[Villages PL]

What got me about this article is how tough kids have it today:

The article says, "They took away the fried chicken." OMG! In it's place they are expected to eat three baked chicken tenders covered in whole grain breading. This is cruelty! If a parent did this, the kid would be taken from the home and put in child protective services. This is simply unacceptable.
No kid should be put through this kind of abusive treatment.

And that's not all. There are no more French fries! The fries are baked!

These poor kids may end up needing the services of a psychologist for PTSD.

Sorry, I can't continue this any longer - I'm getting too choked up.

[OBXNana]

It wasn't until our son, about 24 at the time, met his current wife and realized French fries could be fried in the home. He thought they were baked in the oven and only eating out could produce that fried potato. This is not a stupid young man, it was the way he was brought up with dinners at his house.

With new guidelines of school lunches there is a lot of waste. The child brought up on burgers and fries will not suddenly think kale is cool. IF and I say IF, the student eats breakfast, is it better to allow them to eat pizza for lunch, rather than throw away a salad? The brain needs food to function, is a slice of pizza better than nothing? Can you change the mind set of a 5 to 18 year old for the 180 days they attend school?

It begins in the home and the hope is exposure at school will teach better eating habits. They have to take that first bite and I'm not sure they do or will.

[Sandtrap328]

Sure, pizza and a can of soda tastes great for a school lunch. No dispute with that.

However, if oven baked breaded chicken tenders, baked french fries, and a cold carton of milk was the only thing offered, the kids would eat it. Kids will not go hungry voluntarily. They might find out it is tasty. Maybe, schools could send home recipes for the parents could try them on weekends.

[OBXNana]

Originally Posted by Sandtrap328

Sure, pizza and a can of soda tastes great for a school lunch. No dispute with that.

However, if oven baked breaded chicken tenders, baked french fries, and a cold carton of milk was the only thing offered, the kids would eat it. Kids will not go hungry voluntarily. They might find out it is tasty. Maybe, schools could send home recipes for the parents could try them on weekends.

Since the school year began, a local TV station did a report on school lunch waste. The trash cans had more food in them, than the kids. In our area, the kids simply are not eating. Our daughter is a teacher and she said in her school, many of the students have begun packing their lunches. For those students that the parents may not have time, the lunches are getting pitched. Our daughter said many of the students are dropped off in the morning with a bag from Dunkin Donuts with the child's breakfast of donut sandwich and chocolate milk.

The idea of recipes is a good one and with schools being on the Internet with parents checking daily, it would be something where the home could help. Many of today's youth leave school, get picked up by parent, stop at McDonalds, and head to soccer practice. This may be our geographic area and not typical.

Bottom line, so far in our area the kids simply are not eating. The TV news cast was not where our daughter teaches. At least two school districts have found this year, the kids will go without food. Maybe in the city the kids are hungry enough to eat what they're given, but in suburbia PA they don't.

[Villages PL]

Whether kids eat or not is up to them, as some have stated. Also, whether kids will be overweight or not is largely up to them and their family. So, you might ask, why should the schools serve healthy lunches? I think it's a good idea for schools to not set a bad example; instead they should try to set a good example.

Everything that happens in school teaches a lesson to young impressionable minds. Hopefully, the English teacher speaks proper English etc.. So why should food be any different? Schools should serve proper, healthy, whole foods so kids might learn good from bad.

If kids want to bring their own lunch, that's fine. In that case it's the parents that will take responsibility for their kids.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

...If kids want to bring their own lunch, that's fine. In that case it's the parents that will take responsibility for their kids.

Just in that case? [emoji15]

[tomwed]

Back in the 50�s, 60�s and 70�s my friend's mother made him a bologna sandwich on white bread with ketchup every single day, Catholic Grammar through High School. The sandwich sat in his desk or locker until lunch time.

When we were in college and knew a little more about refrigerators, bologna and white bread we would laugh about this, a lot.

