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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Does your kid eat school lunch?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Until last year, my son, Jack, had been a die-hard school lunch buyer. Imagine my chagrin, when night after night I was told that my meals just didn’t match up to what they served at school. When he suddenly decided to exclusively bring lunch, my husband, Rich, and I had mixed emotions. While we were glad he would be eating something we had some control over, it meant more effort on our part. We needed to keep sandwich food stocked and get up earlier to make his lunch in the morning.
Yesterday I ended up being near my son’s school at lunchtime so decided to pop in. Like many public schools, there’s been a lot of talk about improving the offerings and I was curious to see if there was any progress.
I sat at a table of eight 4th grade, sports-addicted boys, all whom purchased lunch that day. They all left the entire tray untouched. Not even a bite. To be honest, there wasn’t much to choose from. There was one piece of fried chicken that had probably about 1/2 cup of meat on it. The cornbread was barely a 2-inch square. Most of the kids had forgone the overcooked greens, sweet potato and dessert banana. I felt like Jack, with his sandwich, apple and carrots, was partaking in an endless feast in the midst of famine.
It made me realize how glad I was that I was sending in a lunch that I knew he’d eat and that I could check on the remains when he returned home to see what didn’t make the cut that day. It made me wonder about the reality of buying school lunch and eating school lunch. I suddenly realized those actions are two very different things.
What about your kids? Do they bring or buy? How do you check to see what they are actually eating? I can’t imagine, going 4 hours without a meal, let alone, 7 or more hours like these kids. Are they starving when they return home?
