A frustrated mother took matters into her own hands after her young daughter complained about an incident that occurred with her teacher over lunch at school. Wanting to ensure nothing similar happened again, the mom placed an “angry” note in her daughter’s lunchbox for the teacher to find.
A mom named Caroline, who posts on social media under the name @pezzi.shop, took to TikTok to share an incident involving her 3-year-old daughter after the child came home from school with a complaint about her teacher. According to Caroline’s daughter, Evelyn, “her teacher told her that she had to eat all of her ‘good’ foods before she ate her ‘bad’ foods,” the frustrated mother explained, and that didn’t sit well with Caroline.
“She couldn’t have her cookie before eating her sandwich and cucumbers,” Caroline continued, further explaining the incident that had occurred between Evelyn and her teacher over the little girl’s lunch. “In this moment, I felt a little frustrated by the antiquated instruction from the teacher,” Caroline admitted before adding that she responded to Evelyn by saying, “Well, that’s silly. There are no good foods or bad foods. Food is just food!”
The teacher’s views on food went against what Caroline tries to teach her child about food neutrality. Although she was raised with similar sentiments about food, Caroline had developed a different opinion after doing her own research, she explained. “I will say, this was not my internal dialogue growing up, but because of the information that I have from so many great accounts created by moms and experts in the field of childhood and nutrition, I am armed with better responses, knowledge, and practices for my kids,” Caroline said.
Not wanting to perpetuate what she believed was an unhealthy perception of food, Caroline decided to take matters into her own hands and felt the best approach was to leave a note in her daughter’s lunchbox for Evelyn’s teacher. “Evelyn has our permission to eat lunch in any order she chooses,” the note from Caroline read. “None of her foods are ‘good’ or ‘bad’—they are just food!” she concluded.
Caroline then posted video footage of the note on TikTok, where she further explained her issues in the caption. “If you only eat carrots or broccoli, your body won’t have [the] 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,” she wrote. “We need little bits of everything to make sure that we are able to learn and play and grow all day long.”
Of course, not everyone agreed with the mom’s note. In fact, some suggested that the message was passive-aggressive, according to the NY Post, which quoted various social media users and described Caroline as an “angry mom.”
“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.
@pezzi.shop Here’s the story: 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. 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!“ I will say, this was not my internal dialogue growing up, but because of the information that I have from so many great accounts created by moms and experts, in the field of childhood and nutrition, I am armed with better responses, knowledge and practices for my kids. Three years old. At three years old someone has told her that foods are good or bad. I am so proud that she had sensed something was off – to know that was not right enough to tell me about it. We talk about it all the time at home… 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 to the accounts that make sure we have the words, knowledge and confidence to write the note and practice it at home, I thank you, thank you, thank you. It has changed our family for the better. What you do and what you share is so important to young families. #kidsnutrition #kidseatincolor #solidstarts #kidfood #babyledweaning toddlers moms babies family @Jennifer Anderson, MSPH RD @Feeding Littles @Kacie Barnes, MCN, RDN @Food Science Babe
However, for every naysayer who disagreed with Caroline’s approach, there were plenty of others who supported the mom, proving the internet was clearly divided over the issue.
“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,” another commented.
“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.
“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.”
A benefit of being an adult and a parent is being able to educate ourselves and form our own opinions as we decide how we want to raise our children. After making informed choices, it’s our responsibility to communicate them to others who care for our kids, which is what Caroline did. Communicating with your child’s school via notes is rather common, so I don’t see any issue with what this mom did unless Caroline’s request somehow conflicted with a school rule. If not, let the child have her dessert first if she wishes, but personally, I’d rather end the meal on a cookie than a cucumber.
