Comments | gwendally: O Rly?

gwendally

O Rly?

Dec 09, 2009 10:09

We got a call from Small Boy's school yesterday. I was with a client and Eldest Son took the call and later gave me the message. I've been reprimanded for sending too little food in Small Boy's lunch.

( People are dumb. )

parenting, medical adventures, non-fucktarded diets, small boy

Comments 22

reannon December 9 2009, 15:59:41 UTC

I think it probably LOOKS like less food than other kids, so they're concerned that maybe you can't afford more food, not so much that they don't understand nutrition. A lot of schools pick up the slack when families can't afford more than a tortilla and some beans for lunch. They're probably trying to help. I'm assuming it's not the case that Small Boy is asking them for more food than he's getting? My boy does this, but that's because my boy is the appetite that walks on two hollow legs ( ... )

gwendally December 9 2009, 16:15:15 UTC

I asked him about it. Is he still hungry? Is he cadging food from others? (Because he eats so little we make a REAL effort not to have any of it be empty calories... he needs nutrition as much as calories.) It turns out the assistant principle was just strolling through the cafeteria and stopped to quiz small boy on whether that's all he had to eat. It DID look like very little food if you didn't know that the yellowish drink in the tupperware container was whole milk eggnog ( ... )

ssterikoff December 9 2009, 16:13:56 UTC

??? It sounds like a perfectly normal lunch to me! Maybe I'm weird,too? Jessica (age 6) typically gets cheerios, organic apple sauce and milk. No complaints, just a comment from her aide that a little variety would be good for her. She took salami and goldfish crackers yesterday. Typically it's the little round containers from this set, http://tinyurl.com/yb6tsad , to get an idea of size.

allyphoe December 9 2009, 16:16:08 UTC

If you sent twice as much food, and he threw half in the trash, they'd be totally fine with that. Says cynical me. :)

ccr1138 December 9 2009, 16:26:21 UTC

I'd say it's almost certain they know nothing about nutrition. School cafeteria lunches are still packed with starch and lard as they were in the 1920s, when kids worked the fields and walked to school. The calorie requirements for our sedentary lifestyles have dropped precipitously. It's no wonder our kids are obese.

According to Keep Kids Healthy, an AVERAGE child his age needs about 2000 calories a day (YMMV). If he gets 1/4 at each main meal, and the other 1/4 as snacks, then lunch should have about 500 calories, so it seems perhaps you could provide more -- if he's hungry. But he is small for his age, so fewer calories are probably fine. See this calculator, if you haven't already: http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/energy/energyneeds_calculator.htm... )

oscarmama December 9 2009, 16:27:02 UTC

Small Boy is on the left side of the curve for his age, and people leap to idiotic conclusions about things like that. I would tell them about the perforation and explain that you manage his diet accordingly; you'll want 'em to be watching for reports of stomach pain in any case.

Oscar takes a peanut butter sandwich, a thermos of milk, and sometimes an apple or a pear. For breakfast he has yogurt and oatmeal. I don't often send the apple or the pear because he doesn't eat the whole thing if I do; I'm still trying to teach him to eat the crusts.

Letter to the assistant principal, part 1 gwendally December 9 2009, 17:36:49 UTC

Dear Mr. S ( ... )

Leter, part 2 gwendally December 9 2009, 17:37:02 UTC

Does it give him calcium ( ... )

Re: Leter, part 2 _luaineach December 9 2009, 18:12:12 UTC

I applaud the push for hand sanitizer. At Jet's school it is required - each child to have their own bottle and -- now that it is flu season -- to sanitize before leaving their desk and/or upon coming back to their desk (they switch rooms for almost every subject and so it's a parade of kids using the same desks/chairs every 40 minutes or so ( ... )

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