Unhappy Meal: Should Schools Have Opinion on What’s in a Kid’s Lunchbox?

If a Mum sends her child with a Happy Meal for lunch, is it the school’s right to comment? 

An English Principal has divided his community with a newsletter saying that less-than-healthy lunches are unacceptable, with a Happy Meal from the previous night topping the list of school-food-crimes….

The Sun UK reports that John Carty, Principal at Byron Primary in Gillingham, Kent UK believes the answer is yes. This principal claims he was forced to release a newsletter to parents after a string of “extreme and unacceptable” packed meals had been seen packed into kid’s lunchboxes.

The newsletter detailed a number of what Carty considered to be ‘lunchbox offences’ including a cold Happy Meal from the previous evening, which only narrowly beat another student’s unhealthy potato chip based lunch, made up of two bags of crisps and a crisp sandwich.

In his healthy reminder letter Carthy said that the increase in unhealthy lunches at the school was “worrying” and that  “Whilst extreme and funny to read on paper, I must make this clear THESE ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE examples of a balanced packed lunch.”

Other examples of unhealthy lunches to make Carty’s infamous list included one child’s choice of four yoghurts and a pack of smarties, while another student had the choice to snack on a chocolate muffin, a chocolate roll or a chocolate bar.

More recently, in Australia there has been other examples of what some call ‘food shaming’ with teachers and child care centres calling out parents on what they pack for their children.

We all know that a healthy diet enables children a better foundation on which to concentrate and learn, but is it now the role of the school in our community to police the foods which we send our children?