"free" school breakfasts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers at my school hate it. It is messy and the kids drop the food which brings mice and bugs. They have to dump the unused milk in the sink which causes clogs. It takes forever for the kids to eat it.

Guatemalan schools will have these issues.

Milk causes sink clogs. Really?

[Anonymous]

OP, I think it's time for you to home school.

[Anonymous]

How about the schools teach and the parents parent... is that so crazy??

Next the President is going to say all children starting from birth thru age 5 need to be in federally sponsored education 'programs'... oh wait...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several elementary schools are offering free breakfast within the classroom and more will start soon.
The problem I have with it is that many of the breakfasts are junk food - chocolate milk and juice are drink options, and entrees include cinnamon buns, French toast sticks, pancakes and "panwiches" (syrupy pancake rolls with processed chicken sausage inside). I don't want my elementary school kid eating this stuff. How can a kid who is totally sugared up sit still and focus on school?
This food is especially bad for the littlest kids.
Can schools either opt out totally of these wonderful free breakfasts, or substitute cereal for the worst offenses? I know they offer cereal as an option on the side but I'm thinking it'd be better if the whole school was served cereal instead of forcing a kid to choose to be the only kid in class to give up a sticky-sweet cinnamon roll.
It's not as if the cereal is great - it seems like the choices are things like Frosted Flakes instead of plain Cheerios - but it's got to be better than a "panwich."
And can the school decide they won't serve chocolate milk at breakfast, only regular milk?
If they weren't giving it to kids in the classroom, I wouldn't fuss but they throw this junk right in their faces.
If anyone knows the rules about what kind of control individual schools have over what they give kids, I'd be interested.

Give your kid a proper breakfast and tell them to have the juice and fruit if they want it. There was a huge study into the benefits of this program... I'd suggest you research them.

Teachers love it. Breakfast=kids staying on task. with the food were better but better than no breakfast. The research is clear on this one.

Not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several elementary schools are offering free breakfast within the classroom and more will start soon.
The problem I have with it is that many of the breakfasts are junk food - chocolate milk and juice are drink options, and entrees include cinnamon buns, French toast sticks, pancakes and "panwiches" (syrupy pancake rolls with processed chicken sausage inside). I don't want my elementary school kid eating this stuff. How can a kid who is totally sugared up sit still and focus on school?
This food is especially bad for the littlest kids.
Can schools either opt out totally of these wonderful free breakfasts, or substitute cereal for the worst offenses? I know they offer cereal as an option on the side but I'm thinking it'd be better if the whole school was served cereal instead of forcing a kid to choose to be the only kid in class to give up a sticky-sweet cinnamon roll.
It's not as if the cereal is great - it seems like the choices are things like Frosted Flakes instead of plain Cheerios - but it's got to be better than a "panwich."
And can the school decide they won't serve chocolate milk at breakfast, only regular milk?
If they weren't giving it to kids in the classroom, I wouldn't fuss but they throw this junk right in their faces.
If anyone knows the rules about what kind of control individual schools have over what they give kids, I'd be interested.

Give your kid a proper breakfast and tell them to have the juice and fruit if they want it. There was a huge study into the benefits of this program... I'd suggest you research them.

This is very misguided response. Yes, some breakfast is better than no breakfast. However, giving empty calories is not only creating obesity but malnourishment in the same individual at the same time. The most vulnerable kids are FARMS kids who are mostly AA and Hispanics. They may even lack funds and knowledge to make correct nutritional choices for their families. The human brain also thrives and can learn when it id well nourished. So, we need to rethink not only what we serve to the kids but also how we can support and educate the parents to make good nutritional choices for their children.

If the schools are feeding the children then it should be giving choices for whole grains, 5 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables, and proteins like beans or eggs. No reason to serve mainly refined flour, juice, syrup and fried stuff.
Teachers love it. Breakfast=kids staying on task. with the food were better but better than no breakfast. The research is clear on this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about the schools teach and the parents parent... is that so crazy??

Next the President is going to say all children starting from birth thru age 5 need to be in federally sponsored education 'programs'... oh wait...

+1

[Anonymous]

Wow, the free breakfast at my DCPS consists of fruit, whole grain pancakes, English muffins with egg and cheese and non sugar-coated cereal. I was really surprised to see really nice healthy options. How could MCPS be so far off. Can the parents lobby for better options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, the free breakfast at my DCPS consists of fruit, whole grain pancakes, English muffins with egg and cheese and non sugar-coated cereal. I was really surprised to see really nice healthy options. How could MCPS be so far off. Can the parents lobby for better options?

at our MCPS we had creal only twice (rice crispies).
There is cinnamon bun one a week, pancakes once a week, panwich one a week, egg burrito once (it's 50% corn), and cinnamon sticks or a bagel with cream cheese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in no way advocating for these crappy breakfasts, OP, but FYI the whole sugar=hyper myth has been debunked.