I lost track of him and hope he's alive and well.

ps Back in the day, he was thin, athletic and not the least bit sickly. It was a different time and place.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by tomwed

Back in the 50�s, 60�s and 70�s my friend's mother made him a bologna sandwich on white bread with ketchup every single day, Catholic Grammar through High School. The sandwich sat in his desk or locker until lunch time.

When we were in college and knew a little more about refrigerators, bologna and white bread we would laugh about this, a lot.

I lost track of him and hope he's alive and well.

ps Back in the day, he was thin, athletic and not the least bit sickly. It was a different time and place.

I hear ya, only we had bologna with mayo, tuna with mayo and Yankee Doodles for breakfast. Nobody was sick or overweight. No peanut kids, no hand sanitizers on our desks just our daily dose of salmonella

[sunnyatlast]

A friend of mine worked as a high school cafeteria assistant cook/server from mid 1990s thru 2007. She said of all the various entrees offered, pizza was the only thing the kids wanted and ate it day after day and didn't get tired of it.

I don't see what's wrong with pizza and some fresh fruit and salad to choose or not choose. Whenever adults mandate what kids are to eat, they will choose the opposite because it's THEIR choice.

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by Patty55

I hear ya, only we had bologna with mayo, tuna with mayo and Yankee Doodles for breakfast. Nobody was sick or overweight. No peanut kids, no hand sanitizers on our desks just our daily dose of salmonella

Chocolate, salmonella and strawberry was our favorite ice cream. [don't tell the no milk guy---shhhhhhh]

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

What if the district agreed with the "government"?

[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

What if the district agreed with the "government"?

Here are 81 pages of Federal Register discussion on it. This is only a tiny portion of the federal program's website pages....... Maybe somebody here can make sense of it.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012.../2012-1010.pdf

And heres a 108-page manual on determining eligibility for school meals free or getting assistance:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/defaul.../cn/EliMan.pdf

[Buckeyephan]

Obviously, most of the people making decisions about school food have never done lunch duty in an elementary school. My school had over 60% of the students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch. We had the healthiest trash cans where most of the fruit went. The lunch program was supposed to feed kids who would have gone hungry without this. These kids couldn't have been too hungry because they chose to throw out their lunches rather than eat something they didn't like. So, the schools are between a rock and a hard place. What the the kids want isn't very healthy but they won't eat what is healthy. Good intentions are making many empty bellies. Oh, and we weren't allowed to encourage them to actually eat the food. They had to take a certain number of offered items even if they threw it away. Our tax dollars at work.

[tomwed]

I have a possible solution that is riddled with holes. It's a work in progress so feel free to help it along..

Every monday the student can choose between a turkey sandwich on whole wheat or a PBJ on whole wheat. tuesday, roast beef; wednesday baked virginia ham, thursday, turkey; friday, cheese [this needs tweeking]. And you get 2 pieces of fruit and milk.


Here's the kicker: If you choose not to take what is being offered you can put the lunch or any part of the lunch into a food basket. There will be no leftovers. At the end of the day a volunteer will take the food basket to a homeless shelter where it will be appreciated. The caf ladies and maintenance workers will have it easier. Hopefully, the quality of cold cuts will be better than the least expensive available which is what was served in my district.

Call it a uniform lunch code. One good thing about school uniforms is that it's not as obvious who the rich kids are.

Here are the lessons learned:
1] Nutrition is important
2] Charity is important
3] Not everyone will pander to your taste buds or other tastes.
4] In school, unfortunate kids eat the same as fortunate kids
5] Money is an object.
6] You have the right to complain about the menu. And if you can think of a better solution that addresses all the other lessons; you will be appreciated by many and we will make changes.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

A friend of mine worked as a high school cafeteria assistant cook/server from mid 1990s thru 2007. She said of all the various entrees offered, pizza was the only thing the kids wanted and ate it day after day and didn't get tired of it.

I don't see what's wrong with pizza and some fresh fruit and salad to choose or not choose. Whenever adults mandate what kids are to eat, they will choose the opposite because it's THEIR choice.

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

School itself is government mandated: There's a dress code and behavior code among others. Why should food be any different? The whole thing is bureaucratic from top to bottom.