Lunch is mandatory

[Abbey Marie]

Just received this from our local school district:


Effective July 1, 2012, under the new USDA regulations, every student
must either take a fruit or a vegetable to complete their tray. If the
student does not take a fruit or vegetable, he/she will be charged FULL
prices (which will cost more than the cost of the tray). Please visit
our website, go to Parents and select "Nutrition Services" for more
detailed information.

Wonder what will be required next?

[Drummond]

Just received this from our local school district:



Wonder what will be required next?

The introduction of a new team exercise ... synchronised goosestepping ...

[Thunderknuckles]

Just received this from our local school district:



Wonder what will be required next?
Yes, and look what this is leading to:
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-may-install-trash-cams-to-spy-on-kids-tossing-veggies.html
Kids are throwing out there mandated fruits and vegetables and now a Florida school wants to install video cameras on trash cans. Note that they want use this is evidence that this healthy food mandate is a failure. Right, we all know that the next step will be will be punishing students and very possibly their parents for students throwing out their veggies.

This entire policy is an abject failure in social engineering.
STOP IT already.

[logroller]

Just received this from our local school district:



Wonder what will be required next?

A more clear explanation.

Does this only apply to purchased lunches? Is it a la carte pricing or something?

[mundame]

Yes, and look what this is leading to:
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-may-install-trash-cams-to-spy-on-kids-tossing-veggies.html
Kids are throwing out there mandated fruits and vegetables and now a Florida school wants to install video cameras on trash cans. Note that they want use this is evidence that this healthy food mandate is a failure. Right, we all know that the next step will be will be punishing students and very possibly their parents for students throwing out their veggies.

This entire policy is an abject failure in social engineering.
STOP IT already.


I was just thinking before you posted that the kids could take the stuff and just throw it out. :rolleyes:


How I wish trashed food could be used for animal feed around the whole country. I know it can't (hoof and mouth and other diseases) but I so much wish it could. We recycle ALL our scrap food. Chickens, cats, sheep, etc.

[Abbey Marie]

A more clear explanation.

Does this only apply to purchased lunches? Is it a la carte pricing or something?

Interesting question, since the same notice mentions how you can apply for free or reduced lunch if you are having "financial" issues. How can you charge students who are getting it for free?

ETA:
I just checked their web site, and there is no information on it.

[jafar00]

They could just make the school lunch healthy in the first place.

[WiccanLiberal]

I have a modest suggestion, incorporate the veggies in sneaky ways. Adding ground carrots to turkey meatballs, or ground eggplant or squash to tomato sauce for lasagna, etc. Personally, I think mandating kids eat anything is as profitable as herding cats. It is frustrating all round.

[gabosaurus]

I think the thread title is misleading. No one is required to eat lunch. Or purchase their lunch.
However, I have to wonder what some of you have against healthy lunches. Are you against fruits and vegetables? Would you prefer your kids to eat french fries?
If you want your kids to eat junk food, send them to school with a bag full of chips and chocolate bars. Chances are they are already fat or anorexic.

[Kathianne]

I have a modest suggestion, incorporate the veggies in sneaky ways. Adding ground carrots to turkey meatballs, or ground eggplant or squash to tomato sauce for lasagna, etc. Personally, I think mandating kids eat anything is as profitable as herding cats. It is frustrating all round.

I did that when my kids were young, still do it for many dishes, even though we all eat our veggies. We've all gotten used to burgers, whether beef or turkey with bits of orange and green. ;)

[gabosaurus]

I did that when my kids were young, still do it for many dishes, even though we all eat our veggies. We've all gotten used to burgers, whether beef or turkey with bits of orange and green. ;)

Or you could simply not serve or eat burgers. Or french fries.
Or just serve burgers, pizzas and fried chicken all the time. Have your entire family resemble the Honey Boo Boo clan.

[Kathianne]

Or you could simply not serve or eat burgers. Or french fries.
Or just serve burgers, pizzas and fried chicken all the time. Have your entire family resemble the Honey Boo Boo clan.

Grow up. It was an example, not a one fur.

[Thunderknuckles]

I think the thread title is misleading. No one is required to eat lunch. Or purchase their lunch.
However, I have to wonder what some of you have against healthy lunches.
Nothing against healthy lunches. However, what Abbey is talking about is a SERIOUS problem. Do you agree that a school can punish students for not eating their vegetables?

[gabosaurus]

Nothing against healthy lunches. However, what Abbey is talking about is a SERIOUS problem. Do you agree that a school can punish students for not eating their vegetables?

I don't think they intend to. You cite ONE school that has a radical plan and use it to say everyone will be doing it.

Lunch will never be mandatory. Eating certain things off your plate will never be mandatory. You will always be able to take what you want to school and eat what you want on your plate. Stop being ridiculous.

