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School lunch: should children or parents choose?
pancakerunner
Posts: 6,137 Member
in Debate Club
I can see both sides of the argument. Curious to hear your thoughts.
0
Replies
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I think it's good for children to have some input on what they are eating within reason.
Obviously, you wouldn't let your kid bring a bag of gummi worms for lunch each day.
Maybe "this or that" options are the way to go...i.e. "Do you want a ham sandwich or a turkey wrap for lunch?"
Then the kid feels like they have some control, but it's not an open-ended question.18 -
I'm not sure I see the argument. Younger children will generally eat what their parent packs for them or what is given in the cafeteria. Older children will have more discretion and choice. Is there something I'm missing here?4
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Grade school - parents
Middle school - kids should have some input
High school - doesn’t really matter what any of us or their parents say.5 -
My kid is 2. This means I pretend to be in control and make the selection while he is actually in control and chooses what he will and will not eat.8
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I remember when my stepson was about 7 and said he couldn't drink a smoothie I'd made because it had dots in it. He was referring to the smashed up blueberries. LOL 😂1
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It depends on the child and how they were raised. I used to be a foster carer and those kids were mostly raised on junk and couldn’t have picked a balanced and nutritious lunch if they tried. Whereas my mum always let us choose our lunches because we understood how to eat correctly. It comes down to the child’s understanding of food and self-control with junky stuff.5
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I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).14
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My kid is in primary school (in Australia). Our school canteen is supposedly a "healthy food zone" -as in - they don't actually sell stuff like fries or sweets. They have a variety of sandwiches and hot lunches that are made in-house such as lasagna, they have some sweet options like those fruit juice ice tubes and some other little fruit bite thingies which is like a dried fruit thing.
Here in Australia though you either buy food from canteen or you take packed lunch. My kid is a pain in the *kitten* in terms of food, so I pack her lunch to make sure that she actually eats. I sometimes give her a choice - as in "do you want a butter sandwich today or a cheese sandwich?" She always chooses butter or honey, so after about 2 days of butter I don't even bother to ask, I just chuck in a cheese sandwich. And then she leaves half of it uneaten (she's very very picky eater).
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In Australia here too, and have 2 kids in primary school. They both pack their own lunches, so have quite a bit in way of choice, but obviously the choice is restricted to what I have bought for them. Today, for example, my 11 year old tried to get away with packing just some pretzels and a couple crackers. I forced her to add some fruit and a yogurt, but I know she won't eat them....her full lunch comes home again 99% of the time. I have know idea if/what she eats at school, it's been a mystery for years. I force them to have a well rounded breakfast and dinner, including protein and veg, so I'm not OVERLY worried about their intake at school and it allows them some autonomy.2
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I chose when I was a kid, but like a mishmash of what others have described, I was picky in a very odd way but also could easily choose a balanced meal. A sandwich with whole wheat bread and rotisserie chicken and a side of fruit and maybe some fruit snacks was totally fine with me. Meanwhile deli meat, peanut butter and jelly, anything with mayo on it, anything with cheese, etc wouldn't pass my lips.1
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I think kids should get some sort of say in what to eat for lunch, but it should be within reason. So, rather than asking them "What do you want to eat for lunch tomorrow?", I feel a more appropriate question would be along the lines of "Do you want a peanut butter sandwich for lunch tomorrow, or do you want me to pack a thermos of chicken noodle soup for you?"
This way, they still get a choice, but it's instituting limits as to what they can have.1 -
We have a few rules around here. My youngest has the same rules the older ones had when they packed lunches. One veggie, one fruit, and a protein source(Greek yogurt/cheese/leftover meat from the night before/boiled eggs) are a must and after that he packs whatever he wants for the day. Homemade cookies, muffins, pudding cups, whatever he can eat quickly because recess or soccer practice is happening and he refuses to miss a second of it. He is now in grade 7 and only in the past year has actually began to eat his lunch. At home I know he is going to get a protein and vegetabale heavy evening meal with some raw veg and dip for after school snack and often air popped popcorn or oatmeal as a bedtime snack, so if his lunch is small or he didn’t eat it, he gets in enough calories and nutrition easily in the evening.0
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lemongirlbc wrote: »In Australia here too, and have 2 kids in primary school. They both pack their own lunches, so have quite a bit in way of choice, but obviously the choice is restricted to what I have bought for them. Today, for example, my 11 year old tried to get away with packing just some pretzels and a couple crackers. I forced her to add some fruit and a yogurt, but I know she won't eat them....her full lunch comes home again 99% of the time. I have know idea if/what she eats at school, it's been a mystery for years. I force them to have a well rounded breakfast and dinner, including protein and veg, so I'm not OVERLY worried about their intake at school and it allows them some autonomy.
