reading from have something similar in place- and how do you feel about it?
You May Also Like
Comments (21)
-
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 9:38 amIt really bugs me, most parents are perfectly capable of feeding their kids "correctly". I actually think that all of this nonsense about food clouds the issue of overweight children and in fact, makes it worse. No food should be labled 'bad' that just makes it more appealing to kids. How about 'everything in moderation' ?Reply -
6 replies, Last reply by Gill on Mon Feb 13, 2012 at 7:13 pm
-
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 12:17 pmpersonally, I'm scared. I've got to prepare my first ever lunchbox tomorrow morning. I'd love to have a 3 year old that devoured only "green light" food with gusto but despite my best efforts, I don't. He is getting better as he gets older but still prefers polony and sauce sandwiches for lunch and will do handstands to get chicken nuggets if he can. He still cries if I serve rice or pasta for dinner and needs to be forced to eat a few small mouthfuls. I've heard stories of children coming home with notes in their lunch box for polony sandwiches.... fingers crossed our school isn't too full on!Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by Rachel on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 9:38 am
-
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 10:53 amOur school tuck shop now only sells Green and Amber foods, which is a good move in my book. I think perhaps the issue with daycare providers is that they are very sensitive to the issue of potential allergies. Amber foods = processed and therefore likely to contain potential allergens. Green foods are fresh and (for the most part) will the allergen free. Except for fresh peanuts of course. If a large proportion of children are overweight, I would suggest that those parents AREN'T capable of seeing those recommendations through. *ducking the organic free range antioxidant-rich Green Light snack now being thrown at my head*Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by Mishaps and mayhem of a gluten free life on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 8:17 am
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 3:30 amI agree that it's fine to advise, and educate the children, but it should stay as an advisement. Especially if you're only sending an amber food! At Bluey's school the only thing that is a definite NO is nuts. Understandably, because of allergies, but it also sucks as nuts are a good food choice (if unsalted, which basically means flavourless doesn't it?).Reply
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 3:01 amI wish our schools could be a model of healthy living but the bottom line is they are not. My frustration is the BMI index they hold our children under does not factor well for the child that is over the index for height or muscle mass and leaves much to be desired for health measures overall. They weigh our kids yearly and send home the figures. Just a side note that the nurse in our school is well off to obese. This bothers me and probably we should just be using her as a bad example?! I just have a hard time with the health team looking so large. As food goes... Here in the USA it varies by state and likely school district. Our State has a low-fat mandate. If we send in cupcakes for instance, home-made, they must use no oil... substitution is apple sauce. All brought foods must be low-fat. I don't mind the "suggestions" they make but I did mind when I was told the treats I was sending in for the birthday party with the box marked "Lowfat" was to be scrutinized by the nurse (yes the overweight nurse). So we add sugar and take out fats. I suspect they would like to ban "treats" altogether but they dare not offend the parents to badly right off. The school lunches are abysmal. I think they may have been abysmal even before the low-fat mandate so I can't really say much about that. We are able to send in lunches with our child. In the past they would not allow and sent home notes about what might be in a lunch but this lessened as parents complained. I appreciate them taking out the soda machines (If I recall correctly not all of them are gone though)... this was a hard one as Coca-Cola paid them to have their soda on hand. (ehrm donated money to the schools is more the punch). This is appreciable. Pushing water was their best idea. Noting on a poster that is tacked on the wall that water is best, juice, soda and even Milk are not as good (1% milk excepted). Teaching better eating habits overall... but then they blew it by decreasing play, recess and PE. Mixed messages.Reply
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 2:02 amIt is well known that foods high in sugar set children off and change their behaviour. I would appreciate knowing that the teachers at my daycare are not filling my child up with unknown amounts of sugar unknown to me) and sending my child home on a sugar high. The rules may also have something to do with the fact that there are a lot of children out there with allergies and children swap food and lunches. Children are better behaved and concentration levels are better when they eat healthy foods not sugary ones. The rules are for the benefit of everyone. Not just to make you look bad.Reply
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 1:34 amI never thought about this till I volunteered in the classroom for many hours a week. I saw a big difference in childrens behaviour after they ate a lunchbox full of foods and drinks of many colours.It made me sad to see these beautiful little people getting into trouble for disrupting the class etc when really they couldnt help themselves as had just had a massive sugar,colour or additive hit.I find this a really difficult subject as I wouldnt like to be told what to feed my child but can understand from the classrooms point of view.Reply
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 1:29 amAt my children's school and preschool the major concern is nuts, and anything made on a line that has the potential for traces of nuts. There was a child at the preschool that was extremely allergic, to dairy as well, but yoghurts made the cut for lunchboxes. I found it easy, and it means that sweet biscuits etc are treats for after school. I'm not sure if the school is so prescribed (my daughter started today) but I'm packing the same sorts of lunches as for preschool. Its also always been water only in the water bottle, simplifies things there too!Reply
-
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 5:22 pmDon't get me started! This is one of my bug bears!! They are my children , if I want to give them a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar I bloody will! And as for the water / squash issue! ! I unfortunately never trained my children to drink water on its own and I can see why they want squash in their bottles - but it is a mortal sin in our school. Well sorry - bog off. I've told my children , if anyone has a problem with their drink or food , then they should see their Mummy.. So far , no one has. ...Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by Jill on Wed Feb 1, 2012 at 5:24 pm
-
Report
Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 4:14 pm
I couldn't agree more. Schools here forbid crisps and biscuits from packed lunch boxes. Whatever happened to a balanced lunch? sandwiches, fruit, drink and chocolate bar. Instead they put out repulsive looking pieces of browning apple and celery sticks. How to put kids off food altogether I say. fruit and veg is lovely, but in salads or sauces or pies, not limping its way across a plastic bowl. M2MReply -
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 2:36 pmWe have something very similar over here in the UK, but it is very much up to the individual school. I don't mind so much as I try my best to give both my girls healthy lunches. My youngest's school is very much on the ball as to what is and isn't acceptable in their lunchboxes, ebven fruit juice is banned. As my youngest is a fussy eater this has helped her make more healthy choices in the types of food she will eat. I was pleased that my eldest's school being a special needs school did not put any restriction on what you gave your child for lunch, as many children with special needs have dietary issues. However this week I received a letter home stating that they had noticed an increase in the amount of unhealthy snacks in the children's lunches as well an inappropriate protion sizes. I am in the lucky position that my eldest doesn't have any issues concerned food, but if she being autistic couldn't cope with the certain texture of food, I wouldn't care if she only ate jam sandwiches for lunch as long as she ate something.Reply
-
Report Wed Feb 1, 2012 - 11:01 amWow! This is to the extreme almost like a police state! I don't have the pleasure of being a mum yet (hopefully not too fat away), but I am a teacher. I've taught in some of the most difficult areas in NSW, we had crunch n sip, kids could bring in fruit (not compolsury) daily and they could drink water whenever they wanted in class. The canteen was like a lolly shop, selling sugar n salt filled food and drinks! And kids who ordered there lunch daily. I taught pdhpe (health), we talked about good food. But never, did we enforce rules on food parents could n couldn't give their children! We even have a breakfast club, fruit for recess and lunches because kids came to school with no food! I always packed extra to give to a student without lunch etc. As educators, we can care, and teach and help them make informed decisions as they get older but we aren't police or leaders of a communist regime! It's the parents job to provide food, I can understand asking 4 a piece if fruit but that's it! They are meant to help you and your children not make you feel bad ! How crazy! Need help dealing with it ask me if 5 min away! XxxReply
Enter the word as it appears in the box.