http://moms.today.com/_news/2012/09/07/13730993-pancakes-for-school-lunch-perfect-when-its-945-am?lite This just blows my mind. I can't believe they can't find a better solution. I mean really. Wouldn't it save space to have kids who pack lunches remain in classrooms and eat while those that need to buy are the only ones filling a smaller cafeteria? Surely surely there has to be a better solution. I cannot imagine feeding my kids "lunch" that early and then not allowing them to have a snack until 3pm or later depending on what time they are released and get home. My kids eat breakfast at around 8ish, lunch at noonish, snack between 3 and 4 pm, and dinner between 5:30 and 6.
I think this is perhaps my favorite part of the article: Are you kidding me?? It has absolutely nothing to do with "bad eating habits", but everything to do with the fact the child is eating "lunch" at 9:45 and, from what I can tell, not being fed anything again until they arrive home at, what?, 3 at the earliest? But more likely 4, 4:30, 5... One of the points in the article says eating at 9:30 / 10 is appropriate if they have eaten breakfast at 6 or 7 am. Yes, very true and accurate. However, that should be followed up with another small meal or snack by about 1 or 2 pm.
I know kids (one being our grandson) whose blood sugar would drop if no snack was allowed and he would be horrible to manage! We can tell by the way he starts acting that he needs to eat and after a small snack he is his usual sweet self. Without it he is a crying, ill as a hornet, monster! There has to be a better way to handle this lunch situation.
:lol: ... and my dh complains that I feed our kids at 11 a.m. (they're not breakfast eaters). He thinks everyone should eat at noon, no matter what.
ANd people wonder why I don't trust the government to educate my children, they can't even get something as simple as lunch right!
OMGoodness. My kids wouldn't be able to handle that. Loralei is going through a growth spurt and constantly eating at the moment. Anaia eats every two hours and I seem to eat something every time I pass through the kitchen In New Zealand school is about 9am - 3pm with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Many (lower decile) schools have a before school breakfast club for children whose parent can't afford breakfast.
There was an article I just saw on Yahoo http://shine.yahoo.com/dailyshot/daily-shot-school-lunches-too-healthy-183700830.html?cache=clear about whether school lunches are now so "healthy" that kids aren't getting the calories they really need. The new Mrs.-Obama-healthy-lunch program has reduced the size of servings and provided more choices, but are the kids eating it? Low-fat everything, veggies the kids won't eat, whole-wheat everything... I think it's ridiculous! The problem could be better addressed by more activity, not less food. As far as serving kids lunch so freakin' early, a really good solution would be to have one or more seating areas (like a classroom, maybe the gym) for the kids who pack their lunch, and the others can eat in the cafeteria. I want to know how early kids have to GET UP to meet the bus to get breakfast at school between 6 and 7 am!!?? The classes should start between 8 and 830 and end by 3!
We know a little girl in 6th grade who has to be ON THE BUS at 6am. She rides for an hour+ to get to school and the same to get home in the afternoon.
Tiff, that is SO ABSURD!!! I mean, okay, if you live in the bayou and the "school bus" is a pirogue or an airboat. Or if you live in like Montana with population density of about 2 per square mile or something. But if that were my situation, I'd DEFINITELY be homeschooling! So her school day is -- like, 12 hours! Oh nononono!
I know, it's crazy! It is a rural route, but I don't think that's a good reason for kids to be on the bus that long. Divide the route in half and have two buses, so they only have to ride for 1/2 an hour. My kids don't function that early in the morning, they'd never make it. When I taught K, I had a little girl who had to be on the bus at 6. Her family were the first ones picked up and the last ones dropped off. 1 1/2 hour ride each way so she would get home around 5:00-5:30 in the evening. The mom was furious with me because I let her take a nap at school (it was naptime for everyone) and she wouldn't go to bed at night. Come to find out, she would get on the bus at 6 and go back to sleep until they got to school at 7:30, nap for an hour at school, then she would get on the bus at 4 and sleep until she got home. When she got home, she'd be wide awake (finally). They'd let her stay up until midnight or after because she "wasn't tired", then get her up at 5 or 5:30 to catch the bus by 6. But, it's not just bus kids. Dh's niece and nephew have to leave their house by 6 because they ride with grandma, who has to be at work at 7. They have a half-hour drive to get there and then she has to drop them off at two different daycare buildings that are across the street from each other. Depending on mom/grandma's schedule, after school they either ride the bus back to daycare or stay in aftercare at school until someone picks them up around 4-4:30. I wonder about how the after school daycares handle their snacks since they've not eaten since 9:45. I imagine the kids are starving by the time they get there. When I worked in daycare, the food program only allowed us to serve them a certain portion size each. I know for my kids that little snack wouldn't be enough if they had gone that long without eating. They would need a real meal by then.
Her mom is looking into homeschooling, but not for that reason. She'll have to switch schools after 8th grade and they don't like any of the alternatives. Poor girl will have to do this for at least two more years.
And yet, the powers that be seem to think that all kids get up at 7, have a nutritious breakfast at home, get to school after a very short bus ride and start class at 8, lunch at 1130, dismiss by 3, get home for 330 and just have a lovely loooooong afternoon of playing outdoors on the freshly mowed lawn, a wholesome nutritious dinner, half an hour of homework with tons of assistance from mom and dad, and dreaming by 830pm. They SURELY must not have a clue about some kids' REAL lives.....
My niece and nephew ride the bus an hour to school. They live in the country. I live in a big city and my kids could walk to the local school.