My son went hungry for years. I would pack things that would survive the day in his bag and when he brought it all home again he would sit at the table and finally eat. I think he just did not want to miss any fun or outside time and would not even open his lunch. I would make sure he got a good sized breakfast every morning but often he would not eat again until 4pm.
I currently drive school bus and have a few kids who dive into their full lunch during the 1hour ride home. I have taught them to be tidy about it and remind them to take small bites. It’s like as soon as they have any down time their brain finally registers hunger.1 -
Cahgetsfit wrote: »My kid is in primary school (in Australia). Our school canteen is supposedly a "healthy food zone" -as in - they don't actually sell stuff like fries or sweets. They have a variety of sandwiches and hot lunches that are made in-house such as lasagna, they have some sweet options like those fruit juice ice tubes and some other little fruit bite thingies which is like a dried fruit thing.
Here in Australia though you either buy food from canteen or you take packed lunch. My kid is a pain in the *kitten* in terms of food, so I pack her lunch to make sure that she actually eats. I sometimes give her a choice - as in "do you want a butter sandwich today or a cheese sandwich?" She always chooses butter or honey, so after about 2 days of butter I don't even bother to ask, I just chuck in a cheese sandwich. And then she leaves half of it uneaten (she's very very picky eater).
I have to ask - what is a butter sandwich? Is it literally butter between two slices of bread?1 -
My kids' school went away from the healthy "chef driven" lunch company and started what they call Fun Lunch, which is fast food 3 days a week.
I let my kids get it, but the rule is they have to take fruit and dairy for their snack and another fruit for lunch. The rest of their meals are healthy.
My oldest only ate chicken nuggets or pizza for lunch in high school. He has always been picky. I doubt that will change now that he's at college and has no one putting food in front of him. Probably hasn't eaten a vegetable since he got there.1 -
I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).
I like this idea, but can only imagine the politics behind it.0 -
pancakerunner wrote: »I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).
I like this idea, but can only imagine the politics behind it.
It actually is something that is implemented now in some school districts. Under the federal free and reduced lunch program, any school where at least 40 percent of students qualify for free meals is eligible to provide free breakfast and lunch to their entire student body for free. I am not sure how many schools take advantage of it. There are a couple of reasons for it, but one of the main ideas behind it is to reduce the stigma associated with being one of the "poor kids who gets free lunch".3 -
My kids have always packed their own lunches with guidelines they needed to have the right amount of fruit veggie and one treat.1
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pancakerunner wrote: »I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).
I like this idea, but can only imagine the politics behind it.
It actually is something that is implemented now in some school districts. Under the federal free and reduced lunch program, any school where at least 40 percent of students qualify for free meals is eligible to provide free breakfast and lunch to their entire student body for free. I am not sure how many schools take advantage of it. There are a couple of reasons for it, but one of the main ideas behind it is to reduce the stigma associated with being one of the "poor kids who gets free lunch".
No idea if this is true, but I have also heard that some school districts have discovered the hours & money that go into their systems of digital payment cards, cafeteria cashiers, and managing/collecting on negative balances, is not cost-effective. The profit is so small (or nonexistent), and they are actually better off just providing free school lunch to all students with no payment involved. It seems a little difficult to believe but when you really think about it I can imagine this holding truth in some situations.4 -
pancakerunner wrote: »I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).
I like this idea, but can only imagine the politics behind it.
It actually is something that is implemented now in some school districts. Under the federal free and reduced lunch program, any school where at least 40 percent of students qualify for free meals is eligible to provide free breakfast and lunch to their entire student body for free. I am not sure how many schools take advantage of it. There are a couple of reasons for it, but one of the main ideas behind it is to reduce the stigma associated with being one of the "poor kids who gets free lunch".
My kids go to elementary school in a large city school district and even though their particular school doesn’t meet the criteria the whole district is on free breakfast and lunch. They bring lunch from home 1-2 days a week and “buy” the others more out of convenience for me than any sort of cost savings or nutritional benefit.
The days they get school lunch are your typical kid food choices - burgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, nachos. There’s always a fruit and vegetable offered. They also have unlimited access to the salad bar which I’m sure they don’t hit up. I’m not that worried about it since the lunch they would bring from home would be similar on the nutritional front: sandwich or leftover pizza, pretzels, fruit, maybe a yogurt or some jello. They probably get more protein when they get school lunch than when we pack it at home.
