Wednesday, September 16, 2009

School Lunch Dilemma

At Raquel's school, the cafeteria can only accomodate so many students, so each grade goes into lunch at different times and each group is ushered out to make room for the next group. This is a problem for me because Raquel is a SLOW eater. At first, the lunch lady was tossing Raquel's uneaten food in the trash, so I enclosed a little note requesting that any leftovers be kept in the lunch box--this is so I could see what Raquel had eaten. Turns out she's not eating that much. There is nobody around to make sure she eats enough. Jose wants me to give up on making her lunch and just let her eat school food. I don't want to resort to this, even if it is just one meal a day. All they serve is pizza, chicken nuggets and hamburgers. Making her lunch myself gives me a sense of accomplishment--that's me being selfish, I know. But I would feel like I'm not doing my part if I let Raquel eat the crappy food her school serves.
There aren't many things I have control over. I don't have much say in what happens to my kid at school. I trust she is getting a good education but I don't trust the school's way of doing lunch. Do I relinquish what little control I have on this issue until Raquel is a little older (and hungrier)? (that is a picture of Raquel's lunch today. I packed less food.)
When I was a kid I got white bread, white rice, processed cheese, lunch meat---these were everyday parts of my diet. My mom made dinner for us every night, including some kind of vegetable or salad but we ate a lot of unhealthy stuff. This was in the 1980s. Back then we didn't have as much information available to us about nutrition as we do now. My children are pretty much damned to have pot bellies or huge asses, not to mention high blood pressure, because of heredity. I would like to do whatever I can to prevent this. Right now, that means feeding them a well-balanced and varied diet to get them started out right. When they're older they will eat what they want but I will have done my part.
About her education, I know she has a good teacher. Raquel has learned the days of the week already and she's only been in school for 5 days. She goes around the house singing the songs her teacher has taught the class. I enjoy hearing her sing these songs.

2 comments:

Iris said...

Sarah,

Do you get Raquel involved in making and packing her lunch? Or is she asleep by the time you are putting it together? I wonder if it would make a difference if she helped with it. Try laying out all of her lunch and in the morning, having her pack it into her lunch bag. Or if you have time at night, you could show her what you are packing for her for the next day. Ask her "Which one are you going to finish first?" And let her point out the food. "Which one goes next ? " And let her point it out. See if that works :\

Cafe Pasadena said...

"I don't have much say in what happens to my kid at school. I trust she is getting a good education but I don't trust the school's way of doing lunch."

Is this a government contriolled school? Can you get into the PTA? It's right that you should be concerned what goes into your children's stomach & brain.