We are Hungry Video
I plan to blog quite a bit more on childhood nutrition in general, but the We Are Hungry video on YouTube, made by students in response to the new school lunch guidelines, has been making the rounds. If you haven't seen it yet, I've embedded it below:
I'm curious as to the reactions of my readers to this video. Not the guidelines per se, or whatever is available/allowed for lunch, but just the video and its underlying messages. And I'll even give my own impressions first here, and feel free to agree or disagree to your liking. (Skip the below if you want to react w/o responding to mine)
I think it's stupid! S.T.U.P.I.D. To me it just smacks of spoiled kids or kids who have been so coddled at school all their lives, or so bombarded with messages undermining parents, that they have no idea what the role of the school vs. parents vs. even themselves at that age is. I'm talking the bulk of the video, not the young grade schoolers crawling (just a ridiculous scene, sigh). I was a volleyball player in high school and while (idiotically) going on a crash diet my senior year managed to perform to a level earning me most valuable player honors. Many times (again idiotically) on 800 calories for the entire day, I managed to foist power serve after power serve without ridiculously fainting afterwards. And anyone familiar with the role of a setter in volleyball will know that my role on the team was to run all over the court as much as possible to get the second "hit" and set up my teammates' spikes. So the scenes of students sleeping and fainting at the slightest exertion just torque me off. And that is before considering what a kid who is truly in need -- who can't afford to participate in after school sports, and experiences genuine hunger from not getting enough to eat and having no money or means to get to the store to even buy junk.
In addition, if the school doesn't provide or they are not allowed to buy a large lunch, these little -- to borrow a term from Susanne -- "special snowflakes" apparently have no clue how to deal with this!! Bring a snack from home? No. Go to the corner store to buy junk food to stuff in your locker? Yes. That's the message of the video -- don't tell and provide students with what to eat, and left to their own devices only crapola comes to mind? Take the responsibility to pack your own snack or lunch? Oh the horrors!!! Sheesh ... by that age I had spent many hours on either a one-to-one (sitting) or larger scale (camp counselor) basis preparing and/or serving food to others, let alone myself. So I find this video a VERY VERY sad commentary on the state of teenagehood these days. And somehow in the era of helicopter parenting, even the parents are grounded at the heliport on this issue? Really?
I suppose in this day and age of YouTube celebrity, this was their first thought. Some find it entertaining, even funny. But I find it ridiculous and off-putting. Oh, and I was at a convenience store just the other day, and if I was looking for some nutrition it's there for the taking. I can get nuts and sunflower seeds instead of potato chips and cheez doodles. Protein? I can get a milk or a hot dog or other various things on the rolly-thingies. I could get a banana, or heck, a jar of peanut butter to go with a sleeve of crackers. If these kids have disposable income to buy junk at a convenience store, they have the money to buy stuff in a regular grocery to keep at home and prepare reasonably nutritious snacks.
What will these kids do when they go off to college, or .... gasp! .... out into the real world?
Comments
I do agree that buying the junk food in the video was probably not the best example. Maybe they should have included healthier items or highlighted what about the school lunches that they have a problem with than just go for junk food. I also think it was probably more for entertainment than an example of what one should eat.
One thing to consider. I live in Kansas so I heard one of the teachers from this school on a local radio show. It sounded like they weren't expecting such a big reaction. Sharon Springs, the town the video came from, is a super small town. The school district's website says there are about 185 students total in grades K-12. They do have a newsletter online that lists what the daily school breakfast/lunch will be. It looks pretty normal, at least for this area. However, it's possible that due to the small size of the school district that they don't have all the options for lunch that bigger school districts have. (or it could also be much better!!) I don't know but it's something to consider. Again though, the students could just bring a lunch from home. Another interesting fact about this town is that there are not any fast food restaurant chains in the town. (they talked about that on the radio show)
Although 800 calories can feel like a starvation diet if it consists of fries and juice. If it's a sensible meal with lots of fruits, steamed vegetables and lean protein it can be a good satiating meal for most people. Lunches at schools in Australia are brought from home, only a few kids actually ate from the school shop/canteen on a consistent basis and you could easily pick who they were from their weight.
I liked the singing :)
Scanning through comments would be required with or without them so it does little to censor them. I think your position is high-minded and admirable. Ignoring comments seems to be a learned skill that takes practice (as does choosing which ones to reply to).
The ridiculous faints and much other stuff are clearly to try to make it more funny.
So I think it would be unfair to take them literally.
That said, who knows, they might have a point.