What about sugar = obesity
and obesity = type 2 diabetes

My friend's a ped. She says obesity among the young IS an epidemic w/in lower SES population. I teach in a low-performing school. Kids are overweight, and based on the crap I see them eat, I am not surprised. Do you really think some obese kid is going to perform well? Diabetes is a killer, folks, and the school system isn't helping matters.

My daughter, who's 10, had to rely on the cafeteria one day b/c she left her lunch at home. She said she could barely get through her grilled cheese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about the schools teach and the parents parent... is that so crazy??

Next the President is going to say all children starting from birth thru age 5 need to be in federally sponsored education 'programs'... oh wait...

Schools are now also social services programs.

With the new Code of (MIS)conduct, subsidized meals, and mental health services, there's no time to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the schools teach and the parents parent... is that so crazy??

Next the President is going to say all children starting from birth thru age 5 need to be in federally sponsored education 'programs'... oh wait...

+1

I totally agree. Parent your child. As in, if you don't want your child eating the FARMS breakfast, state "Child, I don't want you eating breakfast at school. Eat your breakfast at home." As for the hungry children who actually need breakfast in school, why would you begrudge them? Of all the things to piss vinegar over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers at my school hate it. It is messy and the kids drop the food which brings mice and bugs. They have to dump the unused milk in the sink which causes clogs. It takes forever for the kids to eat it.

Guatemalan schools will have these issues.

Milk causes sink clogs. Really?

Yes, really. They pour the milk and piece of soggy cereal in the sink (the admin doesn't want any milk in the trash bags in the hallway trashcans) so the sinks clog on a daily basis. The school smells on sour milk. The older kids (3rd-5th) can come 15 mins early to eat in the cafeteria and the younger kids have to eat in their classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers at my school hate it. It is messy and the kids drop the food which brings mice and bugs. They have to dump the unused milk in the sink which causes clogs. It takes forever for the kids to eat it.

Don't they eat in the cafeteria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, the free breakfast at my DCPS consists of fruit, whole grain pancakes, English muffins with egg and cheese and non sugar-coated cereal. I was really surprised to see really nice healthy options. How could MCPS be so far off. Can the parents lobby for better options?

MCPS is not so far off. All of the school meals have to meet federal guidelines.

Here is the elementary school breakfast menu:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/2014-Dec-ElementaryMenu_English.WEB.pdf

This month it's

Monday: whole grain chicken sausage "panwich"
Tuesday: whole grain pancakes
Wednesday: whole grain egg and cheese wrap
Thursday: whole grain breakfast sandwich
Friday: whole grain cinnamon roll

plus assorted fruits/fruit juice and fat free or 1% white milk.

And the cinnamon roll is not a Cinnabon cinnamon roll -- it has 232 calories, 7 g of fat, 5 g of fiber, and 5 g of protein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the schools teach and the parents parent... is that so crazy??

Next the President is going to say all children starting from birth thru age 5 need to be in federally sponsored education 'programs'... oh wait...

+1

I totally agree. Parent your child. As in, if you don't want your child eating the FARMS breakfast, state "Child, I don't want you eating breakfast at school. Eat your breakfast at home." As for the hungry children who actually need breakfast in school, why would you begrudge them? Of all the things to piss vinegar over.

Poor children should be the beneficiary of food stamps, WIC and other programs. That’s the entire point of these programs, right? So parents can provide for their children. If these programs are a failure they should be immediately nullified for they are extraordinary expensive and loaded with abuse and fraud. Let’s take it a step further, why are school cafeterias discriminating based on age?? Obviously if the parent is incapable of using food stamps to buy food or make food for the child, the parent must be hungry too. How can a hungry parent raise a child, we must open the school cafeterias for all family members, not just the children, and why limit it to families, there are many hungry people out there. And why limit it to breakfast and lunch, we must provide dinner too. Obviously I’m being cynical but expansion of government programs in the schools does appear limitless and it all detracts from the schools mission which is to teach. If school’s returned to that mission, the education they provide would improve. Thus I’m not P-ing vinegar… I’m offering solutions that will actually help.