One of my six grandchildren is a 13 year old opinionated 8th grade middle school student. Today, she expressed her insights of the travesty of school lunches.
She packs her own lunches. These photo is an example of some of the items she might take to school to eat.
As my grand daughter and I were out for a walk she was stating how unhealthy it is to be seeing art and music programs being cut in school. She said, "Kids need a balance in academics, exercise and relaxation that includes music and art classes. "
This 13 year old is an A student; plays trumpet, basoon, flute and piano. She also runs cross country, swims and plays basket-ball.
Some how that budget cut lead to the fact that the school lunches are being wasted when money could be used for other programs.
I got an ear full as I just listened.
School hot lunch
"Nanna, you should see how much food goes into the garbage. The government is all about getting kids to eat healthy, but the quality of the food is very poor. The fresh fruits and vegetables are old and look bad. Vegetables are over cooked;soggy. Why would they want to eat something that looks that bad with no nutritional value left in - the way it is cooked?"
"I don't know why we aren't saving money by buying from local farmers."
"All the kids will eat is pizza. Now, they don't serve it any more for hot lunch at my school."
Then she went on to tell me about some middle school kids are bigger than the teachers and still growing. These kids might work out of play sports. The sad thing is they only get "kid servings' which is not enough for people the size they are. Teachers are served much larger portions because they are adults.
My teen age grand child is concerned about the bigger kids going hungry and not having enough to get them through the day to do their school work in class.
Sack lunch from home
The 13 year old made it a point to tell me how lacking in nutritional value the kids sack lunches are. "Cup cakes, Twinkies and bag of chips are all they eat."
I have to say that most junior high age kids are not vegans or lacto-ovo vegetarians like she is. This girl is very careful about what she eats. She researched her diet. This make her the odd student.
She was telling me about all of the food dyes that are banned in other countries but the kid chow down on "petroleum based garbage". She stated, "There is way too much sugar added and kids drinks too much soda pop."
I wonder just how many of my No Non-cents Nanna posts she reads. I am not making this up. The two of us really did have this conversation about the poor nutrition of today's middle school kid.
I felt like I was talking to my 13 year self wearing my grand child's body.
She went on to complain that other countries see the Americans as "fat, lazy and getting dumber every day. It is embarrasing!"
YIKES!
Now, it it your turn...
I think it would be interesting to hear what your middle school and high shoold kids have to say about the state of school lunch in your community.
I am Malika Bourne the No Non-centsNanna saying, "Make good choices."
The photo images are mine. copyright 2011 Malika Bourne