In a story about vendors trying to convince school cafeteria programs to buy healthier foods, USA Today reports, the three biggest challenges are:
1. Kids have been programmed for like fried food rather than fresh produce and specialty items like hummus.
2. Healthier food is more expensive than fresh food, and school budgets often cannot absorb the difference.
3. Parents, who aren’t nearly as committed to healthier foods as some media coverage and trend watchers might suggest.
The wisest words of the piece are uttered by Janey Thorton, president of the School Nutrition Association: "It's our jobs as adults to teach children how to eat … We're not going to turn this around overnight. We have to change parents, too. It's going to take everybody.”
1. Kids have been programmed for like fried food rather than fresh produce and specialty items like hummus.
2. Healthier food is more expensive than fresh food, and school budgets often cannot absorb the difference.
3. Parents, who aren’t nearly as committed to healthier foods as some media coverage and trend watchers might suggest.
The wisest words of the piece are uttered by Janey Thorton, president of the School Nutrition Association: "It's our jobs as adults to teach children how to eat … We're not going to turn this around overnight. We have to change parents, too. It's going to take everybody.”
- KC's View:
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It all is a matter of setting priorities, and it all comes back to the parents – who are responsible not just for feeding their kids better, but also for controlling what they watch on television and voting on school budgets that make sense.
I keep thinking, though, that part of the problem is that so many people are absolutist on this issue. It seems to me that if we teach our kids about context and moderation, the odds are better that they’ll make more intelligent choices.