While I'm a bit surprised from some of the comments above.
So are you supposed to both pay taxes for school lunches and bring your own?
How "little" is 800 is arguable, but I have no idea about what the taxes arrangements are and it's true that "you guys" have a lot of sport activities organized by schools while here they are generally completely outside of it.
So are you supposed to both pay taxes for school lunches and bring your own?
Now that's a can of worms, because many already pay taxes for their kids' education and pay for private education. Most of this as I see it is imposing limits which is indeed ridiculous.
Not all lunch programs are alike. Some I guess there's a standard lunch provided "free", others you still buy from the available options.
I could have complained about being served canned spinach every single day but nobody would have listened.
So I didn't play the video.
For the record, I don't agree with the calorie limits, they should allow more if a kid wants it. Even an overweight kid, as 5 meals a week are not going to change a kid's weight fate.
Not directed at you, but I've heard innumerable reports now of kids leaving many "healthy foods" on their plates or trashing them. It does not equate with true hunger in my opinion. A truly hungry person eats what is available, so we're talking about something else.
If a child complains about not getting enough food at school, problem number one is the child is complaining rather than keeping its mouth shut and doing as it is told.
Regarding "the battle". I have a VERY interesting experiment going on at the moment. Similar things to what I'm doing have been suggested by many people (including you). But I tweaked some ideas I have read about and I'm blown away by the initial results. I don't want to go into details until I get some more experience with this and see if it continues to be effective. Give me a couple weeks and I'll let you know what I did and what happened. I'm only on day 5, but my mood is uplifted and I have this weird feeling of energy. It may be a passing phase so I'll ride it out and see what happens. This has exceeded my expectations. I will get back to you in a couple weeks either way.
From my vantage point I'm seeing the deteriorating product of these schools (college) and it is most disheartening.
But, apparently, they didn't see any reason to alert anyone to this situation? If one truly believes this is the case, how does one not do what they can. I mean, ever approach the boy and find out why he's falling asleep? If he seems evasive then take it further? Or rant about the lunch program.
5 meals a week cannot sustain a child properly. Trying to fix unknown issues like that with such a program is insane.
So a kind of stupid (in a teenager way) response doesn't really bother me that much. After all, they still are just goofy kids....
You are right to identify the funding mechanism as a problem. An organization funded by taxes has an enormous competitive advantage over private organizations. And as if that weren't bad enough, in Pennsylvania there are pretty strict laws regarding homeschooling, which have the impact of pushing more kids into the public system. Ugh.
Vouchers are reasonable, as long as the amount is the same as the per-pupil expenditure of the public school district, and there are not onerous strings attached. The funds could be placed in Education Savings Accounts (already defined by the IRS, the rules would have to be expanded), with all unused funds getting returned to the taxpayers at the end of the school year. That would go a long way to improving school choice. What is nice is that for homeschooling parents, they may spend only a fraction of the money and return most of it - but this money won't distort the education market as it does today.
Of course, the teachers' union would go completely berserk if anyone tried to implement it.
Secondly, most of the boys look lean to me, but some of the girls need to lose a few. Not the best role models for this vid.
I support MO's childhood obesity fight, although I am studiously non-partisan on this blog with respect to politics. Whether she continues the effort after the election in the WH or elsewhere, I think her heart's in the right place.
As an aside: I find those plastic lunchfood trays are a truly unappetizing way of 'plating' food. Plastic knives and forks are even more gross. Nothing looks or tastes good when served like that. A banana leaf and fingers are better.
Here in Toronto over 30 school cafeterias were closed this year because kids voted with their feet. The actual cafeteria rooms were ugly unwelcoming spaces. The companies running the cafeterias were losing money. It's a classic case of 'do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result'... So now they've decided to get one of the local celebrity chefs to change things up. In England, when Jamie Oliver got involved in the healthy food for kids at school stuff, there actually were parents who objected to having strange foods shoved at their children's faces. Apparently some of those children had never eaten an apple.
Why would that not hold on a lesser-hunger scale?
There just seems to be a lot of projection by adults on this.
"Few school districts have been as extreme in their efforts as Los Angeles, which introduced a menu of quinoa salads, lentil cutlets, vegetable curry, pad Thai and other vegetarian fare last fall. When students began rejecting the lunches en masse, the district replaced some of the more exotic dishes with more child-friendly foods, like pizza with whole-wheat crust, low-fat cheese and low-sodium sauce.
But this year, even the whole-wheat pizza is gone, replaced by calzones, fajitas and other, smaller entrees with side dishes of fruits and vegetables."
