This article on Huffington Post about the flak that Michelle Obama is recieving for her revamped school lunch program really infuriates me. The article focuses on a Youtube video created by four Kansas high school students under the direcion of Linda O’Connor, one of their teachers. Their opinion is that the new 850 calorie limit on lunches served at school is not enough for a growing teenager, especially those involved in sports. They cite a statistic from KidsHealth.org that says “active teens require 2000 to 5000 calories per day to adequately meet their growth and energy needs.” There are parental groups who agree with this sentiment, and they’re calling for a return to the school lunch program that existed before Michelle Obama showed up with all of her zany notions about vegetables and healthy proteins. Bring back the french bread pizzas or our kids will starve!
I’m sorry, but where does it indicate that the majority of those calories need to come from lunch that the kids get at school, and from fatty, sodium-ridden food at that? If you eat an 850 calorie lunch, that still leaves 2,650 calories from breakfast, dinner and anything in between. Let’s consider that I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a high-school student without a Starbucks cup in their hand (510 calories). Or that an average family dinner of, oh, say lasagna, garlic bread and salad will add 483 calories to your count. And when’s the last time you saw a teenager only take one serving of something for dinner?
Being inquisitive as I am, I actually visited KidsHealth.org to check out their research. While it’s true that they do recommend 2,000 to 5,000 calories a day for active and growing teens, they also recommend that parents review the lunch menu with their children, help them pick out healthier options and even bring their own lunches. Huh. Parental responsibility. Never heard of it.
Listen kids, I know that change sucks. I also know that it sucks to have people telling you what to do. And parents, it’s frustrating to get your kids to cooperate when you know that you’re helping them make the right choices. But seriously. Seriously? That’s what parents are there for. You have to be the bad guy sometimes, and that’s ok. You know what else kids don’t like? Homework. Are we going to abolish that next when some cranky high schoolers make a Youtube video about how much time it takes for them to get their homework done?
It’s sad that we are at the point where the government has to step in and take the Snickers bars out of the hands of our morbidly obese children, because the parents won’t. But the truth of the matter is that a 2010 University of Michigan study found that students who ate school lunches as they existed before the changes were 60% more likely to be overweight or obese, when compared with students who brought their lunches from home.
The onus here is not only on the schools to provide their students with lunches that meet their nutritional needs. It’s also on the parents to educate their kids and talk healthy food choices with them. If you have a child who is active, involved in sports or just needs more calories than the average kid, it’s your responsibilty as the parent to help them learn where they can get those calories without all the junk, not to lambaste a government program that’s trying to do exactly that. Instead of fighting about whose job it is to make sure that our kids are healthy, why don’t we all take a little bit of responsibility? Dear god, that would mean the kids would get a consistent message about a healthy diet!
Imagine that.
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