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Essay on school lunches
School lunch research paper
School lunch research paper
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Tips on how to prepare school lunches that your kids will enjoy to Eat The summer months are coming to a close with a new school year about to begin. This means that it's time once again to get back to a school year routine. For many families, an important part of that routine is preparing school lunches for their kids. Prepared lunches are a good alternative to school lunches that children sometimes are not too fond of. Preparing lunch at home allows parents more control of what their kids consume compared to what they eat in school. Needless to say, if your child has certain diet restrictions or food allergies, preparing lunch is crucial. To say the least, preparing lunch at home makes it possible to provide children with nutritious foods that they will, in fact, eat and also it …show more content…
certainly won't cost much more than what you might possibly be spending on school lunches. However, preparing a lunch for school every day won't do much good if your child is not going to eat it or maybe ends up exchanging most of it for junk food.
The trick, therefore, is to choose items that your child really enjoys eating. This is also a good time to get your children involved; put them in charge in making their own lunch. By doing so you will know that they will prepare something that they are going to eat, furthermore, it will teach them to be responsible. Begin by speaking to your children with regards to what they really want inside their lunch box. Create a list of items needed for the first week of school. Getting your children involved as much as possible will ensure they have nutritious lunches that they are going to eat. Even younger children such as the kindergartener can help wash grapes and place them into a container, or perhaps choose a snack for their lunch box. Get into the habit of preparing lunches together the night prior to. After a while, you will be able to give the children additional responsibility. This will ensure that they will eat what they prepared. In the process, you are educating them self-sufficiency as well as important life
lessons. Without a doubt, it's important to encourage your children to eat healthy foods. On the other hand, requiring them to eat all healthy food items day in and day out, might not be the best method. For example, when your children prepare and eat a nutritious wrap or salad, allow them to have a few cookies for dessert. Educate them in making good decisions, but try not to panic if they choose to include a bunch of chips or some cookies. Your primary goal is to have them eat a fair amount of nutritious food items and also make smart food decisions, instead of prohibiting complete access to junk food. This can lead them to going behind your back and exchanging with their school friends for the not so nutritious Twinkies or Cupcakes.
In other words, the food is not delicious and there are not many choices. Also, when children don’t get proper nutrition, they have trouble focusing on school. Most students do not buy lunch because they feel it is unappealing and do not like the food served. Many students go to other kids and ask for food. In addition, many students do not eat breakfast, so they rely on lunch to fuel them for the day.
A good meal is very important because it health children’s to grow and develop an awareness of healthy eating habits for life. Also, eating at home it helps children’s to have a good attitude because they are eating a well balance meal and at the same time prevents obesity. Meals prepare at home contains a lot of vegetable and fruits and they are usually not fried. Parents and teachers can be involved in the healthy education of their children. Parents and teachers can establish a daily schedule of meals and snack time because it provides the opportunity to learn from one another. Also, encourage children in learning about new food is very important but without forcing them to eat. Trying foods from other countries can help children’s in learn about a new culture. For example, Salvadorian and Mexican beans contain a lot of iron and fiber and are very important for every one health. Furthermore, caretakers and parents can improve their menu by providing more fruit, vegetables, fat-free dairy and whole grains in order to have a healthy life style.
“More than a third of the county's children are overweight or obese.”(Gustin, 1). As shocking as this is, it's true. One of the big reasons that children and teens are overweight is because of the foods that they eat. They are fed these fattening and unhealthy foods by the school system. Their futures can be changed if we change our choices. Having more nutritious lunches can have a positive impact on the health of American teens.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
Parent should explain to their children that choosing a healthier, more nutritious lunch will give them enough energy to have a productive school day and after school activities. Parents can look over the school menu with their kids and can explain which foods are the best and why. Parents can also pack healthy lunches for their children, at least occasionally. Kids should be encouraged to choose meals that include fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains, accompanied by either milk, juice, or water. Something as simple as cutting food up will make children actually want to it. Cubing food such as chicken, cheese, veggies, and fruits can give them an appealing look and can make kids actually enjoy their food. Some other things to keep in mind when packing school lunch are replacing some of the unhealthy foods. Instead of high fat lunch meats, lower fat deli meats are better and white bread replaced with wheat should be considered. Instead of snacking on cookies, replacing that with maybe trail mix or yogurt is a good option. Anything with less fat and sugar, and more fiber and vegetables is good. Packing children’s school lunch is about the healthiest, most nutritious filled lunch they can receive at
Leave the sofa, go to the kitchen, and start breakfast for the children and yourself. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so fix a substantial meal to fuel the kids until lunchtime. Start preparing lunches, lay out the kid’s clothes for the day, pack their book bags, go to their rooms, and tell them to get up out of the bed. Run go flip the bacon and eggs. Put toast into the toaster, pour orange juice into glasses, and put finished lunches into book bags. Tell kids to get out of the bed again.
