Photo by: Harpersbizarre

Reforming our Attitudes Toward Food

by Chitra Sharma
Photo by: Harpersbizarre

Last Friday, my 3 year old daughter’s preschool had a party. Parents were asked to sign up on a sheet to bring in food, the options being: Fruit, Vegetables, Crackers, Cookies, Brownies and ‘Other’. I signed up to take fruit and crackers in, wanting to provide something healthy for the tots. However, I noticed that I was one of very few parents who were thinking this way. The majority of parents had signed up to bring in cookies and brownies- does a class this young need this much sugar?

At the actual party, the teacher did not bother to even open the fruit plates I and two other parents had bought in, or the crackers. She did, however, fill each child’s plate with five different, luridly colored cookies, I wonder what actually happened to the healthy snacks.

The interesting thing was that none of the children ate all of their cookies, a few ate one or two, most ate none. My daughter, who doesn’t like sugary food kept asking the teacher for crackers and was ignored. The outcome of this was that the majority of children in the class ate no snack at all.

I am concerned that we are programming children to eat junk food, even when they are not naturally inclined towards it. It should be our job as responsible adults (especially those of us who work with children) to encourage healthy eating habits.

If our children are ever going to grow up eating healthily, we need to change our own attitudes and vocabulary when referring to food. It is often burnt into our children’s pysches that sweets are rewards and treats. My daughter’s teacher asked ’Wouldn’t it be great if we got treats like this everyday at snack time?’ and my daughter, who dislikes the taste of sugar, and is naturally inclined towards healthier food (lucky, lucky me) screamed “Yes! Yes” in support of the idea. She pretends to like cake, because “everyone does”.

On the other hand, I overheard a parent in a restaurant telling her child" I know broccoli is yucky, but you have to try eating some"- hardly a statement to make you want to try the vegetable.

I am part of a group called Moms Rising who have been lobbying for healthier meals in schools. Moms Rising recently reported that current standards set by the US Department of Health for school meals are so vague, that many schools use fruit juice as a replacement for fresh fruit in meals. My daughter’s preschool does offer fresh fruit, but often throws in potato chips as a vegetable choice? This is really not an area where corners should be cut.

As a child growing up in Britain, I had my own share of unhealthy and, frankly, unpalatable school meals, but that was in the 1980s. There has recently been a major reform in the way schools think about food in England. Celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver have helped to devise healthy and balanced meals for public schools that don’t taste like cardboard, and the days of loading up your plate with a hotdog and fries are slowly disappearing. I think it is high time the US followed suit.

While I am on the subject. We are living in a diverse, multicultural society. It is also about time that schools started to offer options for children with dietary restrictions. Ooh, and wouldn’t it be nice to expose them to food from different cultures rather than dumbing down their palates with mac and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches?
I have yet to find a school that offers vegetarian food for my child, and expect to be packing her lunches every day for many years to come. Although, that may not be such a terrible thing, given the current attitudes towards food at many schools.

Chitra Sharma is the owner of Noctiluna.net, and runs Art workshops for kids of all ages. She is also the proud mommy of a very energetic three year old.

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43 Comments

Children definitely eat what their parents eat... My son is quite small & I almost wish he'd eat fattening foods! He LOVES healthy foods. He won't eat the typical PB&J, Mac& cheese... he like veges & fruit.

My daughter was at a very progressive charter school for awhile. Many parents had progressive ideas on food and understood that kids were perfectly happy without cupcakes and brownies for birthdays. Alas, we also had many parents who thought it wasn't a birthday celebration without cupcakes or doughnuts. I watched my healthy child adopt some unfortunate ideas out of peer pressure that will probably be with her for her for the rest of her life...

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How dare you have an opinion that rivals your local teachers, school principal, school board, or government! Good for you! We've had the same problem - though I've not attended a party since Kindergarten. I took in a vegetable tray and a fruit tray - both which were left untouched while the children had several cookies, candies, and two to three cupcakes EACH. And they ate them...

