What Parents want Teachers to Know: 1. Food

A while ago I read in a parenting magazine a teacher listing 10 things she wished parents know: to make her life easier.

Now the boot is on the other foot and here are 10 things I wish teachers knew about looking out for my child.

1. Food

Food: I will feed my child. I do not need or want the school to think that it can force into my child’s body on the pretext of class programming hydrogenated fats, artificial colourings and flavourings, sugar, refined grains or any other concoction, no matter what (unless it wants to pay my medical and dental bills), whether for ‘rewards’, as part of curricular activities, or to introduce children to weird cuisine.

This has come to a head for my family when my child was excluded from food-in-class activities because of her medical dietary restrictions.
• She had to watch while toast was prepared and cut (this was to teach ‘quarters’) then consumed. Teachers: there are other ways of teaching ‘quarters’.
• She also had to resist a completely misguided parent who tried to force her to eat soup she’d prepared for the class. I mean resist. She was insisting that she consume something that was effectively poison for her, despite us advising the school of these needs. Happily she won and we were spared a visit to the children’s hospital that evening.

It has taken me a year for the school to understand its responsibility under the Disability Discrimination Act to not exclude from education programs on the basis of a disability (chronic illness in this case), while they kept pumping out the pointless food events (not Canteen, or other organised things that parents can manage, but ad hoc class based ‘surprises’).

I’d also suspect the food preparation environment in a class room, and a teacher’s capability to ensure food safety practices were used. Even restaurants have killed people with lapses here, so what’s the risk when amateurs tinker with food?