Educating kids about food during lunch
Categories: Health & safety, Eating & nutrition, Development, Education
It's no secret that our children are not eating as healthily as they could be. We, as parents, can try to help them be eat healthier, but with the plethora of television ads for sweets and the availability of it in the stores, it is an uphill battle. So what to do? How do we tackle this ever growing issue? Some Florida elementary schools, with funding from the Agatston Research Foundation, founded in 2004 by Dr. Arthur Agatston, creator of the South Beach
"The success of the book gave me a bully pulpit and an opportunity to change the way Americans eat," Agatston says. "One of the obvious places to start is with children. And that means schools."
Sounds like a novel and good idea.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Trisha 8-22-2006 @ 5:56PM
I don't know what can be done either. Even if you don't keep junk food in the house and don't let them watch commercials for them either, they will be around it eventually at a friends or something. I guess the best you can hope for is that so far in their life they have learned good eating habits and won't unlearn them too quickly!
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Kristy 8-23-2006 @ 12:42AM
The schools around here- The cafeterias are completely commercialized! They truck in Domino's Pizza, Taco Bell, and Pepsi soda machines all over campus. You'd have to try really hard to get a decently healthy meal in our school system. It's laughable. I say ANY step toward changing this is a step in the right direction!
I put my foot down about junk food in the house. I don't buy Lunchables, or commercially prepared baked goods, or sugary soda. I send the kids to school with lunches I made that they actually eat, and carefully monitor their intake of snacks. The sweets they eat are baked from scratch in my home so I know what goes in them. It's unavoidable that some processed foods will be eaten, but I diligently keep this to a minimum.
And those who say they don't have the time- nonsense. I work full-time and commute, and I am a single parent. I go grocery shopping and bake on Sundays. I prepare everyone's lunches the night before so we all can "grab & go". A typical lunch for them (and me, too) consists of a sandwich, fruit, a bottle of water or Crystal Light, and a sweet (2 cookies). Today we had tuna wraps with lettuce, tomato & cream cheese, grapes, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. It took all of 5 minutes to throw it all together the night before.
Take 20 minutes one day and make individual portions of fruits, and sweets to last the week. You can literally throw a lunch together in 3 minutes. It's up to us as parents to do this for our kids. Occasionally, my kids will want to eat the school lunch. I do allow this once in a while. The key is moderation, that's all.
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