What would you do if your child were punished because you did not pack a lunch that met the schools' guidelines?
In Kent, England, a 10-year old boy was made to leave the lunchroom and eat outside under supervision because his lunch contained "one more snack than allowed". At Lunsford Primary School, a lunch is only permitted to contain two snacks (the type and quantity of other food items was not specified) and young Ryan Stupples's lunch had cheese biscuits, a cake and a fromage frais yogurt. We can assume that the school felt that the contents of Ryan's lunch would have a negative impact on the eating habits of the other children, or else they would not have sent him outside to eat. "Ryan said he...felt upset and frightened and feared he was 'going to be suspended'."
The school defended the decision to remove the child from the lunchroom, stating that they had given the father a warning about packing appropriate lunches.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2006 @ 10:21AM
eric said...
hahaha....i'm assuming that everyone will be appalled by this, but for some reason it gives me a delicious sort of thrill. i'm not even sure why - maybe because i'm using little Ryan as a symbol for all of the spoiled, idiot, soon-to-be-fat schoolchildren who inhabit the overfed parts of the world. poor little Ryan - eating his cake and cheese biscuits all alone.
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10-16-2006 @ 10:52AM
monkeyrotica said...
The school defended the decision to remove the child from the lunchroom, stating that they had given the father a warning about packing appropriate lunches.
Gotta love that nanny state. Yet another reason to celebrate on the 4th of July.
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10-16-2006 @ 11:39AM
kent said...
Yeah, because life in america is free, free, free right?
Bit of an extreme headline don't you think? the kid was worried he would be suspended, but there's no mention of the school even suggesting it...
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10-16-2006 @ 12:45PM
Hawk said...
Yeah, yet another reason to celebrate on the fourth of july by gorging on bucketloads of food bought at sam's club and brought home in ridiculously oversized SUVs, while watching the 50,000" plasma television in your four-story Great Room, in Sunset River Indian Spring Oaks gated community where you can't even put the trash out without being fined for lowering property taxes.
Sorry, I just *HAD* to! Seriously, I think that it's probably a bit odd to punish kids because their lunch has too many snacks in it. What if the parents make the lunch? Shouldn't you punish *them* instead?
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10-16-2006 @ 1:31PM
rainey said...
What bullying, inappropriate administrators to make the child the brunt of their pique with the father! I have no doubt they did that poor child a lot more damage by making him the focus of his classmates and humiliating him than they prevented by trying to limit his food intake. I think they are poorly equipped to be school personnel and should be investigated.
For one thing, if they're genuinely concerned about his health and weight, they should consider that the boy probably didn't join in regular recreation after being singled out in that obvious way or may even have been shunned by others limiting his physical activity. For another, they should be aware that there is a direct link between depression and weight gain. Not to mention alienation and lower academic performance!
Further, they are *idiots* to place the child at the center of a power struggle between the school and family. The best the poor kid can do is remove one of the treats on his way to school — probably by eating it — and that's only encouraging sneaky behavior and reinforcing his powerlessness in the situation.
A simple, more positive way to deal with it would have been to quietly point out that he had one treat too many and ask if he would like the teacher to hold onto it for him for a day when he might be below the limit or if the teacher could give it to a kid who was without a treat. That would have solved the problem without punishing and making a scapegoat of the kid.
What putzes and bullies!
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10-16-2006 @ 2:14PM
Kate said...
Rainey
I think you solution is perfect. Had they simply asked him to surrender it quietly to another child, or to "hold" for him, it would have another bonus: He would have told his father "They are taking away the extra treat, now, Dad" and he would have had to judge whether he was willing to donate the treat to others, waste the money on it, and embarass or put his son in that awkward space, and, make HIM go to the school and address the problem and take them seriously.
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10-16-2006 @ 2:48PM
eric said...
nah. they should have just made him eat cheese biscuits until he started crying melted cheese.
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10-16-2006 @ 4:26PM
Kearns said...
Yogurt is a snack?
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10-16-2006 @ 4:44PM
eric said...
crying yogurt too...i forgot.
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10-19-2006 @ 9:58AM
David said...
GAH! I can't believe that ANY of you think this policy is okay! The school does not have the right to tell a parent what they can feed their child, and they do not have the right to punish him for his parents choices!
This is none of the school's business.
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11-27-2006 @ 3:35AM
greg said...
10. GAH! I can't believe that ANY of you think this policy is okay! The school does not have the right to tell a parent what they can feed their child, and they do not have the right to punish him for his parents choices!
This is none of the school's business.
Posted at 9:57AM on Oct 19th 2006 by David
Ah but if and only if the school is a private one and there are rules to be followed then yes the school has every right to regulate. If the father doesn't like it then he can take the kid elsewhere.
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