Sunday, March 15, 2009

School Lunchrooms

Attention all parents with elementary children. No matter what grade they are in. Have you been to lunch with them lately? Noooooooooo!!! Well then let me tell you what I see on a typical day. And please do not think that is not MY child because yes it is. Unless you are monitoring your child's lunch by actually going to the school and sitting through a 30 minute lunch with them you can not truly say you know what is happening. The child may tell you they are eating and the food may be gone but let me tell you what I see. And I go to lunch with my child at least twice a week if not more. Also,I have noticed a huge difference between the beginning of the school year and now. Mainly the kids are relaxed in school and know/remember the routine thus more kids are showing the behavior I describe below.

One or two bites taken of the main food like a sandwich, subs, pizza, etc and the rest thrown away. No veggies or fruit are eaten but most kids have them on their plate or in their lunch box. They get thrown away as well. Whole fruit.....never opened, touched or eaten and the kiddies just toss them away. Drinks........chocolate milk and juice are the favored flavors. White milk is okay for some. The kiddies buy a whole bottle of water from the snack isle but this is tossed with the lunch with only a few sips taken.

So what is eaten........snacks and junk food. Whether the kids eat a school lunch or bring one from home.....the snacks are consumed first and mainly. Kids then go buy more snacks in the snack isle. These snack are huge and cost too much money. Snack isles should be banned in schools.

Do not be fooled by your child bringing a lunch box....they toss the food no matter what. I have seen it first hand people! Even if the foods are in containers. They just dump the food and put back the containers....awful!!

I am highly appalled at the waste of food and money. I am disgusted by what the school says is a healthy lunch for the children. Too much sodium, carbohydrates, fats and not enough fresh fruits and veggies. I am speechless by what the parents are putting in a child's lunch box. Two and three snacks. Pretzels, chocolate, marshmallows, crackers and then a little debbie. Come on moms and dads......one of those is fine for the kiddies not all!

For the parents who let their child buy a school lunch. Many schools let you go online and monitor what they have bought. Please do this!! Every day not just once in a while.

Okay....I am done with my rant! But I may touch on this subject again....... you are forewarned!!

5 comments:

Karen said...

I totally agree with you. I can't say for the other children in Shawn's class as I'm concentrating on him when I go eat with him but he would talk and fool around the entire lunch and not even eat. In Shawn's school (at least for 1st grade not sure about the higher grades), they have to raise their hand before they can go to the snack line so the lunch aid can check to make sure they ate their sandwich or main part of their lunch first. I also think the schools serve way too much fried foods. I know Shawn may not eat everything I send in but I always make sure he eats a good breakfast and dinner. Shawn's not smart enough to throw away his uneaten food so I can see what he ate and didn't, lol.

Heather said...

well said. I'm not looking forward to this aspect of school. I get to avoid it for a little while though.

Scarlett said...

I know this is true... I saw it for myself on the days I went in and had lunch with Hayden. Hayden is not a big veggie and fruit eater any time, so I know he's not eating them at school. I try to give him the ones I know he will eat whenever I can control his meals at home. I am really happy with Hayden's teacher, though. She is constantly talking to the kids about eating their main "strong" foods first and saving the junk for last. Hayden has repeated this several times at home, so it must be sinking in for him. And as much as I know school lunches aren't exactly health food, Hayden has actually ventured out of his comfort zone and tried a lot of new things over the past two years. That's huge for him. Hayden is not a normal child when it comes to eating, though. I've always known that.

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you. I'm hoping that it's not my kid throwing away things, but I fear she may be corrupted by the others at school!

Melodie said...

While this is true for the majority of kids, it is not true for all kids. I think it really depends on the parents and how the kids are raised. I ate lunch with my girls quite often when they were in elementary school, and there were a few of their friends who always had a healthy meal and always ate their fruits and veggies. I never sent in any junk food for my girls, and there were other parents who didn't either. I also noticed that the kids who did bring in the junk food (and SODAS - gasp!) were the ones whose parents were feeding them that exact same stuff at home, so it wasn't just their lunch diets that were lacking in nutrition.