School Food Insanity

With the start of school now here, I've been reading a lot of articles and comments and postings about school lunches. One article asked the question, "How Far Does Your School Take Banning Food?", and there were many comments after it. I read through most of them, and began to comment with my own opinion, but stopped when it was getting too lengthy and also too opinionated. I figured a better place for that would be here, since I feel this is my blog, and you can agree or disagree with me, but if you don't like it, too bad! Ha ha.
So here we go.
I think some schools are getting too crazy with banning foods. Not ours, thank goodness, although we do have nuts banned as most schools do. I can understand the peanut thing. They have a strong odor, and peanut butter is easily spread around from your fingers to door knobs, tables, chairs, etc. However, that's about all I can agree on. As it stands, neither of my children have a life-threatening food allergy. So no, I can't completely understand the fear a parent has sending their kid off to school where they may come into contact with the allergen. But that's life, isn't it? We have to teach our kids to protect themselves from anything dangerous. We teach them to cross the road safely, we don't shelter them from that. We don't tell them to never cross a road just in case. We teach them to wear a helmet when riding a bike. We don't shelter them by never letting them have one. We teach out children stranger-danger, and eventually let them out on their own. Life has risks, but we teach them how to minimize the risks, and how to deal with them in the best way. Shouldn't parents be teaching their child to wash their hands more, never accept food not packed from home, to always question if it's safe, to keep fingers and objects out of their mouths?
Why is it that a school expects EVERYONE ELSE to change their eating habits to accommodate one or two people in the school? Would we expect a classroom to stop using their eyes to accommodate a blind person's learning style? Or would we expect the curriculum to be limited to only what the student with learning disabilities can learn? Of course not!
I hear so often that children of this generation are growing up feeling entitled to everything. This feeds right into that. Because one child may have a severe milk allergy, doesn't mean the whole class, or school, should stop bringing milk products. This child could grow up thinking everyone else should go out of their way to accommodate him or her. And that's just not the way the world works, unless you're royalty or something.
I had a Facebook friend comment that her child was now not allowed to bring mushrooms, or anything that may have come into contact with mushrooms to accommodate a teacher! I was shocked. Now, I'm not criticizing her acceptance of the rule, but had it been me, I would have been LIVID! Of course, like many children, my kids won't eat mushrooms. The chance that they would bring something to school containing mushrooms would be infinitesimal. But her list of banned foods (which she said was extensive) included pizza and pasta, two things her picky child would eat.  I just don't understand the logic in including things that "may contain" or "may have been in contact with". First, the chance that the food did contain a trace amount is small. Like the pizza. A pepperoni pizza may have been cut up with the same pizza cutter that cut up a previous pizza containing mushrooms. So that little tiny piece of mushroom had to get on the slice that you happen to send your child to school with. And then, that piece of tiny mushroom has to not only fall off, but also somehow find its way into the allergic teacher's system! It is ridiculous!
I never got to ask her if that included homemade pizza with homemade sauce, or likewise the pasta. But I was appalled for her, really. I struggle every day with what to make for my own two picky kids. To have someone tell them they can't have their favourite foods would be awful. 
Which brings me to the second part of this rant. I also saw comments on this posed question about not just allergens, but about some schools banning junk food. And not just junk food. Some schools are banning ANY packaged foods! Some are even going so far as to ban juice! 
Ever hear the expression, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"? I think that fits well here. I get that the schools are trying to teach kids about healthy eating. I get that they are trying to help fight childhood obesity. But it's not going to work that way. You can take out junk food vending machines, which, by the way, I think is a good idea. (Kids could bring their own pocket money to school and buy junk without the parents knowing [like mine probably would, especially L]). But if you tell parents that they are NOT ALLOWED  to send their kids some treats, then you are taking away their right to parent. Even if parents are not packing their kids' lunches, they are still the ones buying the food that goes into them, are they not? I like that the schools want to promote healthy choices. I like that they encourage the kids (in Kindergarten at least) to eat the healthiest items first. But I would have a big problem with someone telling me that I wasn't allowed to send anything with sugar in it. That's my choice, and my right.
Ok, it's not my right to poison my kids, to feed them whatever I want. I wouldn't feed them sugar and fat all the time, that's neglect. But everything within reason, right? 
My L is picky. I have the hardest time trying to pack his lunch. Some days, he comes home with most of it uneaten, except for the treat (despite the 1003 times I've told him to eat it last!) and his juice box. And he suffers for it. We all do, actually, because his mood is terrible! But whether or not I had included that treat, he would be in the same boat. So I'm thankful for the calories that he has ingested, however undesirable they may be on the nutrition scale.  
So these schools can try all they want to make parents send healthier things. But that doesn't mean that A) the kids will eat it, like my L, or B) that they just don't go home and eat a bowl of Sugar Krisp for dinner. It sounds a lot like a dictatorship to me! And the more you ban things, the more desirable they become. They should focus more on teaching them how their bodies react to certain things, what each nutrient does for the body, and go back to teaching them how to cook!! 
Ok, that's my rant, ha ha. Like I said, I'm very glad the restrictions at my boys' school aren't stringent. And if they were, at least I'd have the luxury of having them come home for lunch.

