Father Adds Note To Daughter's Lunchbox Calling Out The Lunch Lady Who Shames Her For Eating Dessert
While a balanced diet is essential, treating children with sweet snacks in moderation is perfectly fine.
aleks333 / Shutterstock As a kid, some of the best memories in elementary school were opening your lunch box to discover what kinds of treats your parents had packed for you (with the promise that we would eat our celery sticks, apple slices, and sandwiches before digging into the sweet stuff).
What we were packed for lunch was no one’s business but ours... unless, of course, we decided to share it with our friends. Or, unless the nosy lunch lady decided to get involved and shame us for the lack of nutritional choices.
When this happened to one little girl while she was eating lunch in her school cafeteria, her father decided to get involved and defend her food choices in a clever and hilarious way.
The father left a note in his daughter’s lunchbox revealing that he and his wife were aware of the food choices inside and that they approved them.
When Ross Hunt, a father of three from Wales, learned that the lunch ladies at his daughter’s school were calling out children who had sweet treats in their lunch boxes, he decided to take it upon himself to ensure that they minded their own business moving forward.
“Basically the kids at school were getting [expletive] from the lunch ladies for eating ‘non-healthy food,’” Hunt says in a TikTok video. “It’s [expletive] irritating and it’s put Isabelle off from taking sweets to lunch with her.”
Therefore, Hunt decided to print out a label with an important message to school lunch ladies and place it onto his daughter Isabelle’s lunchbox.
“Welcome to Isabelle’s lunchbox!” the note reads. “We are aware of the contents of this box and are happy for Isabelle to eat whatever she wants” (with “we” being Isabelle’s parents).
Hunt also decided to make a second label to add to the box, although his wife advised against it. “STEP AWAY FROM THE LUNCH BOX YOU NOSY ... BANDIT,” the second label in question reads. “I think we’d get in trouble for that one,” Hunt admits.
Instead, he encourages the lunch ladies not to tell children what they should and shouldn’t eat and let the parents decide that for themselves.
Many of us are probably wondering what exactly was inside Isabelle’s lunchbox that the lunch ladies deemed to be unhealthy.
In a follow-up video, Hunt gives viewers a glimpse of the box’s usual contents.
First, he shows off a container of rainbow drops, a brand of sugar-coated, cereal-type puffed maize and rice confectionery, which Hunt says that his daughter “didn’t even touch” that particular day. “Apparently, she can only eat them if she has her carrots first,” he reveals.
Next up, he shows us the box of carrots that were untouched that day since Isabelle claimed to have dropped them on the floor.
Hunt then shows us an empty container that once had a sandwich that his daughter had already eaten. According to Hunt, the sandwich “contained more sugar than the rainbow drops.”
“It’s only six grams of rainbow drops. Calm down!” he says.
Additionally, Isabelle’s lunchbox also contained an apple (which has some nibbles taken out of it), a bag of crisps, a pear, and a chocolate egg, all of which had not been touched.
Funny enough, Hunt says when he picked up Isabelle from school that day, she was immediately hungry upon getting in the car. He adds that nobody at the school said anything about the note he left in Isabelle’s lunchbox either. “In short, stick your [expletive] nose out of my kids’ business!” Hunt concludes.
Other parents related to the father’s statements and praised him for sticking up for his daughter.
“Sick of schools being able to dictate what kids eat!” one TikTok user commented. “Do they check all the teachers’ bags to make sure they’re not bringing junk?”
“My son’s primary school used to go around taking stuff out! Let them eat! It’s better than nothing!” another user wrote. “Adults commenting on kids’ food like this can be so damaging. It really messed up my relationship with food. Keep fighting!” another user shared.
Photo: EvgenilAnd / Shutterstock
While it is important for children to have a healthy, balanced diet that will allow them to develop properly and hit their milestones, having sweet treats won’t kill them, as long as they are enjoyed in moderation.
In fact, even registered dieticians have admitted that they eat dessert nearly every day.
“While too much added sugar isn't healthy, stressing about dessert isn't good for you either,” Lisa Valente, a dietician, wrote in a blog published on EatingWell. “Also, life's too short, and dessert tastes delicious.”
Restricting yourself and others from eating certain foods actually does more harm than good.
“Thinking about foods as 'good and bad' and limiting desserts makes you more likely to binge and feel guilty when you do finally eat some,” Valente adds. “This can lead to feelings of guilt and shame and vowing never to do it again and can set up an unhealthy binge-restrict cycle.”
Even if you think that certain foods are unhealthy and avoid eating them, other people, including children in their school cafeterias just trying to enjoy their meals, have the right to enjoy and eat them as they please.
After all, we are more focused and alert with a full belly rather than an empty one.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.