Comments on: Updates http://bucksburn.info/2009/09/updates/ Representing the views of Bucksburn parents since 2007 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:34:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Billy http://bucksburn.info/2009/09/updates/comment-page-1/#comment-560 Billy Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:54:56 +0000 http://bucksburn.info/?p=331#comment-560 Hehe, epic brilliant post Angela, this should be on the front page itself. I've noticed another worrying trend this week whereby Colin Lawson's lorries have been manoeuvring around Howes Road at pick up and drop off times. This is a big danger too, how on earth can a lorry driver see an 8 year old crossing the road behind him as he backs up towards the child? As for getting a parent council volunteer to stand at the road side, we can't even get them to come to the meetings! ;oP You pick up on a good point about packed lunches. It used to be the case that the healthy brigade could send their kids off with a packed lunch instead of having them take the poor school meals. Now that school meals have been healthified (yes that *is* a new word) it's the fussy kids and those who may not be in reciept of healthy food as part of their home diets, who are hiding behind them. In which case the target audience is going to be ignored. The entire reason behind them sending their children is to *avoid* healthy foods. I think they are preaching to the converted with those of us who already send our children with healthier options in our packed lunches. I'm not drawing pictures on their food, "don't play with your food" springs to mind. Just educate your kids from an early age to eat healthily. Ash will take an apple banana grapes or orange over a bag of crisps every time. I don't send them to school with a balanced packed lunch every day I must admit. It would go down well if there was some monitoring of what they actually eat done in school though. I must admit I don't usually get things home, the odd apple maybe, probably not eaten because they ran out of time by fidgeting and not concentrating on the meal, some "friendly encouragement" is often needed here too! In fact, the biggest problem with packed lunches that I personally find is that now and then the kids don't bring back their packed lunch boxes because of the routine in school at lunch time. They can't place them back into their bags for some reason before going to play, so they get left in the cloakroom and subsequently forgotten. Kids eh... Hehe, epic brilliant post Angela, this should be on the front page itself.

I’ve noticed another worrying trend this week whereby Colin Lawson’s lorries have been manoeuvring around Howes Road at pick up and drop off times. This is a big danger too, how on earth can a lorry driver see an 8 year old crossing the road behind him as he backs up towards the child?

As for getting a parent council volunteer to stand at the road side, we can’t even get them to come to the meetings! ;oP

You pick up on a good point about packed lunches. It used to be the case that the healthy brigade could send their kids off with a packed lunch instead of having them take the poor school meals. Now that school meals have been healthified (yes that *is* a new word) it’s the fussy kids and those who may not be in reciept of healthy food as part of their home diets, who are hiding behind them. In which case the target audience is going to be ignored. The entire reason behind them sending their children is to *avoid* healthy foods.

I think they are preaching to the converted with those of us who already send our children with healthier options in our packed lunches.

I’m not drawing pictures on their food, “don’t play with your food” springs to mind. Just educate your kids from an early age to eat healthily. Ash will take an apple banana grapes or orange over a bag of crisps every time.

I don’t send them to school with a balanced packed lunch every day I must admit.

It would go down well if there was some monitoring of what they actually eat done in school though. I must admit I don’t usually get things home, the odd apple maybe, probably not eaten because they ran out of time by fidgeting and not concentrating on the meal, some “friendly encouragement” is often needed here too!

In fact, the biggest problem with packed lunches that I personally find is that now and then the kids don’t bring back their packed lunch boxes because of the routine in school at lunch time. They can’t place them back into their bags for some reason before going to play, so they get left in the cloakroom and subsequently forgotten.

