For parents of children in elementary/intermediate school...

[Mskanga]

Funny how different grades work differently in the same school. My youngest in first grade , has lunch at 11:15 and then has snack time at 2:30.
Grades K-4 all have snack time and recess, grades 5 and up have no snack or recess time.
Yes I know some people send in incredible things in for lunch and snacks with the kids, my dd sometimes has a little debbie's cake but that's a special ocassion, most of the time she will have some applesauce , pudding , or pretzels along with her juice.
Rarely ever she gets potato chips and NEVER gets soda in school.
My oldest will be another story when she goes to intermediate school.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by RitaZ.
I agree that it's the parents responsibility to feed their children breakfast, unfortunately it doesn't mean that they will eat it though. Our schools also remind the students to eat a high protein breakfast on test days, especially for the FCAT. Several weeks before the tests, reminders and tips are sent home to remind parents.

I was a proctor at my children's school during FCAT. Before the test began, the teacher did jumping jacks with the students (5th graders) to help them to relax, she talked to them and asked if they had a "good breakfast". One boy said that he ate a brownie and another didn't eat at all. The students that attend this school aren't "poor" or deprived by any means. I realize that some kids are not breakfast eaters, I have one like that myself.

If your tummy is empty and hurting that's all you'll focus on.

I can put food in front of my daughter till pigs fly in the morning and she just wont eat it before school. She gets up at 7 and will not eat a thing until around 10am no matter what I try to feed her (cookies included!) She goes to preschool now and they snack around 10 so that works well but once she goes to school next year she will end up being hungry until they have snack at 11, lunch is at 1pm. When she is home around 10 I will make her scrambled eggs and she will eat them but it is useless to try to force her to eat prior to that so she will be one of the kids that answer she had noting for breakfast should the teacher ask.

 

[mudnuri]

DD's 1st & 2nd grade eat lunch together...

Both have recess at 1015am- they eat snack on the playground...then lunch is 1135...they are home at 315 and have a normal snack....

they also can have water bottles which I do send in with DD's as they are big water drinkers..

Brandy

 

[Minnesota!]

Originally posted by Girls Scout Leader
Is it really such a big deal if they have to go three full hours without eating?

I am amazed at how much kids eat today comapred to what I ate as a kid. My mom did not buy specific snacks, like granola, chips, whatever. We sat in school all morning (well, after like grade 2) without eating and afternoon as well.

The only kids I knew that had actual snacks after school were the farm kids, because supper was after milking, about 8:00 pm. And they got a snack becasue they were WORKING till then.

Obesity is growing rapidly (no pun intended) and I wonder about these kids who cannot go 1/2 hour without putting something in thier mouths, when all they are doing is sitting in front of a game station anyway. I see kids who cannot travel to the store without Mom packing snacks, picking up snacks at the store, eating take out supper and snacks again before bed. My construction worker hubby eats less than these kids, and he is WORKING!!

Eating good, well balanced meals is the key. Especially BREAKFAST. My DD has a hard time with this, because she is just not hungary at 5:30 am when she has to get up. But there are chioces at school, and that helps.

Ok, offf my soap box. Ready to be blasted.

I agree fully and completely! When I was in school, breakfast was at 6 when mom made it for me. Usually a muffin and a scrambled egg with juice. Lunch wasn't until 11:30. Then dinner was never until around 6. That was plenty. I played sports (soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball), was very good in school. I just don't understand the over-feeding of kids. The weight problems these days!!

 

[luv2nascar]

part of the problem is kids are rushed to eat lunch at school
have you ever actually gone to school and witnessed lunch???
I swear my daughter gets maybe 10 minutes tops to eat
that isn't much time for a 3rd grader
schools are getting more and more crowded and with more kids in a lunch room takes them longer to get lunch and get settled in
My daughter gets the bus at 8:30 am (breakfast is 8:00 am)
lunch is at 11:30 and school gets out at 3:25 pm we walk in the door about 3:45pm
she is pretty darn hungry usually when she gets home and thirsty too
she eats way less on a school day than she would at home
don't judge schools or parent who want snacks for their kids
little kids can't eat a lot at one time

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

currently, both of my girls are in middle school. younger dd is in 6th grade, older dd in 8th.their day begins at 7:50 and ends at 2:40. I bleleve lunch is served during periods 5, 6, and 7. period 5 is 11:00, period 7 is at 12:32. no snack breaks.


my older daughter will start high school in September. the day begins at 7:20 and ends at 2:05.

the big argument at the high school is whether to keep an 8-period schedule or go to a 9-period schedule. it seems that, with only 8 periods a day, many of the kids cannot schedule a lunch period -- these kids usually leave 4th period a few minutes early and come to 5th period a few minutes late so that they can grab a bite in the cafeteria and bring it to class with them.

 

[Otto's Doll]

DD8 is in 3rd and DS10 is in 5th. Both are allowed to bring snack if they wish, as well as water bottles. DD has lunch at 11:20 and DS at 12:20. He is a great breakfast eater, she is not.

