An Ed Week article recently (online at least) discussed the issue of the new school food policy revamping, which is such a picture of how screwy our society is when it comes to food.
Those in charge are concerned with costs and how/if they will be able to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables. On one hand, I completely get this. Schools have no money, and kids are generally not known for wanting to eat their produce. However, in the bigger picture, what is the true cost of poor nutrition and what children's health worth? How do we measure a school's costs for the ramifications of things like obesity and lack of proper nutrition. We also know that many students are unlikely to get these things from home. Don't we want them to at least have one (if not two) healthy meals in the day? Finally, it's actually not that hard to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the things kids already like, as long as they are in an unrecognizable format. In fact, my friend's kids outwardly despise vegetables, but have they ever noticed that the brownies I make them (which they love!) have pureed spinach, carrots and whole wheat flour in them...nope because they're brownies with little chocolate chips inside!
This is not just about schools. It's about our entire nation and about us as individuals. We value what is cheap and easy right now, without caring about the ramifications later. We would rather not think about the costs on our healthcare, our society and ourselves. Maybe there would be more money for schools if we could get ourselves healthier and spend less on chronic health issues. (What if our better health kept medical costs from rising so high?...fewer fights over union members' compensation packages maybe?) It's about time we look at the real costs of our actions, take some personal responsibility and do a better job modeling for our kids. If we do, everyone wins!
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