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I merely raise this point as I spend enough time in the kids school to see the result of poor parental nutritional choices. Guess who has to deal with it, the teachers, and OUR children. The classes are disruptive, and it hinders the learning process of OUR children. Is that okay? Obviously I am not talking about a turkey sandwich, but one of my daughter's classmates, who is exceedigly hyperactive anyway, brings as her morning snack every morning a big bag of M&M's. Chaos ensues shortly thereafter. So no one should be able to say anything about that?
The teacher should discuss it with the parent. It is up to the parent to change it if the parent agrees that it needs to be changed. Like it or not the parent should have the final say about what their child eats. It is not the teacher, the principal, and especially not some government food monitor's place to have the final say in what the child should eat.
In ANY program that provides meals for preschool aged children there are nutritional guidelines that must be met no matter what kind of program it is. Anyone who has used a preschool, child care center or home child care has already been subject to these guidelines, whether they realize it or not.
The program that offers the food should certainly be required to offer balanced choices. However, the parent is should be permitted to give her child what she sees fit when the food is brought from home. It is a COLOSSAL over reach by the federal government to regulate the food that a child brings from home. It is also a COLOSSAL waste of money to be providing food that a child will not eat and then charging the parent for that food.
If I want my child to drink milk I will send milk. If I send something else then that's what I want my child to have. The mere presence of a USDA program on site at a preschool does not all of a sudden give the USDA authority to tell me what my child should be eating.
The mere presence of a USDA program on site at a preschool does not all of a sudden give the USDA authority to tell me what my child should be eating.
Actually, that's where you are wrong.
A public school that receives Federal aid and is on the Federally-funded school lunch program is financed by taxpayer dollars. Therefore the publicly-funded 'oversight committee' of the USDA can tell you what your child can eat on the premises. When you place your child in a government school, you also place him/her under the government control, and by doing so - whether you realize it or agree to it or not - you 'agree' to all of their requirements.
Schools receive their monthly reimbursements for free-and-reduced lunches based on how many students are on the free-and-reduced lunch program; the higher the percentage, the more they receive. Students who bring their lunch are not counted; but even the students who pay full price are subsidized to a certain extent. If over 60% of the student body is LMI - Low to Moderate Income - and receives free or reduced lunches, the school gets "Severe Need" status - which increases their overall reimbursement.
Most schools will not get involved in what a child brings from home to eat; mainly because the hassle is not worth the effort. Some parents will move or change schools, some will pull their kids out and homeschool (which means that the school loses money via their population loss) if pushed or harassed. However, some teachers and administrators choose to try to raise their numbers any way they can; mainly by asking parents to file for f/r lunches and trying to fit them into the program. However, if you persistently send your child to school with food that they can deem "unhealthy" - and they want to flex their authority - they can utilize social services and even law enforcement to investigate child neglect, and use your 'unhealthy' food as part of their accusation.
What do you think was the purpose of the introduction of the BMI - body mass index - into the schools and health programs for youths? Another control factor to dictate how schools train and control your children - and receive Federal monies (via PE programs) thereby. The mass outcry against this determination has quieted it - but it will resurface again and again - because it is about control over your children and who has it, you or your government-funded school.
15 years ago I helped defend a strict vegetarian family against child abuse/neglect charges that stemmed from teachers at their public school insisting that the parents did not follow USDA guidelines for healthy children. After six months and many court appearances, the family was disrupted; their children put into foster care where they were fed meat - and then the charges were dropped. So don't think the schools can't tell you what to feed your children - the minute they enter those doors, your children come under their scrutiny and control, and you cede it. Any supercilious power freak bent on order and raising their Federal funding can take it into their head to make your life a living hell - for your own and your children's own good. So what if your child's BMI is incorrectly determined, or the food that you send to school with them is far better than what the mass-produced cafeteria food puts out? What matters is the bureaucracy and the funding.
The only thing that keeps this from happening more often is that administrators don't want the hassle and the public outcry. But you'd better believe that if they think they can get away with it by claiming it is for the good of your poor neglected, abused, and starving/obese child, they will.
BTW, I've got news for you - the ONLY difference in the food your children get at school and the mass-produced 'prechewed' fast food is in preparation - the fast-food places and the schools order from the same companies, it simply arrives on different trucks.
BTW, I've got news for you - the ONLY difference in the food your children get at school and the mass-produced 'prechewed' fast food is in preparation - the fast-food places and the schools order from the same companies, it simply arrives on different trucks.
I agree with most of what you say above about the schools flexing when and where they choose. But this I don't. Not all school systems are the same. The group that has been contracted to do the school lunches around here is a catering company (not sure how much other catering they do anymore since it looks like school breakfast and lunch is pretty good business despite being a pretty good value for the families). They cook the food themselves. Home made pizza with wheat crust. They make their own chicken nuggets. Breakfast burritos. Stuff I would call decent if not perfect. Since we don't go for perfect in this family, it works for us. They rely too heavily on "complex" carbs IMO. But that is my own little pet nutritional thing.