My kids are also taking the PSSA's this week, and our school is providing snack for the kids. So far they have had juice with granola bars, or juice with nutrigrain bars. I think it is nice that they provide the snack, but I also had sent snacks just in case.

 

[shortbun]

Second grader gets 10:15am snak, 12:15 lunch, 2:45pm
snak, 4pm latchkey snak and sometimes a snak when he
gets home at 5:15. He sometimes skips the latchkey snak
because he's "not hungry"; I wonder why!!!?
Kids at our school can bring snaks or eat snaks whenever
their parents want them to. It's an informal school so
everything is very relaxed. We send in snaks for everyone
about 3x a month. Others do too. These kids have dance
everyday and outdoor recess at least once a day unless
weather prohibits it so they get excersize daily no matter what.
Snaks are not sugary usually unless there's some celebration.
DS is encouraged to bring in his own water bottle to keep with
him in the classroom too. I love our school!

 

[mum4jenn]

I am not a teacher but I work in the school cafeteria as an assistant manager. The county I used to work in also put a special emphasis on eating a really good breakfast before tests. There is so much pressure on the schools now with this no kid left behind stuff that everyone tries whatever thay can to get those test scores up. We used to make much bigger breakfasts on those testing days.All breakfast was free regardless of ability to pay so they really wanted ALL kids to eat those days. They even started a snack before the test to see if at made any difference.We gave grapes and cold bottled water. Never heard whether it worked or not because I changed counties.

The county I work in now is a higher income county so we do not have all our students on free meals. We do still encourage our students to eat a good breakfast but probably 70% eat at home.


No snacks are provided whether it is test day or not.

 

[Mskanga]

Not all the kids who eat snacks eat junk food or play playstation all the time, heck my kids don't even own a playstation, but to have the kids without eating anything for 3.5 hours is not right. How many times my dd comes home with a headache because she's hungry, some kids need it because they have medical conditions. Kids can still have healthy snacks. But the breakfast issue bugs me, they want them to do good for PSSA purposes, maybe they should implement a breakfast program all year long so their regular scores would be higher all year long? I bet you anything those kids who do not eat at home because they are not morning people , would eat better in school.
Our kids ( and I work in the school cafeteria ) don't have that much time to eat lunch with all the long lines they have , maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

[Christine]

Originally posted by Girls Scout Leader
Is it really such a big deal if they have to go three full hours without eating?

I am amazed at how much kids eat today comapred to what I ate as a kid. My mom did not buy specific snacks, like granola, chips, whatever. We sat in school all morning (well, after like grade 2) without eating and afternoon as well.

The only kids I knew that had actual snacks after school were the farm kids, because supper was after milking, about 8:00 pm. And they got a snack becasue they were WORKING till then.

Obesity is growing rapidly (no pun intended) and I wonder about these kids who cannot go 1/2 hour without putting something in thier mouths, when all they are doing is sitting in front of a game station anyway. I see kids who cannot travel to the store without Mom packing snacks, picking up snacks at the store, eating take out supper and snacks again before bed. My construction worker hubby eats less than these kids, and he is WORKING!!

Eating good, well balanced meals is the key. Especially BREAKFAST. My DD has a hard time with this, because she is just not hungary at 5:30 am when she has to get up. But there are chioces at school, and that helps.

Ok, offf my soap box. Ready to be blasted.

No blasts here at all. I was thinking the same thing while reading this thread. I don't mean to take a "hard line" stance here because I honestly realize that there are special circumstances where children require to eat more frequently; however, I don't think all of them do.

When I was in school we used to walk 8 miles each way in snow....... , well you know where I'm going with this don't you? Anway, way back in the dark ages we definitely were thinner and we had no snack times at all. I do remember being very hungry when I got home from school, but I don't remember being so hungry during the day that it was a problem. But I think, in general, we all ate better balanced meals. Kids do eat too much sugar and processed foods these days (including my own). I do think it causes lots of glucose spikes and cravings.

As for my kids, my son who is in a public elementary school does not have a snack time. He eats breakfast at daycare at 7:30 a.m. and his lunch time is at 11:00. He gets 30 minutes for lunch (which is no worse time than I had 20-30 years ago). He doesn't seem to suffer hunger through the remainder of the day.

DD goes to a private school. They have a scheduled 10:30 snacktime. DD chooses not to take food even though she eats breakfast at 5:45 a.m. I won't let her take the things she wants to take for snack and she is not interested in a "healthy" snack, so she goes without. She wants to bring a Pop-Tart or a Kudo's bar or something like that. I'd rather her eat nothing than that junk. She has lunch at 12:00. She is hungry when she gets home at 4:00, but we eat dinner early and she makes it just fine.

I don't necessarily think the snack time is a "bad" idea, I just bet that the snacks most kids will bring are junk.

I'm just curious what most of you would send in?

