Posted on 12/13/2005 6:59:51 PM PST by goodnesswins
BREAKFAST IS SERVED FOR STUDENTS
Only a fraction of middle-schoolers in Auburn take part
Only about 10 percent of the students in the Auburn School District's four middle schools take advantage of the breakfast available at the schools each morning.
Nutrition supervisor Eric Boutin said the district wants to find out why and increase participation in the breakfast club.
If they aren't eating at home, he said, it is probable that they aren't eating at all in the morning.
And that's not good.
Well-documented link
The link between nurition and doing well in school is well-documented, he said.
At Olympic Middle School, for example, 311 students qualify for free or reduced meals, including breakfast. But the school serves only 56 free breakfasts each morning on average out of a total 86 each day. The school has a population of 750.
Armed with a $3,000 grant from the Washington Dairy Council, Boutin said they plan to explore why more aren't eating breakfast and put together a marketing plan to interest students.
He doesn't think the problem is the food. Each morning students have a choice of 20 to 30 items to munch on.
Rolling breakfast cart
One option, Boutin said might be to bring breakfast to the students with a rolling breakfast cart.
Boutin said the cart could be stationed where the students get off the bus and a breakfast sack with lunch, juice, fruit and an entree handed to them if they want it.
All that would be needed is a handheld computer to jot down who gets a breakfast. Bouitinn said all students are on the computer.
Parents of those students who are not on free and reduced lunch can set up an account to deduct school meals. Breakfast is cheap at only $1, he added.
A grab-and-go breakfast, however, would mean bringing extra people on board to handle it, but Boutin said the increased numbers of students will increase funding for the program.
Other ideas
School policies on eating in classrooms also may have to be revisited, he added.
One suggestion to attract more students it to simply play the kind of music students like in the school lunchroom during breakfast.
Local celebrities such as the principal or a police officer also might be invited to have breakfast with students now and then, he added.
(This story first appeared in the King County Journal)
When the schools started taking on the task of solving societies problems rather than teaching kids, the whole system went to hell.
I DO think kids who eat breakfast at home and carry their lunches are healthier.
However did we survive our childhood when we had to eat breakfast at HOME before going to school. Where the heck are the parents?! Yes, I know the answer, and the answer isn't good.
IMO, you are absolutely correct, IF the parents are responsible enough to make sure that there is healthy food in the house for those meals.
Are you by chance a fan of Calvin and Hobbes?
My daughters don't like to eat breakfast. Sometimes they eat and sometimes they don't. However, I always have cereal, toast, or oatmeal on hand. If they don't want that,then they are basically on their own. It's like the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.".
If it's like the school we used to go into on occasion in Fulton, it'll gag you. Where we live now, not far from you if you live in Auburn, it's not bad. It doesn't have the stench, but there's not much of it and it's high in carbs and fat. Even my son, who will eat anything that isn't moving, has decided to take his own lunch after a few weeks of school cafeteria food. (This is his first year in public school, 10th grade.)
Have you heard about the California proposition to add preschool?
They have these awful commercials that if you didn't go to preschool then you are going to be at high risk of dropping out of high school and becoming a criminal.
Of course is it really preschool or is it the fact that poor people can't afford preschool.
Does this happen with children of families who can afford preschool, but choose not to send their kids to preschool?
Sounds like us. We homeschooled until we moved to a very small, very conservative town/village. Our oldest two are trying public school, the youngest, still home. So far so good. We got to them first; now it's a matter of if the school can handle them.
Our elementary schools lunches are not that great. It's just nice not to make lunches if my kids chose to eat at school.
My son just started middle school, and he loves the food there. He can get a cinnamon roll for breakfast or a snack, and they have pizza or quesadillas every day. He's super skinny so he can even eat the cinnamon roll every day if he wants to.
I agree. We homeschooled our children for a few years but they did attend public school in their teen years. They ate breakfast at home and always had a homemade meal sent with them for their lunch. They often told me that some of the other kids were jealous of their homemade potato rolls and moose roast sandwiches. LOL It wasn't until they were adults that they admitted to me that sometimes they traded their homemade goodies for "junk food". Ahhh, kids..... :)
That was the fun part of lunches as a kid. You could always swap something momma sent for something better.
LOL! Some things never change. I know that my son's friends thoroughly enjoyed coming to our house, and that was part of my mommy "plan". I preferred that our sons enjoy their social time here at home where I could keep an eye on things and I found that good ole homemade treats kept them and their friends very happy to be "home". I was one of those moms who made everything "from scratch". Homemade breads, cookies, pies, dinners...you name it, I made it. Even our pizzas and tortillas were homemade.
This is a cute story that I and my friend often laugh about. Although my friend also was a wonderful mother and enjoyed making things from "scratch" sometimes, they also did indulge quite often in storebought cookies, snacks and other treats. Well, we had just moved to our area and had recently met her and her family. Their youngest son enjoyed coming over to play with our boys.
Well, the year we were building our log home, I was using our camping trailer as a "camp kitchen" and still I insisted on everything being homemade. This young boy (10 years old) came for a visit one day on his four-wheeler and he was carrying a bag of food. In it were some storebought cookies, junk food, and boxed juices. I remember he told the boys he had brought some real food because he knew we didn't have any. ROFL! I always offered him homemade jerky, cookies, etc., but he was worried that we didn't have any "REAL food". That still just cracks me up.
Actually, my husband makes the breakfasts and lunches and they are quite healthy. (I call him the "lunch nazi", though, because he's so particular about making sure everyone gets the same amount of everything to the point that he counts grapes!)
Kids:'). I did buy a few "snacks" When they were gone, the boys would start complaining and asking when I was going to buy groceries. It was " there is nothing to eat" There was plenty of food. They just didn't want to cook or prepare.
Why does that not surprise me?
When my kids said they couldn't find anything to eat, I told them to "forage". There was ALWAYS something to eat and if they didn't want to cook or prepare, then they had to "forage". Bad mommy? I don't THINK so. LOL
I had an advantage there, CindyDawg. We live in "bush" Alaska and we don't have Pizza Hut, nor any other fast-food joint within 200 miles from here. Never heard of a "Schwan" man. Is that someone who says, "do you schwan-a-have a burger? lol
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