[Thunderknuckles]

I don't think they intend to. You cite ONE school that has a radical plan and use it to say everyone will be doing it.

Lunch will never be mandatory. Eating certain things off your plate will never be mandatory. You will always be able to take what you want to school and eat what you want on your plate. Stop being ridiculous.
Abbey posted that her school district will be penalizing students that do not pick a fruit or vegetable. So no, you WILL NOT be able to take what you want without penalty. Of course you can take the fruit or vegetable to get around it and just throw it away but I posted we now have a school that wants to start video recording what students choose to dump in the trash can. We aren't talking about ONE school here but several.
Now, you and I both live in California. How far do you think we will take it?

[jafar00]

I think the thread title is misleading. No one is required to eat lunch. Or purchase their lunch.
However, I have to wonder what some of you have against healthy lunches. Are you against fruits and vegetables? Would you prefer your kids to eat french fries?
If you want your kids to eat junk food, send them to school with a bag full of chips and chocolate bars. Chances are they are already fat or anorexic.

Hey! Chips are vegetables! You get all 5 food groups in a Whopper with Cheese too! /sarcasm

[DragonStryk72]

They could just make the school lunch healthy in the first place.

Strictly speaking ,they already do that, Jafar. The problem is that kids, well, they don't necessarily want to eat the vegetables made in the school cafeteria, and having tasted more than my share in my time, I can understand the reticence. Because the food standards are so very high over here, schools tend toward serious overcooking of foods to be certain nobody gets anything. Unfortunately, this also includes things like flavor, and most of the vitamins that might have been gotten from properly prepared veggies.

Another part of the problem is that schools don't usually have the best selection of fruits and veggies, so you might end up with, say, creamed spinach and beets, with oranges and apples for fruit. But what if you hate the aforementioned food items? Apparently, you are still forced to buy them now, even knowing that they absolutely will not be eaten.

All in all, schools on this side of the water have gotten to a point of interference with parenting that cross into the absurd.

[DragonStryk72]

Hey! Chips are vegetables! You get all 5 food groups in a Whopper with Cheese too! /sarcasm

lol, you so very badly do not want to see what a school cafeteria does to a burger, let alone a whopper over here.

[red states rule]

They could just make the school lunch healthy in the first place.

Who deems the food "healthy"? From the reports I have seen, the students hate the food they are being served and are finally speaking out

[red states rule]

I think the thread title is misleading. No one is required to eat lunch. Or purchase their lunch.
However, I have to wonder what some of you have against healthy lunches. Are you against fruits and vegetables? Would you prefer your kids to eat french fries?
If you want your kids to eat junk food, send them to school with a bag full of chips and chocolate bars. Chances are they are already fat or anorexic.


So Gabby are you saying the "smart people" know what is best for the kids and not the parents?

Now that Obamacare is law, I am not surprised libs are trying to control what we are allowed to eat and drink

[Abbey Marie]

I don't think they intend to. You cite ONE school that has a radical plan and use it to say everyone will be doing it.

Lunch will never be mandatory. Eating certain things off your plate will never be mandatory. You will always be able to take what you want to school and eat what you want on your plate. Stop being ridiculous.

Actually, if you read the quoted paragraph in the OP, it states that the District is complyng with new USDA Regulations. This requirement will no doubt apply to all public schools.

[logroller]

I'm not really sure what the big deal is-- when I was in school, I took what the cafeteria served. I don't remember there being a different price for taking only some of what was served. As though skipping the vegetable and fruit was advantageous, other than just not having it in my plate. It's not as though kids are given some choice on rather to participate in arithmetic; surely, they're free to ignore the lessons, but that doesn't mean they should be given the opportunity to opt out because its not appealing.

[gabosaurus]

Childhood obesity is a huge problem. Parents have complained about their kids eating junk for lunch. Of course, now that someone has tried to deal with the problem, there are complaints about the proposed solution.
Perhaps the USDA needs to go back to the drawing board. Or perhaps someone else can try to solve the problem.

[Thunderknuckles]

Childhood obesity is a huge problem. Parents have complained about their kids eating junk for lunch. Of course, now that someone has tried to deal with the problem, there are complaints about the proposed solution.
Perhaps the USDA needs to go back to the drawing board. Or perhaps someone else can try to solve the problem.
Honestly Gabby, I don't know how to solve the problem. This all starts at home. But I'm loathe to have the government step into that realm and forcing good eating habits.

[mundame]

The whole process of totalitarianism is to own the citizen's entire life from cradle to grave --- that definitely includes what they are ordered to eat for lunch. The idea is for government to control everything everyone does, and to train them up early to cooperate with that. So the training starts in school, has to.

[logroller]

The whole process of totalitarianism is to own the citizen's entire life from cradle to grave --- that definitely includes what they are ordered to eat for lunch. The idea is for government to control everything everyone does, and to train them up early to cooperate with that. So the training starts in school, has to.

