Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you saying it's too expensive- you should see the lovely meals my preschoolers eat in preschool compared to the dog food given to my elementary schooler. And all the preschoolers eat it and enjoy it.

Obviously the preschoolers meals are mass produced, but can you imagine the outrage if my 2 year old was served a honey bun? I think the 2 year old teachers would have a heart attack if they had to put up with the behavior of 2 year olds who all ate a honey bun. They'd be bouncing off the walls. My 2nd grader routinely eats honey buns for breakfast, donuts, etc. In our school everyone gets a free lunch, so everyone is served "breakfast" as they walk through the door in the morning. Even the juice has got to go. My preschoolers are never served juice or chocolate milk. They get milk or water, just like parents serve at home.

+1
Breakfast is the worst. Why don’t they just serve cheerios and white milk??

This is one literally one of the breakfast options that students (at least in the ES) have in FCPS.

I think though people are saying they should *just* have cheerios and white milk and fruit and not tempt kids with muffins (aka cupcakes) and poptarts and chocolate milk and french toast sticks etc. I kind of agree with that.

Yes. Exactly. Why in the world is a sugar fest an option to pick when there is a healthy and good tasting option that is also cheap to offer them.

Because parents will complain. There are a large number of parents that feed their kids this stuff, but would rather school did it for free. Also add in, there are very few kids actually without any food/starving at home.

Schools serve the sugar crap because that is what kids (and parents) want and what they typically eat. It gets taken and eaten by most of the kids. Then the school admins can pat themselves on the back because they are feeding kids. If they moved to heathy, simple options only (white milk, cheerios, bananas, raisins) it would mostly get passed over. Because the kids aren’t truly hungry, they just want sugar and will eat it if offered. We have an obesity epidemic; especially among the low income population.

So let them complain! JFC. Some of us complain to MCPS about all the sugar laden breakfasts and we are just ignored. They could take the same approach who complain that their kids no longer get cinnamon buns for free.

But the difference is the cinnamon buns get eaten. If they served white milk and plain cherrios, it would be largely passed over by most kids. So much so that the schools would eventually come to the conclusion it wasn’t needed and they would drop serving breakfast. Then parents would start to complain (again) and they would bring back sugar crap

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you saying it's too expensive- you should see the lovely meals my preschoolers eat in preschool compared to the dog food given to my elementary schooler. And all the preschoolers eat it and enjoy it.

Obviously the preschoolers meals are mass produced, but can you imagine the outrage if my 2 year old was served a honey bun? I think the 2 year old teachers would have a heart attack if they had to put up with the behavior of 2 year olds who all ate a honey bun. They'd be bouncing off the walls. My 2nd grader routinely eats honey buns for breakfast, donuts, etc. In our school everyone gets a free lunch, so everyone is served "breakfast" as they walk through the door in the morning. Even the juice has got to go. My preschoolers are never served juice or chocolate milk. They get milk or water, just like parents serve at home.

+1
Breakfast is the worst. Why don’t they just serve cheerios and white milk??

This is one literally one of the breakfast options that students (at least in the ES) have in FCPS.

I think though people are saying they should *just* have cheerios and white milk and fruit and not tempt kids with muffins (aka cupcakes) and poptarts and chocolate milk and french toast sticks etc. I kind of agree with that.

Yes. Exactly. Why in the world is a sugar fest an option to pick when there is a healthy and good tasting option that is also cheap to offer them.

Because parents will complain. There are a large number of parents that feed their kids this stuff, but would rather school did it for free. Also add in, there are very few kids actually without any food/starving at home.

Schools serve the sugar crap because that is what kids (and parents) want and what they typically eat. It gets taken and eaten by most of the kids. Then the school admins can pat themselves on the back because they are feeding kids. If they moved to heathy, simple options only (white milk, cheerios, bananas, raisins) it would mostly get passed over. Because the kids aren’t truly hungry, they just want sugar and will eat it if offered. We have an obesity epidemic; especially among the low income population.

So let them complain! JFC. Some of us complain to MCPS about all the sugar laden breakfasts and we are just ignored. They could take the same approach who complain that their kids no longer get cinnamon buns for free.

Junk food is a drug and should be banned.
Kids should be served fresh fruits and veg and protein and truly whole grains. That’s it.

