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Stopped in fourth grade for me and that was mid seventies. Wasn't referring too that, when I got home from school first thing I did was change and head outside. Bicycling EVERY day, game of football, tag..whatever. It was always something and every kid in the neighborhood participated.
Kids lives are so regimented and parents are so over protective they never have a chance to do that.
Well, times change and people do too.
In any case, there's not much to be done about that unless we send government inspectors into every neighborhood to ensure kids are getting enough play.
OOOOOO! I wish I hadn't said that. Some health-Nazi will think that's a marvelous idea!
The Principal you mentioned is required by federal school lunch rules to do that. The rules also require that students who bring lunch from home be seated separately from students eating the cafeteria food and the school is subject to massive fines if that doesn't happen. The idea is to prevent "bad" food from ending up in the hands of students eating the government approved menu.
Students generally sit wherever they want. I've never heard of a federal school lunch rule that requires seperation of kids buying lunch from kids bringing lunch and I'm not sure who would monitor that or report someone so that someone else can fine them. I've also never heard of anything that requires the pricipal to scold kids who bring a cookie from home. Who reports people for non compliance? Who gets fined? How much? Who gets the money? Where can I find more information on this?
Students generally sit wherever they want. I've never heard of a federal school lunch rule that requires seperation of kids buying lunch from kids bringing lunch and I'm not sure who would monitor that or report someone so that someone else can fine them. I've also never heard of anything that requires the pricipal to scold kids who bring a cookie from home. Who reports people for non compliance? Who gets fined? How much? Who gets the money? Where can I find more information on this?
I think healthier school lunches benefit everyone. There is a direct link between attention span , behaviour and the food we serve our kids so basically by feeding kids decent food we end up with better behaved kids with better knowledge retention. Ie: better kids for EVERYONE. Additives and sugar in particular seem to be a direct cause of loss of cognitive abilities, lethargy or hyper-activity .
I also don't see how we can condone feeding kids what is basically crap. Apart from the obvious health issues such as obesity and diabetes we are basically saying that children's lives are not really worth putting much effort or thought into. I don't have kids but that seems pretty damn right criminal and callous to me.
A little of anything is not a problem. The occasional burger, fries and pizza is not going to harm anyone,but to feed them that on a daily basis with no care for the consequences both physical, behavioural and mental is to me completely irresponsible.
A lot of parents already feed their kids crap at home and for many children school lunches are the only chance they to have good nutritious and healthy meals. Not to encourage this is beyond bizarre to me.
Who would not want children to be healthier, better behaved and more intellectually alert ? Parents really ought to support this and not undermine the schools and kids have to be taught from day one ( ie from a Baby) to eat what is put in front of them and to enjoy a variety of well balanced foods as well as the more obvious crap which is omnipresent in our society.
The idea that we give children a choice is utter bizarre to me. I come from a country where babies are introduced to a huge range of foods and tastes from birth pretty much and where eating what is put in front of you is the only option. No begging from parents and no tantrums from kids. Period.
I once kiddingly predicted in these forums that the local drug dealer would drop the drugs and replace them with snack food, bottles of soda, salt and trans fats if the government and Mrs Obama, Mayor Bloomberg and the other Big Lib Nannys kept telling us what to eat. Looks like I might have been right
It's the same with ALL (both Right and Left) top-down mandates. Is it a good thing if the kids eat a little healthier? Yes. Am I opposed to having a few healthier alternatives for school lunches? No.
However, when you start getting into removing soda machines, serving only whole wheat bread and lean meat, and banning candy and chocolate from school grounds then you getting into authoritarian Nanny State territory and that is never a good thing. It's not a good thing because it rarely works, it's invasive, it is rarely respected by those it claims to help, and it quickly devolves from "encouragement" into outright forcing people to comply.
Also, don't forget that there are state rules which apply too, not all of which are federal mandates.
Can you say exactly where in that document (like a page number) that it states that kids have to be seated separately, etc.? I have 5 kids in public school, and I can promise you--that isn't how it's handled here. I don't have time to dig through the entire document, so giving the section would be helpful. Otherwise I think you've either completely misunderstood the requirements, or point blank made them up.