Ten Pounds

If you knew me in high school, I was that girl who could eat anything she wanted to, and would never gain an ounce of fat. Even after high school and the years following in college I could drink beer all night, eat pizza for breakfast, burgers for lunch and carbs for dinner and still I was a nice, trim 117-121 lbs. Yes, that was my weight and what a wouldn't give to have that weight back again in the blink of an eye.

So here it is, y'all. I'm going to tell you my weight. I do this with trepidation, because for some, you might go, "What the hell is she complaining about?", and for others, like my sisters, they may go, "Wow, I seriously didn't think she was that much!" (I don't even know if they read this, actually.) I guess I should start off by saying that I'm about 5'6", or just slightly shorter. I have a medium build as far as bone structure goes, and tiny boobs, so I can't blame any weight on them, for sure! I guess I'm just comparing myself to my sisters, who are about the same height as me, with my youngest sister S having a slightly more delicate bone structure.

So S weighs 115 lbs, and had a baby just 3 months ago. Doesn't that make you sick? She has her perfect body back with no stretch marks to show for it, and lovely big (albeit a bit leaky at times, *snicker* ) boobs.

My other sister, N weighs 122 lbs, and we are pretty well matched in body structure (right down to the boobs!) Now, she has an 11-month-old but she works pretty hard to keep in shape, and exercises regularly. I can't really begrudge her her weight, because she deserves it, and also had to give up eating many, many yummy and delicious things to keep my nephew T happy and healthy while he was nursing (he has a lot of sensitivities, it seems, poor guy.)

So here it is. I weigh, on any given day between 130 (that's a good day) and 135. Ugh. I don't really know why my weight fluctuates so much, but it has always been like that, so I'm used to it. It's my norm. It also means I can't really celebrate the loss of a pound or two, because it could be right back there in another day or week. As I said, I'd give anything to have my weight drop by 10 pounds in the blink of an eye. Notice I said in the blink of an eye.

Because apparently, I'm not willing to give up anything at all to have it drop within a reasonable amount of time. Every damn day I wake up and think, OK, today, I'm not going to eat so much. I'm going to have fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, and a FAR smaller portion of dinner than even the boys do! And I'm not going to eat anything containing sugar!

Yes you can see how well that's going. Well, not see, but read. I have no idea how people do it. How do they find the willpower to make themselves exercise? How do they find it to tell themselves NO when they want something to eat? I get to lunchtime and I'm starving! I want real food, not rabbit food! How do I turn off that thing in my brain that tells me to eat carbs and sugar? Or butter? God, I love butter...

All I want is to lose 10 pounds and keep it off. Just 10 pounds.

Anyone have a magic pill I can take???

Random Rambles

I just felt like writing something today, but I don't have any one specific thing to talk about. So here are a few random, unrelated things.

Isn't the weather beautiful? Here in Ontario it has been sunny, warm(ish) (around 9 or 10C) and the snow is melting!! God I could live outside right now. This weather makes me feel so upbeat and positive. Only I'm not outside right now, which is sad. But I will take the kids back outside soon. It still involves much dressing, but, oh well it's worth it for some fresh air. This weather also makes me want to go out shopping and spend money for some reason. Which leads to my next random thought...

