Mum slams teacher for criticising child's lunch: 'Should I say something?'
A Queensland mum is miffed a teacher would not open his son's lunchbox snack, after saying it was unhealthy.
A Queensland mum has slammed a teacher for not opening a snack for her child, deeming it “unhealthy’.
This week Ashlee Griffiths, also known as Ashy Anne, noticed her five-year-old son had left an individually wrapped slice of cake in his lunch box.
Knowing he was "really excited" to eat it, she curiously asked why he didn't, only to find out that he had trouble opening it and when asking for the supervising teacher's help, they refused because "it's not healthy".
"I don't like that," Ms Griffiths told Yahoo News Australia. "I've always run by the rule that it's my job as the parent to provide my son with enough food that he can meet his nutritional needs in any given meal. And it's his job to listen to his body.
"And honestly, I'm just someone in my mid-30s trying to undo two decades worth of diet culture b******t, and I'm just doing my best to not pass that on to my kids."
Mum doesn't want child to feel 'shame' around certain foods
Ms Griffiths said she disagrees with "attaching any sort of moral value to food", and that her child should be allowed to have sweet treats sometimes.
"We know anyone who's ever been in a school knows that kids can be cruel, and kids will internalise the things that the adults around them say. And if you know someone is told in front of their peers that what they have in their lunchbox isn't healthy or isn't up to a standard, it creates a stigma around the food that they're being served," she said.
"I'd hate to think that, you know, he started not eating foods, because he felt some sort of shame around eating those types of foods."
Social media users share similar experiences
When voicing the situation on TikTok on Tuesday, Ms Griffiths asked if she "should say something" to the school, with many parents responding in the comments and sharing their own experiences.
"I would absolutely speak to them!! I've been through similar," one person said. "As a teacher I'd never do this to a child, and find it so weird that some teachers do!" another added.
"My son's kindy did this … so I just put everything opened in containers and told him to tell them 'mum said yes, and she's the boss," a third person said.
"Dr Kyla from Toddler Mealtimes makes the best stickers for inside lunchboxes that in other words tells them to back off," another wrote.
Mum confronts school, explains solution
Ms Griffiths told Yahoo she ended up speaking to her son's classroom teacher, who was also puzzled by the supervising teacher's response.
"Next time, I'm just going to send it to school open so that he doesn't have to ask someone and therefore be subject to that sort of judgement," she said.
"I think if if the school system wants to regulate what our children are eating and what they have access to, then they should provide the food and if not, they can just butt out and leave parents to do the best that they're doing in a pretty s***y situation because look at the economy."
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