Quote ="Mintball"First, was the child ever fed just one croquette to get her through an entire afternoon? This is an exaggeration downwards and it's one thing I doubt a child wrote. It looks as though intended to convey something that is not supported by what the school/council says.
So either the school/council are telling porkies or the blog is not representing the whole picture.
Would a nine-year-old child really consider the mater of one croquette (doubtful anyway, as just explained) in terms of it not providing energy for concentration, rather than simply not stopping her feeling hungry? And asking if it would do so for readers too? There have been ideas put into this child's head, methinks.'"
That's one post. And people put ideas into children's heads the whole time - it's kind of how parenting and schooling works. Rather than some sinister motive it could simply be that she's been told on numerous occasions about the importance of food to concentration and is repeating the idea. It's certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility that the post was produced by a 9 year old girl.
Ask for asking other readers opinions - she does that throughout the blog.
Quote ="Mintball"I repeat: the council and the school say that the pictures in the blog do not represent the entire picture. Are they telling lies? And all the other questions that this case raises.'"
I don't believe that the blog ever claimed to be presenting 'the entire picture', did it? It's not presented as social commentary or a critique of the food policy in Scottish schools - it's a young girl sharing her opinion on the meals, inviting others to do the same, and doing a bit of fund-raising at the same time. The school itself certainly didn't seem to have a problem with it until the council threw a wobbly.
Quote ="Mintball"On the quality of food: as a bit of a foodie, I would certainly hope that the standard of school dinners would be far better than represented in the pictures - and even by what seems to be best practice in Scotland.
Look over the Channel at France. They do not offer children a choice. In schools throughout the country, children are given a multi-course meal, sat down properly. Remember, France has far less childhood obesity than we do.'"
I honestly couldn't say what the average quality of school meals in Scotland is like, and I have no real experience of meals at primary school level in England - many primaries in England don't offer hot meals at all, including the one my kids attended. Most of the shots I glanced at didn't look unexpected TBH. School meals are done to a tight budget.
The whole choice thing is a red herring IMO. If you serve food that kids won't eat you either get wasted food and hungry kids, or you get stressed staff, kids, and parents when the kids are made to eat it. A certain amount of choice is fine - it's the balance over the long run that counts. There's also IMO only so much that the state/schools can do here. Healthy eating has to come from home - and this is why France scores better than we do on childhood obesity. They have a much healthier relationship with food - and drink - than we do as a society.
Quote ="Mintball"Then again, the French do not seem to consider that school dinners are just something to fill up poor children.'"
Not just the French. But here in the UK it's all about price and never mind value.
