Pregnancy
True Tales of the School Lunchroom
by Susan Friedman"Do you want some pineapple?" the blond-haired girl asks.
I'm sitting in the lunchroom of the Pierce elementary school in Brookline, Massachusetts, and I'm staring at some bright yellow chunks that look like they've been preserved since the Stone Age. But how can I refuse? After all, I'm on assignment for the FamilyEducation Network. My mission: Get the inside story on school lunchrooms.
Candy man
David's the candy boss of his lunch gang. He's got a yellow bag of M&M's hidden under the table. As he hands out candy to an eager group of boys, I ask him what else he has for lunch.
"Nuts," he says. "Want some?"
I'm beginning to notice a disturbing trend. Nobody likes to eat their own food at Pierce Elementary.
Lunch flashback
Just being in a lunchroom is bringing back memories. When I was in elementary school, my mother ate lunch in the cafeteria with a small group of other mothers and embarrassed me terribly just by being there. Always the health nut, she was "spying" on my hot lunch to make sure the quality was up to snuff.
"They were counting catsup as a vegetable -- I wanted to see what the school lunches were really like," she now says.
But what really horrified her was when a teacher's aid pulled a sandwich from the trash and held it up proclaiming that no one could go to recess until the owner of the sandwich claimed it and ate it. My mother was speechless.
At least nobody was pulling food out of the trash here.
It's a mystery!
I approach a boy holding a royal blue lunch box and ask him what he's going to have for lunch. He opens it slowly and I'm shocked to see that it's empty. Did he give his lunch away? Eat it on the way to school. Did the cafeteria gremlins steal it? It's a lunchroom mystery.
"What happened to your lunch?" I say.
"I don't get hungry," he says, looking at me blankly.
I want to ask more questions but the boy with the blue lunchbox isn't talking. I imagine a lonely bologna sandwich, riding on the seat of the school bus, abandoned forever.
Going once, going twice
"Who wants pretzels?" Anyone want pretzels?" Katy says.
Katy's already given away the yogurt her mother packed for her. But she hasn't been able to get rid of the pita bread and the apple. I ask her why she doesn't eat her lunch.
"I don't like it," she says.
So much for the hard-hitting interview. What happened to kids actually looking forward to lunch? I wonder if these kids are being so picky because they have so much to eat. For some kids, school lunch is the only nutritious meal of the day. But just when I'm about to give up on finding someone who actually likes their lunch, I find Michelle.
The girl who liked lunch
Michelle munches a ham sandwich and slurps iced tea. She's heartily enjoying each item that her mother packed for her. No mystery here. And she's up to her neck in nutrition already. She even bought a cup of pink and blue moldy-looking yogurt and ate every spoonful. As an expectant mother, I only hope my child grows up to be this thorough. Michelle tells me that she knows of another girl who likes lunch even more.
"She's a bottomless pit," Michelle says. "She even eats the popcorn on the floor."
I jot down Michelle's lunchroom gossip. Here's one girl who knows the score. I only wish I could find some tactful way to tell her about the big pieces of whole wheat bread stuck in her hair. How did it get there? Another lunchroom mystery.
So what will they eat? More on: Healthy Meals for Families
You never know for sure what kids will and won't eat. But here are some helpful hints to keep them healthy. These tips were compiled with the help of Carleton Kendrick, family therapist, who has answered a lot of questions about kids and food over the years.
Don't assume your kids are eating what you give them. Ask them what they eat and what they dump. And don't get angry when they tell you the truth. You might learn something valuable about the kinds of foods they won't touch.
Ask your kids to pitch in when you make their lunch. Even if they include a bit of "junk" food, you'll come up with a balanced and fun meal.
When I asked a table of kids, "Do you usually eat your own lunches?" I got this answer, "Sometimes I eat my lunch, and sometimes we trade and sometimes you know + we share." Some "lunch swapping" is unavoidable, and maybe it'll even teach your youngster a thing or two about sharing.
Kids can be pretty original about their lunch: one girl preferred the dairy approach, eating a bagel with cream cheese, yogurt, and milk. Another girl munched on hummus and cookies. If one lunch is heavy on the carbohydrates, another weighted toward the dairy, and another loaded with carrot sticks and apples, then over the week they are consuming a balanced diet. That's what matters.
Lunch was a whirlwind. The kids clamored in, unpacked or bought their lunch, and in what seemed like a matter of minutes, lunch was over. These kids do not have a long time to eat. Give them easy-to-eat foods they like: crackers with peanut butter, carrot sticks, kid-friendly sandwiches.
A few parents I spoke to were certain that their kids would eat if they were hungry. They see a difference in how much kids eat when they're around their friends and want to talk, and when they're at home. School lunch is a social time. There's probably going to be less eating and more talking.
