Do kids still come home for lunch?

[Satori]

I remember in school some kids went home for lunch. with dd's health issues its critical that she eats her lunch or she will start losing weight and were literally 1lb away from weekly hospital trips for treatment rather then home treatment. I can see the school from the house and it wouldn't be more then a 5 minute walk to and from school. I know from experience she will not eat at school, she's to busy visiting/talking with the other kids to eat and by the time schools out she's a mess with low blood sugar and then eats her lunch and then won't eat dinner becasue she's full from her lunch which she didn't eat until 3:30 when school got out and she got home. Going to the school and sitting with her is not really an option and I really don't feel like dragging my 2 yr old into a room with 200 kids. Can kids still go home for lunch?


update in post #6

[grniys]

Not in any school I've ever been to. If a parent wanted to eat lunch with their child in elementry school they had to sit in the cafeteria at school and eat with them. And in high school you would get Saturday school and then in school suspension if you were caught leaving for lunch. I just graduated in 04.

I'm interested to see if any schools actually do allow this, as I've never heard of it before.

ETA: If they won't allow it and it's actually a health issue, maybe she'll be allowed to eat in the nurses office or library or somewhere quiet so she'll eat.

[Amylcd]

Not in our school, but I'm sure for something like your DD's situation they would allow it.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by grniys

Not in any school I've ever been to. If a parent wanted to eat lunch with their child in elementry school they had to sit in the cafeteria at school and eat with them. And in high school you would get Saturday school and then in school suspension if you were caught leaving for lunch. I just graduated in 04.

I'm interested to see if any schools actually do allow this, as I've never heard of it before.

ETA: If they won't allow it and it's actually a health issue, maybe she'll be allowed to eat in the nurses office or library or somewhere quiet so she'll eat.

I know the local HS allows kids off campus at lunch. We tried the school office thing last year, didn't work because no one would actually check to make sure she ate her lunch. She would say she was done and be out to play.

[CarrieMF]

At the school my kids go to the handbook says that in town kids go home, but out of 250 kids only 3 or 4 do on a regular basis.

The kids eat in their classrooms, does your dd sit in a cafeteria? The school is divided up into 3 sections & each section has 3-4 classrooms. There is 1 supervisor for each section. We don't make the kids eat, but we encourage & if they haven't eaten what looks like enough we encourage them to eat a bit more. There was 1 kid whose mom was concerned he wasn't eating so we watched his lunch bag more though he did eat at school.

Now you may need to request special provisions for your dd. My middle dd has blood sugar problems too. If she does not eat every 3 hours she gets headaches & throws up, then promptly falls asleep for an hour or 2. K gets snack after morning recess. The rest of the school can eat their snack at recess outside if they want something. 99% of the kids eat something. At last recess only the older kids were allowed to eat something(I don't know the reasoning behind this). When my middle one entered K I had to remind her & her teacher a couple of times, but it was the supervisors who weren't letting her so they had a card made up for her locker showing that she had to eat at last recess. There were no problems after that. Last year in Grade 1 she usually ate it on her own but didn't always.

At this school there are lots of parents who come & sit with thier kids, but again they're in classrooms not in cafeterias.

In the middle school that these guys will go to the parents have to sign a note on whether the kids are allowed to leave. There is 1 fast food place 2.5-3 blocks from the school, they are allowed to leave & pick up their lunch there but not eat at the fast food place. I'm not sure what the other middle school does. At the highschool I don't know if they need a note or not, there are lots of kids who are walking around at noon.

[Satori]

Update

Well, she still hasn't been eating at school and the school refuses to do anything about it. The school nurse actually had the balls to ask if dd could just go hungry all day and just eat at home. Umm NO! She's at school from 9am to 6pm, just missing lunch and she's a mess from low blood sugar by 3 when I pick her up to go to her enrichment program. So today much to dd's anger I picked her up for lunch and brought her home and refused to take her back until she ate a decent lunch. She missed play time but she had a good lunch (she still got 2 recesses plus exercise walking back and forth) and she was in a much much better mood at 3pm and only had a bit of an attitude so I refused to take her to her after school program until she ate again and its amazing what a little food can do for a kids attitude Its a royal PITA to have to keep on her like this but if this is what I need to do to get her to keep her weight up then I will. The school didn't give me any trouble about checking her out for lunch.

