The school lunch presents a bit of an obstacle course for most parents, writes Theresa Judge
It should be all so easy and satisfying. You sail into the supermarket and pick up some good wholegrain bread rolls, cute little multi-coloured pots of yoghurt, fun-sized apples and some cheese or cooked meat. You quickly make up a lunch that fits neatly into the specially chosen lunchbox and you can send junior off feeling proud of yourself - you never have to think guiltily about something you heard on one of those healthy eating TV programmes that white rolls and cooked ham do not constitute a proper lunch.
Unfortunately, in reality it seems the simple school lunch presents a bit of an obstacle course for most parents. Either you're fed up of the school's healthy eating policy and the preachy reminder notes they keep sending home or you're fed up of all those parents who don't bother sticking to the rules so junior is telling you that they're the only one who never gets crisps or biscuits.
There's the dilemma of how to keep changing lunches so the child is not getting the same thing all year, the fact that your child probably values the opinions of her/his classmates more than yours, the possibility that your child is swapping lunch with someone else and actually enjoying those dreaded spam-on-white-bread sandwiches and the ultimate insult when it comes home practically untouched because, you're told, there was no time to eat it and they didn't like it anyway.
If it's any consolation it seems that even the healthy eating experts have some problems with their children and there is some simple advice available to help you produce that elusive "more interesting lunch".
Food critic John McKenna, and father of three children aged 14, 12 and nine, says he believes there are arguments over food in every house.
His approach is to take a firm stance. You don't give in and let them have crisps and fizzy drinks no matter what insult they throw at you.
"You don't give up. You have to show authority - it may be unfashionable to say that, but you have to say if you didn't eat your fruit today, you'll get it again tomorrow. And you keep giving them good, healthy food. You have to say 'I know more on this issue than you do - you need a balance of foods, this is what you need to be healthy'."
McKenna has had arguments over greens and brown rice but insists children will eventually eat these foods once they know you are going to keep giving it to them. Of course, parents need to be seen eating healthy foods too.
He believes peer pressure is a huge issue when it comes to children refusing healthy school lunches. "You can pack little Johnny off with goats cheese and tapenade on ciabatta but if someone takes the mickey out of him, he's going to want white sliced bread and hydrogenated ham," he says.
McKenna says the key is to shop wisely and if the child insists on a ham sandwich to be like everyone else, make sure you buy good quality bread, and ham that is "properly cooked and not full of water".
He says it requires an effort, but not a huge one, especially if you happen to live near a local baker or butcher who are producing quality food, or a farmers' market where small high-quality food producers generally have stalls.
McKenna believes the only people with a real problem are those on low incomes living on large estates or with no transport as they often have very few food choices.
In many other countries, he points out, there is much more regulation over what children eat in school. To cook for Japanese children you need to pass a health test and French children have a carefully planned meal served up to them every day. They get five courses and are allowed to refuse only one, he says. McKenna believes we have become "too permissive" in Ireland over what our children eat and the result is seen in rapidly rising obesity rates. The idea of vending machines in schools, of children buying sausage rolls and coke for their lunch at the local hot-food counter, is "abhorrent".
Both McKenna and Margot Brennan of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute agree that it's very important that the school enforces a healthy eating policy because younger children especially are often keen to do whatever their teacher says.
Brennan points out that the Department of Health and the health promotion unit of the HSE have drawn up guidelines for schools on implementing healthy eating policies. "But the reality is that it is very haphazard at the moment - some schools have very good policies, others are very lenient and others have none at all," she says.
The Department of Education plays no role in school healthy eating policies, she says, and, as a result, it is "a bit of a no-man's land". Brennan points out that healthy eating policies fit in with the Social Personal and Health Education programme on the curriculum.
She stresses the importance of school lunches saying it should provide one-third of a child's daily nutritional requirements. "You shouldn't just throw it in - it needs a bit of thought," she says.
The institute's website (www.indi.ie) includes a factsheet on school lunches, on how a lunch should contain items from the four categories on the food pyramid - protein, carbohydrates, fruit/vegetables and dairy.
She advises against giving too much, especially to young children, and says it is best to give food that they can manage easily. If children don't like sandwiches, an alternative such as pasta and cheese cubes might work.
Brennan believes complaints from parents against healthy eating policies in schools are the exception and that most parents are delighted when they can say to children that the school does not allow certain foods.
She also believes peer pressure is a huge issue and has seen it most at second level. "In some schools now it's frowned on [by other pupils] if a child brings in their own lunch."
Aine Lynch of the primary school section of the Parents Council says it encourages schools to have healthy eating policies and that she believes an increasing number of schools have them.
"The important bit is that it is done in consultation with parents - there must be a collaborative approach and then there will be less problems in the long run. Where we have had complaints from parents, and there hasn't been a high number of them, it was because parents felt there wasn't enough consultation, that it was imposed and was too rigid," Lynch says.
She believes the policies should also be revisited regularly as there will be a new set of parents with children in the school.
An Irish National Teachers' Organisation (Into) spokesman says almost all primary schools have a healthy eating policy and that the "vast majority of parents support them".
He accepts, however, that there is no requirement to have such policies and that the Department of Education leaves it up to each school.
While teachers may do everything they can to encourage healthy eating, they can't go around checking the contents of 30 lunchboxes, he says.
Nor do most teachers want to confiscate food. "At the end of the day, it's an issue for parents," he says.
And what about the child coming home complaining that nobody else's mother/father is being so mean?
"Well, that is a problem that the minority can cause, and then over the years support for the policy can fall away as pester power takes over. We always say to parents - be very wary of the line 'but they all have it'."