"Ms. Anthony is not optimistic that the students will warm to their new lunches anytime soon — not as long as they can buy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from the vending machines or brownies from the student store for lunch.
“Why would I come over here for a chicken and apple when I can get a cookie and some Gatorade and some gummies?” she said. “What would you choose?”
@Simon, and referencing other discussions here: The more I think about this it makes me more angry than just shaking my head. Because for an 800 or so calorie lunch to be a hardship in any way, there's parental failure involved. Back in my day my parents were probably bothered by the fact that so much crap was available to me at school and now we've gone 180 to where unlimited food availability is expected -- nay demanded. I keep hearing about kids who don't get fed at home and my question is why? So they can't be expected to send the kidlets to school with a lunch if they can't even provide a breakfast? Even Oliver got gruel!
This also ties back to Gabriella's noting of cafeterias closing because of lack of business. The way to fix this is to do just that -- kids bringing lunch from home -- not demand more food be provided.
Though I still disagree with limiting what any student can buy.
But, I'm with Bentley here, I don't think you can equate hunger strikes and religious martyrdom with spoiled kids. In my house you didn't get more to eat if you didn't eat the full dinner that Mom served. I hardly think that is unreasonable it just comes off worse when it's a non-parent imposing the same thing.
These days I've decided that what people eat is their business. Food has become so politicized and there are so many whacky ideologues out there.
The other day a patient told me that she does not 'believe in sleep apnea'. Good thing she didn't include 'tooth decay' as well or she'd soon need to embrace the concept of 'tooth extraction'.
No, I will not will not bash my head into the nearest wall although a discrete palm face plant was definitely in order.
The breakfast cereals sold in the US are also a 'vitamin pill' in a bowl.
I'm pro real food but in the absence of parents who are capable or willing to provide this for their children and themselves, at least these sorts of foods provide a sort of 'safety net'.
Better than nothing or not much.
At the same time a level of parental failure that will leave a child malnourished is a criminal offense and one that parents should take seriously. When parents don't perceive that it is their responsibility to feed their children adequately it's sort of a whole perception/priority game changer with a lot of potential for unintended consequences. The band aid of food supplementation isn't one I'd like to see removed because I don't want children to starve...but it's an inch deep and a mile wide and often doesn't address underlying problems.
IAC, I put that in the "" because it is often perceived as a junk food when it sustained nutrition, rather economically I might add, without promoting obesity.
FWIW, lots of whole grain foods are quite a bit more calorically dense and may well be part of the obesity problem in that they often come sweetened and/or fattened up more than a good old fashioned donut. I'm talking granola here. I was at TJoes register the other day they had granola and I picked up the bag -- I think it was 8 oz, it was like a quart sized zip lock baggie size. I added up the calories in the entire bag and it was like 1600! It would be easy to eat half that bag ... rather a lot more difficult to eat a loaf of white bread!
The parental failure thing is truly disheartening. I have never been that poor myself, but I know quite a number of people who have been and feeding their family was a top priority, and getting the most nutrition for their dollar was too. There's got to be a way to get back to that mindset as a society. I sure hope so anyway.
Problem is executive function usually, not merely low income all by itself. I have seen people who use entitlement programs that also drive a nicer car than I do and have every new iphone/ipad version that comes out. This creates stigma and social disdain that's both not entirely fair and still understandable. We can feed a family of 8 on less than what a food stamp program would give us because we can and do plan, prioritize, and execute in a deliberate and organized fashion. If you took away the social program and the iphone they would still be screwed and so would their kids.
I don't know if I can correlate this to the studies done by Fogel and Engermann in regards to the nutrition of both slave and plantation owners children in America. Children up to the age of about 4 were not fed well at all regardless of status. It appeared that only after children became 'useful' was their nutrition improved. Then they would suddenly catch up to the what should have been normal size.
It makes me wonder, in today's society, when children really are not an asset but a liability, if not investing in the children has extended beyond the traditional age 4 mark.
Let's do a reality check here. Think about a teenager's schedule. Wake up at 6:30am and get on the bus before you're awake enough to eat. After school there's drama, sports... 11 hours away from home is not uncommon. Even as an adult, I have trouble if I have to pack more than one meal and one snack because packed food is not as filling. And schoolkids don't have access to microwaves to heat up good solid leftovers from home.
Besides, the new protein minimum is 2 oz. Who came up with that one??? That's a recipe for hunger if I ever heard one. Why pretend you're offering lunch at all?
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