Can we eat some real food please?
Posted April 23rd, 2012 by Alison CrockettMy oldest daughter is 8 and in 2nd grade. When she first started school, she began in the Montgomery county summer school program which was free for one month. Hallelujah. She was given free breakfast. Another plus. However, when I went to the cafeteria I was a lot less impressed. Now granted, they were doing a better job than I’ve seen many schools do. As a teaching artist in New York City and Washington, DC, I’ve seen a lot of school lunches and snacks. It ain’t always pretty out there y’all. But I thought in the wealthy, highly progressive county of Montgomery Co, MD that they would have it together. The school showed me what was for breakfast:
- - cereal with milk (chocolate or strawberry…yes I saw kids with chocolate milk in their rice crispies)
- - a “granola” bar in the shape of a circle.
Me: That’s a cookie,
Cafeteria worker: No it’s a nutrition bar,
Me: No…it’s a cookie. It has chips in it and everything. And do you know how much sugar is in a “granola bar”?!
They did have fruit. The plums were as hard as a rock and probably about as sweet as one. And cinnamon buns – really? A pastry for breakfast for a kid? Couldn’t it at least be a pancake?
For lunch they also had chicken in the shape of a chicken drummet and fish patties in the shape of a star, with cheese in it, the staple of pizza and/or hot dogs… Well, you get my drift.
These were the healthy choices! There are no vending machines at my daughter school and they pass out carrot sticks for snacks sometimes. Vending machines food products that make up our school lunches are training our children to believe that food product is actually food! Food is not cake. That’s dessert, not breakfast. Banana or Zuchini bread is sweet, but because it’s not in the shape of a cookie or a cake, no go. The kids won’t eat it if we don’t package it this way, says the cafeteria worker. Kids want sugary,fatty, salty things as much or more than their parents do. But I hate to sound like my grandmother, but when I was a kid, we had the choice of milk and…milk. We had pizza, but we also had hoagies, and regular sandwiches. But more importantly, we ate real food at home, so even when I pigged out on Snickers bars and soda at the school store, I still ate real food at home.
There needs to be a partnership between parents and schools concerning healthy food choices. Junk food is fine occasionally, but if the child hasn’t had real whole food, they will not want it. Children have to learn to make good choices, but we all know that if it’s a choice between water and soda, soda wins most of the time. The child’s taste buds are primed for these artificial types of flavors because food companies put vast resources researching what children like: bright colors that are salty, fatty and sweet. It’s hard wired for children to be junk food addicts.
You don’t put a baggy of crack and raisins next to a junky and think they are going to eat the raisins. Companies know that they are creating the palates of the child’s lifetime if they get in now. If they get them hooked on their sweet, salty, fatty products, that’s what they will crave for their entire lives. We are training our children for habits for a long, healthy life. It’s hard to take off weight once it’s on. It’s hard to restrict your calories once you’re used to eating certain foods. Children
should have the experience with all types of foods and know what makes them feel good.
should have the experience with all types of foods and know what makes them feel good.In this time of belt tightening, we need to think about the long term ramifications of school lunch and the profit making vending machines in our schools. This generation is the first that will probably not outlive their parents. Think of that when you give your kids change to buy the juice “drink” in the vending machine at school. Mmmmm…red dye #5…tasty.
Posted Under:
Nutrition & Food
5 Comments
April 25, 2012 at 9:17 pm by AnnieMy friend packs her kids lunch everyday with nutritious food. But he would go to school and tell his teacher that he does not have lunch so he can get the school lunch because of the chicken nuggets and pizza. She is at her wits ends because she would get an unexpected bill from the school each month (well, I guess it is now expected since he does it so often).
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April 23, 2012 at 9:10 pm by Natalia StasenkoGreat points. What many kids eat at school is awful. Parental involvement plays a great role, especially if the financial resources are in place. The cost of ingredients in a school lunch is a little under $1 and most of them come from the big food companies tied to the school food by long-term contracts. More importantly, the school lunch program has been designed and implemented after the second world war a Nutrition Assistance program meaning that its primarily purpose was to prevent hunger and malnutrition in children. In the current environment with the abundance of cheap food, the quality of calories pays amore important role that the quantity. The school lunch program is in need for renovation and hopefully, with the implementation of the new standards this summer, the things will start changing for the better.
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April 23, 2012 at 7:28 pm by LeslieI so agree. It is astonishing that there is such a campaign against childhood obesity, yet school lunches are trash and kids get gym once a week if they are lucky. Insane. Like some big causes aren’t obvious?
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April 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm by Lisa GriffinWhat you described very closely resembles what’s served at my daughter’s school in Alabama also. With all the junk food out there, it’s hard to get a child to eat vegetables (which are served at home) when they’ve been handed this stuff at school each day. When I ask my daughter what she had for lunch…most days it’s pizza which has now laughably been deemed a vegetable. Breakfast has no nutritional value at all in my opinion, and it’s very rarely hot. What happened to the well rounded meals that we were served growing up? We ate what was prepared or nothing at all. That’s what our kids need today! And, lunchroom workers need to actually prepare the meals instead of just opening a sodium filled box or container.
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April 23, 2012 at 4:47 pm by MichelleI’m nodding knowingly even though my kids are not in school yet. When they do go, we will have to pack them a lunch because there is no catering at the school we have chosen.. that is probably a good thing, but I know they will have access to Air Heads if they want them and I’m sure they will. But I rest assured that they will at least at real food at home. Your article reminds me of a post (rant) I wrote a while ago about the kids menu in most restaurants these days! http://www.mybigfatgreenblog.com/2011/09/04/what-is-the-deal-with-the-kids-menu
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