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I want to add my "thank you" to the moms who have already written to praise your on-target piece. Trying to get schools to rethink the use of food in classroom, whether for curricular purposes or for parties, has been a huge challenge to me for the past couple of years. In addition to providing my child with a healthy, vegan diet and trying to balance all the treats in the classroom, he also has multiple food allergies...

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Here is what I think...on of the MOST important lessons that we can give kids is to eat in moderation. You can eat all things-nothing is off limits-if you eat it once in a while and in moderation. Not 5 cookies-1 or 2. In my experience the kids who have the absolute WORST portion control are the ones that have parents who insist on 100% clean eating...

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I allow my kids to eat "junk" food snacks at school birthday parties or if they are invited to a friend's birthday party because that is the only time they are allowed to have it. At home, snack time is a veggie platter or fresh fruit (not canned), cheese sticks, whole grain pretzels, home made organic peanut butter or oatmeal raisin cookies (because I kknow what I'm putting in there), yogurt, or home made ice pops made out of pureed fruit...

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I agree with the moms talking about moderation. Let's not forget that food can--and should--be a source of pleasure as well as fuel. I have fond memories of my birthday cakes as a kid. I don't think there is anything wrong with cupcakes at a party in school. Unfortunately, food has become such an issue and such a battleground that my daughter's school has banned ALL food from parties...

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I went to my daughter's school party and was horrified. Cookies, cupcakes, candy...one parent even brought full cans of root beer for each child. I would be okay with a little bit of sugar, but this was over board. My daughter will be turning 11 soon and she has always been high on the weight chart at the doctor, so I've always been hyper sensitive to what food is offered. But I was just horrified...

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I would have stopped the teacher on the spot. In addition, parents need to rally together at the beginning of the school year to discuss this type of "party celebration". There is nothing wrong with sharing your knowledge of what is most healthiest for our children. Sometimes it is also lack of exposure in parents as well.

First of all I would change pre-schools if at all possible! What a horrible lesson and how rude to ignore your daughter and you and the food you brought. Second, I think that unfortunately, healthy food is just too expensive for public schools to prepare and they want students to eat something so they prepare food that the students will eat. Shockingly, I've seen parents and grandparents bring their children to school with McDonalds for breakfast or stop in at lunch time with fries and a burger...

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I have custody of my nephew who will be 10 next week. He came to live w/ me at 4.5 yrs old. All he ate was junk food and fast food. I'm still working w/ him to help him make the right choices. Our school would have the parties you talked about. I refused to bring junk food as he had way too much. I would just throw his stuff away and tell him we could get something good later. Bags of candy would be sent home and they went into the trash...

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I am right with you on this one!!!

My child's (parochial school) elementary would reward the kids with Krispy Kreme donuts, not 1, not 2....one day my daughter was offered (and ate) 4 of 'em! I wrote a letter to principal showing fat content, sugar content, yada, yada, yada. This on top of my child having severe constipation to begin with!

Turned out principal's grandchild had consumed 7 KK donuts and had spent the entire night sick, throwing up, etc. My point was well-taken...

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I am surprised at this. Honestly. As a former childcare provider, many of the daycares and Mom's day outs in my area have jumped on the obesity bandwagon and all but banned these things from the centers.

I would say a meeting with the director is in order. When I first started working at my center, we had a hotdog and chips Christmas party lunch. One year I brought a giant bowl of fruit. It was gone by the end of the lunch. The following years, fruit was added to the sign-ups...

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You know, I'm a teacher and all of this makes me mad. In my classroom, the kids usually do eat the veggies and fruit and throw the cupcakes away. I'm all for eating healthy. What disturbs me is that we have so many people telling teachers what they can and can't do. People who would NEVER do my job. Since I started teaching, little things keep disappearing. I haven't been teaching that long, 12 years. My oldest kiddo is only 4...

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I totally agree. I think school's need to really re-vamp their menus. Especially since for many kids out there, the free breakfast and lunch they get is possibly the only "healthy" meals they will get for the day. I don't think that we need to take it all away though. For one, parents are going to still send their kids to school with the junk if it's not offered at school. And two, when we deny a certain food, it's been proven that we crave it way more and tend to binge later...

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