Mom Gives Kids Homemade Lunch, is Fined by School

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A mom who thought she was properly parenting by sending her two young kids to school with a homemade, whole-food lunch was shocked to find a penalty note from school officials informing her that the lunch of roast beef, potatoes, carrots, oranges and milk she provided was "unbalanced" and therefore had to be supplemented with Ritz crackers.

She was also fined $10.

According to Weighty Matters, the Manitoba Government's Early Learning and Child Care department blindly follows a policy which requires lunches to be "balanced" according to "Canada's awful Food Guide."

Unbalanced lunches are subject to supplementation and a fine of CDN$5 (US$4.80) per "missing item" per child.

In Kristen Bartkiw's case, she "neglected" to include "grains" with Natalie and Logan's packed lunches — a "dereliction" that was "corrected" through the "supplementation" of Ritz crackers.

According to the nutrition facts found on its homepage, a serving of Ritz crackers (~10 crackers) contains 6.5g of fat, of which nearly half is saturated.

To drive home the ridiculousness of the policy, Kristen tells Weighty Matters she could have sent her kids to daycare with "microwave Kraft Dinner and a hot dog, a package of fruit twists, a Cheestring, and a juice box," and it would have been met with approval by the MCCA.

As a follow-up, Kristen notes that other parents falling short of Manitoba's policy has resulted in the creation of a hot lunch program, which she described as "great."

Correction: Due to an error at the source, a previous version of this article incorrectly identified the Manitoba Child Care Association as the lunch policy's author.

I don't know what's more funny, the fact that she was fined for giving them meals that aren't "complete" or that the supplemented them with the healthiest cracker around, Ritz crackers.

 

[Hotwire]

The sad thing is, there are parents on the other end of the spectrum who send their kids in with two different bags of chips for lunch.

 

[Teelie]

It's all about the schools scrounging for funds. The more kids who have to be supplemented or helped by them the more federal funds a school can get. I am surprised they are nickel and diming like that though.

 

[KevanG]

I find Ritz crackers greasy. There's no way that could be considered healthy unless you were trying to force it to be.

 

[warhorse78]

So, this school requires 1 milk and one meat product. What if the kid is lactose intolerant, or the parents live a vegetarian life style? Either way, I am so glad I am out of the frecking school system. And I'm glad I don't have no kids to suffer through that craps as well.

 

[Lantern Venom]

The meal had meat, potatoes, milk, carrots, and an orange. That's called balanced nutrition. The school should be sending this woman a letter of praise.

 

[The Question]

Honestly, I have no problem with this. Seems like a pretty harmless way of raising a little bit of extra money and encouraging people to be more nutrition-conscious at the same time.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Honestly, I have no problem with this. Seems like a pretty harmless way of raising a little bit of extra money and encouraging people to be more nutrition-conscious at the same time.

It's not the school's place to tell parents what the kids should or shouldn't be eating.

 

[Lantern Venom]

It's not the school's place to tell parents what the kids should or shouldn't be eating.

Co-signed. Unless the school notices a serious deficiency in either quantity or nutritional content, they should take their notes and stick them where it's warm, dark, and stinky.

 

[The Question]

It's not the school's place to tell parents what the kids should or shouldn't be eating.

It's not really hurting anybody, so I don't care.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

It's not really hurting anybody, so I don't care.

It's hurting the parents by fining them.

It's essentially a public institution inserting themselves in the home life and telling parents how to raise their children.

 

[The Question]

It's hurting the parents by fining them.

Ten dollars. Ten Canadian dollars. That's $4.80 in American money. It's not enough to get upset about.

It's essentially a public institution inserting themselves in the home life and telling parents how to raise their children.

Yeah, that doesn't bother me even a little bit. In a different context, with something more extreme and actively harmful, it would. But in this case it isn't causing any harm and what they're telling them to do is actually a really good idea. I see nothing wrong with it on principal.

 

[Warhammer]

If it's my child, they eat whatever I supply them with. And what an insult to injury to say the lunch was unbalanced then supplement Ritz crackers. F***ing Ritz crackers. The manner isn't so much about money as it is about the principle of the situation.

 

[Lantern Venom]

If it's my child, they eat whatever I supply them with. And what an insult to injury to say the lunch was unbalanced then supplement Ritz crackers. F***ing Ritz crackers. The manner isn't so much about money as it is about the principle of the situation.

My youngest child eats well, but she rarely eats a meal as large as the school guidelines are demanding. I would have to intentionally waste food to send her lunches that the school has mandated.

 

[Warhammer]

My youngest child eats well, but she rarely eats a meal as large as the school guidelines are demanding. I would have to intentionally waste food to send her lunches that the school has mandated.

And that's a damn shame that you even have to do that.

 

[The Guard]

It's a little ridiculous, but there's some logic to their decision. I mean, while it's healthier than what most children probably eat, that is kind of an "unbalanced" lunch that she sent them to school with. I actually think this is kind of a cool idea. I wish American schools cared this much about what kids were eating.

 

[Warhammer]

It's a little ridiculous, but there's some logic to their decision. I mean, while it's healthier than what most children probably eat, that is kind of an "unbalanced" lunch that she sent them to school with. I actually think this is kind of a cool idea. I wish American schools cared this much about what kids were eating.

You have a point. It is the other side of the coin. However, it's unfortunate that this specific instance where the meal was healthy was supplemented by s*** that isn't healthy at all. In this case, the system was flawed.

 

[The Guard]

I think that "healthy" is somewhat arguable, though. This bothered me more when I thought they took the kids' meal away and made them eat crackers...when apparently they just also had crackers. Which seems like it would go pretty well with all that stuff.

Ritz has its value as food like anything else does.

Having a grain, even if its in the form of Ritz crackers, is probably better than not having any, I would think.

 

[The Question]

You have a point. It is the other side of the coin. However, it's unfortunate that this specific instance where the meal was healthy was supplemented by s*** that isn't healthy at all. In this case, the system was flawed.

Yeah, but at the same it's also just not that big a deal. Government overreach can be a very serious and dangerous thing, but in this instance it is at most mildly annoying.

 

[BrollySupersj]

Anyone else notice this happened just about a year ago? The date says December 10th 2012.

 

[redhawk23]

Honestly, I have no problem with this. Seems like a pretty harmless way of raising a little bit of extra money and encouraging people to be more nutrition-conscious at the same time.

5 bucks was 2 days worth of school lunches when I was in High School just a few years ago. A 5 dollar fee for freaking crackers is not "harmless" for a lot of families or kids that pay for their own lunch.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

What is the matter with the comic book font ? It looks unprofessional for an official note.

 

[Hotwire]

It's not the school's place to tell parents what the kids should or shouldn't be eating.

Just curious. If a kid is sent to school with nothing for lunch but a pack of crackers, a bag of chips, and a can of soda, should the school still stay out of it?

 

[Nathan]

I think they should judge it case by case. When they see a lunch box, that is prepared completely healthy, but just happens to lack 1 grain product, they should just keep quiet. If it happens to be nothing but a bag of chips and coke, then sure, get involved and try to get the kid some healthy food. That said, fining parents is completely bollocks. What if the parents are trying, but can't provide their kids with the nutritions they need every day, because they happen to be short on cash and can't afford it. Now you are making it even harder, by taking money away from them?

 

[NickNitro]

This is by far the biggest piece of horse**** I have ever seen. That lunch was incredible. If half of the other parents cared enough about what their kids ate like this one we'd live in a much different world today.

I would be absolutely furious for a $10 charge for Ritz Crackers. That's a worse up charge than hot dogs at a baseball game.