As long as we're discussing processes, it seems we've processed to hyperbole. Do you not think food groups should be balanced in a meal?

[logroller]

Honestly Gabby, I don't know how to solve the problem. This all starts at home. But I'm loathe to have the government step into that realm and forcing good eating habits.

Who's forcing anybody to eat?

[Abbey Marie]

Honestly Gabby, I don't know how to solve the problem. This all starts at home. But I'm loathe to have the government step into that realm and forcing good eating habits.

Exactly. And it should end at home, too. Just like most other things that the schools try to commandeer away from parents.

[Abbey Marie]

Who's forcing anybody to eat?

By charging more, you either force the kid to eat the food, or throw it away. And we've seen above that trash can cameras may someday remove the latter option.

Does the slow and steady erosion of personal liberty not bother you?

[DragonStryk72]

Who's forcing anybody to eat?

Eh, history bears out that particular statement. Every power government gets, it expands on unless the populace puts their foot down, but that doesn't happen most times when the change is done over a long period, the "It's a bunch of little things" method. I mean, ten years ago, we wouldn't have dreamed of forcing kids to buy food they didn't want to eat, but that's now a reality. Also ten years ago, we would have laughed ourselves silly at the idea that we "had" to go with our kid to the local park. Now? You can be brought up on charges for it in a number of places.

[Thunderknuckles]

Who's forcing anybody to eat?
Nobody, that particular response I made should not be taken in the context of what is happening in the schools.

[mundame]

Do you not think food groups should be balanced in a meal?

This issue is not about balancing food groups.

The issue is forcing children to eat a certain way in a steady, progressive interference of the government into personal habits. This is the same thing as the New York law against the Big Gulp. It's the same as government officials feeling everyone's genitals in airports before anyone is allowed to fly. it's the same as publicly castigating children who wear a Romney T-shirt to school. It's training people up to be passive sheep, so we'll tolerate ANY level of personal interference.

This is how totalitarianism works: by training people to put up with continual interference in their personal lives.

[Noir]

Lunch isn't mandatory.

As for healthy eating in schools - education is key, teach kids properly about healthy eating, if they chose to ignore it then they're idiots, and are welcome to their poor health.

[logroller]

By charging more, you either force the kid to eat the food, or throw it away. And we've seen above that trash can cameras may someday remove the latter option.

Does the slow and steady erosion of personal liberty not bother you?

By charging more--For what, the food groups being represented? I think you're making a lot out of nothing. I don't see personal liberty being eroded here. We had another thread where state regs required that even lunches brought from home were being regulated-- now THAT I have a problem with. but here, no problem--You don't like the school lunch... don't eat it or don't buy it...either option is there.

Hypothetically, the kids are getting a hamburger with lettuce and tomato on the side; and because they don't want it, it's somehow a personal liberty issue.

I just don't see it abbey. My eldest daughter's school has an excellent menu-- salad and potato bar, and then the entree. I think it's nice they're given alternatives, but likewise, those alternatives shouldn't be a potato with nothing but butter and bacon bits. No. They're given all the items and they can pick it of before they mix it. Easy. Not an issue. I certainly don't complain about the $3 price not being discounted because my daughter doesnt eat the olives. Given the choice between one thing which and a variety, I'd take the variety. If that variety selection comes with conditions, (the exact same USDA conditions, BTW, that the one thing has) than so be it. If I don't like it, brown bag it!

[DragonStryk72]

Lunch isn't mandatory.

As for healthy eating in schools - education is key, teach kids properly about healthy eating, if they chose to ignore it then they're idiots, and are welcome to their poor health.

Here it is. You either have to bring a lunch from home, or buy one at school, but lunch is mandatory at schools here in america.

We do teach about healthy eating, we just do it stupidly, and turn kids off of it, or we bludgeon them with it everywhere they go, and they dig in. We've gotten TOO serious about the subject, honestly, so we're putting them off of it the first chance they get to deviate. Maybe the kid just isn't that hungry? Given the obesity issue these days, I'd say letting them choose to eat slightly less horribly overcooked food isn't such a bad thing.

And simply because someone doesn't add an extra helping of this or that doesn't make them an idiot. It simply makes them 6-8 year olds. Imagine if they told you that you had to have a meat on your plate. Strictly speaking from a health perspective, meat is good for you as long as it's not too fatty. It gives solid protein. You being a vegetarian, however, sort of makes that an issue, now doesn't it? Are you an idiot for not eating meat like they tell you to?

Now, my mom did it the right way with me and my sibs: she would have us try a little bit of a veggies or fruit to see if we liked it, and made sure it was properly cooked. We didn't have to eat more if we didn't want any. Consequently, veggies were never a fighting point, and we rapidly came to have our favorites. Like when she introduced spinach while I was on a huge Popeye kick.

