Re: Schools started - suggest me what is good for snack for kids, what type of Lunch should I keep?


MsLiz wrote:

> It sickens me too. And it's the parents that do it that get extremely
> aggravated by a comment like that. Don't you think that they know it's
> something that they shouldn't be doing? Isn't that typically why
> people get defensive?


I don't think that having more rules will solve this. In fact, I
suspect it'd do just the opposite, and make things worse!

Here's how I look at it. When you have numerous rules and are told what
you can and cannot do, then there is no reason to learn to think
through consequences and make decisions on your own. The decisions are
already made for you. This is why so many people raised in strict,
rules-based households and school environments, hit college and go
crazy and do stupid things and make terrible choices.

I think it is appropriate in the early grades to have more rules, and
slowly ease up on these as the children get older and you have spent
time teaching them to make their own decisions.

For example, in our school, they did ban all nut-based foods in the
early grades, because we have one kid with severe, life-threatening
allergies. But as the girls progressed through the grades, what started
out as a "complete ban" in K, moved to a "peanut-free table" by around
2nd grade, and then by 5th grade there were no restrictions. Why?
Because by then the school assumed that the child with the allergy was
old enough to know he shouldn't be anywhere near peanuts, what foods
might contain peanuts, and that he shouldn't share food with others.
The responsibility by then was on the child to make those decisions,
not on rules being enforced so he didn't have to take responsibility
while everyone else bent over backwards.

Liz, as you say yourself, you cannot control what your child eats. You
may have had more control when she was a preschooler and ate all her
meals at home. But as she gets older and more independent, your control
becomes less and less, and that's simply the reality and unless you
intend to lock her up in your house for the rest of her life, you can't
get around that!

You'll drive yourself crazy trying to control her environment. Much
more effective to give her the information she needs, and loosen the
reigns to learn from her own mistakes, so she can make better decisions
and choices for herself as she matures into an adult.

To that end, have you tried giving her detailed nutritional
information? Showing her how to read a nutrition label? Can she compare
for herself the difference between an organic vegan goodie, and a bag
of potato chips? Have you taken her on a site like fitday.com and shown
her the impact of a bag of chips a day on her overall nutrition?
Information is a very powerful thing!

When DD's entered middle school, we went from having no access to
vending machine, to having access and allowance to splurge. At their
school, they have one machine that provides 500-calorie ice cream bars.
At their afterschool, there's a whole range of vending machines,
including soda machines. Knowing this, I sat down with the girls and
taught them all about making good nutritional choices. I didn't dictate
or give them rules - I trusted them to be smart enough to see for
themselves that a 500-calorie ice cream bar every single day would add
a significant weight gain over the course of the year, and crowd out
good nutrition from fruits, veggies, etc. No matter how yummy!!

Today my girls do treat themselves to an ice cream bar every now and
then, but they can and do weigh this in context of their total diet
over the week, their level of hunger, and whether or not they will be
swimming that day (swimming easily burns off such extra calories).

Your DD is about the same age as mine - I'm sure she is capable of
making smart choices for herself, if you arm her with the right
information. That really is the only defense you have here, the only
control you have as a parent.

jen

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ye Gods, they published this!
    ... I have several readers for various grades published in the late 19th ... 19th century curriculum and an early 21st century curriculum and what ... school could be published in one thin book, and often was: ... -- the history of the solar system ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: OT. Freedom Of Speech
    ... folds in a briefcase or school satchel, ... Or rather, the bike she started ... but that's a job needing a fair bit of control and `feel' doing it ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • Re: hide combo box
    ... from the Forms Toolbar more than I like them from the ActiveX Control Toolbar. ... controls on the worksheet). ... label my combo boxes. ... school or a district that includes more than one school. ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.misc)
  • Obama vs. Tiger Woods
    ... points and asking about Obama's grades in school. ... Your attacks on Obama remind me of what some idiots were saying when ... Tiger Woods came onto the scene in the golf world. ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
  • Re: Obama vs. Tiger Woods
    ... points and asking about Obama's grades in school. ... Relevant info, not some stupid GOP witch hunt ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
Loading