Should fried food and Coco Puffs be off the menu at schools? Two parents go head-to-head

SCHOOL kids’ traditional fish-and-chip Fridays could become a thing of the past.

including fried eggs, pizzas, and Coco Pops, to make room for healthier alternatives.

Every main meal will soon come paired with a mandatory side of veggies, alongside a big push for whole grains and extra fruit.

Under the strict new guidelines due to come into force in England in September next year, deep-fried dishes are out and foods high in fat and salt will be limited.

While fish and chips will still be permitted, they must be prepared using oven baking instead of frying.

The directive also says lentils and chickpeas must be served at least once a week. Meanwhile, ice cream and waffles will be limited and sweet-baked desserts must be served with a full portion of fruit.

Education Secretary said the overhaul, which will prioritise children’s fibre intake, builds on the expansion of and breakfast clubs. She said: “No child should spend the school day hungry, and no family should have to struggle to put food on the table.

“This is what change looks like: healthier food, fuller stomachs and a fairer start for every child.”

But the news has left many divided. Here two parents give their views on the menu guidelines.

YES – SAYS DAD-OF-TWO COLIN ROBERTSON

OH boo-hoo, kids will have to take five minutes out of scoffing sweets and guzzling cans of Monster and eat something a bit healthier.

Big deal.

It’s easy to get angry over nanny state nonsense.

But this new school meals plan seems pretty sensible to me.

It does not ban British children — a quarter of whom aged 2-15 are overweight — from eating things they like.

And it will not stop them going to , , and all those little shops selling sweets by the kilo on their way home.

No, all it is attempting to do is ensure that between the hours of 8am and 3.30pm — during which PE classes have become almost non-existent — youngsters eat something approximating good food.

Critics claim this is all about government control.

How dare they tell our kids what to eat, they cry, as if we’re heading toward some kind of 1984 dystopia where only government-approved food can ever be eaten.

Calm down everyone, we’re talking about adding some vegetables to not surreptitiously reprogramming the next generation with dubious chemicals.

I bet if this hadn’t been announced it would have slipped under the radar with very little fuss.

Is your teenager really going to refuse to eat their lunch because the tomato-soaked pasta in their bowl is 50-per-cent wholemeal?

Of course not.

And they will still get fish and chips on a Friday.

OK, they won’t be fried, but oven chips and grilled fish fingers have been a staple since the Sevenites, so what’s the difference? (Chip shops will remain open.)

They will also still be served sweet treats like cakes, sausages and chicken nuggets just not every bloody day.

Yes, some things have been chucked out — like pastries — but I think civilisation can continue without such delicacies being on a breakfast club menu.

What’s wrong with porridge? It’s cheap and will save us taxpayers a few bob.

Also, for those claiming this is some kind of middle-class snobbery, how do you square that view with the removal of croissants from breakfast clubs?

I have young teenagers and, frankly, I’m sick to the back of trying to stop them eating crap.

Knowing they might soon struggle to rot their teeth and pile on the pork at school gives some hope that the next generation of children might avoid waddling along to the clinic.

NO – SAYS MUM-OF-TWO REBECCA JANE

APPARENTLY, fish and Chip Friday is coming for our children.

The Government is overhauling school food standards, with proposals restricting deep-fried foods, sugary treats and other childhood favourites all in the name of tackling and improving .

And I’m against it.

Not because I think children should exist entirely on chips and chocolate cake.

Because I think we’re slowly forgetting who is supposed to raise our children.

It all started innocently enough. No chocolate in lunchboxes. No sweets. No fizzy drinks.

Most parents shrugged, and complied. Fair enough. But little rules have a habit of multiplying.

Now we’re discussing whether children should have cake at school and whether the good old British tradition of fried fish and chips should disappear for good.

Sometimes a little treat in the middle of a difficult school day is just that. A treat.

Kids have the rest of their lives to obsess over food and diets, let’s not encourage that in childhood.

The Government’s argument isn’t completely ridiculous.

Childhood obesity and tooth decay are genuine problems, and absolutely should provide nutritious meals.

The current overhaul follows concerns about children’s diets, with ministers proposing tighter limits on foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

But healthy eating isn’t about pretending unhealthy food doesn’t exist. It’s about teaching balance. That’s parenting — and guess whose responsibility parenting is? The parent.

Every time we hand another small parenting decision to institutions, we normalise them making the next one. Today it’s cake. Tomorrow? Perhaps every lunchbox is inspected against a government-approved menu.

Maybe I’m being dramatic. But parents should be allowed to parent.

By all means, educate us about nutrition. Improve school dinners. Serve children vegetables, wholegrains, fruit and proper meals. But leave room for normal life.

Birthdays have cake. Seaside trips have ice cream. And Fridays should sometimes have fried fish and chips.

Because if we don’t teach children how to enjoy things responsibly, we’re not teaching healthy eating at all.

We’re just complying with control.