AUSTRALIA – The mother of an Australian preschooler got a rude awakening recently when her child’s teacher sent home a letter lecturing her about what she includes in the student’s lunch box.

“My friend (mother of 8 healthy children, what follows relating to no. 7) received this today from her 3 year old’s kindy,” Melinda Tankart Reist posted to Facebook last Thursday. “I told her to put in two slices tomorrow and tell them to get lost.”

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Reist included a picture of the note from the child’s teacher with a big red sad face on top that read: “Your child has chocolate slice from the Red Food category today. Please choose healthier options for Kindy.”

According to the New Zealand Herald:

A popular guideline for healthy choices at schools is the traffic light system, which categorises foods and drinks according to their nutritional value and is used in many school canteens. Green being the best, and red food – which includes cakes, confectionery, fats and soft drink – not being recommended.

Reist said the mother told her the family had leftover birthday cake, so she sent a slice to school with her child. Reist said her Facebook post prompted a lot of feedback from other parents who have received similar notes, and she’s concerned the situation is sending the wrong message to students.

“My friend felt bad that she has broken the rules. I posted the image because I reacted to it. I support healthy eating, but I’m concerned about where this approach takes us,” Reist told Kidspot.com.

“Organic sugarless zucchini muffins and banana and almond muffins were sent home. Cupcakes were sent home which had less sugar and calorie content than the approved muesli bar,” she said.

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There are other options, as well. Read more about that here.

Reist believes that by shaming students to “see food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it can set them up for eating disorders.”

Parents, of course, sounded off on the overbearing school rules and unsolicited nutritional advice in response to Reist’s post.

“I would staple this note to the teacher’s forehead,” one father wrote. “If you want to police what a parent packs in their child’s lunch box, do away with packed lunches altogether and provide food at the centre.”

“How do they know it wasn’t made from cacao, quinoa and dates?” a mother added. “Regardless, I don’t think it’s OK for schools to be policing food choices. Guidelines should be present but then it should be up to parents decision.”

Some also shared similar experiences and frustrations.

“This happened to my wife when she sent in sugar-free zucchini brownies, our son was the same age,” another father wrote, according to the Herald.

“Yuck. These are choices parents get to make,” another wrote. “I got a note like this for sending in plain popcorn once and I’m still quietly enraged.”