Kids' school lunches

redheadmommy

Today I volunteered at my child's preschool field trip, and it blows my mind how little nutrition kids are getting in their packed lunches.
These kids are the youngest in the preschool; they are around 3 yrs olds ( +/- a few months) .
Since it was a field trip , they had to bring lunch that do not require warming up. Naturally everybody brought sandwiches including my son. There was 10 kids on the trip and my son was the ONLY one who had whole wheat bread, every other kid had white bread. 6 out of the 9 other kids had only jam/ jello in their sandwich. The other 3 kids had coldcuts, and as far as I could tell they were all bologna type. Bologna is one of the lowest nutrition quality coldcut, but at least those kids got some protein.

Beside my kid , not a single kid brought milk. ALL of them had juice (i know at least not pop). Except a couple cases, the juices were not the good 100% kind , but the berry flavored sugar beverages.

Not a single kid brought any veggies. Beside my son, only one kid had any fruit, and that was peaches in heavy syrup kind. Dessert included: jello cups, small candy bars, and one kid had a "pudding cup" which didn't needed refrigeration .

This was really eye opening for me. Practically the kids didn't get any protein, any fiber, any calcium, all they got is sugar and simple carbs ( = more sugar).The field trip was to the opening of the Christmas festival in our city, and the parents knew ahead the kids will get candy canes and gingerbread cookies etc.

I just can not wrap my head around this. I always felt bad that my kid only willing to eat raw veggies if he can dip it in ketchup. Because of this I either do not send raw veggies, or I send a container ketchup too. Plus I still have to peel the pears and apples , because he won't eat the peel. At the end it turned out, I send the healthiest lunch with my kid . WTH?

Is this usual? Kids are eating this badly on a day to day basis?

savanahspring

And we wonder why so many kids are obese today? Kids being obese/unhealthy has little to do with school lunches, vending machines, or toys in Happy Meals and is mostly due to PARENTS!! Good for you!! Pretty scary, though!

tiedye

How terrible!

Maybe you can volunteer again and do a lesson on food groups? Something simple with samples of yummy food!

jecka31

One of the major issues is the lack of knowledge/education on the parents part. Some think they can't afford to eat healthy (I was in this boat for a while!!) while others just don't realize that the foods they are feeding their kids aren't the best. There are some parents that will tell you that their kids won't eat healthy foods - which I'd argue with as my nieces ALL eat more fruit and veggies than their mom. In fact, I've gone out to eat with them before (they are 9, 7, 5) and they want veggie plates!!

Unfortunately, society as a whole doesn't see it as an issue and the funds to educate parents on proper diet are not there. I'd love to see programs in the schools that teach parents how to eat healthy while on a budget. As someone else suggested, maybe you can take the initiative at your school district to start an education program!