Unintended Consquences - Corner Shop Boom

The most noticeable consequence of the healthy school food campaign round our way, is that come 15.30 hours, the local shops, petrol stations and their forecourts are PACKED with school kids, spending as much money as they possibly can on handfuls of sweets. Don't try and nip down for a pint of milk for a good hour round that time, unless you fancy standing in a disorderly queue that has the whiff of aid package desperation about it. (Incidentally, shop keepers do normally allow adults through the queue, though this seems a tad unethical to me and when I am feeling righteous, I won't do it.)

The obvious evidence of unintended consequences makes us think that Boris Johnson (Shadow Education Minister) was right to raise the issue of how the healthy school food campaign will play out, but we hope he sticks with his less paternalistic instincts on this matter, since unless parents collect and marshall children from the school gate, this kind of attitude clearly simply won't work.

What we hope to do is to help our children make responsible free choices for themselves. Providing a range of good choices, (and recognising that chocolate, for example, can have a part to play in a healthy diet), and then leaving it up to children themselves seems to me to be the best way to go, - but yet again, this is probably more easily managed with home education.