I actually keep a lot of fresh fruit and veggies in my home. I'm particular to pears, bananas, and clementines. Yeah, I also have sweets and caffeine, but come on, I'm still a gamer. I actually enjoy farmer's markets, though.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

This issue is not about balancing food groups.

The issue is forcing children to eat a certain way in a steady, progressive interference of the government into personal habits. This is the same thing as the New York law against the Big Gulp. It's the same as government officials feeling everyone's genitals in airports before anyone is allowed to fly. it's the same as publicly castigating children who wear a Romney T-shirt to school. It's training people up to be passive sheep, so we'll tolerate ANY level of personal interference.

This is how totalitarianism works: by training people to put up with continual interference in their personal lives.

Dead on accurate. Its also how cults work too. It is the mainstay of Islam as well. Islam says no to eating pork. Must pray x-times a day , etc..
Watch how quick they make exceptions for muslim students!! Thats because liberals/leftists ally with muslims ..-Tyr

[logroller]

This issue is not about balancing food groups.

The issue is forcing children to eat a certain way in a steady, progressive interference of the government into personal habits. . .
Again with the forcing. Some people are just itching for a fight cuz obama's wife thinks its important. Seriously, show me a federal law that says kids have to eat healthy, and I'll take it all back. Putting food on a plate isn't forcing them to eat it. What's your alternative, giving them pudding and hot pockets cuz their personal habits don't include fruits and veggies? Please. You put a healthy meal on their plates and rather or not they it is up to them. Do you disagree that fruits and vegetables should be included in each meal, because that certain way you malign is balanced food groups represented on the plate. Nothing more. Nobody's taking away choices-- by putting a fruit and veg on the plate it's giving them a choice.

Whats progressive about USDA lunches? It's the same as when I was in school in the eighties. Sometimes i ate it, someimes i didn't-- but as far as what schools serve --save an extra fruit/ vegetable-- it's the same as it was 25 years ago. And comparing the exact same cafeteria that I ate in from 82-92 with the one my daughter does now -- its actually better food.
Maybe it's not that way everywhere, but here in liberal progressive California, that's my experience. Take it or leave it.

[gabosaurus]

My mom told me that she stopped eating lunch in the cafeteria during middle school, following one epic serving that included a mystery meat floating in glop and cottage cheese.

Of course, if schools wanted to circumvent the current USDA regulations, they could revive the Reagan era mandate that ketchup and pickle relish be classified as vegetables. ;)

[logroller]

Here's the changes in the new USDA regs:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf

[mundame]

Here's the changes in the new USDA regs:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf


Interesting.

The new regs are tremendously more complicated and intricate and detailed --- far more regulation than before; I bet it drives the school people crazy trying to deal with all that. It's worth looking at logroller's citation to see how much more regulation there is: it's clear at a glance.

I'm not in favor of continually increasing government regulation of everyone's private lives. I think the government should butt out.

[red states rule]

Again with the forcing. Some people are just itching for a fight cuz obama's wife thinks its important. Seriously, show me a federal law that says kids have to eat healthy, and I'll take it all back. Putting food on a plate isn't forcing them to eat it. What's your alternative, giving them pudding and hot pockets cuz their personal habits don't include fruits and veggies? Please. You put a healthy meal on their plates and rather or not they it is up to them. Do you disagree that fruits and vegetables should be included in each meal, because that certain way you malign is balanced food groups represented on the plate. Nothing more. Nobody's taking away choices-- by putting a fruit and veg on the plate it's giving them a choice.

Whats progressive about USDA lunches? It's the same as when I was in school in the eighties. Sometimes i ate it, someimes i didn't-- but as far as what schools serve --save an extra fruit/ vegetable-- it's the same as it was 25 years ago. And comparing the exact same cafeteria that I ate in from 82-92 with the one my daughter does now -- its actually better food.
Maybe it's not that way everywhere, but here in liberal progressive California, that's my experience. Take it or leave it.

Damn right people will fight back when crap like this happens LR. and is has nothing to do with Michelle Obama wanting to push her ideas of "healthy foods" on us and our kids

Or do you buy into the liberal talking point that government knows what best for your child?




Food Inspector Confiscates Kid's Homemade Lunch



A Hoke County preschooler was fed chicken nuggets for lunch because a state worker felt that her homemade lunch did not have enough nutritional value, according to a report by the Carolina Journal.

The West Hoke Elementary School student was in her More at Four classroom when a state agent who was inspecting lunch boxes decided that her packed lunch — which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips — “did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines,” the Journal reports.

The decision was made under consideration of a regulation put in place by the the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs to meet USDA guidelines.

“When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones,” the Journal reports.


http://nation.foxnews.com/food-police/2012/02/15/food-inspector-confiscates-kids-homemade-lunch