I know when my DD was in a younger grade, none of the children had a healthy snack like a piece of fruit, or crackers and cheese. They had junk.

 

[Cindy B]

As I work in a middle school, I am all for shortening lunch periods.

I know that sounds radical, but as of right now, lunch period is between 28-30 minutes. They are considering shortening the lunch period to 20-22 minutes

It doesnt sound long, but it is.

Most students if they don't bring a lunch, stand in line maximum 5 minutes. (We have two lines open). Fact is, not many students get the "hot lunch". Most buy pretzels, cookies and other junk at the snack bar. The hot lunches are quick to serve, usually its hoagies, pizza, or nachos. Yes, the hot lunch is tortilla chips with cheese/meat/salsa. Some kids opt to have the tortilla and cheese sauce (like the movies!)

Most middle school lunches are a pretzel, slushie and cookies.

They chow that down, and the last 15 minutes of lunches are fights, and other discipline problems. As soon as the food is consumed, discipline problems start. The last 10-15 minutes of lunch periods are the worst! The predominate amount of discipline occurs within 10 minutes of lunch finishing.

As a lunchroom monitor, we are talking with the administration to shorten lunches. Most students are done within 10-15 minutes of lunch finishing.

 

[aprilgail2]

In our middle school as soon as you finish your lunch you go outside for recess, if its nasty out you go to the gym but you don't sit there when you are finished, out you go!

 

[believe]

In our school district, public, there is not a snack time. The 2 districts near us each have a snack time...even for Kindergarteners who are there 3 hrs. My DD eats breakfast at 6am and is fine without a snack. I do think that if schools are going to have snacks they should mandate it to be healthy. Most private schools in the area tell you what you can not put into a child's lunch, this forces parents to pack healthy and kids to eat healthy. If they are that hungry they will eat healthy. I do know that if kids have medical conditions doctors can submit a letter to the school and the kids will be allowed to bring a snack in. Can someone explain to me how the time is calculated to include snacks? Is more time added to the day so that the kids are still getting the same amount of 'educational time'?

 

[Christine]

Originally posted by believe
Most private schools in the area tell you what you can not put into a child's lunch, this forces parents to pack healthy and kids to eat healthy.

My DD's private school tried that. The teacher mandated that "healthy" snacks be brought in. Well, that's the problem. What one person's definition of "healthy" is may not be yours or the teacher's or the school's. So the Pop-Tart, fruit roll ups, etc. came in. The teacher did not have the time, inclination, etc. to police the snacks. Also, can you imagine the in-your-face abuse the teacher would probably take for telling "Johnny" that his fruit roll up was not healthy and he would have to take it back home. I don't think many parents would take that without an argument.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
In our middle school as soon as you finish your lunch you go outside for recess, if its nasty out you go to the gym but you don't sit there when you are finished, out you go!

We have gym going on during lunch periods, so no gym. No playground, so they don't go outside. They are basically stuck in the lunchroom.

 

[poohandwendy]

Count me in as one who doesn't think going 3-4 hours without eating is a hardship on most children. If it were, most kids would be absolutely ravenous at breakfast time. I can see if there is a medical reason for snacking during school hours, but I think under doctors orders the school would be hard pressed to deny children, who need it, a time and a place to eat a snack.

As far as schools offering breakfast, IMO schools aren't in the business to parent, but to educate.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by Christine
My DD's private school tried that. The teacher mandated that "healthy" snacks be brought in. Well, that's the problem. What one person's definition of "healthy" is may not be yours or the teacher's or the school's. So the Pop-Tart, fruit roll ups, etc. came in. The teacher did not have the time, inclination, etc. to police the snacks. Also, can you imagine the in-your-face abuse the teacher would probably take for telling "Johnny" that his fruit roll up was not healthy and he would have to take it back home. I don't think many parents would take that without an argument.

I would have a major issue with a school dictating what my child can and can not eat for snack or lunch. Today for a snack my daughter brought in 2 Nutter Butter peanut butter cookies and a handful of peanuts.

 

[peachgirl]

As a lunchroom monitor, we are talking with the administration to shorten lunches. Most students are done within 10-15 minutes of lunch finishing.

I agree! Never once did I have to tell a child to hurry up and eat, but I spent plenty of time telling them they couldn't leave yet.

Where I taught, teachers got the job of lunchroom monitoring. It's amazing to watch how fast kids shovel their food in so that they can go outside. They even tried setting a mandatory time limit before students could leave. All that caused were discipline problems.

Medical conditions aside, I don't see why a child can't go 3 hours without food. There's hardly time in the day to teach them, let alone work in eating in the classroom. Besides, since the teachers were responsible for cleaning their own classrooms, the thought of cleaning up the messes from 30 kids eating and drinking doesn't sound too appealing.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I remember during the height of allergy I was pretty much stuck in lunchrooms and hated it.Good thing I had books But I was resorting to hard candy when I ran low on cough drops and teachers hated it