What Does He Really Eat?

D used to take a lunch box until when we gave in to his relentless demand of ‘buying’ lunch at school. His argument was –‘all my friends buy lunch except me’. And like poor suckers, feeling all pitiful for our child who felt exempted, left out, we conceded to his demand, only to realize that re-negotiation on this matter is in order. Thanks to this eye opening new series in which Jamie Oliver (the English Chef) is taking upon a mammoth challenge of changing the way kids eat at school cafeterias in America. It will be interesting to see how far he gets in bringing about a change- one that is much needed in this country where childhood obesity is a national epidemic.

Obesity is not the concern for my son. He is scrawny as a stick. No, he is not a poor eater. He eats as much as he can. Of course, if he ups his intake a bit more, he will have more energy but this is something I am not overly worried about.

What I am worried about now is what he eats when he eats. The menu of the café is quite unappealing to say the least. Chicken nuggets, pizza, mashed potatoes (which, again thanks to this show, I found out, is also processed/frozen). What can I say-my naiveté took the best of me. I thought the mashed potato, at least, will be fresh. I envisioned cooks at the school peeling potatoes first thing in the morning and preparing them with love and affection (note the sarcasm!)for the little kids who come to eat their food. Really. But no, this is only a figment of my imagination-far removed from reality. Breakfast is another issue all together. I don’t care about what they serve for breakfast simply because we make sure D eats a proper breakfast before he leaves for school. But what about kids who does and guess what most schools serve- pizza! Yes, unthinkable, right? I am sure there is a lot of red tapping going on, funds being retracted, other limitations that school administrations struggle with, but these are our children who are eating junk.

Sadly, a lot of parents, including us rely on school cafes to provide our kids nutritious, fresh foods but do we really know what they eat. Just as we pay attention to what we put on our kids’ plates at home, we should be mindful of what they eat in school as well-the place where they spend more time than anywhere else. Last night’s sneak preview forced me to rethink, refocus. Should we allow D to continue eating the crap they serve or should we enforce home-made lunch at the expense of him feeling left out, ridiculed by his friends, peers? A safe solution would be to limit the number of buying days and resort taking lunches from home on alternate days of the week.

I know this will involve patient negotiations with my 6 year old but if I know him well, he will agree. As for Jamie Oliver, I hope he manages to bring about this much needed food revolution not just for kids but for all. And as food gets more processed and refined, it behooves us to take care of ourselves and our health and one of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to pay close attention to what we put into our bodies.