Have you kept your New Year’s resolution? All of that healthy eating and “limiting”
snacks from your diet… If you did, then good for you! If you’re a parent, you
should be doing an even better job of encouraging your children to eat healthy
too. I know – that’s NOT reality and parents have no clue what crap their kids
consume when they’re not at home...when they're at the bus stop or hanging out
with friends after school.
As we all know, the
Department of Education (DOE) tries to convince parents that if it wasn’t for
school, their children wouldn’t be fed every day (remember when Schools
Chancellor Carmen Farina said that if kids didn’t come to school during one of
the city's snowstorms, they wouldn’t get the nutritious meals they need? Way to
hand it to the parents for starving their children!)
Last month, Chancellor Farina
made another great announcement - that one day a week, Thursdays, would be set
aside to incorporate locally grown food in school lunch. The program is called
“New York Thursdays” and aims at teaching children about local farming and
making healthier food choices.
Are these kids really
interested in eating carrots, tomatoes, greens and using herbs on their foods?
If you ask me, the DOE is
pushing a culinary system on our children that will only last as long as
they're in school – IF they want to eat that healthy stuff in the first place!
Will this stop them from scarfing down chips, McDonald's artery-clogging
goodies or fried chicken wings from the Chinese place nearest the train
station?
 |
| EXACTLY!!! |
One of the most interesting
changes being brought to some local schools that I think children will benefit
from is the introduction of hydroponic classrooms – where they will grow their
own produce and incorporate urban farming into their studies. Yummy! All those
bushels of lettuce and collard greens! Once children are done growing their own
vegetables and fruit, they can have a feast! We all know how much every kid
loves vegetables! Surely, if they haven't trashed whatever produce was plopped
on their lunch trays in the cafeteria, they're getting their daily value...
Wait a minute...Let's get
real! These are GROWING children! They also need meat, fish and substantial
foods that will add protein and other vitamins to their diet. Right? How about
teachin' these kids today about the value of catching a tuna or salmon steak?
The meaty foods they can't “harvest” in the classroom are the ones they eat in
the most unhealthiest ways!
Fish sticks??? Chicken
nuggets? YUCK!
Take these kids out on a
yacht once a week – take them fishing and show them how hard fisherman
work...Take them to a farm where chickens and cattle are raised and REALLY get
into the farming feel – show them in person what parts of the animal they're
eating when they go into McDonald's or Burger King – and how much of those puny
chickens they are consuming.
Of course, it's too costly to
“grow” salmon, tuna, grade-A sirloin meat (the healthier choice for chopped meat
consumption) on school grounds! It takes up too much room in a schoolyard to
plant banana and orange trees – fruits that should be part of every child's
daily diet.
Noooo...We're gonna simply
provide students with “samples” - once a week - of healthy and locally grown
produce when it takes a whole damned farm of animals and a sea of fish to
provide them with the nutrients, minerals and protein they need to operate and
function every day!
Don't get me wrong, launching
New York Thursdays is a great way to keep nutritious foods growing and
circulating in our community. But children need more than just access to
healthy foods on a special and designated day.
Should we also mention that
PARENTS need to get involved?
Stop feeding your kids greasy
crap! Stop piling up on the potato chips and snacks for crying out loud! If the
only place children are learning to appreciate healthy food (whether they eat
it or throw it away in the trash) is in school, I think that's really sad and
pathetic.
However, according to the New
York State’s “State of Obesity” website, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recently reported that childhood obesity rates have been decreasing
significantly over the past several years. Whether it’s thanks to “healthier
choices” or what they’re being in served in school, it's a relief to know that
children are on the right track to eating better foods. Who knows? Maybe
children are losing weight because they don't even EAT the healthy lunches that
are served to them!
Kudos to Chancellor Farina –
who I can’t wait to see with a rake in her hands ready to do some harvesting
when the hydroponic classrooms debut in our schools. Here’s to doing whatever
it takes for students to get their nutrients and grow in the right direction!
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