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I DON’T WANT to call anyone out here, but I think that some of you are lying. When I heard about the free hot school lunches, my first feeling was of absolute relief. No more early morning dashes around the kitchen, flinging an assortment of snacks (that would remain uneaten) into a lunchbox and no more frantic Sunday-night supermarket shops. What would I do with all of this extra time?
My expectation was that we would be banging pots and pans every night at 8 pm, or at the very least there would be street parties to celebrate. And it has been great, we’ve had months now of genuine relief. Unfortunately, though, my elation has been somewhat dampened by the numerous headlines and articles giving out about the entire scheme.
Some of the meals listed out by commentators in horror include spaghetti bolognese, sausages and mash and chicken curry, as if their very names would instil fear in parents.
Were we not reared on these very same meals, with the odd crispy pancake thrown in for fun?
Are we not making some combination of these options every evening anyway for dinner?
No?
Oh, no, me neither, I was just checking if you were. It’s only organic kale and caviar around here, same as yourselves.
Just to be clear, I’m not for a second ignoring the rising child obesity rates in this country, nor trying to be flippant about the issues around certain school meal suppliers who are just not hitting the mark on nutrition. Those are valid issues that should be addressed by the government, for starters. We need a streamlined system so that the ball isn’t dropped; that is a given.
So please, legislators… smarten up this service for goodness’ sake. And food suppliers, you know you need to do better.
But listen, I do think that some of you complaining are lying because I have spoken to a lot of other parents over the past 15 years. I know that so many of us were sending in that same apple every day, knowing in our heart of hearts it would still be there at the bottom of the school bag that night.
I know so many who’d been sneaking cereal bars in without the wrapping paper and claiming they were homemade because if they didn’t, the kids wouldn’t eat anything else. Likewise, I know one parent who got an actual doctor’s letter to sign her child with permission to eat Pop-Tarts at lunch because they wouldn’t eat anything else. And before you clutch your pearls… no parent feels pride in these moments, but that’s the place parenting has brought them to, and we can’t stand in judgment, because their child needs to eat something while at school, anything.
And yes, parenting and nutrition should go hand in hand in an ideal world, but guess what, we’re not parenting IN an ideal world. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, I would never let my darling eat that at school’. But when you stand in that judgment, ask yourself, are you coming from a place of privilege? Do you have both the luxury of time and money to make sure that your little ones are loaded up on the best quality, organic and non-processed foods? Take a moment to sit with that one.
Many of the parents I know in parts of the country are just so relieved that school lunch no longer falls under their remit. I know many who were trapped on that same hamster wheel of trying not to make mealtimes a battle, but also not to allow their kids to survive solely on beige foods.
So in a sense, I am struggling to understand the moral panic that has developed now over poor little Turlough or Fionnuala being served up a meatball or two at big break.
What am I missing?
What were you feeding your kids before, and also what do you feed yourself?
Show me your fridge. Immediately.
And look, maybe if my kids weren’t entirely revolted by the idea of sandwiches, I would think that the schools’ suppliers could put a bit more imagination into the hot lunches. But they wouldn’t touch sandwiches, and anything else I have ever thought to add to a lunchbox. Every single packed lunch I have ever made has been a nightmare, so I don’t know what else I can tell you.
As much as I hate the waste aspect of lunches, I had to park my concerns about the nutrition, because they have a good breakfast at home, a snack after school and a healthy dinner. I just hated the thought of them being hungry in school, and couldn’t imagine their concentration levels being anywhere near ideal as the day wore on. The hot meals have been a game-changer for us and many other parents, which is why it is a little disappointing that all of the conversations around it in the public domain have been so negative.
Maybe for now, we could just acknowledge that something is better than nothing when it comes to hot school meals. There is a universality to it, for starters, which means more children sitting together eating meals, rather than only a handful availing of the much-needed service. It means that fussy kids, at least hopefully trying the food in front of them, because their pals are doing the same. If a child is eating something remotely nutritionally dense while at school, then that is something to be celebrated. And while we can all agree that the standard of food on offer needs to improve in some areas, can we not throw the baby out with the bathwater here?
Wouldn’t it be unfortunate to see the tide turn so far against this food that two-thirds of the class decided to revert to their own lunches? What, then, stigma for the children who are left unable to afford to fill a lunchbox? That would be an utter shame.
Could we do better on the school lunches? We could, and we should. Absolutely. The government did a great job getting this programme out in the first place, so let’s see it push it one step further by instituting better nutritional guidelines across the board.
But the concept of hot school lunches is one that I, for one, applaud. It’s a great first step on which we can build.
Margaret Lynch is a mother of two and is parenting columnist with The Journal.
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