Food, Glorious Food!

I've been reading this blog since January.  It's written by a teacher who was appalled by her students' school lunch.  The food was processed, hard to eat, and the time they were given was way too short.  The kids were not allowed any time for recess to get any extra energy out and she started to think that these factors were probably affecting how they learned and retained information.  So she decided to eat school lunch, just like the kids do, every day for one year.  She started in January so this December she will complete her project.  She hasn't seen any discouraging health issues pop up like this guy found.  But she does comment about the lethargy, nausea and on many days, continued hunger she feels after eating her school lunch.

She's pretty opinionated and I don't always agree with her, but I have been learning a lot along with her.  Before she started this project, she was by no means a nutritionalist.  She just did her best to eat and feed her family healthy foods and wanted the same for her students.  Her life has been flipped, turned upside down since she started this blog. 

 Here's something important that I did learn:  Kids as young as mine, can help with cooking.  I've always known this to some degree.  I love having my kids help with the measuring, stirring and decorating but that's about the extent of where I'd let them help. 

I never minded the mess but I always felt the need to keep them safe from sharp knives and hot stoves.

But after reading this post, I decided to let Asher do some real work in the kitchen.  During our preschool time we often like to incorporate a cooking lesson.  For our letter A week, we made apple crisp.  For our letter C week, we decided to do some real cooking in the crock pot.  We made apple butter. Asher helped peel the apples and chop them into big chunks.  
He used a real knife that was sharp enough to cut his precious little fingers.  I watched him carefully but he really got the hang of it and was quite successful.  It was a scary thing for me to let him do, but I'm glad I did.  There is little in life more precious than seeing your son succeed and be proud of himself for what he accomplished.

 

 

Comments

[Elizabeth]

You've inspired me. Maybe - just maybe - I might let Jackson chop something. Hmmm. But can't I give him a DULL knife? :)