There are several people in my life that enjoy this blustery cold weather, but I am not one of them! I can't wait for the sun to be shining down on a 70 degree day. Don't get me wrong, I love to go skiing in Colorado where it is cold, but that is just it, I get to leave! There it is a vacation, here it is a pain in the you know what.
I bet you have guessed already that this is an I hate cold weather rant, so here goes. The first thing that I hate about cold weather is the depressing feeling that I get. It just brings down my mood. I also don't like the fact that I can't just go somewhere when I want. This is talking about the ice and snow. If I want to go to the store, I can't. I have to wait for someone to clear the way, and speaking of someone clearing the way, my husband has to do that. So, not only is it nasty cold outside, but my husband can't be at home with me because he is pushing the stuff off the roads. Wow, I just realized that I really don't like cold weather...lol!
Another thing that cold weather brings is a bigger me. Yes, I don't like that I can sit and eat all day and not even know that I am doing it. When it's time to get on the scale there are 5 pounds added and I can't figure out how. Then I think of all the many times I was just eating here and there to pass time, because I can't go outside to do anything due to Jack Frost. This also means that the kiddos can't go outside either, so their energy gets so bottled up that they explode. They also believe that every toy in the house has to be drug out. I think that little girls wake up every morning and decide that they are going to try and get out more barbies and more clothes and more food and more makeup and..............you get the picture. Cold weather just brings out more toys in the house, which leads to more work for me in the end.
I could probably go on and on about other things that I dread about cold weather, but I think that I might need a longer day for that. Snow is beautiful (in Colorado), but here at home I just want those days that are nice and sunny. I am so ready for that. So goodbye cold nasty winter and hello summer.......wherever you are!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Slowing Down School Lunch
Well, I started off this semester with reading some blogs that others have posted. I came across Samantha's blog about school lunches not providing the correct nutrients and calorie intake. It was a great article and it spiked my interest in another topic that I am concerned about when it comes to school lunches. Are our students allowed enough time to sit down and eat their lunches? My oldest daughter just started kindergarten and she enjoys taking her lunch every once in a while, but every time she brings her lunch box back home it would still have food in it. I would ask her why she only ate half of her sandwich, or why she didn't even touch her grapes (which by the way are her favorite). She would always respond by saying I didn't have enough time. When she tells me that she doesn't have time to eat her lunch, I wonder if she is getting the healthy nutrition that she needs? So back to the question at hand, do students have enough time to eat their lunch?
I found this article that asked this same question. Cardiologist Dr. Agatston believes that having a real sit-down meal at lunch will help improve a child's health and eating habits. In this article he explains that having a sit-down meal at school is a great learning opportunity for the children. Some people are still optimistic though. They argue that our kids are becoming more obese, so do they need more time to stuff food in their mouths? Dr. Agatston explains that many kids are malnourished, whether they be heavy, thin, or middle weight. He says that it is do to the bad eating habits that they obtain. I would have to agree with this, since just because a thin child is thin, it doesn't mean that he/she is being fed the proper foods. Another point that I found interesting about this article was the effect that children have on their parents. They gave the example of showing children the stop smoking campaigns at school, and then the children coming home and throwing away their parent's cigarettes. This is so true, because I used to do it to my grandma. I would throw them away or hide them because I was taught that they were bad at school. So won't this apply to the way children are taught to eat at school also? Maybe they can influence their family to have more family table time, that in return could help everyone's eating habits.
While I was researching this topic, I came across another article in The Washington Post that was a different take on more time for lunches. The author, Jay Mathews, brought up that children are starting to fall behind and need to catch up. He also brought up the issue of making school days longer to fulfill this, which is a whole other issue that we won't get into right now. Where would the budget be for this, and who wants to do this? Anyway, he came up with the idea to create longer lunch periods, not for the sit-down experience, but to add a reading period within it. This is a complete opposite view of what I talked about above. He even suggested taking away hot lunches and serve box lunches. I would have to completely disagree with this. Children need a variety of healthy foods in their life. There is still the argument that schools are not providing all healthy foods, but the food administration is working on coming up with higher quality, nutritious meals. I also don't want my child to eat a pb & j and potato chips every day. He went on further to say that the lunch room was not even needed. They could just stay at their desk and be served the box lunch. If they wanted to eat they could, if not they could read a book. Again, I would have to disagree. I think that the student needs that break. They need that social time to spend with their peers. In my opinion, I feel that this does help children realize the importance of sitting down at a table to eat, and that it is not okay to eat in front of the tv or in their room, which is another cause of unhealthy eating habits and lifestyle described in another article I found here.
Overall, I feel that schools need to allow children enough time to eat their lunch, so that they can live healthy and perform well in school. I also believe that it should be a real sit-down experience. There may be many different ways to achieve this, so I say find the best for your school and go with it.
I found this article that asked this same question. Cardiologist Dr. Agatston believes that having a real sit-down meal at lunch will help improve a child's health and eating habits. In this article he explains that having a sit-down meal at school is a great learning opportunity for the children. Some people are still optimistic though. They argue that our kids are becoming more obese, so do they need more time to stuff food in their mouths? Dr. Agatston explains that many kids are malnourished, whether they be heavy, thin, or middle weight. He says that it is do to the bad eating habits that they obtain. I would have to agree with this, since just because a thin child is thin, it doesn't mean that he/she is being fed the proper foods. Another point that I found interesting about this article was the effect that children have on their parents. They gave the example of showing children the stop smoking campaigns at school, and then the children coming home and throwing away their parent's cigarettes. This is so true, because I used to do it to my grandma. I would throw them away or hide them because I was taught that they were bad at school. So won't this apply to the way children are taught to eat at school also? Maybe they can influence their family to have more family table time, that in return could help everyone's eating habits.
While I was researching this topic, I came across another article in The Washington Post that was a different take on more time for lunches. The author, Jay Mathews, brought up that children are starting to fall behind and need to catch up. He also brought up the issue of making school days longer to fulfill this, which is a whole other issue that we won't get into right now. Where would the budget be for this, and who wants to do this? Anyway, he came up with the idea to create longer lunch periods, not for the sit-down experience, but to add a reading period within it. This is a complete opposite view of what I talked about above. He even suggested taking away hot lunches and serve box lunches. I would have to completely disagree with this. Children need a variety of healthy foods in their life. There is still the argument that schools are not providing all healthy foods, but the food administration is working on coming up with higher quality, nutritious meals. I also don't want my child to eat a pb & j and potato chips every day. He went on further to say that the lunch room was not even needed. They could just stay at their desk and be served the box lunch. If they wanted to eat they could, if not they could read a book. Again, I would have to disagree. I think that the student needs that break. They need that social time to spend with their peers. In my opinion, I feel that this does help children realize the importance of sitting down at a table to eat, and that it is not okay to eat in front of the tv or in their room, which is another cause of unhealthy eating habits and lifestyle described in another article I found here.
Overall, I feel that schools need to allow children enough time to eat their lunch, so that they can live healthy and perform well in school. I also believe that it should be a real sit-down experience. There may be many different ways to achieve this, so I say find the best for your school and go with it.
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