Can the school decide what you put in your lunch box in the morning? This is the opinion of the DVHN Youth Panel.
Schools have started again since last week, which also means that the lunch boxes have to be filled again. But with what?
Not every parent is able to fill his/her child’s lunch box with the healthiest and most nutritious foods. One spoils the children with a sweet or cake during the break, while the other sticks to an apple or vegetable snack.
Many primary schools advocate the latter. Can the school (co)determine what you put in your lunchbox in the morning?
Amber Wolbers (16)
“I think it’s an eternal discussion among parents about what is or is not good for a child. I’ve been an aunt since I was six, and now I have three children. As a result, you notice that there are many different parenting styles. These days, of course, you have the super conscious “granola parent,” but you also have parents who give their child what they feel like.
Anyway, let me say that I am not a doctor and do not know exactly what is good or bad, but only know my own experiences.
What a child gets from his parents to school is also noticed by the teachers. It has now even come to the point that schools are introducing rules about what is and is not allowed in the lunch box.
One parent agrees, but there are also plenty who think it’s just nonsense. Because what does a school have to say about such a thing?
I think that besides the caretakers of a child, the school has the most important influence. Learning that an apple is better than a cookie is of course not a bad thing, but taking a cookie to school is not a sin. I don’t think you should teach a child that this is the case.
A school has to teach a child things and prepare them for the future, there are probably bigger problems than a lunch box full of goodies.”
Sara Kooij (16)
“Schools want to promote a healthy eating style in children, that’s understandable. In order to do that, school fruit has already been introduced at various schools, for example.
However, it seems impossible to me to achieve a healthy eating style among children by letting schools determine what should be in everyone’s lunch box.
I don’t see how this policy should be implemented. How do the schools want this to be monitored? Does the teacher have to look at and approve every container in the class? I don’t seem to do that.
There is also a difference between the policy whereby fruit is distributed at school and the policy where it is determined by the school what a child should take to school in their bowl.
This last policy does not take into account the fact that there are families who are not big enough to give their children a piece of fruit or vegetable every day. While the school fruit is accessible to every and every child.
As long as a bag of apples in the supermarket is three euros, some lunchboxes can be expected to have a slice of pizza left over from dinner the day before.
Schools can always give advice on healthy eating, but a completely healthy diet cannot be achieved if healthy food is not affordable for every family.”
Eva Paapst (13)
“Well, this was a difficult one. To be honest I didn’t really know what to think. I myself have always just been given a sandwich, a piece of fruit and water, even when I was still in primary school. That is why it surprises me that children receive so much unhealthy food from their parents, or all children in secondary education who just go to the Albert Heijn every day to buy all kinds of candy. But whether the school can decide what to bring to school…
I think that if children in primary school are really exposed to so many unhealthy things, then measures must be taken. If someone sees something like this happen, such as a child being given an energy drink, or just candy, that the school should forbid it and talk to the parents about it. That is not a healthy, filling lunch at all.
But whether these measures should also be taken in secondary school… I think that when you are younger, what you eat has a lot of influence on how you function later. And while it’s true that kids in high school may have a harder time concentrating because of bad food, I don’t think the school has anything to say about that.
The best they can do is make the school canteen so attractive (but healthy) so that the children go to the Appie less. For example, I suggested to my canteen to start selling smoothies. It contains a lot of fruit, it is tasty, and it is a healthier variant for the smoothies from the Appie! That seems much more convenient to me.”