Since changing the policy to offer it to all kids I think it has cut down on the processing time so the lunch line process is more efficient than when the kids had prepaid balances and a key pad to track their purchases.0 -
I think it depends on the age/maturity of the child and what foods he/she likes. I have 2 boys - middle school and high school. Both given helthy snacks and well balanced diet. My high schooler would eat junk all day every day if I let him. My middle schooler has purchased salad for lunch almost every day since school sarted.0
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seltzermint555 wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »My kid is in primary school (in Australia). Our school canteen is supposedly a "healthy food zone" -as in - they don't actually sell stuff like fries or sweets. They have a variety of sandwiches and hot lunches that are made in-house such as lasagna, they have some sweet options like those fruit juice ice tubes and some other little fruit bite thingies which is like a dried fruit thing.
Here in Australia though you either buy food from canteen or you take packed lunch. My kid is a pain in the *kitten* in terms of food, so I pack her lunch to make sure that she actually eats. I sometimes give her a choice - as in "do you want a butter sandwich today or a cheese sandwich?" She always chooses butter or honey, so after about 2 days of butter I don't even bother to ask, I just chuck in a cheese sandwich. And then she leaves half of it uneaten (she's very very picky eater).
I have to ask - what is a butter sandwich? Is it literally butter between two slices of bread?
Yep - literally butter spread between 2 pieces of wholewheat or rye bread. I know. Eyeroll. My kid is like that though - eats a very limited diet which drives me bonkers, but at least the limited stuff she eats is relatively good - carrots, rice, eggs, vegetarian sausages (she's vegetarian. I'm not), cucumber, potato, bread, pasta (plain with nothing on it), cheese, lots of fruit (thankfully!! fruit is not a problem!), corn and then the generic crap such as pretzels and crisps and banana bread and what have you. Of course they like junky foods!0 -
Cahgetsfit wrote: »seltzermint555 wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »My kid is in primary school (in Australia). Our school canteen is supposedly a "healthy food zone" -as in - they don't actually sell stuff like fries or sweets. They have a variety of sandwiches and hot lunches that are made in-house such as lasagna, they have some sweet options like those fruit juice ice tubes and some other little fruit bite thingies which is like a dried fruit thing.
Here in Australia though you either buy food from canteen or you take packed lunch. My kid is a pain in the *kitten* in terms of food, so I pack her lunch to make sure that she actually eats. I sometimes give her a choice - as in "do you want a butter sandwich today or a cheese sandwich?" She always chooses butter or honey, so after about 2 days of butter I don't even bother to ask, I just chuck in a cheese sandwich. And then she leaves half of it uneaten (she's very very picky eater).
I have to ask - what is a butter sandwich? Is it literally butter between two slices of bread?
Yep - literally butter spread between 2 pieces of wholewheat or rye bread. I know. Eyeroll. My kid is like that though - eats a very limited diet which drives me bonkers, but at least the limited stuff she eats is relatively good - carrots, rice, eggs, vegetarian sausages (she's vegetarian. I'm not), cucumber, potato, bread, pasta (plain with nothing on it), cheese, lots of fruit (thankfully!! fruit is not a problem!), corn and then the generic crap such as pretzels and crisps and banana bread and what have you. Of course they like junky foods!
Thanks for your answer! I actually didn't expect it to be that...I thought you would say it's just a sandwich with butter instead of other condiments (but ham or something as its filling)...or that Australians refer to peanut and other nut butters as a "butter sandwich"! Just a picky kid I guess but like you say, decent variety at least.0 -
My kids are terrible - they would only take junk every day if they could, though they do have access to apples, carrots and milk at school (one eats the apples and has the milk, the other has the carrots occasionally). They don't have any cafeteria or food available at school (though my son will next year when he goes to high school - we'll see what happens there).
At 9 & 12, they both "know" which things are more or less nutritious, but they feel the pressure to have the little packets of food they see other kids having. I limit how much of those treat items that I buy, but I know that sometimes that's all that gets eaten (especially by Miss 9). We have pretty substantial afternoon snacks when they come home from school, and they eat well at dinner, so overall they do okay.
I also help run the breakfast programme at school - really we want to help those kids that don't have breakfast (or lunch, in some cases), but it's open to everyone. We offer cereals, toast and fruit daily, plus have baked beans or porridge available on various days. We have had some really positive feedback from the teachers that having the kids fed before school really helps in the classroom.0 -
seltzermint555 wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »seltzermint555 wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »My kid is in primary school (in Australia). Our school canteen is supposedly a "healthy food zone" -as in - they don't actually sell stuff like fries or sweets. They have a variety of sandwiches and hot lunches that are made in-house such as lasagna, they have some sweet options like those fruit juice ice tubes and some other little fruit bite thingies which is like a dried fruit thing.