The program that offers the food should certainly be required to offer balanced choices. However, the parent is should be permitted to give her child what she sees fit when the food is brought from home. It is a COLOSSAL over reach by the federal government to regulate the food that a child brings from home. It is also a COLOSSAL waste of money to be providing food that a child will not eat and then charging the parent for that food.
If I want my child to drink milk I will send milk. If I send something else then that's what I want my child to have. The mere presence of a USDA program on site at a preschool does not all of a sudden give the USDA authority to tell me what my child should be eating.
It was not the "federal government" who did this. It was a state employee who was there to make sure the students' lunches complied with the guidelines of the program their parents volunteered to join.
I merely raise this point as I spend enough time in the kids school to see the result of poor parental nutritional choices. Guess who has to deal with it, the teachers, and OUR children. The classes are disruptive, and it hinders the learning process of OUR children. Is that okay? Obviously I am not talking about a turkey sandwich, but one of my daughter's classmates, who is exceedigly hyperactive anyway, brings as her morning snack every morning a big bag of M&M's. Chaos ensues shortly thereafter. So no one should be able to say anything about that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momma_bear
The teacher should discuss it with the parent. It is up to the parent to change it if the parent agrees that it needs to be changed. Like it or not the parent should have the final say about what their child eats. It is not the teacher, the principal, and especially not some government food monitor's place to have the final say in what the child should eat.
My kids teachers have all had a "no candy for snack" rule. The parents are told at the beginning of the year. If the teacher sees candy and snack time she makes the child put it away. This is a perfectly reasonable classroom rule IMO.
What I don't understand is, both classes do an "estimation jar". The student of the week fills the jar with whatever they choose, and the kids estimate how many. Afterward, it is distributed to the class. 90% of the time, it is some kind of candy. They both get off the bus eating candy every Friday! When it was our turn I sent erasers and bouncy balls. Not sure why the no candy rule doesn't extend to this.
As for the OP, it seems to be a non-event. It was a combination of a special tax-funded program, it sounds like, and a child who misunderstood her instructions.
I wonder how many people who don't think a state-funded preschool program for low-income families should ensure that those kids receive adequate nutrition ALSO have a problem with the proposition that welfare recipients be subject to drug testing. If I could stomach P&OC, I would ask. There are obvious issues for discussion either way, but the fact remains that the parents in that program agreed to abide by the rules.
A public school that receives Federal aid and is on the Federally-funded school lunch program is financed by taxpayer dollars. Therefore the publicly-funded 'oversight committee' of the USDA can tell you what your child can eat on the premises.
I don't see how that can be true. Just because the USDA runs a program in a school that does not mean children not participating in the program are under the jurisdiction of the USDA. The USDA program may be funded by taxpayer dollars but lunch sent in by a parent is not funded by taxpayer dollars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
When you place your child in a government school, you also place him/her under the government control, and by doing so - whether you realize it or agree to it or not - you 'agree' to all of their requirements.
No. Not true. The school does not have the authority to completely control a child simply because a child is attending a government school.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
However, if you persistently send your child to school with food that they can deem "unhealthy" - and they want to flex their authority - they can utilize social services and even law enforcement to investigate child neglect, and use your 'unhealthy' food as part of their accusation.
Of course they can ask for an investigation, but at least in that case there is an investigation instead of just a blanket rejection of the parent's authority. In the case of a social services investigation the state will have to prove that a child's entire diet is unhealthy not just that there was a milk missing from a lunch. Children who are neglected by their parents should be investigated by social services. Deciding a child doesn't need milk in their lunch does not constitute neglect and you know it. This case is an EXTREME over reach by the USDA person involved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
because it is about control over your children and who has it, you or your government-funded school.
My kids do not attend a government funded school. However, I do not think that parents should quietly cede their parental authority to schools. If parent resist the effort to control their children schools and federal agencies will have to think twice before trying to grab more power from parents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
The only thing that keeps this from happening more often is that administrators don't want the hassle and the public outcry. But you'd better believe that if they think they can get away with it by claiming it is for the good of your poor neglected, abused, and starving/obese child, they will.
BTW, I've got news for you - the ONLY difference in the food your children get at school and the mass-produced 'prechewed' fast food is in preparation - the fast-food places and the schools order from the same companies, it simply arrives on different trucks.
This is exactly why parents need to make a fuss when things like this happen. The bigger a hassle it is for the schools to control the lives of children, the less likely it is to happen. My kids attend a private school and bring lunch from home almost every day. They do not really like the school lunch and at a private school lunch is expensive ($5).
I wonder how many people who don't think a state-funded preschool program for low-income families should ensure that those kids receive adequate nutrition ALSO have a problem with the proposition that welfare recipients be subject to drug testing. If I could stomach P&OC, I would ask. There are obvious issues for discussion either way, but the fact remains that the parents in that program agreed to abide by the rules.
Parents sending lunch from home are not participating in a government program.
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, from a government perspective over in P&OC:
