Packing a lunch? Piece of cake! Well, in this mom’s case, what was meant to be a sweet treat ended up landing her in hot water with her child’s teacher.
Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian author, speaker and advocate, posted a picture of the note that her friend, a mom of 8, received in her child’s lunchbox.
According to the picture, the note read, “Your child has ‘chocolate slice’ from the Red Food category today. Please choose healthier options for Kindy,” with a sad face on it.
Reist told TODAY that the school’s policy requests that processed cake and biscuits not be put in the children’s lunches, but said that the cake was homemade and leftover from a birthday.
“Of course, I understand the importance of healthy eating policies. I appreciate that harried teachers are most likely just trying to carry out school policy (while also not being trained dieticians),” Reist wrote in a post on Australian Broadcast Company’s website. “But I’m concerned about where this approach to eating takes us.”
The school wasn’t identified in the post, which Reist captioned that she told her friend “… to put in two slices tomorrow and tell them to get lost.”
“When children see food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it can set them up for eating disorders,” Reist wrote. “Some eating disorder specialists I work with say the bombardment of messages around obesity is causing food anxiety and contributing to disordered eating behaviour in children.”
The post generated nearly 1,000 comments and more than 500 shares across the world. Some said that the note was out of line and that it’s the parent’s decision to give their children a treat in their lunches, others said that the teachers are trying to teach children what’s healthy.
What do you think? Was the school right in sending the note home? Comment below with your thoughts!
