© Maria | Happy Mum Happy Child
LUNCH BOX SHAMING
One week, a while ago, a few things happened which prompted me to write this post about lunch box shaming.
In my opinion, lunch box shaming is when a parent is made to feel bad for the food they’ve given their child. Usually it’s in the form of a criticism, or public judgement based on what is in the child’s lunch box.
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FIRSTLY there was this note going around the internet:
I actually didn’t want to comment on this, but I did briefly …
I don’t know the full story behind the note, or what exactly was in the child’s lunch box, or what even goes on at the school. If that’s the school’s policy and that’s the way the school deals with things like that, then so be it. It might not be perfect, but because I don’t know the full picture, I really don’t feel like I can comment on it to be honest.
If I was to receive a note like this though, I know I would be extremely embarrassed. And if it had been home baking that was given the sad face, I would be miffed.
SECONDLY, a mother posted a photo of her child’s lunch box online in a group I am a part of (The Parenting View), and that mother was sent numerous private messages stating that her children will become obese and unhealthy if she continued to feed her children that way.
This made me rage hard.
For starters, one lunch box hardly defines what a child eats through-out the day, the week or even the year. As parents we all do our best to provide our children with a balanced diet, and as I have said numerous times: one photo (or one snapshot) does not define our lives.
THIRDLY, I get a lot of people lunch box shaming the lunches my kids get.
Yup – my kids’ lunch boxes.
People criticise the fact my kids have white bread. I get told that they eat too much fruit (because of the sugar content *sigh*). Once I got told that cherry tomatoes were full of sugar and I shouldn’t be putting them in my child’s lunch box *double sigh*.
I get told to cut my kids grapes. I get told to not cut my kids grapes (when I do cut them). I get told “you ruined that whole lunchbox by putting that one thing in there”.
I get lunchbox shamed ALL THE TIME.
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There is nothing wrong with being passionate about feeding our children healthy food. Nothing at all. If you want to educate people on providing children with healthier lunch options, there actually is a nice way to go about it.
Lunch box shaming isn’t the way to do it.
You have to pick the right moment guys. When someone is excited about sharing their lunch box ideas with you, telling them “that’ll make your kid fat” is probably not the right time or place to be doing it.
From experience that just makes people pissed off, and upset, and less likely to change what they’re doing.
Every single person on this planet judges people: it’s what we do with the judgement that defines us as a person. Bitch about it to your partner, write a non-specific rant online, WHATEVER! However I always feel very passionately about keeping those judgements to yourself or at least off public forums.
Knowledge is power, however that goes both ways. Don’t judge someone’s life based on one moment you’ve seen on the internet and publicly call them out for it.
If you feel so passionately about feeding kids healthy food, then start a food blog. Or perhaps even a healthy food facebook page. Learn how to educate people instead of shaming them.
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The lunch box in the above photo is a PlanetBox Rover and can be bought from Biome.com.au. The links listed are affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase then I receive a small commission for directing you to the Biome website.
