» Where do you stand on the nanny state issue?

Should people in government be able to make decisions about what children can and can’t eat, or should parents take responsibility for guiding their children into good habits? And if parents don’t do this, should the state be able to step in and take over?

I’ve been reading some news stories from the BBC recently which have got me onto this topic. Wales, or at least the grandly named ‘Appetite for Life Action Plan’ introduced by the Welsh Assembly Government’s education department, has had a lot of coverage.

The intention is laudable: providing free breakfasts for some primary school children, and healthy food in all their nursery, school and college facilities.

But some nurseries, schools and colleges are interpreting the general guidelines in such a way that they’re likely to drive children away, as well as gaining so much unwelcome publicity for the education department.

Some of the foods that schools are banning. Marmite image courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Marmite and lemon curd have been banned by some primary schools’ breakfast clubs for their high salt and sugar content respectively, although the makers of Marmite claim the amount used on toast is small, so the salt impact is not excessive. Low fat jam (jelly) can be spread on toast, but lemon curd is not available. Sugar can be added to porridge but not cereal.

A parent commented that her child’s nursery had also banned home made, salt and sugar free tomato puree in case it instills bad habits (today that nice healthy tomato puree you love, tomorrow you’ll be eating sugary ketchup spread over everything??).

A secondary school went so far as banning pupils from having sugar in their drinks (but allowing them to use sweeteners provided at their own expense). A protest by pupils, supported by the head teacher, overturned the ban which was replaced by a limit of two spoonfuls per cup. Perhaps the threat of a boycott in favor of local cafes swung the argument.

Sixteen year old Emma-Jayne Morgan offered some useful advice to the leader of Rhondda council:

“Prohibiting certain foods and drinks to young people will only make them more determined to buy them through some other means.”

That’s a sixteen year old who knows full well that the nanny state can’t provide the answer to the health and obesity problems affecting her generation. Maybe they should offer her a job in government when she leaves school. Her first task could be a survey of government and council colleagues, to find out how many of them don’t eat Marmite, lemon curd or ketchup, prefer porridge with sugar to cereals without, and take their (decaffeinated of course) tea and coffee without sugar.

If the authorities continue like this they’ll have local fast food outlets, cafes and supermarkets laughing all the way to their tills as pupils desert school facilities in search of less regulated food sources. Surely it’s better to eat mostly healthy food with the odd dash of ketchup or Marmite at school, than to eat far less healthy options from the local fish and chip shop?

Schools and parents have the important job of teaching children the benefits of healthy eating, and guiding them to put this into practice. But what happens if I tell you not to think about the color blue? What are you thinking about? The color blue of course. Emma-Jayne said it all.