School lunches & breakfast
A few days at my daughters school we had a meeting where we addressed to possibilities of serving breakfast for kids at school and school lunches. I’m don’t like my kid to have breakfast at school all the time, maybe occasional to give her the experience but I would like her to learn to be responcible of feeding your children at home and taking care of yourself. Its also a moment of our family where we spend a little time together before they go out the door to school. a moment to bring out the message that they are loved and cared for. I do understand however that not everyone has the same values as me and that not everyone has the resources to provide there children the same. Sometimes you end up in a situation where you really need this kind of help for yourself and your children due to personal circumstances. I wont judge that easily but I do say that this breakfast serving I would like to be an option and be able to opt out if you don’t want it.
Now another point brought up was school lunches not only to feed the children but also make them aware of the importance of healthy food. The lunches they think of are to be warm lunches, I am all in for that even if its not warm lunches but sandwiches like we in the Netherlands are used to eat at lunch. I am for that. And even more I also want to volunteer to prepare those lunches with other parents. For more as one reason. My children are MY responcibility and I take that very seriously. I want to be part of the decisions what they get to eat and are being taught. I do have the time and am able to participate so I will. That does not mean that I judge the parents that are not able to participate as volunteer. Anyway the plan is to have a tryout lunch at school in a couple of weeks and the idea was to serve a few soups with bread. Another part of this lunch at school as I mentioned before is the healthy way of eating we want to teach our children because also in the Netherlands we see a lot of children become overweight. Teaching them the right values of healthy food is not only important for them but also teaches them about the environment and that food does make a difference when you know what to eat.
I brought up a few important things in my opinion that need to be addressed if we, the school will adopt this and put it in practice. I would like to be able to follow some courses about how to deal with difficult children and also how to be able to teach them these things in a way that they pick up on it the best. Another important matter is food allergies and that we take notice that not all religions eat the same foods. This also requires a knowledge we not all have. And last but not least we do also need to learn how to respond in a case of emergency. as a parent we all know how to respond when it comes to our own children but having the responcibility over a larger group of children comes with different set of problems and may require different set of abilities that you can put in to work to make things keep going smoothly. My children don’t have a nut allergy for example and if one of the kids I’m watching has an allergic reaction I do like to know what I can do and have to do to keep him safe and control the situation. Not only does that kid needs care but the other kids around also need care, I can imagine it can be pretty scary to see another child chocking and thus these children need to be taken care of too even when it does not directly concern them. So first aid medical knowledge is required to be at hand too for all the volunteer parents that are possible the first I place to notice the medical issue and can save this child. Sometimes a minute means a life.
One of the other issues that came up was where are they going to eat. Some mentioned it would be nice if they can all eat together. I don’t think is a good idea for practical reasons alone. Moving all the tables into one large space costs extra time when they are all ready together in each class room. Also the parents of each class often do know a little bit about the other kids in their children’s class and it gives them the opportunity if they volunteer to meet other class parents. Further more in a smaller group its easier to create a more cosy and family like situation where children can sit in small groups at a set of tables with one of the volunteer parents. And lastly a lot of children eating in one space can be very loud and distracting especially for the more problematic eaters this can be a real problem. And its very simple, of one kid starts saying they don’t like a certain type of food, I bet you that soon other kids will follow that example and refuse to eat it too. All these things can be solved and won’t mean that lunches at school can’t be served. It just needs to be taken care of.
No please keep in mind that although school lunches are common in some countries, in The Netherlands they are not and to introduce such a thing takes a little time to get it working and the children and parents used to.
Ill write again when there’s more info on this project. Thnx for reading
