Georgie has asked for money to buy something from the school canteen. Brand new scary territory for me, guys. So here’s my question: Do you give your child money to take to school?
Obviously I am referring to young kids here, so let’s get that straight. As far as I’m concerned, Georgie is a young kid. Six and a half years old. He gets the concept of money, as much as any kid his age I guess. Under supervision, this summer he bought ice creams and bottles of water but this is a bit different, right?
That day, after he got in the car, he said that a couple of his friends had been buying treats and drinks from the school canteen. ‘I want some money too, mama.’ Ha, of course you do.
Papa and I talked about it that night and we agreed to give him 80 cents to buy a cup of lemonade. Needless to say he was ecstatic. It was the highlight of his day and it did make me smile to see him so happy about something so small. So I started asking around: Do you give your kids money to take to school? And also what for?
After talking with some fellow mamas about it, apparently, this is a huge issue! And most of them aren’t just dealing with the odd bag of crisps or fruit juice once a week. Kids are refusing packed lunches now and insist on buying food from the school canteen, which, from what I’ve heard, isn’t great. And that goes for both private and public schools. One mama even told me that she found out her eight-year old son was starving himself everyday because he didn’t want to be picked on for eating a packed lunch (apparently packed lunches aren’t cool?) and he didn’t have any money to buy something from the canteen! This mum’s main issue was and is the quality of food available at schools and the frequency at which her kids were eating it.
In the end I suppose it’s all about maintaining some sort of balance. For instance, another mama told me that she allows her daughter to buy a sandwich from the school canteen on Fridays and as far as she’s concerned it’s a break she looks forward to every week.
I’d love to hear from you and your thoughts on kids taking money to school and if you’re concerned about the types foods available at all schools.
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