School’s just gone back, and healthy lunchboxes that meet school guidelines are on everyone’s minds.
And it’s rough out there. Sometimes, you nail it, and other times, you fail, in which case you’ll find a friendly letter inside your child’s lunchbox come home time.
TV host, Grant Denyer found himself in that position this week, proving no one – not even the host of Family Feud – is above the law.
“We got in trouble with Sailor’s school, we’ve been reprimanded,” the father-of-two told his radio co-hosts, Em Rusciano and Ed Kavalee on the 2DayFM Breakfast Show with Em, Ed & Grant, Grant Denyer.
“A letter was sent home about sending Sailor to school with an ‘inappropriate item’ in her lunchbox.”
The item is question – a homemade gluten-free choc chip muffin.
“[They said] it’s inappropriate because it’s an unhealthy item in a lunchbox, and contravenes the school policy on lunches,” he continued.
“It’s so embarrassing and you feel like the worst parent in the world. You’re trying to do the right thing – we made [the muffins] together on the weekend, it was a lovely father-daughter, mother-daughter experience cooking together… and then the school goes WAMO.”
A parent to school aged kids herself, Rusciano pointed out there are two sides to these lunchbox letters.
“We have problems in this country with childhood obesity and too much sugar, so we should be patting schools on the back for caring about our kids’ healthy eating,” she argued.
“BUT, getting a note and being judged like that would set me off at bit. And do they know who you are? Do they know that you’re TV’s Grant Denyer?”
To that, Denyer replied jokingly, “no one is above the law”.
A caller also rang up to let Denyer know he’s not the first parent to receive a lunchbox scolding, and won’t be the last.
LISTEN: Have you ever been lunchbox shamed? We talk to politics of packed lunches, on our podcast for imperfect parents (post continues after audio…)
“I sent the kids to school with lollies, and the school sent a note home saying it was inappropriate – but we actually have a problem with our kids not being able to put on weight, and I don’t tell [teachers] what they can and can’t take to eat to work, what gives them the right to tell my kids what to eat?” Clayton said.
A teacher at Denyer’s daughter’s school also tried to make him feel better, he told listeners, by recalling how one student previously rocked up with a fake orange in their lunchbox.
“It was one of those decorative plastic oranges you have in the bowl, and his mum had put one of them in the lunchbox,” he laughed.
The sad thing is, any sleep-deprived parent would understand exactly how such a thing could happen.
Meanwhile, poor Kavalee, who is a new dad, had no idea lunchbox letters are even a thing that exist.
He will in a few years time though.
2DayFM Breakfast with Em, Grant & Ed airs 6-9am weekdays on 2DayFM 104.1.
Have you ever received a lunchbox letter telling you off about your kid’s snacks? Do you feel they’re appropriate?
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I think Rush is 100% on the money. The fact is that the teacher had no way of knowing if the muffin was homemade and gluten free or if it was a mass produced muffin from Woolies that is full of sugar. Teachers just can't win! If they went back to allowing kids to bring lollies, chocolates and packets of chips to school, I guarantee it would take about 30 seconds for someone to say, "Shouldn't the school have stepped in by this point, how hard is it for the teacher to send a note home to the parents outlining the importance of healthy eating." Newsflash: That is exactly what they did say and that is exactly why teachers do what they do, despite not getting paid any extra for their trouble and getting ridiculed on the radio.
The fact they had ‘no way of knowing‘ is a good reason for them to butt out of the lunch box. I honestly don’t think they have a right here. Totally different story when children don’t have real food packed at all. Snakes, twisties as stated, that is just another form of child neglect and definitely something has to be done. Much more than a little note, they should be put on notice with the authorities.