Eh, in my school we had options of vegetables, pasta, quiches etc, and everyone still opted for Burgers, chips and beans. People should teach their kids at home about good food but after that its pretty much down to the kids, and at risk of sounding a bit Daily Mail reader-ish, this smacks of Nanny state. At the end of the day I don't think most kids want fresh healthy ingredients, they want the same processed microwavable crap they eat at home and while extra money to schools is never a bad thing, I don't think this is going to make a difference.
Eh, in my school we had options of vegetables, pasta, quiches etc, and everyone still opted for Burgers, chips and beans. People should teach their kids at home about good food but after that its pretty much down to the kids, and at risk of sounding a bit Daily Mail reader-ish, this smacks of Nanny state. At the end of the day I don't think most kids want fresh healthy ingredients, they want the same processed microwavable crap they eat at home and while extra money to schools is never a bad thing, I don't think this is going to make a difference.
Well at one point in his campaign Oliver found some councils spending only 37p a head on school meals so you must have gone to a school that offered wider choices. He also found disgusting things like Turkey Twizzlers. You don't want to know what's in those. :x
Eh, in my school we had options of vegetables, pasta, quiches etc, and everyone still opted for Burgers, chips and beans. People should teach their kids at home about good food but after that its pretty much down to the kids, and at risk of sounding a bit Daily Mail reader-ish, this smacks of Nanny state. At the end of the day I don't think most kids want fresh healthy ingredients, they want the same processed microwavable crap they eat at home and while extra money to schools is never a bad thing, I don't think this is going to make a difference.
Well you were incredibly lucky then because the school food I had apart from my primary school in Ashford (age 8-11) was dire. Put me off butter beans for life.
I think the worst school meals I had were the one in the last school I attended "Greycoats Hospital' in Westminster. The girls actually went on strike one day because the apple pie they had given us was so burnt they had to throw the tin away. At the same school they had these serving plates with no divided which had cabbage and tin spaggetti mixed together, ugh, it was disgusting. :o
In the previous school, at lunchtime, we would dive out of school as soon as possible, not staying for lunch. As it was down the road from Sloane Square and King's road, you can imagine where we spend most of our time.
As for making kids have healthy meals, I actually believe it right for the government to be involved as ultimately as a nation we suffer if the kids are brought up on an unhealthy diet. It doesn't mean that kids will neccessarily eat more healthy once they leave the school but at least it a step in the right direction. I try like bu***ry to get my kids to eat the right foods, we always eat together as a family and rarely have dessert but still they insist on eating badly as soon as they are out of sight.
I beg to differ. I know many of the teens I know, which is quite a lot as I have 2 of my own with lots of friends and reletives the same age, are vegan, vegetarians and healthy eaters.
My son is not in any of these catagories and eats crap most of the time.
I do believe these days though he is in the minority.
Our schools aren't too bad for lunch as they have the choice of salad bar which has, besides salad, fruit, yoghurt and veggies.
The set menu is dire most days. As the schools here let out before 2pm most skip lunch and choosing more of a snack type food to eatin school then eat when they get home.
Until my children started school, they would eat potatoes without butter, all different kinds of vegetables without batting an eye lid and had very little processed foods. Once they started school, I got turned up noses on my mashed potatoes because they didn't 'taste' the same as what they ate at school, they wouldn't touch chicken or turkey without breadcrumbs on the outside and got totally turned off vegetables because they were all frozen that was served in school! You get to a point where you are sick and tired of the battles at home for the short time they are at home. You have to be careful you don't take it too far where they choose not to eat anything (which my daughter would have happily done) because you are starting to make food an issue. Both my boys have to be careful because they put weight on easily and my daughter is skin and bone! And forget having friends over. They end up only wanting chicken nuggets and chips!
Jamie Oliver is doing a great job by trying to change things and I'm sure that if the school meals were more healthy and food cooked right, children would eat them happily. Vegetables aren't supposed to be piles of mush or start off all being frozen. Children will eat what they are given in school at the younger end because they have no choice and are hungry, and they want to please their school. When they eat it they would then do what they do now and go home and complain at their parents for not cooking the food right! ;)
And the schools here are even worse.
Either sort school dinners out, or stop serving them altogether and allow the parents to send the children with a packed lunch. All the schools in Lincolnshire no longer have cooked food in school and all the children have to take a packed lunch. The only problem with this is the children who are supplied school lunches by the state stand out more which is not right either.
exactly. So remove the burger chips and beans option altogether.
A good parent does not stop looking after their children the minute they leave the door in the morning. Children make bad decisions. Sometimes you need to let them so they learn from them, sometimes you need to step in. Would you let your child become a drug adict so they could learn from their mistakes if you were in a position where you could step in and prevent it? Of course not. Why let your child become a junk food addict when you are in a position to prevent it? The parents have spoken by signing the petition.
When you are talking about the welfare of children, is a "nanny" state always such a bad thing? The state is able to prevent 12 year olds from legally drinking, smoking, having sex, not attending school..... how many people would really want their 12 year olds to have the freedom to make bad choices in those areas? It would be a different matter if the goverment was planning to legislate against the availability of junk food in the workplace or from stands on street corners......
You seem to be missing the point that it is not about what the children want, it's about what their parents want for them.
Some people drink too much, we should ban that too, oh and all unhealthy food should be banned for adults too, and government enforced exercise will work great.
Okay I'm being obnoxious :) But the further we limit peoples choices from an early age, the more towards a slippery slope we go to being an ultra P.C no one dares make a whisper out of line its wrong to criticise the government because they know best society. Little things like this lead to bigger problems, what if they decide kids need more exercise so no school buses to anyone living within 3 miles for school so they have to work come wind rain or snow. I just think saying we'll make it so they don't even have the option will cause more problems. Like someone said theres sex education etc, but its not slowing down teenage pregnancy, same as theres not a kid I bet who knows cigarettes aren't bad for you but still plenty of kids who go out of there way to smoke even though they can't get it in the stores. Think back to when you were that age, the more you're told you can't have something, the more you are likely to go out of your way to get it. It has to come from home, and sure kids are going to ignore their parents but they are the only ones who can decide for them and the state should have no part in peoples choice.
If nothing else kids are going to stop having school dinners and spend the money down at the local chip shop anyway which would be far worse than probably the same fare they could get in school.
I was going to edit my post but for some reason it won't let me, but wanted to add:
If cigarettes and Alcohol aren't offered to under 18s then children can't have it, because that happens right? :)
I'm baffled by what you are trying to say.
Children need protecting. That's why we send them to schools with qualified, responsible adults as teachers. That's why we make them sit in car seats in cars. That's why we ask them to hold our hands to cross the roads. Why we install smoke detectors in our homes.
Why on earth you think that providing children with healthy food is unacceptable is beyond me. As Jamie's show pointed out quite clearly, often the children don't get any type of healthy food choices at home and this poor diet is continued at schools that offer foods with little or no nutritional value. If anything, the government could be saving the younger generations from years of ill-health (copying their parent's habits) and huge debt incurred by the NHS treating people who are obese or unhealthy due to poor diet.