[Keeping up]

At my school, it is specifically in the PTA manual - kids are encouraged to go home for lunch where possible. Obviouly, not every kid does go home but it is encourage. It is a K-8 public school. The reasons are different - union issues, supervision issues in the playground etc.

My dd will come home almost every day until she is comfortable staying.

I don't see why going home to help her stay healthy would get any flack from the school nurse? That is ridiculous.

[mommy68]

When my DD was in kindergarten last year I noticed that a lot of the kids weren't eating because they were busy talking and such. They would eat eventually but usually had to cram it all in near the end of the lunch period. They allowed parents to take kids off campus for lunch but not on a daily basis. They only encouraged something like that on special occasions so it didn't disrupt the rest of the class and make them feel bad for not having the same chance to leave. It could confuse the other children, based on what age they are.

I'd talk to the school about your concerns. If anything, they could allow you to come eat with her each day in a corner of the cafeteria. You could also just go in and eat lunch with your child at the class tables. Eventually she will get to where she will eat. After doing it day after day for a whole school year most kids get used to it after a while and learn to eat. Lunch is an excellent time for the kids to be social and your DD might miss out on that if you always take her away.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by Satori

Well, she still hasn't been eating at school and the school refuses to do anything about it. The school nurse actually had the balls to ask if dd could just go hungry all day and just eat at home. Umm NO!

And how does her suggestion solve your problem of a child who is near hospitalization due to not eating her lunch?

[mistymama]

Could you go eat lunch with her at school? My son is in Kindy, and his school encourages this. I've gone to eat with him a few times now, and not only is it fun, I also get to help him out. Ds is not a great or fast eater either, and they only have 25 mins. So I've been able to help him learn how to open containers, stay on task, learn how to buy milk from the lunch line, etc.

Your dd has a legit medical concern, so I would demand that you are able to either help her eat at school, or that she is allowed to come home to eat. I'm sure you could get a Dr's note if necessary.

[Teensy]

Ever few months some parent will post a thread about how they are upset that their kids aren't allowed to talk at lunch, so I'm not trying to bring up a dead horse issue, but . .

in one of my kids classes the teacher puts a five-minute timer on the cafeteria table and the kids aren't allowed to talk until the timer finishes. This really does seem to help them eat more of their lunch. They can talk quietly once the five minutes is up (and recess follows lunch).

If other kids aren't eating well, it might be a possibilty for your DC's class.

[mammastar2]

The district's preference here is that as many kids as possible eat at home at lunch.

[Graceoc]

We also have quite time at the start of lunch to encourage kids to eat rather then talk....it seems to work well.

[the_lissa]

Yeah every kids who has a caregiver at home goes home for lunch here,

[mytwogirls]

I went to a one room country school house kindergarten through 12 grade and I came home for lunch EVERY day, (unless it was snowing really bad!) We had kids from bigger schools in the city come and "tour" our school because we were "different" and they were amazed we got to leave for lunch. They asked questions like "Didn't you ever run away and not go back to school?" I miss that school, it was shut down this past spring because of consolidation Damn city schools anyway....

[mammastar2]

Originally Posted by mammastar2

The district's preference here is that as many kids as possible eat at home at lunch.

Originally Posted by mytwogirls

I went to a one room country school house kindergarten through 12 grade and I came home for lunch EVERY day, (unless it was snowing really bad!) We had kids from bigger schools in the city come and "tour" our school because we were "different" and they were amazed we got to leave for lunch. They asked questions like "Didn't you ever run away and not go back to school?" I miss that school, it was shut down this past spring because of consolidation Damn city schools anyway....

Maybe it's a US thing. As I said, here the school board encourages kids to go home at lunch, and it's a non-US large city.

[the_lissa]

I'm also in a non-US large city.

[gardenmom]

Our school (K-5) is old, built in the 1920's, and there is no cafeteria, only a "lunch room" which I believe was originally meant for some other purpose. All the kids used to go home for lunch here in the old days. Every student lives within walking distance (no buses). There is still quite a community of Moms and Dads who come in daily to take their kids home for lunch here. We don't do it regularly because dd doesn't want to, but I will reconsider if she continues to come home with her snack/lunch still in the box. DD is easily distracted and likes to socialize and is having trouble eating so far this year, leading to grumpy/disastrous behavior both after lunch at school and at home in the afternoon..

I imagine your school should accommodate you to take your dd out (maybe you'll need a doctor's note?) or give you an empty room where you can sit with her and eat lunch together. If her health is at stake, I'd think it would be unacceptable for them not to work with you.