A Mum Was Lunch Shamed For Packing Sultanas in Her Daughter’s Lunchbox
A Mum Was Lunch Shamed for Packing Sultanas in Her Daughter’s Lunchbox
Lunch shaming. It’s the new way to tell parents you’re doing a sh*t job raising your kids. But now it’s got a whole lot more technical because some foods that would be deemed fine for kids, are now encouraged as a sometimes food for its sugar content.
The latest lunch shaming incident involved a mum who received a note home from her child’s kindergarten after packing sultanas in her daughter’s lunchbox. The dried fruit was considered to be an inappropriate snack due to its high sugar content.
The mum shared the note in a closed Facebook group, yet it went viral because of the extreme policing of food from an education facility.
The note said,”Please help us to encourage nutritious eating habits in children. Our healthy eating policy asks you to provide healthy and nutritious snacks for your child to eat at Kindy.”
“The sultanas packed for your child today are unacceptable at Kindy due to its high sugar content.”
The mum shared the note with the comment, “This must be a joke? Of course they are high in sugar, they are fruit.
“Today’s lunch consisted of a sandwich roll, two boiled eggs, an orange, kiwi fruit, and a handful of sultanas. She never has packaged food in her lunchbox or anything with refined sugar.”
Was the whole lunch assessed before the sultanas were judged for their sugar content? To me, that lunch sounds pretty damn good.
This extreme focus on food and lunch shaming needs to stop. No parent should be made feeling guilty because they packed a box of sultanas in their kid’s lunchbox. Are teachers being monitored on the food they pack for themselves when they head to the staffroom?
There is no doubt that everyone should have a good understanding on healthy food. Especially when childhood obesity is at an all-time high. But is lunch shaming the way to go about helping kids eat healthy lunches?
We’d love to know what you think. Do you think sultanas should have prompted a note home? Who’s to blame for lunch shaming? Did parents start this war themselves because they complained about the tuckshop food? Can we only blame ourselves for this ridiculous monitoring of lunches?
Rebecca Senyard
Rebecca Senyard is a plumber by day and stylist by night but these days she changes more nappies than washers. She is a happily married mum to three young daughters who she styles on a regular basis. Rebecca is not only an award winning plumber, she also writes an award winning blog called The Plumbette where she shares her life experiences as a plumber and mother. Rebecca also blogs at Styled by Bec believing a girl can be both practical and stylish. Links to the blogs are http://www.theplumbette.com.au and http://www.styledbybec.com.au/blog
I would have circled the dried fruit part of the letter and asked what the fuck do they think sultanas are? Last time I checked they were dried fruit bloody muppets.