Third-Grader Gets Detention for Bringing Lunch for a Hungry School Friend

A young boy in the US has been punished for bringing an extra packaged lunch to school to give to a hungry classmate.

The 3rd grade student from Illinois was coming home hungry from school each day because he was giving his lunch to his friend — he never had any food to bring for himself. The kind hearted boy asked his mother to start packing two lunches, one for him and one for his mate. When confronted in the lunchroom by his teacher, the student was given a detention for his kindness.

The detention form that was brought home to be signed by the boy’s parents detailed his misdemeanor clearly — “Vincent brought a Lunchable for another student and was sneaky when telling him. Vincent told me he knew he wasn’t supposed to give food to another student”.

lunchables — A Lunchable is a boxed, pre-packaged lunch containing different varieties of meal combinations, including crackers, pizzas, chicken nuggets, small hot dogs, small burgers, nachos, subs, and wraps. They usually come with a drink and a dessert.

To their credit, Vincent’s parents refused to sign the detention slip, which showed that the 3rd grader needed to serve one hour in detention.

Lisa Leonard, a family friend of the child receiving the detention, took to Facebook asking her friends to share her post with media outlets in an attempt to draw attention to the unfair treatment of the boy.

Potential adverse reactions from allergies is likely the reason for the no sharing of food rule, but to punish a child so severely for showing a little human decency is deplorable. It is totally understandable why the rules are in place, but a one hour detention was not the correct response for an 8 or 9 year old child. The school should have explained the rules to both the boy and his parents and thanked them for looking out for their fellow classmate. Then look into why the hungry child has no food to begin with and rectify that issue.

Lisa Leonard clarified that the family had checked if the hungry child had any allergies and were told that he had none. “The mother had checked to make sure the young man didn’t have any allergies and he is a friend of the child.”

“Makes me so mad. All kids deserve a decent meal and healthcare for free.”

You would think that finding out why the child doesn’t have any lunch to eat every day would be more important than giving detention to the child who wanted to help, wouldn’t you?

Punishing children for acts of kindness only teaches hate.

Images: Facebook and Google Search