Reasons Why I Homeschool: Schools That Tell Us What to Feed Our Children

I recently saw an article about a school in Chicago that has banned all food brought from home and is forcing school provided lunches on students. They do make exceptions for food allergies, I will give them that, but to presume that all parents make bad food choices goes too far.

The principal has stated that she is sick of seeing students eating chips and coke for lunch. She is providing healthy foods for her students…but there is a difference between providing good choices and making those choices for them.

That is not a school’s job. The job of a school is to teach children to make good choices, not make the choices for them. That does nothing more than to set the children up for failure in the future. When children graduate and move on to the real world, who is going to be there to make those choices for them?

I don’t agree with they way some schools think that they can make decisions for all families because of the way some families behave. When my children where in public school they took their lunches to school, and they were asked to bring back any food that they didn’t eat. It was my job to take care of the nutritional needs of my children, not the school’s. There were times when they did buy lunch and I never knew if they ate or not. They even told me that they were told to throw away the food that they didn’t eat, even if it was prepackaged food that was never opened. That is wasteful, and unnecessary tossing of food is basically throwing away my money. My children should be able to bring home prepackaged food that I paid for.

Is anyone at the school in Chicago school ensuring that their students are actually eating that food that is forced on them?

They are telling their students what to eat instead of teaching them what not to eat. Where is the tangible proof of nutritional education? Where are the fliers given to students that tell parents that soda is banned from lunches? Where are the classes that teach healthy choices?

When a school forces provided foods on students and doesn’t follow it up with a real reason why, they are not doing anything more than angering parents whose right to choose has been taken away. Even as a homeschool mom, I am upset that some public schools are taking away the rights of parents to choose what to feed their children.

What really gives a school the right to think that since some parents make bad choices, all students must suffer? Seems pretty arrogant to me.

COMMENT

  1. OneMommy | 13th Apr 11

    Wow! I hadn’t heard that one yet! That would NOT make me a happy parent, or student, for that matter. I took lunch to school every day as a child, except for the first day in high school where I thought I’d look stupid…lunch was so bad that day that I never tried that again! Having taught at a public school, I can’t say I’m impressed by the choices given anyway. I’d rather pack my child’s lunch. And you are right, that is not their job to dictate what they eat. Yes, they can educate the kids in health class about good food choices, and they should supply good, healthy choices at lunch time, but they should not force students to buy school lunches. Sounds suspiciously like they could also profit from that one a little…

    • Hazel Nut | 14th Apr 11

      One of the articles I read mentioned one of the concerns was that profit might be partial motivation, but I didn’t see enough to really judge the feelings of the families involved. I agree with you though.

  2. Jen | 13th Apr 11

    Wow how totally awesome you posted this today. :)LOL I was just talking last night and this morning digging into homeschooling my son next year. He is in pre-k this year and after an episode yesterday at school I started digging and am on a hunt for home schooling mommas! Thanks for posting… I honestly can’t believe a school could and would do this. I know when I was in school there were days the food looked and tasted terrible… I want to be able to choose what my son eats.. not someone else.

    • Hazel Nut | 14th Apr 11

      If you have the opportunity, I think you should go for it! I spent a few years dealing with “episodes” and different situations and in the end I was new I was not happy with the public school system. I always knew I wanted to homeschool, but thought I would give public school a chance. Big mistake.

      Keep in touch, I am homeschooling through graduation 🙂

  3. Baking Serendipity | 12th Apr 11

    I just saw this article…so crazy! I teach at a high school where the food is definitely less than healthy. I can’t imagine it being the only option at lunch. Yuck!

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