A mum has sparked a debate after leaving a note in her daughter’s lunchbox for the teacher to read. Caroline, who runs a business called Pezzi that makes eating utensils for small children, decided to take action when her daughter came home and told her about an incident at school.
The teacher had allegedly instructed her daughter to eat her food in a certain order – ‘good’ foods first and ‘bad’ foods last. In this case, the sandwich and cucumber were considered ‘good’, while the cookie was labelled as ‘bad’.
Caroline shared her frustration on TikTok, writing: “My three-year-old came home from school yesterday, telling me that her teacher told her that she had to eat all of her ‘good’ foods before she ate her ‘bad’ foods. She couldn’t have her cookie before eating her sandwich and cucumbers.”
She added that she felt frustrated by the outdated instruction from the teacher. Despite not having this experience growing up, Caroline said that thanks to information from other mums and experts in childhood nutrition, she now has better responses and practices for her kids.
She ended her post with a poignant statement: “Three years old. At three years old someone has told her that foods are good or bad,” LadBibble reported.
The mum continued: “I am so proud that she sensed something was off – to know that was not right enough to tell me about it.
“If you only eat carrots or broccoli your body won’t have protein it needs to grow strong muscles. If you only eat chicken, your body won’t have enough energy to do things like run and play all day long.
“We need little bits of everything to make sure that we are able to learn and play and grow all day long.”
So she wrote a note in her daughter’s lunchbox for the teacher the next day. She said: “Hi! Evelyn has our permission to eat lunch in any order she chooses.
“None of her foods are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – they are just food! Thanks, Caroline and Joey.”
People were split over whether this was the right approach to take – but the majority agreed that there was no such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food.
One person said: “As a teacher, your response is 100 percent right. The narrative of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food can actually encourage harmful eating habits to develop.”
Another added: “As a former teacher, my thought was the parents packed their kid’s lunch with the intent they eat it; in whatever order or amount.”
However, some disagreed, with one saying: “I’m sure the teacher wasn’t trying to be cruel. Maybe you could have talked to the teacher instead of a passive aggressive note on your three-year-old’s lunch? “.
While another said it was the teacher’s ‘job’ to check if she was eating. Caroline responded to the first comment by saying: “I don’t think she was trying to be cruel! I don’t get to see the lunch teacher and didn’t think the note was passive aggressive.”
