Big Brother says NO to brown bag lunches

Okay, I am one of those born again health enthusiasts who has managed to lose 136 pounds and go from high cholesterol to perfect cholesterol. I am firmly aware that over a third of our kids are overweight, obese or even morbidly obese. I am 100% behind healthier lunches in school and banning sugary based vending machines from schools, but I think at least one school might be going way to far.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110411/us_yblog_thelookout/chicago-school-bans-homemade-lunches-the-latest-in-national-food-fight tells us that one school has outright banned home made lunches from being brought to and eaten in school. Instead, kids must purchase the school lunches even if their parents can't afford it. "The students can either eat the cafeteria food--or go hungry." is a direct quote from the school.

Now as pointed out in the article, the vast majority of the kids in the school's district live at or below the poverty line. This means that most of their parents can't afford the $2.25 meals and a large number of them probably can't even afford the reduced cost meals that some might qualify for. So what is the school saying, "Hey Sucks to be poor, but those are the breaks?"

I know from many years of personal experience that it is much cheaper to fix lunches at home than eat out. For the $10.00+ they are talking about a week, I could easily fix sandwiches for a month. Parents will be forced to either let their kids go hungry at lunch and try to make up for it at home or try to scrounge together enough money for them to eat at school and maybe short everyone at home. Not very good choices.

Of course the real knee slapper here is that up until a short time ago, school lunches were probably as much to blame for unhealthy kids as everything else. They were filled with greasy, sugar filled foods that were prepared as cheaply as possible. Hells, some schools still use Lard as a cooking ingredient instead of healthier oils.

Suddenly some of these institutions have "seen the light" and are trying to do better and this is good, but unlike many converts they are leaning way to far to the other side. The schools need to realize that in this imperfect world that their ideal solutions are not going to be one size fits all. Poorer people do the best they can and that is all they can do.

Should ever kid in America have access to healthy meals that provide them with just the right amount of protein, veggies and other good things. Hells yes, but unless those meals are going to be free of charge there is always going to be a large (Getting larger) section of the country that can't afford that.

"The students can either eat the cafeteria food--or go hungry." should never be an option for anyone who gives a damn about kids.