Wednesday, October 19, 2005

for real

things that some kids take to school for lunch:

* fairy bread (100s and 1000s in a sandwich)

* lolly bags

* chips

lolly bags!?

this is what my daughter took today:

* sliced rissole with tomato sauce sandwich - sourdough
* one apple
* one banana
* one half salada with vegemite, no butter
* one cheese stick
* water

is she deprived? she knows that what they are taking is crap and she is [almost] as horrified as me. she knows that it's a case of their parents not loving them enough [ok, i admit to slight brainwashing and propoganda here]. she also knows that these parents can't say NO to their kids. or are irresponsible. or stupid. or lazy. or negligent. or...

so, because i don't want her to grow up on the outer of the school clique, you know, that can be horrible, she has to feel she can belong [and this is usually not achieved by her giving free nutrition seminars to her classmates at playtime], this is my compromise:

* vegie chips [she gets these once in a blue moon, and she is thankful. so thankful]

and when she has a lunch order every second friday, i let her have a... doughnut, or a gingerbread man.

i am disgusted with parents who let their kids eat this crap.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE

WHO IS THE PARENT IN THE RELATIONSHIP?

WHO IS IN CONTROL OF THE HOME? THE SHOPPING LIST?

this is party food. it should be eaten at parties. not at school. every day. for lunch and play lunch.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

19 comments:

magical_m said...

* sliced rissole with tomato sauce sandwich - sourdough

YUM!

can you make my lunch tomorrow?

most parents are just plain lazy when it comes to nutrition. and they wonder why their kids are hyper all the time.

princess is one lucky girl.

DJ said...

You need to take a test to drive a car, but no such to be a parent...

Melba said...

i hear you all

i think the thing too is from when princess was tiny, she was pretty much eating what we ate. i never (not after the mashed vegie stage) made a separate meal for her. so what we ate, she ate (or modified, ie no red chillies)

so she has grown up with a sophisticated palate. spending time overseas too, when she was little helped her to be open to a wide range of food.

i feel sorry for the kids who are fed crap. and i have to admit, it was only when my mum got sick and radically changed her diet and read all about nutrition and chemicals and preservatives etc that i really became aware of food in a way different to "i like it"

but sending a kid to school with party food on a daily basis - no. you are either so fucking stupid, so fucking weak or both.

it's like, i defy anyone to come up with an acceptable reason for it.

"oh but they don't eat other food" they bleat

well don't give them the crap, give them the good stuff, eventually they will eat it because they are hungry. yes, there might be tears, tantrums and perhaps a few meals into the bin, and this might go on for a while. but unless they have money of their own and can drive themselves to the fast food outlet, you the PARENT is responsible.

i could go on for days.

but i shan't.

i haven't ranted for a while. this feels good.

Aleks - Anarcho-Syndicalist said...

My parents were like you with what they gave me for lunch as a child. However it didn't do much for me as an adult.

I love it when my cousins/nieces have Birthday parties - I can pig out on Fairy bread.

For breakfast I eat Ice-cream, even in winter. Seriously. Occassionally I will eat frozen yoghurt for breakfast. In my previous job I went for a period of 3 months where I would have Chocolate fudge muffins for lunch once a week when I went to a meeting.

That's not to say I don't have a sophisticated palate, at least 6 days a week lunch will consist of either Turkish, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese or Korean. MY motto is; if it tastes dood, eat it..,

Aleks - Anarcho-Syndicalist said...

My parents were like you with what they gave me for lunch as a child. However it didn't do much for me as an adult.

I love it when my cousins/nieces have Birthday parties - I can pig out on Fairy bread.

For breakfast I eat Ice-cream, even in winter. Seriously. Occassionally I will eat frozen yoghurt for breakfast. In my previous job I went for a period of 3 months where I would have Chocolate fudge muffins for lunch once a week when I went to a meeting.

That's not to say I don't have a sophisticated palate, at least 6 days a week lunch will consist of either Turkish, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese or Korean. MY motto is; if it tastes dood, eat it..,

LadyCracker said...

That is absolutly appaling MG, the proof will be in those poor kid's development. MLI's kids get a very healthy lunch. Treats, if any, are limited to one mint mentos. When we go out we take luch as well so there is no temptation to eat bad food.

Melba said...

aleks, with my daughter she says things like: why don't you just buy lollies mummy, you can, and you can eat them if you want. no one is telling you not to.

to her, lollies is like a currency, more valuable than money. i know that restricting them severely makes them more valuable. i try to let her have some, i am not a complete freak. and when she asks me that question, and says that when she's older she'll be able to eat what she likes, i tell her yes, she will, but if i teach her properly about food, then she has a better chance to make the better food choices later on. and that there is food you eat often (the healthy stuff) and food you eat sometimes (the treats)

lc - i know it's terrible isn't it. but like aleks says, you can only do what you can do as a parent. one day they will grow up and... eat ice cream for breakfast.

GS said...

MG you are obviously a very BAD parent and don't love your child enough. If you really loved her you would fill her full of coke, take her to maccas for dinner when ever she wanted, never suggest she eat a vegetable unless it was a chip. If you really loved her, you would be encouraging her to be obese and stupid - just like all her friends. Now you have created a freak. A child of normal weight, an enquiring mind, my god she probably even does sport and doesn't watch a minimum of 3 hours television a day.

What you have really done is failed to make her a consumer and therefor a good corporate citizen. Beware of the new 'anti terror' laws, you could be put under 12 months house arrest for this!

elaine said...

I agree, I feel sorry for the kids who aren't fed properly.

They are miserable because they have no energy and can't keep up mentally.

