Lunch mom duty at school gives me a wonderful perspective of public school life. I get to know the teachers, principal and staff, I get to learn how my children are doing, I get to meet who they hang around. All wonderful introspective looks into the lives of grammar school kids. A life that I must say is fading from my memory with the rest of the 1980s.
Besides the new gadgets, prettier schools, and new fashion, one organic item pervades the lives of a grammar school kid that it did NOT just a few short years ago.
And that is BEANS.
Beans are a wonderful miracle food- high in protein and fiber, and half of the world lives on them in combination with rice. There is nothing WRONG with beans.
There is nothing wrong with beans, except that children do not like to eat them every day at lunch.
And because I see 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 year olds not liking beans every day, I also see 5,6, 7, 8 and 9 year olds NOT eating beans that they are served every day.
Beans are heaped into the trash as if they are no more than an extension of a dirty napkin. Daily, constantly, the wasted energy used to cook the beans, and wasted beans themselves are contributing to bean mountains likely, all over the country.
The $11 billion National School Lunch Program
The $11 billion National School Lunch Program was implemented as part of the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,”. This law was spear headed and encouraged through Congress by First Lady Michelle O. The intentions were noble and honest. EVERYBODY wants children with good eating habits.
The problem is that children have taste buds and we, oh dear fellow parent, have taught them what CANDY and MILKSHAKES are!!
Other problems, for high school kids, include the complete lack of caloric intake for big football players.
Bean Mountain is a problem, we all agree. I wish it weren’t. I just want my kids to have a little bit of variety and give myself a break (make them buy lunch) from packing a lunch every day!
