An angry mother in the US has taken matters into her own hands after her young daughter came home from school complaining about a comment her teacher made about her lunch.
Caroline, who posts on social media under the name @pezzi.shop, took to TikTok to reveal her three-year-old daughter had arrived home one afternoon saying her teacher told her to eat her “good” foods before her “bad” foods.
This meant the toddler had to eat her sandwich and cucumbers before her cookie, which Caroline explained goes against what she tries to teach her little girl about food neutrality.
“In this moment, I felt a little frustrated by the antiquated instruction from the teacher, but I responded saying, ‘Well that’s silly. There are no good foods or bad foods. Food is just food’,” the mother said.
Caroline decided the best way to approach the matter was by leaving a handwritten note for her daughter’s teacher.
“None of her foods are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – they are just food!”
Social media users were divided by the mum’s note, with the mum believing her message wasn’t passive aggressive.
“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,” one social media user said.
Another commented: “As a teacher, your response is 100 per cent right. The narrative of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food can actually encourage harmful eating habits to develop.”
“That’s way too controlling. No one should tell anyone in what order to eat their food. That’s their meal to enjoy,” one added.
Another said: “As long as my daughter is full enough to concentrate I don’t care what part of her lunch she eats first. It’s usually mostly fruit and deli turkey anyway … but she could start with Oreos for all I care.”
Caroline said the idea of food not being “good” or “bad” but instead just being food wasn’t her internal dialogue growing up but people educating her as an adult has meant she can make more informed choices with her own daughter.