In honor of Food Day, Tracey Miller reflects on bringing healthy food to the school cafeteria in her post, “Is the school cafeteria a classroom?”
Judy told me how she makes dinner a priority at home and how much kids love to come to her house because she always has cut up fruit waiting and homemade meals. She’s a busy mom and her kids have sports, but she makes an effort to prepare a meal in the crock pot in the morning so when they all come home late from practice and work, that they have a warm meal waiting.
The question that faces us is how can the school lunch program encourage healthy eating habits at home? As parents juggle work, life, kids, and spend less and less time to cook to cook at home – can the cafeteria provide a class room for kids and introduce them to new foods? Maybe get them to eat something that their parents can’t?
As parents, and teachers and food staff, do we sometimes close the door to this notion because kids say “no” once to something? Do we give up and say, oh well, I tried. My kid just doesn’t like vegetables? Do we give up too easy by limiting their exposure to new foods and not having a conversation about why these foods are important to our bodies and mind? And, our environment? Read more…