As a kid in primary school in the early 2000s it was peak awesome to have a happy meal delivered by your parents at lunch time. Or have a cheeky dry packet of 2 minute noodles for lunch haha.

My kids school had strict lunchbox rules in place and that was going back many years. None of these things would have been allowed at all. They were not even allowed museli bars.

Not all children come homes with access to food all of the time. Sometimes its a choice between food or petrol to get to work. Very sad!

Lot’s of school now have a “lend and return” policy for the canteens.
At my sisters high school, if you don’t have lunch for the day you can go to the office, ask to borrow a maximum of $5 (which they note down who took it, at what time and what they bought) and then return the money the following day, or it goes onto their school bill.

I think it’s a fantastic thing to have because there are so many families that do struggle to provide a well balanced meal 3 times a day.

However the excuse from some of the parents is absolutely horrendous and they should be called out on it.

Understand that this is wrong, but the lunch box police go way overboard most times.

Sad reading this story. I always make sure a lovely sandwich is packed, along with some fruit and sneak in some crackers. In the hot weather, a frozen drink also.

I definitely find it hard sometimes to make stuff from scratch but it only takes 3 mins to pack a sandwich, an apple and a muesli bar.

I have sent cold pizza in my kids lunchboxes. Not often and sometimes home made. They would have had other stuff too (fruit, yoghurt, veggie sticks etc) I don’t think I was a bad parent for it

So heartbreaking that some of these Parents just can’t be bothered! It’s difficult if you child is fussy but come on, some of these parent aren’t trying hard enough!

My husband is a teacher and he said that some kids have only packets of snack like biscuits and chips. No sandwich or fruit or anything healthy . That’s pretty bad.

I think this is what we should be focusing on. Kids going without rather than the specific details of what’s in each child’s lunch. We all need to look out for other people’s kids

My kids choose what they want, I make a sandwich or a wrap but anything else is their choice because they’re going to eat only what they want.

This is not healthy at all.

I give what I know my kid will eat rather than going hungry, chucking it, wasting it

What teachers’ don’t realise is it’s mostly the children who say what they want for their school lunches. I tried making salads and sending fruit and my boy would throw it out or give it to someone else. They always had breakfast though.

Disgusting! If you’re going to be a parent you need to put your kids first and that especially means their health and giving them a decent breakfast and lunch especially!

This is very sad to hear. I don’t like hearing about children going without ???? i am so very glad in knowing that my sons school has sandwiches made ready for every break and fruit for the children who havent arrived at school prepared

WOW! I’ve just learned from my son who has since left school that he used to swap out things from his lunch all the time!!!!! He used to have what I thought was a fab and healthy lunch and he hated how healthy it was vs his friends who wanted some of what my son had. So he would swap for roll-ups, treats, etc. Cheeky bugger.

I was just reading the MoM email newsletter and this particular article about shaming mum’s over lunchbox choices is directly below an article titled ‘Mum’s Murder Suicide – Why Is This Happening And What Can We Do About It?’ Well, perhaps, not shaming mum’s would be a good start…

Kids need nourishing food to grow strong and improve their thinking. Junk food like these should be rare not the norm in school lunch.