Kids eh…

]]> By: Angela Joss http://bucksburn.info/2009/09/updates/comment-page-1/#comment-559 Angela Joss Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:40:32 +0000 http://bucksburn.info/?p=331#comment-559 Just clearing out my daughter's packed lunch box and returning her uneaten banana to the fruit bowl. "Why, oh why, oh why do my kids not eat the fruit I pack every day for them?" I ask myself, yet again. It is, in fact, Life's Big Question - the answer to which would earn it's owner millions of pounds...But, wait, what is this ? It's a letter from my child's school, telling me that only 1% of lunchboxes comply with nutritional standards set for schools in England. (This I already know because Moira Stewart on Radio 2 was telling me that self same thing yesterday morning as I packed one of those unhealthy lunches. I paused only to yell at the radio "You try producing something your kids will eat when you're not able to stand over them threatening them with stunted growth and plooks unless they eat a bit of fruit!") Anyhoo, now I have the answer because, along with the letter telling me how unhealthy the snacks and packed lunches of "many of our pupils" at Bucksburn School are, they've attached a sheet from a bbc website with some hints and tips on how to get my kids to eat the healthy choices I could send her out with. That untouched banana? "Draw a face...with a marker pen" on it. Wasn't it Paul Macartney said he "never ate anything with a face"? Never mind, the bbc also suggests I "hide a special treat" in the lunchbox. Ah, but what could I hide ? Not a sweetie, obviously. Nothing with football team colours - against school rules. Nothing a kid could eat by accident and choke on. There's not much left after reading the Beeb's "What Not To Put In Your Lunchbox". No cereal bars, no flavoured yoghurt (so no sneaky calcium, then), no cheese strings. No chance of my kid eating much, then, to be quite frank. And a quick text round a few fellow harassed school mums produced the same conclusion. We'd all prefer our kids to eat healthily. We've all sent off them off with the kind of packed lunch WE would like them to eat. We've all unpacked most of it again at the end of the day and worried about our child being hungry all day as a result. Here's a couple of observations from a parent who does NOT have Jamie Oliver's lifestyle choices available to them. One of the main problems with school packed lunches seems to be that my daughter is able to skip off to play without anyone checking whether she has eaten a sufficient amount. Similarly, my 7 year old niece brought home most of her packed lunch today (my sister is a trained chef and a school dinner lady at a city secondary). Some friendly encouragement may be needed to get small children to eat - I know my kids need it when we're all eating round the table together. Also, can I repectfully suggest that the kind of parent who allows their child to have their playtime piece as their "first 'meal' of the day" to quote the letter, and then makes that "either sweets or crisps" is hardly likely to seize the attached bbc sheet and think "Oooh, must try cutting my kid's sandwich into an interesting shape tomorrow." In these days of cutbacks and shortages, surely there is a better use of paper and printing resources than to pick up a small piece of research that singles out parents and carers as failing to make the grade, yet again, when most of us are trying as hard as we can. And, finally, and the reason why I've replied to this particular post,why not seriously address the issue of rogue parkers, as mentioned in the above post. They are a more immediate threat to our kids than cheese strings in a packed lunch. Get someone out in the staff car park actively stopping parents from entering at 9am and 3pm. Have someone (Parent Council volunteer?) on Howes Road taking the registration numbers of those cars who stop on the double yellows where those of us who walk to school are trying to cross with our kids. And, the woman who actualy PARKED there IN THE SNOW to take your child to school TWICE - there's a couple of symbols I'd like to write on a banana for you. Lastly, a good example to us all would be if members of the Parent Council themselves did NOT park in the police station car park. Gotta go now. I'm trying my daughter with grapes in tomorrow's packed lunch. I may be drawing tiny happy faces for some time... Just clearing out my daughter’s packed lunch box and returning her uneaten banana to the fruit bowl. “Why, oh why, oh why do my kids not eat the fruit I pack every day for them?” I ask myself, yet again. It is, in fact, Life’s Big Question – the answer to which would earn it’s owner millions of pounds…But, wait, what is this ? It’s a letter from my child’s school, telling me that only 1% of lunchboxes comply with nutritional standards set for schools in England.
(This I already know because Moira Stewart on Radio 2 was telling me that self same thing yesterday morning as I packed one of those unhealthy lunches. I paused only to yell at the radio “You try producing something your kids will eat when you’re not able to stand over them threatening them with stunted growth and plooks unless they eat a bit of fruit!”)
Anyhoo, now I have the answer because, along with the letter telling me how unhealthy the snacks and packed lunches of “many of our pupils” at Bucksburn School are, they’ve attached a sheet from a bbc website with some hints and tips on how to get my kids to eat the healthy choices I could send her out with.
That untouched banana? “Draw a face…with a marker pen” on it. Wasn’t it Paul Macartney said he “never ate anything with a face”? Never mind, the bbc also suggests I “hide a special treat” in the lunchbox. Ah, but what could I hide ? Not a sweetie, obviously. Nothing with football team colours – against school rules. Nothing a kid could eat by accident and choke on.
There’s not much left after reading the Beeb’s “What Not To Put In Your Lunchbox”. No cereal bars, no flavoured yoghurt (so no sneaky calcium, then), no cheese strings. No chance of my kid eating much, then, to be quite frank.
And a quick text round a few fellow harassed school mums produced the same conclusion. We’d all prefer our kids to eat healthily. We’ve all sent off them off with the kind of packed lunch WE would like them to eat. We’ve all unpacked most of it again at the end of the day and worried about our child being hungry all day as a result.
Here’s a couple of observations from a parent who does NOT have Jamie Oliver’s lifestyle choices available to them. One of the main problems with school packed lunches seems to be that my daughter is able to skip off to play without anyone checking whether she has eaten a sufficient amount. Similarly, my 7 year old niece brought home most of her packed lunch today (my sister is a trained chef and a school dinner lady at a city secondary). Some friendly encouragement may be needed to get small children to eat – I know my kids need it when we’re all eating round the table together.
Also, can I repectfully suggest that the kind of parent who allows their child to have their playtime piece as their “first ‘meal’ of the day” to quote the letter, and then makes that “either sweets or crisps” is hardly likely to seize the attached bbc sheet and think “Oooh, must try cutting my kid’s sandwich into an interesting shape tomorrow.”
In these days of cutbacks and shortages, surely there is a better use of paper and printing resources than to pick up a small piece of research that singles out parents and carers as failing to make the grade, yet again, when most of us are trying as hard as we can.
And, finally, and the reason why I’ve replied to this particular post,why not seriously address the issue of rogue parkers, as mentioned in the above post. They are a more immediate threat to our kids than cheese strings in a packed lunch. Get someone out in the staff car park actively stopping parents from entering at 9am and 3pm. Have someone (Parent Council volunteer?) on Howes Road taking the registration numbers of those cars who stop on the double yellows where those of us who walk to school are trying to cross with our kids. And, the woman who actualy PARKED there IN THE SNOW to take your child to school TWICE – there’s a couple of symbols I’d like to write on a banana for you. Lastly, a good example to us all would be if members of the Parent Council themselves did NOT park in the police station car park.
Gotta go now. I’m trying my daughter with grapes in tomorrow’s packed lunch. I may be drawing tiny happy faces for some time…

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