Are school dinners the best option for children? Or can they turn fussy eaters off vegetables for life? Our education expert Janet Murray lifts the lid on school meals.
School dinners have come a long way since the days of soggy semolina and lumpy custard. But do your children love or loathe school dinners? Here are some of your questions answered.
Q: My six-year-old daughter is quite a fussy eater. She has school dinners at the moment, but she’s always really hungry when she gets home, so I’m not sure she’s eating much at lunchtime. Should I switch to packed lunches?
Not necessarily. Other children can have powerful influence on children’s eating habits, so it’s not uncommon for children who won’t touch vegetables at home to tuck into boiled cabbage and carrots at school without a word of complaint, just because their friends are doing it!
This is backed up by new research from the School Food Trust, which found that four out of five children in England who ate school lunches had tried food at school that they had not tried at home.
Obviously you need to find out whether your daughter is eating her lunch at school. There can be a variety of reasons, apart from fussiness, why children don’t enjoy school dinners. It could be that the dining hall is too crowded, noisy or uncomfortable. Perhaps the food is being served too hot or too cold. Or it could be something as seemingly trivial as not being able to sit with her friends.
Ask your daughter’s teacher or a lunchtime supervisor to keep an eye out for a few days and make your decision from there.
Q: My son goes to a large primary school where lunches are served in two sittings. As a Year 6 student, he goes in second and says there is often very little left to choose from. He often has to rush his meal, so he is not late back to class. I appreciate it is difficult for the school to feed hundreds of children in an hour, but how can I raise the issue without sounding petty?
You aren’t being petty at all! To keep up their concentration levels in the afternoon, it is really important for children to have a good lunch and have time to digest their food. It may be that the school lunches are provided by a private catering firm, but your first port of call should still be the head teacher, who will be responsible for ‘buying in’ catering services for the school. Are any other parents concerned about this issue? If so, you could write a joint letter or request a group meeting with the head teacher. If a number of parents express their concern, the head teacher is more likely to review the existing lunchtime arrangements.
Q: My eight-year-old daughter is a picky eater and is made to stay in the dining hall at lunchtime until she has cleared her plate, which she finds extremely stressful. What should I do?
While most parents would agree it is important to encourage children to eat a good amount at mealtimes, insisting on a clean plate can make children anxious around food which is not going to help her fussiness and can lead to long-term problems.
Talk to your child’s teacher about how this is affecting your daughter. Instead of clearing her plate, perhaps she could work to daily or weekly targets, such as trying one new food a week or just a forkful or two of foods she says she doesn’t like.
If the ‘no waste’ approach to school dinners is part of the school culture, you may need to speak to the head teacher. While it may have been acceptable to make children clear their plates 50 years ago, knowledge about health and nutrition has moved on!
If children are constantly made to eat everything on their plate, they can lose the ability to recognise when they are hungry and when they are full, which is important in maintaining a healthy weight later in life.
Deb Carrots has written about getting children to try new foods.
Getting children involved with cooking at home, can be a great way to encourage them to be more adventurous and try new foods, without putting them under pressure.
Links
The School Food Trust contains information and advice for parents on school dinners
The Directgov site has information for parents about school lunches
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mum
24 September, 2010
My two both love their school meals. The standard is high, the meals are cooked fresh and we're given a copy of the menu so we know what they're getting. The school kitchen also cooks the local meals on wheels and uses local suppliers. It's always reassuring to see that the teachers eat the food too. It's a far cry from the spam fritters and soggy cabbage I used to get! The children are encouraged to eat up but not forced to and they get stickers if they try a new food (which they're always very proud of).
mum
24 September, 2010
Just as a point to add to Deb's comment. I don't see packed lunches as being at all inferior but I don't think I could provide the variety of food that the school provides. My two see packed lunches as a treat - possibly they see other kids having crisps and cakes - and occasionally ask to have one but the school provides such good food there's no point. Their meals are currently £1.80 - how does that compare to the cost of a packed lunch?
expert
24 September, 2010
I don't think packed lunches are seen as second rate, but the new research is quite interesting, as people often seem to think packed lunches are the only option for fussy eaters. And school dinners are not just about the food. It's about socialising, table manners etc. Of course parents can teach their kids that at home (or over a packed lunch!) but I think it's good when children get to sit down and have a meal with different courses etc at school too. As a working mum, I find it such a relief to know my daughter has enjoyed a cooked meal at school, so I can give her sandwiches or something light in the evening. People often comment on her table manners, the way she uses a knife and fork etc and I know a lot of that is to do with sitting down and having a meal with her classmates every day since the age of 3. Like I say, all that can be taught at home, but it can be a valuable experience for children at school too. I think it can be quite easy to stick fussy eaters on to packed lunches, but perhaps this new research gives us hope that if we'd prefer them to have packed lunches, they can! Maggie I agree that school lunches can be really great nowadays. I visit a lot of schools with my job and have had some really tasty school dinners! I agree about the plastic plates though Debs - they can be really offputting!
expert
24 September, 2010
I mean if we'd prefer them to have school dinners, not packed lunches. Gah!
mum
24 September, 2010
Some of my children have school dinners but most have packed lunches. This isn't a criticism but I don't understand why they are thought of as inferior to school lunches.
I've eaten hot meals at my children's school and they're OK. Not amazing. They're served on a strange plastic plate where your pudding is sitting next to your main course which is offputting.
Whereas with a packed lunch I have full control over what they eat and can tailor it to their (very) specific tastes. There is still the influence of other children, if that's thought of as a plus for school lunches, because they seem to discuss or notice others' lunchboxes. And I still haven't given way on the crisp front!
But I'm just wondering why a hot school meal is thought of as perferable? My children always come home to a decent hot meal, so is it because there are some who won't? I'm just curious!
mum
30 September, 2010
I can see the point if you work, I guess but both me and my hubby need to eat a hot meal so I do a cooked meal for everyone at the end of the day. And that's where they learn so much, not just table manners.
I'm also not convinced that them sitting with their mates will teach them table manners and all the extras (the teachers eat in the staff room but there are dinner ladies wandering around).
It's interesting that Maggie's children see packed lunches as a treat; mine don't have crisps or rubbish. I'm not totally convinced the meals they serve up at school are nutritionally better. It's not cooked from scratch on site but brought in and reheated although they do make their own bread.
I guess it depends what the school meals are like. It's such a shame it appears to be so varied.