While we can all agree that eating healthy food is essential for improved fitness and longevity, doing so isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Many folks have some pretty tight schedules, and many of us barely find the time to sit down for a meal, let alone cook healthier foods. However, when it comes to our kids, many parents try their best to instill good eating habits that hopefully will stay with them later in life. This is what one Canadian mom was trying to do, but she says that her little boy’s school teachers went too far after they judged that his homemade lunch was unhealthy and threw the entire meal in the garbage.
The Durham Catholic District School, located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, began a new healthy eating program that only allows children to eat what they consider to be “healthy foods.” The school also asked parents to adhere to the new guidelines and only pack healthy lunches for their children. With this in mind, the mom decided to include a slice of chocolate chip banana bread for her son’s dessert since it was one of his favorites. However, the child’s teacher deemed this desert unhealthy because of the chocolate chips and threw out the entire lunch in front of everyone. She said her distraught 4-year-old cried and only had grapes for lunch that day, which was the only thing left of his lunch he was allowed to eat.
Elaina Daoust was infuriated because her son’s teacher put him through such a traumatic experience.
“He came home with a chart (listing healthy snack ideas) and told me he and the teacher talked about it and healthy choices. She also sent a note to me. I was really, really, really mad for several reasons,” Elaina told The Star.
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It turned out that her son wasn’t the only child targeted by this new policy, as 30 other parents also share how their kids experienced the same treatment.
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However, the school maintains that it has every right to dispose of unhealthy food as they’ve made healthy eating an official part of the curriculum, and students must learn what is healthy and unhealthy.
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But, not everyone agrees with the school’s heavy-handed tactics. James MacKinnon, a learning and teaching consultant to the school board, noted:
“There is nowhere in our policy or procedures that says our staff is allowed to take food away from a student.”
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Do you think the school crossed the line or did the right thing? You can also watch a video about this story below.