I hadn't really given a lot of thought to school lunches in many years, probably since I last ate one (so...17 ish years ago), but with a preschooler who will be embarking on her own school career next year, it's a topic of interest for me. Additionally, I'm really working on improving our diets, and have been spending a lot of time and energy searching out healthy options that Riley will actually put in her mouth and swallow. I truly believe that living a healthy lifestyle is a continual process of improvement and I have to consider that Riley will be eating her lunch at school 5 days a week, 35 weeks a year. It will soon become a big deal around here.
Reading "Lunch Wars" by Amy Kafka made me realize that there is a lot more out there about school lunches that I need to learn. It's an environment that I am not savvy about at all, but one that is important to both our kids physical health and academic success. In her book, Kafka speaks to the role that politics plays in the school lunch system, the use of food rewards in the classroom, and the difficulties that the schools have in providing any lunches, much less lunches with high nutritional value. She provides accessible advice on how to evaluate the school lunch program, and what to do with the information you find. I appreciate how she provides examples, case studies and an honest approach to this difficult to change, but really important issue.
As I look towards entering Riley into the school system in a year, I will definitely be factoring in the school lunch variable in the choices i make for her education. I highly recommend this book for an easy to understand primer on this unique culture.
Although these opinions are my own, this a paid book review for BlogHer book club.
No comments:
Post a Comment