Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Junk food to be banned in schools

The government is banning junk food from schools. They are using £300m they found between the cushions of the chez longue to fund a healthy eating programme in schools (that'll be £100m for Scotland, £75m for Wales, £50m for NI and £25m for England I expect).

As a parent with 2 children in school and another 2 who will be starting over the next few years this affects me directly. How do I feel about it?

I'm happy for them to offer a healthy school meal and that they are committed to the health of my children. It's a shame they can't see their way clear to giving us equal health funding to the rest of the country but that's a digression.

Ok, I'm happy for them to provide healthy meals but banning all processed food in the kitchens and banning sweets and chocolate from the vending machines? Surely it is my decision what I allow my children to eat? If I decide that my children should be able to eat smiley faces and turkey twizzlers, is that not my decision?

If my children go for a school meal and there is a healthy option then they will probably choose it. However, the eldest one is a fussy eater and doesn't like a lot of vegetables. He is also the type of kid who would choose the healthy option under pressure from the teachers (which they already get anyway) and end up eating only half a meal.

There should be a choice of the "beans and lentils" type food and "normal" food and the children should be educated but not pressured to choose the former. The schools should also be forced to spend a damn sight more of the couple of quid a school meal costs on the food they're serving. The average is apparently 37 pence.