But, meal planning, hasn't been the only food matter boggling my mind lately. I have heard/read about two stories recently that have my mind boggled: 1) a Canadian preschool sent a letter home saying that sack lunches were no longer acceptable unless there was a doctor's note for medical necessity and 2) a preschool (Canadian too?) fined a mother, who provided a perfectly acceptable lunch, for not providing a grain/ they provided garbage Ritz crackers and sent her the bill.
My reaction: ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING, ME?????? SERIOUSLY?????
I know the overall idea is schools provide meals to kids because sometimes it is the child's only 'healthy' meal. Let's all feel good about that. However, I am here to tell say what they provide overall is GARBAGE. Gone are the days of hot food cafeterias with funny lunch ladies in silly hair nets; gone is the fresh prepared food; gone are the trays with silverware and the clanking of the dishwasher. After working at the elementary level for three years, I saw what Irvine (a good district) provided for hot meals........prepackaged, plastic wrapped need-to-be-reheated entrees that were along the lines of chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, bagel pizzas, taco sticks, and occasionally fried chicken and mashed potatoes; vegetables that were rarely taken (or just tossed in the trash), sometimes fresh fruit but mostly prepackaged fruit cups, and milk or juice. If you are vegetarian, you are stuck with a random mac-n-cheese or plastic wrapped quesadilla with little to no nutritional value.
So, I ask WHY and HOW it is acceptable for the school to tell ME what I can and cannot do with my childrens' lunches. How dare they? So many thoughts run through my mind:
1) What if my child needed a special diet - nut free/ gluten free/ dairy free/ egg free/ vegetarian/ paleo/ low-carb or whatever-the-hell the new rage is.....they should not have to have a note about it. What about kids with texture issues? It is what they eat, period. I have packed it; let them eat in peace.
2) Why is it the school's business what I give my kids to eat? I promise that as skinny as Ian is, he isn't malnutritioned. You have NO RIGHT to tell me what or what not to feed my kids. Even if I asked for lunch assistance, you are feeding my kids mostly crap. Don't deny it. If I am doing well, my kids will get veggies and fruit along with the sandwich on whole wheat bread, string cheese, potato chips, and granola bar. If I am having a bad morning, need groceries, simply not being motivated, or JUST BECAUSE, they will come with peanut butter and jelly (maybe even on white bread, the horror!), a few wheat thins, perhaps some cereal in a bag, and an applesauce. You got that???? Some parents send their kids with lunchables everyday but who am I to judge? I won't give my kids that, but why is it ok for the schools to decide what my kids have. I have seen some multicultural lunches in Irvine; I promise the homemade sushi rolls a lot of those kids get are way better than anything the school is serving.
3) How do schools have time or energy to micromanage lunches? I have worked at preschools too. At the preschool, we were supervising and helping open containers/packages, but we let the kids choose what they ate, when they ate it, and how much was consumed. I was more concerned about keeping them in one place and preventing choking than about Johnny eating his sandwich first. If Mom sends in chocolate pudding, etc. it is not my place to tell them to eat the sandwich first. That is Mom's battle to fight at home, but I promise if you send a 3yr old. with cookies or pudding they are eating it first. (Heck, my favorite saying is Eat Desserts First!)
4) Lastly, it is not about providing nutrition. It is about more control. It is not about preventing childhood obesity. If it were, then why are they providing processed garbage and cutting PE time.
Things like this really bring out the Momma Bear in me. I will continue to provide my kids with packed lunches that include homemade chicken noodle soup, chili, or gumbo; whole grain crackers; homemade chicken salad; leftover pot roast; hard-boiled eggs; sandwiches (nothing better than pb&j on Sunbeam bread!); pudding cups; Little Debbie cakes; granola bars; and whatever the heck I want.
Maybe adding nutrition to curriculums and not cutting PE time (or art/music programs that foster brain development) might be a better investment of time and energy.
And while they are busy staying out of my kids lunches and focusing on the important stuff, maybe they will realize that Common Core isn't all that great either. But that's another rant for another day.
