It wasn’t that long ago that I was sat on a sofa with 4 gigantic cameras pointing at me next to the one and only Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
We were discussing packed lunches and how some parents would simply send their child in with a cold Mcdonalds. Granted, it doesn’t take much to set him off, but Piers Morgan soon found his rhythm and proceeded to call these parents “feckless” and “lazy.”
And yet here we are again discussing the same issues, only this time, it’s worse than just a cold big mac!
As an ex-teacher, I’ve seen my fair share of ‘unusual’ packed lunches, but at least they’ve all been vaguely within the bounds of appropriate food for a child to take in for their lunch.
However, teachers are now sharing the very worst packed lunches they have ever seen and they truly are hard to stomach.
Shandy, Energy Drinks & cold Happy Meals…
One child reportedly came into school with a pork pie and a can of shandy. When asked about his choice items for lunch he replied,
That’s all there was in the fridge.
Another was sent into school with a can of Red Bull and packet of Monster Munch. Whilst another child had only a packet of ginger biscuits and said that his mum told him she was,
Too tired to go to the shops.
One teacher actually challenged a parent who’d sent their child in with a can of Red Bull. Fair play to the teacher, but the response was even more concerning than the contents of the lunch. She replied to the teacher,
He’d had a late night on his Xbox and seemed like he needed a pick-me-up.
In Manchester one teacher had an 8-year-old pupil bring in a can of dark fruits cider thinking it was juice.
A child with no packed lunch or money for a school dinner said he’d had his cereal with water on it for breakfast
Mum needed the milk for her coffee.
On the surface, this is a horrifying story, but for me, it goes way beyond horrifying. This highlights the depression and poverty that children in the UK face. Something that we don’t often realise.
Children in the UK get a free school meal up until year 3. The NHS offers plenty of guidance through
They advise a healthy sandwich or wrap, a piece of fruit, a treat like a jelly or malt loaf and a bottle of water or sugar-free drink.
This sad state of affairs is summed up by one of the teachers mentioned above posting on Facebook saying,
I’m not ashamed to say I cried when he told me that.
I can
This is so sad!
Freddy is still at pre school, they have very strict rules on what you can put in a packed lunch, I thought it was pretty much common sense.. Maybe not?!
It’s so sad the comments from the children themselves, this is neglect & I really hope something was done about it.
It shocks me at the school I’m a governor of that they routinely need to give kids toast in a morning to make sure they’ve eaten. Sadly you see so many of the same parents pleading poverty who drive fancy cars, wear designer clothes, push top of the range pushchairs and so have no money to feed their kids. I’m in mostly second hand clothes as I give it to the kids first and foremost – my style is irrelevant so long as they have what they need.