Coke at Recess
This will come as no surprise to anyone who has spent any time volunteering in a public school, but it will no doubt come as a surprise to our municipal and provincial politicians: Schools, publicly funded schools, are selling crap/garbage/junk to our children while they are under adult supervision.
Gee, no wonder girls are doing better than boys in school. Girls are much more likely to be aware of "what's good for them" and poohpooh the idea of having a Coke and a Snickers bar at snacktime. If only so they don't get fat and end up working in the circus or living alone with 100 cats or worse - being the first out in dodge ball (which we used to call murder ball when I was in school - and for good reason, if I recall correctly - so I don't see how calling it dodge ball is progress, if you catch my drift).
Now, I'm a real stickler when it comes to kids and food. As in - I believe it matters just as much as kids and sleep matters. As in - a lot. (So if you're reading this and there's a kid handy - put him to bed. I don't care what time it is - he needs more sleep.) And sugar has no place in our public schools at all - unless it's coming from fruit (real fruit - not ANYTHING sold by McCains).
But it's not just the fact that schools offer pop and candy bars and chips for sale to children while teachers complain of their attention and behaviour problems, it's the fact that parents don't seem to know how to feed their kids, either. I've seen what kids bring to school for snacks and I'm here to tell you - we've got more than an obesity epidemic waiting in the wings. We've got a full on stupidity crisis right here, right now.
Kids + sugar = bad. It's a simple formula. And what we need is a ruthless campaign to get sugar out of our schools. You wouldn't think we were that stupid as a population, but apparently we are. It doesn't get much dumber than Coke in the classroom - unless it's Coke for breakfast, of course - and I've seen kids chugging back a Coke as they get off the school bus in the morning.
Sure, we all know adults who make no connection between what goes into their bodies and why they feel like crap all the time, but these are kids we're talking about here and surely we have some sort of official responsibility to protect them from bodily harm due to their diet WHILE THEY'RE AT SCHOOL. It's not like THEY'RE the ones making their snacks to bring to school, or ordering vending machines for their schools, afterall. They are the victims, here. I was the original Lisa Simpson and even I would have had trouble turning down a pop and a candy bar if my Mom had given my money to buy my own snacks at school.
And think about it. When you were young - did YOUR Mom give you money... ever? For anything?
No, no she didn't. Because she knew you'd just buy pop and a candy bar with it.
Further to all that, why the hell are kids drinking fruit juice at school? Water, water, water. You're thirsty? Go get a drink from the fountain. Nevermind the lead - it's in the fruit juice, too - along with a shitload of sugar. What is it about these new-fangled modern times that parents think their kids need fruit juice while they're at school? I had a small glass of orange juice with a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast almost every day of my life when I was a kid and that was it for juice for the rest of the day.
Seriously, it would NEVER have occurred to me to go to the fridge and have MORE orange juice because by that time of the day - IT WAS ALL PULP! - and then I would have been out my small glass of pulp the next morning at breakfast. Honestly, what is this compulsion we all have (guilty on the endless supply of frozen orange juice for the making) to give our kids what they want instead of what we know is good for them?!
Snacks? At recess? Never heard of 'em until my kids went to school. Back in my day, it was breakfast, lunch, dinner and that was it. Snacks? Good grief. No wonder we're facing an obesity problem. We've convinced our kids they can't go an hour and a half without eating something. I mean, seriously, there should be no need for kids to have snacks at school at all, but the fact that they do and the fact that they're sugary is just pure unadulterated insanity.
That is all. Go back to your coffee break.
