From the UK:
"A PRIMARY school has been accused of running a "mealtime Gestapo" after insisting on inspecting children's lunchboxes for unhealthy food.
If pupils are found to have lollies, sweets, chocolate, carbonated drinks or full-fat potato chips, teachers confiscate them and hold them in the staffroom. The snacks are returned at the end of the day but only if parents ask."
Maybe your daughter is having a hard time because of a recent death in the family. You slip in a couple chocolate kisses as a way of saying I love you. BUT the mealtime Gestapos know better, they KNOW that children should never, never, ever have sweets, so they riffle through little Susie's lunch and take the kisses. (I wonder if they are hypocrites who help themselves to the treats at the end of the day?)
I find this mind boggling. Schools continue to assert they are in charge and parents have no rights. I am glad some parents are making a fuss about this.
I understand the concern, that many children are heavily overweight. But schools should not go against the parents in deciding what children eat.
We need to push back so hard on attempts like this that schools never, never, ever consider even asking if they can look through lunches.
One of the nice things about homeschooling is we can serve our children dessert. Even better that often my second daughter will make the desserts!
(Hat tip: ParentDish)
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Technorati tags: government schools, children, public school, public education, homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, education
4 comments:
The natural progression of poorly reasoned--albeit potentially well-meaning--thinking...
~Luke
Good grief, I was worried about the movies they were showing my kindergartner and the chocolate milk they were allowing him to have every single day. Now they are taking away any form of fun? Actually they have no right to take food from a child. Plus it might make them cry and feel bad about themselves.
Did the parents sign a contract that they would abide by a "no junk food" rule? My understanding is that Waldorf schools commonly require that as a precondition of enrollment (also no TV watching during the school year and no wearing clothes with commercialized characters). If families are told up front what the school's rules are and agree to them, then I don't really have a problem with it. I may think it's overly strict, but the school has the right to enforce their rules.
Crimson Wife, you raise a good point. I don't know. The impression I had was the school officials just decided, with no warning and no buy-in from the parents.
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