Here in Australia though you either buy food from canteen or you take packed lunch. My kid is a pain in the *kitten* in terms of food, so I pack her lunch to make sure that she actually eats. I sometimes give her a choice - as in "do you want a butter sandwich today or a cheese sandwich?" She always chooses butter or honey, so after about 2 days of butter I don't even bother to ask, I just chuck in a cheese sandwich. And then she leaves half of it uneaten (she's very very picky eater).
I have to ask - what is a butter sandwich? Is it literally butter between two slices of bread?
Yep - literally butter spread between 2 pieces of wholewheat or rye bread. I know. Eyeroll. My kid is like that though - eats a very limited diet which drives me bonkers, but at least the limited stuff she eats is relatively good - carrots, rice, eggs, vegetarian sausages (she's vegetarian. I'm not), cucumber, potato, bread, pasta (plain with nothing on it), cheese, lots of fruit (thankfully!! fruit is not a problem!), corn and then the generic crap such as pretzels and crisps and banana bread and what have you. Of course they like junky foods!
Thanks for your answer! I actually didn't expect it to be that...I thought you would say it's just a sandwich with butter instead of other condiments (but ham or something as its filling)...or that Australians refer to peanut and other nut butters as a "butter sandwich"! Just a picky kid I guess but like you say, decent variety at least.
I wasn't a picky kid at all, but when my Mom made bread, I would take bread and butter (essentially the same thing as the butter sandwich, as putting the two buttered sides on the inside meant the butter didn't all end up sticking to the plastic bag or whatever you wrapped it in) for lunch. Probably with a hard-boiled egg and a piece of fruit, maybe soup in a thermos if she had made soup too. But the homemade bread was the star.2 -
My teenager makes her own but she goes to a really strict school whereby no junk food of any kind is allowed.
My 8 year old could tell you what junk food is and how bad it is for you but still want to eat it
My 7 year old is a fitness fanatic who aspires to be a pro athlete one day so she picked her lunch menus
A typical lunch for the younger two would consist of quiche, hard boiled egg, cucumber and pepper slices with a tuna dip and grapes and that would be at the 7 year olds request1 -
pancakerunner wrote: »I think that school meals should be free for all public school students, regardless of income. They should provide several healthy options for the children to choose from. As long as the school is only providing options that have good nutritional value, I don't see any harm in letting the children choose themselves (minus any allergy issues).
I like this idea, but can only imagine the politics behind it.
It actually is something that is implemented now in some school districts. Under the federal free and reduced lunch program, any school where at least 40 percent of students qualify for free meals is eligible to provide free breakfast and lunch to their entire student body for free. I am not sure how many schools take advantage of it. There are a couple of reasons for it, but one of the main ideas behind it is to reduce the stigma associated with being one of the "poor kids who gets free lunch".
I am not sure how every district operates the free and reduced lunches, but in the district we are zoned for, all the kids get a lunch number. They punch in their lunch number and the person at the register tells them how much they owe based on how much is in their lunch account. The free and reduced kids have the same process as everyone else, just they would never be owing money. So, the other kids wouldn’t know they were getting free or reduced lunch unless they just decided to share that information.0 -
I pack lunches for both of my kids, 3rd grade and 8th grade. I give them choices about what they want within what I am ok with them having. They occasionally decide they no longer want something they previously wanted daily, so if I see they are consistently not eating, I do re-evaluate to see if I can get something they will eat that is also reasonably nutritious.
When I was in high school, I packed my own lunch, and the only reason my parents had any clue as to what I was packing was that I’d ask them to get the stuff I wanted when they did grocery shopping. Otherwise, I was healthy and active, so I suppose they had no reason to police that closely.1 -
Children should have a say, and should be involved in order to learn about good nutrition choices. Assuming the parent is capable of teaching this. There was a report in our papers recently of an adolescent who has gone blind. This is because around age 8 he decided he would eat nothing but white bread, French fries and Pringles. And this was allowed to go on until he went blind. I kid you not.0
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Parents should choose in primary school (US K-6). They should be open to feedback from their kids though. I also think by age 9, children can start packing their own lunches with some supervision.
Children should choose in secondary school as they are old enough to prepare their own lunches.0
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