Junk should be banned in hospitals, schools, all public places.

We have a crisis of obesity and diabetes and all the other downstream diseases. This is an emergency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spend too much money on DEI and other pet social projects and not enough on putting together a nutritious menu for kids.

Isn’t this parents’ responsibility? Who puts together nutritious meals for you at work?

I agree it is the parent’s responsibility- however, I don’t want the kids to suffer because of their parents’ irresponsibility. I think we can manage to pay for every kid to get a sensible lunch- something like the sandwich, fresh fruit and milk option at minimum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you saying it's too expensive- you should see the lovely meals my preschoolers eat in preschool compared to the dog food given to my elementary schooler. And all the preschoolers eat it and enjoy it.

Obviously the preschoolers meals are mass produced, but can you imagine the outrage if my 2 year old was served a honey bun? I think the 2 year old teachers would have a heart attack if they had to put up with the behavior of 2 year olds who all ate a honey bun. They'd be bouncing off the walls. My 2nd grader routinely eats honey buns for breakfast, donuts, etc. In our school everyone gets a free lunch, so everyone is served "breakfast" as they walk through the door in the morning. Even the juice has got to go. My preschoolers are never served juice or chocolate milk. They get milk or water, just like parents serve at home.

+1
Breakfast is the worst. Why don’t they just serve cheerios and white milk??

This is one literally one of the breakfast options that students (at least in the ES) have in FCPS.

I think though people are saying they should *just* have cheerios and white milk and fruit and not tempt kids with muffins (aka cupcakes) and poptarts and chocolate milk and french toast sticks etc. I kind of agree with that.

Yes. Exactly. Why in the world is a sugar fest an option to pick when there is a healthy and good tasting option that is also cheap to offer them.

Because parents will complain. There are a large number of parents that feed their kids this stuff, but would rather school did it for free. Also add in, there are very few kids actually without any food/starving at home.

Schools serve the sugar crap because that is what kids (and parents) want and what they typically eat. It gets taken and eaten by most of the kids. Then the school admins can pat themselves on the back because they are feeding kids. If they moved to heathy, simple options only (white milk, cheerios, bananas, raisins) it would mostly get passed over. Because the kids aren’t truly hungry, they just want sugar and will eat it if offered. We have an obesity epidemic; especially among the low income population.

+1

All of this

Anonymous wrote:We spend too much money on DEI and other pet social projects and not enough on putting together a nutritious menu for kids.

Isn’t this parents’ responsibility? Who puts together nutritious meals for you at work?

Too many parents will complain “But muh kid’s allergies” if school menus were to change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack your kids lunch. Problem solved.

Schools won't let me send door dash or catered foods

Um…that is not packing a lunch.

It's better than school food.

Sending delivery food to school is unreasonable and problematic. Why can’t you just pack a lunch like a normal person and send it with them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack your kids lunch. Problem solved.

Schools won't let me send door dash or catered foods

Um…that is not packing a lunch.

It's better than school food.

Possibly, but probably not really, as many folks would send McDonalds or the like. Anyway that is a logistical nightmare - imagine having tons of Doordashers pulling up at the variety of lunch times kids have. My kids' school serves lunch starting at 11 am and ends at 1:30. Classes rotate obviously. But if this is truly an obstacle for PP, you can always Doordash or cater to your house the evening before and pack it to go.

The food served at my kids school (a presumably wealthy Bethesda school) is appalling. I pack my kids' lunches and let them order once a month only - they usually pick pizza day, though they admit the pizza is not nearly as good as from a real pizza place. I am really surprised at how many parents in this wealthy area let their kids eat the garbage the school serves - often for breakfast and lunch both. I am not someone who cares much about organic but I do care about lowering sugar, salt, and overall processing of food, but apparently I am in the minority.

The after care also serves terrible snacks - like pop tarts. Not kidding. Usually it's chips and fruit rollups, which aren't any better really, but when they come home saying they ate pop tarts I grind my teeth. I can see someone somewhere thinking chips and fruit rollups are healthy - though they are not - but no one in the whole world can possibly think a pop tart is healthy, so it drives me crazy that they serve this.

We spend too much money on DEI and other pet social projects and not enough on putting together a nutritious menu for kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack your kids lunch. Problem solved.

