September 25, 2009 When School Nutrition Stinks
Have you looked at what they’re serving at school these days? Sure it’s an improvement from days gone by, but let’s face it, sometimes school nutrition still stinks. That’s why I was glad to her from one mom of a preschooler who asked, “What do you do when school nutrition is in conflict with your own food beliefs?” How about: Hold your nose?
I can totally relate to this predicament, having had my own “situation” with my daughter’s school snacks. Truthfully, there are only two solutions to this problem.
One thing you can do is become an advocate for change.
Every school district needs an activist and even a little improvement will go a long way. The website Better School Food is a good place to find support and learn some strategies.
But if you don’t want to be known as the crazy mom who’s against Goldfish, juice or any of the other goodies schools dole out these days in the name of good nutrition (even though you’re right…click for the scoop on snacks and juice) you’ll have to go with option #2.
Option 2: Think of this as an opportunity to teach your child about eating in the real world.
I know you thought you would have a few more years before you lost control of your child’s diet, but preschool is when it happens to most of our precious pumpkins. If you don’t start teaching your child how to cope now, you’ll end up having to help her UNLEARN some pretty bad habits later. And trust me, that is A LOT harder to do. (If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know what I mean.)
Here are some things you can do:
1) If you are in a school situation where your child is regularly on the receiving end of cookies, juice and other sweet treats, then modify what you feed her at home.
It’s not punitive to balance your daughter’s diet this way (although it sometimes feels like it is). Remember, it’s not important WHAT your child eat. What matters is HOW OFTEN she eats it. (Click for more on this.)
- See if you can get a food calendar from school. That way you’ll know when to expect the sweet treats.
- Put off when YOU give your child juice, crackers, cookies or anything else she’s likely to get during the day until AFTER school. That way you'll know what she's eaten and your child won’t end up eating muffins AND cupcakes, breakfast bars AND cookies, chocolate milk AND chocolate candies.
2) Engage your child in the process.
Talk to your daughter about what you are doing, but skip the nutrition talk – your child is probably getting the basics in school and beyond that it’s just nutritional noise. Instead explain three principles of healthy eating -- proportion, variety and moderation – because these are the behaviors you want your child to learn.
- Proportion: we eat these foods more often than those foods.
- Variety: we eat different foods every day.
- Moderation: we only eat when we’re hungry and we stop when we’re full.
3) Remember that teaching your child to eat right is a process that happens over time and give yourself a break.
Don’t get hung up on the nutritional composition of any one day. In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t a big deal. What matters are the lessons your child learns over time.
Use the everyday dynamic in school to help your kid to learn the skills she'll need in life. After all, isn't that what school is for?
~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~
Reader Comments (3)
My son is in daycare and is only three, but these are issues we're already trying to deal with. And you are right on the money, but for the most part, we all need to encompass parts of both strategies. I encouraged my daycare provider to attend nutrition classes (so I want to create change), but I also do my best to engage my son with cooking healthy and real food frequently (teaching opportunity). But we also all have opportunities to become advocates in our schools by working with teachers or getting involved with school boards, pta, etc...
And a quick self promotion... In October we're hosting a healthy cooking competition for high school students. If you're in Chicago, come by. If not, check it out - . www.cookingupchange.org
Thanks for the great post.
Mark
Mark,
You are so right that we all have to do a bit of both - advocating for change in schools and teaching our kids how to make choices. All too often, however, parents forget to ACTIVELY engage their children in the decision-making process about what to eat (and why) and lose out on an invaluable opportunity. Even the smallest kids need to be talked to about food choices and "bad" food at school is the perfect place to start those lessons. After all, the social world we all live in is a horror of bad choices.
The Healthy Choices Campaign and the Cooking Up Change look fabulous. I wish I were in Chicago!
Dina
Another great blog! When my little princess was about to enter Kindergarten, I signed her up for a summer program for young children. I wanted her to get used to a normal classroom setting. I didn't know that packed lunches weren't allowed. I packed healthy food for her every day, and butted heads with the administrator every day. What I ended up with was a child who cried daily because the school's food was "so gross" (she doesn't like hotdogs, gummi or sour candy, soggy/salty veggies, or chemical-tasting foods. She did really like the chocolate candy they bribed her to take a nap with). They did allow her to eat her packed lunch, but were rude to her about it in front of her friends. I told her she could eat their food if she wanted to, but she would rather go hungry than eat food she deems yucky. I pulled her out after a week.