Breakfast at School
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Anonymous
This should probably be a new thread, but it's something I've wondered about. WHY do only 15 kids eat the free breakfast at Murch? Do their moms think the food is crap? Are they serving something at home that's infinitely healthier? Is there a stigma to eating school breakfast? Also, does the same thing apply to school lunch? I was a school lunch kid growing up (still prefer hot lunch as an adult) and my kids eat school lunch at our EOTP DCPS school. But it seems like most of the kids from the better off families bring lunch. I feel like a lazy mom and I know my kids would like to take lunch, but I'm not sure it would be that much healther (plus it would be the same thing over and over probably). What is so bad about school lunch??? |
Anonymous
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My kids go to charters and they have never eaten school lunch. We've tried because I loathe packing lunches but they just prefer what we send from home.
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Anonymous
| What do you send from home? I'm assuming at has to stay at room temp all day? |
Anonymous
Ours does but still has it in the classroom for PK3/PK4. That's where it is supposed to be served in title 1 schools for ECE to encourage the kids to actually eat. |
Anonymous
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What you do or don't do with your children for breakfast and lunch is a parenting decision as much as it is about convenience. Serving one's child what one's child desires has to do with taking the easy route and with feeling guilty (I work full time, shouldn't I show my child some affection by fixing lunch?! wouldn't you know, there are parents who add notes and cut out heart shaped sandwiches for their kids...). This plays out on both ends of the SES spectrum. The packed lunches may just look a bit different. One has (mostly white) bagels or Whole Foods toast bread with peanut butter (or cream cheese, if PNB is banned) in it, along with some high fat/sodium Wheat Thins. The other comes with fried chicken and a bag of Cheetos. One adds a high sugar juice marked organic, the other comes with a Sunkist. One may add some veggies, which promptly land in the trash can. The differences are mostly trivial. I know so because I managed the lost and found for a while.
If you do the math, both of these packed lunches (exceptions granted on both ends of that spectrum!) are nutritionally poorer, less healthy, and less varied than what is being served hot at school at this point in time. If your kids complain, it's not because it isn't healthy or fancy but because they prefer PNB sandwiches, Cheetos, and juice. Of course, there is absolutely no denying that school lunch could still do a whole lot better, especially when it comes to food preparation. And, please, Dear Lord, let us replace the milk with some water! I got this question recently from my son (who grows up in a 250K income household): Mommy, are you against making me school lunches to save money? I had to put my thinking hat on and said the following: "There are many reasons why I insist you eat school lunches most of the time (exceptions granted, let's have a look at your menu): 1) Most importantly, there is no way I can fix you lunches that are - consistently - as varied and nutritionally balanced as what you're being served at school, and please don't just eat the bread and carrots! 2) I have a life. I would much rather play another game with you and then relax and go to bed on time so I can be rested when meeting you in the morning than fixing you lunch. That is how I show my motherly love to you. 3) Yes, the money we save lets us take you out to some of your favorite restaurants and try new foods." He seemed visibly relieved, knowing that we're not pinching pennies and that mom loves him just as much 
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Anonymous
| I'm surprised there are schools without cafeterias! So they eat lunch in the classrooms as well? Are they very old buildings from the days when kids used to go home for lunch? |
Anonymous
| Eh. We pack lunches for a picky eater and a food allergy kid. My preference is that they just eat something (anything!) during the school day, and they wouldn't touch almost anything served at our school for lunch. We can get more nutritious food into them at breakfast and dinner, I just want water and calories into them at lunch. |
Anonymous
Allergies aside, see this is what I (PP) mean: Should we give them an easy option because they're picky? Or - as I think I see it - are they picky because we give them an easy alternative? This all starts very early, about when we top off a lunches for a 6 month old with Goldfish and a bottle of milk. I refused to go that route. I've always been very explicit about this with my kids, who do occasionally (though very rarely) come home hungry. I never insists they eat it all and they absolutely have the right to fast. Just to reiterate, I feel this is a parenting decision, one that comes in very similar shapes and forms when it comes to sleep, play, homework, and other probably more important choices in life. |
Anonymous
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Sorry, 14:46, but if you don't have an experience with a truly picky eater, then you just don't know what you are talking about.
No one makes a parenting decision to have a picky eater. |
Anonymous
Wow, so judgmental! Why are you so invested in what other people's children eat? (Or is it really all about patting yourself on the back for having "good" eaters? LOL!) Some might say that a truly loving parent would be concerned if their child did not eat lunch, or a good parent would pack a healthy lunch rather than dining on DCPS-provided swill (remember the Chartwells debacle)?. |
Anonymous
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At our former school, heavily Title 1, preschoolers received breakfast in their classroom, served by the teacher's aide from about 8:20 - 8:40 am. Older kids could go to the cafeteria and get breakfast from around 8:00 to 8:35. A majority of kids ate at home, some would have second breakfasts, and others ate there every morning. They alsways have more food than they needed, my kids would sometimes eat a yogurt or a muffin or fruit if they saw something good.
Kids eat school breakfast not always because of their parents income - for some folks the schedule just worked out better. It's also good for kids who aren't hungry first thing in the morning. |
Anonymous
Glad you asked. We're all paying a price for suboptimal parenting choices when it comes to food, not least in the form of skyrocketing medical costs. Of course there isn't one "right" way and when referring to "parenting choice" that implies there are various different ways to effectively parent our children, inside and outside the school walls, regarding food, health and other relevant aspects. On a separate but related note, I find it always interesting to see how some of the same parents call for schools and governments to play a bigger role in "parenting" the supposedly downtrodden ("more boarding schools", as someone cried on a recent thread) but when it comes to "us" deny any connection about those two worlds - at home it's (supposedly) all healthy, at school it's just about calories and water. Very hypocritical if you ask me and maybe worth a second thought. (Lecture closed.) |
Anonymous
You created your picky eater by pandering to his (or her) desires. And yes, I do have a kid who can be picky. That's his problem. If he won't eat what's served he goes hungry. I doesn't go hungry and he's learned to try a variety of food. |
Anonymous
You must be new here. Most schools use their cafeteria as an auditorium and gym. |
Anonymous
| Don't some parents worry about the way that the meat was raised? At home you can cook grass fed beef that did not receive antibiotics, free range chicken, eggs from pastured hens, organic dairy etc. Pesticides on certain fruits and vegetables and added sugar, food dye, or preservatives is a concern too. |