I am low on kids this week. Which doesn't do anything good for my paycheque. Sigh.

My sister is maybe coming over today. I don't want to get too excited, in case things don't go her way this morning with baby A, my new niece. I fully remember the planning and undertaking trying to get out the door to go somewhere for the day with a newborn! So I won't hold my breath, but I really really hope she can make it!

Despite my good mood about the weather, I am sooooooo tired today! Ok, I hate listening to people who complain a lot about how tired they are, so I consciously try not to do it too often, especially now that I really have no more excuses to be tired! I no longer have kids that get me up in the night (unless they have a bad dream or are sick), and I am a mature adult who knows what time I need to go to bed to be well rested for my 6:00 a.m. alarm. So I really have no idea why I am feeling this lethargic and sleepy. It could be because my Aunt is here, or perhaps it's the crappy diet I've been consuming lately...

Last night I attempted to make homemade fish fry (you know, like fish&chips). I used frozen tilapia, which I've never tried before, and Bisquick mix with some beer added. I floured the fish first, then dipped it into the (pancake, basically) batter and fried it in about a half inch of oil. And then, because I'm totally paranoid all the time about undercooked meat, I put it in the oven for a few minutes with the totally disgusting homemade sweet potato fries, as well as some store-bought french fries. This was topped off with some frozen corn.
Well, the fish was just ok. The kids didn't like it too much, and L is usually good with fish & chips. I think it was the fish mostly. I won't use tilapia again. They had the regular french fries, and I had some of the sweet potato ones, trying to be more health conscious even though I really don't care for sweet potatoes. They weren't very good. And corn is just corn. The only one that enjoyed the meal was DH, so the boys and I ate some, and then topped ourselves up with ice cream bars. I know, real healthy!

Snacktime

As a mom, I feel like most of my life is spent preparing, serving, and then cleaning up meals. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and possible bedtime snack. It never ends!!
When I was a kid, I didn't get snacks. We ate dinner at 5:00pm precisely, therefore, an after-school snack wasn't necessary. Yes, we were starving by the time we ate dinner, but that's the point, isn't it? Then you actually eat what you're supposed to! Of course, during school we had a small snack at recess time, an apple, or a cookie, and in the summer, I'm sure we must have had a snack in the mid-afternoon, although it was almost always a piece of fruit, or a fruit-juice popsicle.
But I NEVER had to have a morning snack, or a bedtime snack. It was my mother's thinking that if we were still hungry at bedtime, that's too bad, we should have eaten our dinner!
Why is it that kids these days have to eat constantly? I never even heard of a morning snack until I started into my career in childcare.
As a home childcare provider now, I feel obliged to give the kids these snacks, but I know that if it were my own child home alone, we wouldn't be having them. On the weekends, the only reason we might have a snack is if the meal time is going to be delayed for some reason. I will confess that sometimes, I don't give the kids a snack at all (the ones I look after). They are busy playing, having fun, and it gets past the usual snacktime. Then I figure, oh well, maybe they'll all have hungry tummys for dinner tonight. I think a lot of it has to do with poor planning on the parents' part (not planning enough to have a meal ready in short time when arriving home from work) and also the fact that most parents give in to their children too much these days. They are afraid to say no, and have to listen to whining. Especially when it comes to food. Who wouldn't want a yummy chocolate chip granola bar instead of waiting 20 more minutes for a plate full of healthy meat and veg?
I've learned that yes, young children need food more frequently, as I look after a variety of ages. But as they get older, I don't think they need as much. I know this totally goes against what all the dieticians say - more frequent, smaller meals is best - and I don't want anyone to think I'm offering advice, just my opinion. I don't even expect anyone to agree with it, it's just something I needed to say.
That being said, I really think that we should all be giving up the granola bars and crackers and going for the fruit and vegs instead. And I also think that we shouldn't be giving kids a snack simply because it's scheduled in. There is something gratifying in feeling true hunger, and waiting a few more minutes to tuck into a satisfying, healthy meal. Shouldn't we be teaching our kids that? Not calling kids away from their activities to snack around the clock. It's no wonder childhood obesity rates are rising.