Parents clashing with teachers over ‘unhealthy’ lunch boxes
Military style surveillance of kid’s lunch boxes is causing major worry for students and parents, with some anxious kids resorting to extreme measures to avoid punishment for bringing “unhealthy” snacks to school.
VIC News
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Parents are clashing with teachers who police lunch boxes and shame children for bringing unhealthy food, new research shows.
University of Melbourne researchers interviewed 50 Victorian primary school parents and found some were anxious and upset about their school’s surveillance of lunch boxes.
In some cases, photos of children with “good” and “bad” lunch boxes were circulated around the school to teach others what to bring and what not to bring.
Young students were also singled out by teachers and given yard duties or penalty points for having the wrong food, the study found.
One girl buried a muesli bar in the playground because she was so embarrassed about having it in her lunch box and another had homemade cake returned with admonishment.
“Rigid school rules and surveillance of childhood eating at school can produce feelings of frustration, concern, worry, upset and anger for families, and feelings of worry, embarrassment, fear and shame for children,” lead author Claire Tanner said.
Nearly one in five parents detailed an instance of strict enforcement of rigid rules around school food, she said.
One mother spoke of the “militancy of the surveillance of food at school”.
Many schools offer advice about healthy lunch boxes, which contain a sandwich with fillings such as ham and cheese, cut up vegetables and pieces of fruit. Other lunch box education programs include the nude food movement, which encourages parents not to use disposable wrapping.
Dr Tanner said families from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds were under additional pressure to conform to “the narrow prescription of an Anglo-Western school food diet”.
She interviewed a family who had asked for a microwave to heat up a halal lunch.
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This was denied and they were asked why they didn’t give their child a sandwich.
Hope Irwin, 41, from Reservoir, said her children’s school promoted healthy food strategies, such as having apples in the classroom, rather than preaching to parents.
“But I’ve heard of others who are shamed for giving their kids a piece of cake or a Tim Tam,” Ms Irwin said. “It’s up to parents in the end. If it’s a birthday, people should be able to bring some cake.”