Mom Says ‘Infuriating’ Teacher Refused To Let Her Child Eat ‘Unhealthy’ Breakfast

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We've all heard that breakfast is supposedly the most important meal of the day. Parents know that giving their kids breakfast in the morning will help set them up for a successful day at school, one where they're not cranky and hungry or dragging from lack of energy. There area dozens of breakfast options for kids, and parents often spend a lot of time and money trying to find what works best for their kids.

One mom found the perfect breakfast for her child, but when the little one took it to school, the child wasn't allowed to eat it. Her story is one of many where teachers have decided to deny children meals packed specifically for them by their parents.

The mom was quite frustrated by the teacher's decision.

The mom posted her rant in the r/mildlyinfuriating Reddit forum with the title "Today my son wasn’t allowed to eat his breakfast in kindergarten, because it was deemed to be too unhealthy." She added a photo of the little boy's lunchbox containing the breakfast deemed "unhealthy" to add context for those curious.

She singled out one item in the lunchbox as the 'ultimate culprit.'

"He’s a picky eater too and was really excited about his breakfast," she wrote, adding a crying emoji. "I packed him apple slices, freeze dried banana chips, sunflower seeds and (the ultimate culprit) a croissant."

"Safe to say I went ballistic on the teacher. My poor boy was so confused and hungry when I got him."

People immediately came to the mom's defense.

"Hey no, this is not mildly infuriating," one person wrote. "This is just infuriating. As someone who works with kids (and has basic empathy) I would f—ing sooner starve myself than let one of the kids go hungry, especially because an adult took their food without replacing it due to a subjective and shitty judgment call regarding how healthy it is. And a kindergarten kid? He's a baby, how are you find starve a baby and feel okay about that."

"Do they provide him breakfast if they won’t let him eat?" another commenter asked. "I wouldn’t be able to take them seriously for anything education-wise if they think starving the kid is better than eating that."

Another wrote: "She could have let him eat it, and if it was really a problem could have said something later. Not starve the kid ."

"So the teachers brilliant thought to an 'unhealthy' breakfast was to let the kid go hungry?" someone else wondered. "Like, i get he's not gonna starve by missing one meal but what the actual heck."

Many people encouraged the mom to ask for clarification.

"Is the teacher a nutritionist?" one person asked. "Beyond making sure the kid has edible food I’m not sure this is within a teacher’s purview to withhold a meal." The mom replied, "As far as I know no? They did tell us that it is the rule to pack a healthy breakfast, but that was it. No list with 'forbidden' (that’s so stupid in itself) food items or anything. So how are we even supposed to know? Also yeah, don’t withhold my kids food. Just tell me at pick up to bring something else tomorrow?"

The mom shared an update.

After thanking people for their input, the mom shared some answers to questions that kept popping up. She explained that if the issue persists, she would "ask for a private conference with them. It is okay to have policies, it is not okay to make my kid go hungry."

She also shared that after being told he couldn't eat his croissant, her son told her "he didn’t want to eat the rest of his breakfast, because it was unhealthy and could make him sick. I explained to him outside, that there’s no need to worry and everything is healthy in moderation. I would never pack him something, that could hurt his tummy and that the teacher told him nonsense."

She also shared that the next day, she packed him a different breakfast, consisting of "sourdough bread with Shea butter spread, strawberries, pistachios and tofu," since the family is vegetarian.