Should schools entice children to eat healthier lunches?

I think in general it's a good idea. Kids are lured by slick advertising, and there is no greater exploiter of that than fast food companies. It's an interesting change, as generally, with large food providers, healthier meals cost more. Kids will always be kids, and want to eat crap, but if this program will help, with the cooperation of parents who will also serve proper meals to their kids at home, I can't see it as a bad thing.

No they should not. The little nose-picking perishers should be lined up and offered the opportunity to exercise their god-given rights as consumers with the vending machines, or give a bowl of cold gruel.

What if they say "please sir, I want some more...."

Then we go into a lavish musical number with many waif-like dancers pirouetting with their gruel bowls . . .

One of my favourite Simpson's moments was when they serve beef hearts for a special Valentine's Day lunch and Bart says "Oh no, it's my baboon heart, my body's rejecting it!" and coughs the whole thing up to larfs all around, although I hear Christian Slater wasn't too happy with the joke.

Yes.

I'm a fan of Alice Waters, who surely agrees too. She is a chef who has promoted the use of fresh locally grown ingredients in some wonderfully delicious recipes. She spends a lot of time in her area helping schools and the children develop edible garden plots.

Here's an article about her work with local schools in yesterday's New York Times -


NYT article on Alice Waters/school gardens

Three cheers for the schools of Lynnwood, MA! Science-in-action.

It is so weird that you would post this today. Got in line and saw a student buying 1 pack chocolate chip cookes, 6 bags doritos, 1 chocolate milk and a soft pretzel for lunch.

I was gonna post that, Osso. It was interesting.

I think it would work better if there were more Trader Joes sorts of healthy-but-quick (and CHEAP) foods on the market. So many people either legitimately (working too much) or out of pure laziness just don't want to do the WORK involved in the kind of food preparation she talks about. But technology has advanced to the point (I'm thinking freezing techniques, etc.) that really perfectly decent and healthy stuff can be mass-produced.

I think american kids need all the help they can get. Even if parents are teaching their kids to eat healthy, kids will still be attracted to junk food. I'd like to present to the group, myself as exhibit A.

I saw an interesting article in the Lawrence Journal World today, that said that Ted Turner's (no relation) new restuarants are springing up all over the place. Where they do, Buffalo sales are going up. Buffalo is supposed to be healthier than beef, higher protein and lower in fat. The point being, that healthier alternatives do exist, and can be marketed correctly.

Personally, feeding my kids at school is the school's responsibility. (Making sure they're fed is mine, of course.) If they want to offer healthier foods, I'm all for it. Especially with the way obesity is a problem in this country now. And this kind of advertising is the kind that could work to sell kids on healthier foods.

What happened to parents sending healthy lunches to school with their kids? It's less expensive, and gives the parents more control over what their kids eat. Forget about sending them to school with money to buy lunch - make them their lunch.

Yeah, there's that. And in high school I ate about one in four of those lunches. My sister even less. All that hard work my mom put into it.

Kids now are lugging too much around. My oldests backpack probably weighs in at 16 lbs just for homework. That's a lot of books for an 11 y/o. My 9 y/o, is probably about half that, maybe a little more. Now add in a lunch box or sack, and it's just that much more for them to lug around. And given the fact that at my kids school, no one brings a lunch. . . easier to send money to school and have them get something there.

I used to get lunch made. The only thing I ever did in the school cafeteria was play poker. Can't remember actually eating there.

The problem with too many books, and too much homework has nothing to do with lunch.

and easier to send money does not mean better. At all. Ever.

Books and lunch have a lot to do with each other when you consider that it's that much more for the kids to carry around. Have you seen these kids carrying these heavy book bags? They're bent way to far over, and it's hurting them. While adding a lunch sack is not the same as throwing gas on a bonfire, it certainly doesn't make it any better.

The schools provide a balanced lunch. We make sure we're looking at our kids menus. There is variety, and healthy food. Sure, some food could be healthier than others.

Has for it being easier. . .

I work third shift. When most people around me are sleeping, I'm working. I get home in just enough time to make sure they're dressed and get on the bus safely. My wife deals with them at night. She gets to bed anytime between midnight and 2 a.m. She doesn't have time to get up early and make sure their lunches are made. While she could make them the previous night, the kinds of foods my kids like to eat to sit well with saying in the fridge made up all night. Condiments soaking into bread, making it soggy. Lunchmeat and cheese wet with condensation. Believe me, if we did just this, it would make the lunches inedible. So in our case, not only is it easier for us to pay for their meals, they actually end up eating. And not throwing away food that has become soggy and wet from sitting in a fridge all night. So not only easier, but better too.

I don't see why kids are even given a choice of what they have for lunch. I was never given a choice. If I was a teacher I wouldn't want kids on a sugar high anyway, and you know they would be if they were eating lunch out of a vending machine.

Kids are just kids, not royalty... they need guidance and help when it comes to learning how to take care of themselves.

We had a really good salad bar in my high school. I ate it every day.

A cogent point well-taken.

My grandmother always made a sack lunch for us, and i was very pleased at that, as when i was obliged to buy my lunch in the cafeteria, the food really sucked. Personally, my favorite was fried bologna sammiches . . .