I used to feel sorry for the kids who only had carrot sticks and dip at their birthday parties because it alienated them from their peers. It's ok to have party food at parties.

Your princess is so lucky to have you MG.

Melba said...

aof - hahaha. you had me scared there for a minute. but she is a consumer-in-waiting. i don't know, the acquisitiveness of society (myself included) she sees all the gloss and stuff and wants it all.

but at least she eats right.

i see kids (say friend's children) who are behaviourally all over the place. they climb on furniture, jump around, sit on tables, stand on chairs, argue with their parents, talk back, are hyperactive, in tears all the time, falling over, tired, tired, tired. it's like an epidemic.

i'm not saying princess doesn't argue or talk back with me, or get tired, or cry. she does. but it's not because she is filled with junk, it's because she has a strong personality, and i have one too. so we clash. but she has never been allowed to climb on furniture. sit on tables and benches. what's THAT all about?

i think parents are too scared that their kids won't love them if they say no and be firm. but that's wrong.

and don't get me started on tv and letting kids watch movies that are inappropriate and music videos with writhing bikini babes or pole-dancers... cause that's when i get really pissed off!

and staying up really late. like in my opinion 8.30 is too late for any child up to 10 or 11. and what about the kids that are allowed to stay up until 9 or later?? what's going on there???

seriously i would love someone to tell me, a parent who is in that situation. maybe there's something i'm not getting or don't know about. i know some kids are not good at sleeping, but that's what control crying is all about, and making the kid stay in bed if they keep getting up. not giving in.

i have to stop now. my head is hurting.

Anonymous said...

Like I keep saying, they're making morons faster than we can shoot them.

BEVIS said...

Whoa. Good thing we didn't "get you started," eh? :)

I was going to make some crack about Princess saying to you what she knows you want to hear, and then she swaps / bribes / beats up the other kids at school for their junk food lunch ... but I see now that such a comment will only result in me losing a limb, so I'll simply say it's good that you're passionate about raising your kid properly.

As everyone else said before me, it makes you an outstanding parent.

I've had a mini-rant or two over the past couple of days, so I'm pleased to see that you've had a chance to unload some of this justifiable anger here today.

I'ma bit like Aleks (I never thought I'd be typing those words!!) ... I know I certainly eat crap whenever I want to. Although I actually do eat very well most of the time. Usually when Wifey's cooking dinner or I'm getting a wonderful salad and 'hot option' roll for lunch here at work.

But it's frequently pizza, burgers, and junk like that whenever I can justify it. I certainly plan to change my ways when kiddies come along, but how easy will that really be, once I've developed this habit / craving? I guess we'll see.

Aleks - Anarcho-Syndicalist said...

Bevis said: "I'ma bit like Aleks"

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I think it's time to end it all. Death is preferable to sharing ANYTHING in common with Bevis.

Melba said...

it's funny bevis. when i crave food it's usually something delicious and healthy rather than crap. like beautiful fresh flatty tails cut up and tossed through spaghetti with parsley, garlic, a bit of red chilli and oil. and prawns. and a glass of fine wine.

we go to macdonald's like once a year. or maybe twice. i'm serious. and when i do go i have a big mac, big fries and large vanilla thick shake. i'm not stupid. if i want a deli choice i'll go to a deli. if i go to macca's it's a burger and fries.

but i am really anti-fast food. to me i prefer something freshly prepared and nicely cooked, and that is usually delicious and healthier. not always though. semi fredo is to die for - but it's hand-made and gorgeous. i know what's in it (cream, cream and more cream) because i put it in there myself.

i've never really liked pizza. only the type that ataglio's in fitzroy street does, they are beautiful.

magical_m said...

I had to laugh at your comment DJ, cos my grandad used to say something along the same lines:

"You need a license to have a dog, but any idiot can be a parent"

And I don't think he ate junk food even once in his lifetime.

MG - good idea using lollies as a type of currency so Princess does get them sometimes.

I went to school with a girl whose mother never allowed her any lollies or soft drink and didn't allow her to order from the tuck shop. She ended up being arrested at the age of 13 for shoplifting.

She shoplifted Mars Bars.

Melba said...

hahaha aleks

and magical_m, yes i don't want to be a complete bitch mother, so she has to have them sometimes. we all need our treats.

BEVIS said...

Go ahead, Aleks. Don't let me hold you up.

Riss said...

My Mum started out with the 100s and 1000s but on alternate days - one cheese and one vegemite, then one jam and one 100s and 1000s, from what I can remember. That was around the time I was falling over a lot and skinning my knees.

I still had the piece of fruit and either juice or flavoured milk in my drink container. I still remember my Incredible Hulk milk.

My sister had a novel way to deal with her lunch. Whatever she didn't want, she would throw out. That included her fruit. Of course, this was after the school-bag-after-summer-holidays fiasco when mouldy sandwiches and bananas had set up house and created a foul smell in the bedroom we shared.

A friend of BEVIS and myself is a primary teacher and he has set aside time in the day where his pupils get out their fruit snack and eat during class.

I like his style.

Of course there's this thing that my Mum scarred me with for life - the "you must eat everything on your plate or you won't get dessert" rule. That one sucks. I eat everything on my plate, which is probably more than I should have, and then go for dessert, which is my favourite meal at any time of the day, which I really shouldn't have on top of everything I just ate.

And then my Mum has developed into such a good cook that I want to eat everything anyway.

(And I cook with the same high standards. BEVIS will tell you.)

Forge ahead. I am with you all the way. Personally, I also used to love the little notes Mum used to write to us and put in our lunch boxes just as much as the snack size violet crumbles.

BEVIS said...

Yes. She does.

Can I have a Violet Crumble pavlova now, please?