I think healthier school lunches benefit everyone. There is a direct link between attention span , behaviour and the food we serve our kids so basically by feeding kids decent food we end up with better behaved kids with better knowledge retention. Ie: better kids for EVERYONE. Additives and sugar in particular seem to be a direct cause of loss of cognitive abilities, lethargy or hyper-activity .
I also don't see how we can condone feeding kids what is basically crap. Apart from the obvious health issues such as obesity and diabetes we are basically saying that children's lives are not really worth putting much effort or thought into. I don't have kids but that seems pretty damn right criminal and callous to me.
A little of anything is not a problem. The occasional burger, fries and pizza is not going to harm anyone,but to feed them that on a daily basis with no care for the consequences both physical, behavioural and mental is to me completely irresponsible.
A lot of parents already feed their kids crap at home and for many children school lunches are the only chance they to have good nutritious and healthy meals. Not to encourage this is beyond bizarre to me.
Who would not want children to be healthier, better behaved and more intellectually alert ? Parents really ought to support this and not undermine the schools and kids have to be taught from day one ( ie from a Baby) to eat what is put in front of them and to enjoy a variety of well balanced foods as well as the more obvious crap which is omnipresent in our society.
The idea that we give children a choice is utter bizarre to me. I come from a country where babies are introduced to a huge range of foods and tastes from birth pretty much and where eating what is put in front of you is the only option. No begging from parents and no tantrums from kids. Period.
This
My tax dollars are paying for those lunches. Why would anyone support buying crap to feed kids vs. using those tax dollars for healthy food? It doesn't even make sense.
I'm a cafeteria cook, and our school observes the mandated improvements handed down to make our lunches healthier. The slushy machine was taken out of our cafeteria, for example. We have a main lunch line, as well as two full ala carte areas, which offers a lot of variety for students (the ala carte areas offer a salad bar, pasta bar, stuffed peppers, homemade meatloaf, homemade chili, etc.). We now have romaine lettuce in our salads, as opposed to just iceburg, and baby carrots are included in the main lunch line every day. Our sandwiches, hamburgers, and hoagies are served on whole wheat rolls that are baked daily in the cafeteria's bakery department. There is an option of fresh fruit - apples, bananas, oranges, and tangerines - to the canned variety. There are still french fries and pizza available, but these must be purchased separately - it is not part of the standard lunch.
We're part of a very small school district (about 500 kids, K-12, in one large building divided into "schools" by wings). Our district moved to healthy menus several years ago, but next year we're going to ala carte as well to give the kids more options. It sounds like your program is working great, and that's what we're hoping for too. I don't understand the opposition to this--the better menu has been a win win for everyone here, and it's a wise use of our tax dollars. Why should we be using tax dollars to buy unhealthy food?
It sounds like your school approaches it in the same way that our school does--offer kid friendly menus cooked in a healthy way (whole grain, fresh, lower fat, lower sugar). For every example that someone throws out where the district serves foods the kids don't like, I think you could find 20 where it works. I have 5 boys (3 in HS, 2 in Jr. High) and they're in the "two lunch" crowd you mentioned earlier--they all play football, then wrestle, then run track. They love the healthier menu because it works with their athletic training, plus it tastes good. Before it was available (our school used to rely heavily on "heat and serve"--now the cooks actually cook), we'd have to pack lunches--we live in a cold climate, and a hot, nutritious school lunch is pretty nice when it's 20 below.
School lunch ladies are unsung heroes in my opinion--you guys are an important part of the school, and the kids usually love you--it's like having mom or grandma there during the day . Thanks for doing a hard but important job!
Few are against healthy eating. What many find offensive is REQUIRED healthy eating.
It's not an issue of diet, but an issue of liberty.
You know what's really funny? The same crowd who has a fit about people on food stamps buying cheetos and birthday cakes are the first to freak out when those items aren't offered as part of tax payer funded school lunches. Go figure. I'm a R--fighting against responsible spending of my tax dollars makes zero sense to me. If you want "liberty" you're completely free to spend your own money and send your kids to school with junk--just don't make me pay for it.
I wish they did everything a la carte and let the kids just take what they would eat (healthy food of course). The waste I see is unbelievable with what I see today. Each kid gets their tray with the allocated foods. They get that 1/2 orange and just toss it if they don't like oranges. I've seen kids get trays and only drink the milk and toss everything else.
Such a waste.
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. Thanks for doing a hard but important job!