Guidelines for meeting nutritional needs should be followed and a variety of foods, including fresh veggies and fruits, should be provided. Child caregivers can look at each area of menu planning and relate it to the entire day’s menu choices. They should use a checklist to examine if all criteria for food menu planning are met. A caregiver who understands the importance of breakfast, snacks, and lunch will plan more carefully to meet the needs of children in care.” Robertson, Catherine. Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Child Care. Albany: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2002. Print. Page
Home lunches should be allowed because kids might not like the food that they are serving. From Chicago School Bans Home Lunches it says, “I don’t need them eating junk or throwing away food I was forced to pay a lot for because they do not like it” I think home lunches should be
NAEYC standard four is about “using developmentally effective approaches to connect with children and families”, and element four says, “Reflecting on their own practice to promote positive outcomes for each child” (https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ProfPrepStandards09.pdf). At the daycare, the teachers met both of those requirements. For example, I examined the teacher inform each parent about if their child was eating at snack and at meal times. The teacher encouraged the parents to bring in a snack for their child because it is important that all the kids eat. I also watched the kids play with pretend fruit and vegetables. The leader pretended to eat the food, and then she said, “Yum this is very delicious and healthy, you and your families should eat this too.” The teacher also makes sure if they eat in front of the children it is either the same thing they are eating, or something healthier. NAEYC standards one, four, and their key elements were met
Parents play an important role in forming their child’s early eating habits. When your child receives an A+ on his/her math test, what do you reward your child with? An ice cream cone or an apple? Usually parents reward their child with an ice cream cone. But if your child constantly does good do you constantly reward them with ice cream cone? No, parents should not reward their children with sugary snacks because it will soon become a norm for the child. So when they have done something good they feel as if they need the ice cream cone or other sugary snacks. If you want to reward your kids for achieving their goals take them to the park, give them a fruit bowl, or even a hug. Parents are also responsible for what goes in their child stomach during dinner time, so break out your pots and pans moms and dads, because from this day forward we are cooking homemade meals. Home cook meals will allow you to have “complete control over the type and quality of ingredients in your meals” (Roizman). As well as allowing them to take out the extra salt, sugar or fats that are seen in fast food restaurants. Tracey Roizman also states that “preparing most of your meals at home helps train your palate toward healthier fare” in her article known as The Advantages of a Home Cooked Meal. When you are cooking don’t forget the fruits and vegetables on your child’s plate. I know
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
Even when they are too young to help with lunch or dinner, children can play a role in preparing snacks. And by taking your children to the grocery or market, you can help them better understand where food comes from and how we buy it.
There are so many ways you can include your kids in meal prep, whether it be teaching them to cut vegetables, stirring the mixture, wash the produce, set the table, help pick the meals, or help you grocery shop. Sometimes as individuals we get caught up in how to get things done fast or productively and including your children will definitely not save time, but it will give you real quality time together. Quality time is what your kids care about more and we often let these moments sneak past us while we ae looking the other way. Talk and listen to your kids while you both are preparing dinner, because some of your best and deepest conversation with your children will happen in the kitchen.
Why is this a problem? Cafeteria food is often cheap, bought in bulk, high in calories, malnutritious, and microwaved. Student polls and opinions prove this. Therefore, this leads to a suggestion: Healthier, tastier foods and a better, more advanced lunch system should be implemented. First of all, students aren’t motivated to eat unhealthy, not-tasty food.
The first thing that schools should do is change their lunch menu. They should get rid of fried foods such as tater tots and introduce more fruit like bananas. The schools should also teach their students about portion size. The students are more likely to make healthier choices if they understand portions. Many schools such as Medulla Elementary already have their menu planned out. So, if a student picks a yogurt snacker for lunch then the student will receive yogurt, banana bread, and