Schools won't let me send door dash or catered foods

Um…that is not packing a lunch.

It's better than school food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you saying it's too expensive- you should see the lovely meals my preschoolers eat in preschool compared to the dog food given to my elementary schooler. And all the preschoolers eat it and enjoy it.

Obviously the preschoolers meals are mass produced, but can you imagine the outrage if my 2 year old was served a honey bun? I think the 2 year old teachers would have a heart attack if they had to put up with the behavior of 2 year olds who all ate a honey bun. They'd be bouncing off the walls. My 2nd grader routinely eats honey buns for breakfast, donuts, etc. In our school everyone gets a free lunch, so everyone is served "breakfast" as they walk through the door in the morning. Even the juice has got to go. My preschoolers are never served juice or chocolate milk. They get milk or water, just like parents serve at home.

+1
Breakfast is the worst. Why don’t they just serve cheerios and white milk??

This is one literally one of the breakfast options that students (at least in the ES) have in FCPS.

I think though people are saying they should *just* have cheerios and white milk and fruit and not tempt kids with muffins (aka cupcakes) and poptarts and chocolate milk and french toast sticks etc. I kind of agree with that.

Yes. Exactly. Why in the world is a sugar fest an option to pick when there is a healthy and good tasting option that is also cheap to offer them.

Because parents will complain. There are a large number of parents that feed their kids this stuff, but would rather school did it for free. Also add in, there are very few kids actually without any food/starving at home.

Schools serve the sugar crap because that is what kids (and parents) want and what they typically eat. It gets taken and eaten by most of the kids. Then the school admins can pat themselves on the back because they are feeding kids. If they moved to heathy, simple options only (white milk, cheerios, bananas, raisins) it would mostly get passed over. Because the kids aren’t truly hungry, they just want sugar and will eat it if offered. We have an obesity epidemic; especially among the low income population.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you saying it's too expensive- you should see the lovely meals my preschoolers eat in preschool compared to the dog food given to my elementary schooler. And all the preschoolers eat it and enjoy it.

Obviously the preschoolers meals are mass produced, but can you imagine the outrage if my 2 year old was served a honey bun? I think the 2 year old teachers would have a heart attack if they had to put up with the behavior of 2 year olds who all ate a honey bun. They'd be bouncing off the walls. My 2nd grader routinely eats honey buns for breakfast, donuts, etc. In our school everyone gets a free lunch, so everyone is served "breakfast" as they walk through the door in the morning. Even the juice has got to go. My preschoolers are never served juice or chocolate milk. They get milk or water, just like parents serve at home.

+1
Breakfast is the worst. Why don’t they just serve cheerios and white milk??

This is one literally one of the breakfast options that students (at least in the ES) have in FCPS.

I think though people are saying they should *just* have cheerios and white milk and fruit and not tempt kids with muffins (aka cupcakes) and poptarts and chocolate milk and french toast sticks etc. I kind of agree with that.

Yes. Exactly. Why in the world is a sugar fest an option to pick when there is a healthy and good tasting option that is also cheap to offer them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack your kids lunch. Problem solved.

Schools won't let me send door dash or catered foods

Um…that is not packing a lunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools serve trash food because that is what most Americans eat. My kids go to a title one school where everyone gets free lunch. The fruits and vegetables are taken (because they have to) and are thrown away or thrown around the lunch room. The only milk that is taken is chocolate or the strawberry, no one drinks the white milk.

Honestly schools waste SO much money and food on school lunch and do such a poor job. They should end not lunch. It’s just packaged reheated crap.

Parents should be the ones responsible to fed their children. Just pack their lunch. Schools should offer free white milk, sandwiches (whole wheat bread PB/sunbutter or cold cuts/cheese), and whole fruit (bananas, apples, oranges). That’s it. No one would be hungry, there is something nutritious for everyone, and way less food and money waste

I agree with this. Given the current state of things (budget, logistics, lack of facilities etc) this would be preferable, realistic, and make a lot more sense. Milk, sandwich and fruit is just fine for lunch.

Some parents might consider that beneath their prince/princess

Doubt it. Those people are already packing lunch. What’s left are the parents that either don’t care or can’t afford to send food