No more junk food in schools

This content has been removed.

I'm not so sure. Kids' home environments determine their eating habits, and cutting junk food from school lunches will not make a difference to a kid who goes home to junk food and unhealthy meals. I think it would be more important and a better investment for schools to improve their health/physical education programs, and focus on educating the students on a healthy lifestyle, rather than recreating the lunch menu.

To me - the government has no business to decide what my child eats - EVER!

Eating healthy begins at home. I've been to the schools since the White House has stuck their nose into our business. Tons of "healthy food" is being dumped in the trash cans. Kids eat junk food at home and then you think they are going to want broccoli and carrots at school. Ain't happening.

Our children are at school a short time - they are busy at school but once they get home, it's what the parents feed them that matters. Then the kids sit in front of a TV or video game for hours - no activity.

Then pack your kid a lunch? Problem solved. If you want your child to eat junk and not the "health".food the school is providing then provide them their own school lunches and snacks. I don't see what the issue is.

With the amount of kids that are becoming overweight something needs to happen somewhere. I don't think this is the solution, but at least it is something since clearly the parents are doing nothing.

It wasn't junk food in school that made me fat. I wasn't fat at all in high school and I had fried chicken tenders every day for lunch. However, I did play softball and my brother and I played a lot outside. My mother wouldn't let us eat a lot of crap at home either.

It was when I got into college and started to feed myself that was the problem :P

^^ This

To me - the government has no business to decide what my child eats - EVER!

Eating healthy begins at home. I've been to the schools since the White House has stuck their nose into our business. Tons of "healthy food" is being dumped in the trash cans. Kids eat junk food at home and then you think they are going to want broccoli and carrots at school. Ain't happening.

Our children are at school a short time - they are busy at school but once they get home, it's what the parents feed them that matters. Then the kids sit in front of a TV or video game for hours - no activity.

Then pack your kid a lunch? Problem solved. If you want your child to eat junk and not the "health".food the school is providing then provide them their own school lunches and snacks. I don't see what the issue is.

With the amount of kids that are becoming overweight something needs to happen somewhere. I don't think this is the solution, but at least it is something since clearly the parents are doing nothing.

"I don't think this is a solution" "I don't see what the issue is"

It wasn't junk food in school that made me fat. I wasn't fat at all in high school and I had fried chicken tenders every day for lunch. However, I did play softball and my brother and I played a lot outside. My mother wouldn't let us eat a lot of crap at home either.

It was when I got into college and started to feed myself that was the problem :P

^^ This

Yes but that's the thing... you got used to bad eating habits from eating junk every day and not gaining weight. It doesn't last forever...

I purposely have not read any of this thread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

I purposely have not read any of this thread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

Do you teach your students to use paragraphs?

Nope, it's not developmentally appropriate for 2nd graders with Autism. However, I do teach social skills, and the part about how being a smart *kitten* is rude and immature is part of our daily curriculum.

I think this is a good idea. When I was in high school, the options every day were burgers, fries, pizza, bagels, ice cream, slurpees. BUT there was also a salad bar every single day, baked potatoes, and veggies. One of my friends ate fries every day and was skinny. I played varsity softball 7 days a week, ate salads and lean protein, and was still considered overweight (only by a few pounds, though). And who's to say those kids won't just eat like crap when they get home? Also I loved gym class. It was 1.5 hours in the middle of the day (around noon) and we did such fun stuff... archery, bowling, lacrosse, soccer, ice hockey, etc. It was awesome! My high school still has gym but I know many schools are getting rid of it... bring it back! Although with music, cooking, and all those fun things. Maybe if kids could develop an interest in music, sports, tech ed (building), healthy cooking, etc. then they would have less time to sit on their *kitten* all day watching tv or playing video games.

I purposely have not read any of this tread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

Do you teach your students to use paragraphs?

You're an idiot

Nice edit.
Oh, the Irony.

I purposely have not read any of this tread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

Do you teach your students to use paragraphs?

:laugh:

Its only good if the parents follow a healthy food plan at home. It will not help what so ever if the parents still let them eat unhealthy at home, or pack unhealthy lunches to take to school. Also kids will start selling unhealthy food to their classmates. It will be like a drug dealer, but a junk food dealer instead hahaha.

Not wanting to aid the obesity problem is a waste of money?

It appears that parents are still allowed to send whatever food in their child's PACKED LUNCH that they want. Schools just won't be selling the stuff. So what exactly is the problem?

What if at a job, your boss said we want you to be healthier, so we won't sell Coca Cola anymore and we won't stock the vending machine with 500 calorie candy bars. BUT ... you can still bring them to work from home.

So .... what's the problem? Nobody is telling you what to eat. They simply won't provide it.

Not wanting to aid the obesity problem is a waste of money?

It appears that parents are still allowed to send whatever food in their child's PACKED LUNCH that they want. Schools just won't be selling the stuff. So what exactly is the problem?

What if at a job, your boss said we want you to be healthier, so we won't sell Coca Cola anymore and we won't stock the vending machine with 500 calorie candy bars. BUT ... you can still bring them to work from home.

So .... what's the problem? Nobody is telling you what to eat. They simply won't provide it.

Yes it is a waste of money. I fail to see how taking junk food out of the school is going to help when you just pointed out the fact that the kids who pack their lunches can bring whatever they want. So now kids will just brown bag it so they can have their cheetos, cookies, soda etc. Unless, like I stated in a previous post, they begin policing the packed lunches, searching them and confiscating the contraband food. In all honesty with the way things are going I wouldn't put it past the schools and the government to start doing this.

Everything the teacher mentioned above falls at the feet of the parents. What they eat, what medications they are on-- all of it. Sure it's easier to declare a kid "ill" with ADD or some other such nonsense (My personal favorite is "ODD" oppositional defiance disorder....otherwise known as a brat who needs a spank or two...) and throw him on medication than actually take the time needed to actually, GASP, parent a child and teach him how to behave.

As for the food...newsflash-- school food sucks. "Healthy" food...crap food...it's mass produced for the best bang for the buck. Is it "nice" for the schools to care about what they're serving our little Johnny? um...sure. If they have a burden to rid their menu of stuff they feel is of little nutritional value, you know, more power to them. God bless 'em. But at the end of the day, it's all going to taste like crap and end up in the trash can.

But, I've read accounts here of schools mandating what can be sent in lunches from home, and forbidding cupcakes for birthday celebrations, et cetera-- overkill. Like a cupcake is going to kill anybody. Hysterical gibberish.

We were having the exact same conversation at work the other day about ODD! Definitely bad parenting. Basically, the child doesn't like being told no. Ok, must be something wrong with them then, let's drug them up! My 2 and 4 year old don't like being told no. Doesn't mean they have something wrong with them!

At the school I work in we have a massive percentage of SEN kids.