[...] Get Kids to Eat Less Junk FoodAOL NewsSchool bans students from bringing homemade lunchesKING5.comSchool Prohibits All Food From Home, Requires Kids to Buy Cafeteria LunchBabble (blog)Huffington Post -Los Angeles Times -UPI.comall 67 news [...]

Is this a public school? Cause I don’t THINK so. They cannot force you to buy food- and if there was no recourse, I would just pick my kids up and feed them at home and bring them back. @@
My youngest refuses to eat cafeteria food.
You know, maybe I’d just force the district to draw up an individual 504 plan. Let it be a medical issue that costs them thousands of dollars and at the end, my kids would STILL eat OUR food. Idiots running the freaking village.
This IS a total infringement of parental authority. And I refuse to reduce myself to the lower standards of others who should be, instead, targeted individually.

I know the demographics of this area. In this case, it’s probably a good idea, but I totally see the “my kid/public school/government can’t tell me what to do” side, too.

Sadly, these kids are probably given Coke and Cheetos for breakfast and similar processed foods for lunch from “home”…I dunno, the enchiladas shown in the Trib picture look like an appropriate option. The reason the kids throw it away or don’t like it is likely because they are used to eating junk food. Well, maybe they can unlearn that if they get hungry enough.

“This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility,” said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry. Well, if the parents were sending their kids to school with healthy foods in the first place–fulfilling their “parental responsibility” they school wouldn’t even go there.

Many of the parents may not even know what’s healthy or appropriate for children to eat. I think opinions have to be formed on a case by case basis in terms of locality and this one doesn’t surprise me at all.

@GP- my little guy eats homemade-usually made from scratch food- and he’d die before he’d EVER touch an enchillada- or any Mexican food. You should see him chow fresh salad and grilled seafood tho.

So my kid would be a minority if we lived there? Why should anyone be allowed to force him to eat that? Sorry- fajitas is as far as I go in that kind of food! There’s something in the spices used that I just cannot stomach.

It’s actually a Mexican neighborhood, sorry…was trying to be *more* politically correct. My point is that even though Miss Goddess might think Mexican food is gross, the school was PROBABLY trying to make things the kids would like. Although by now, they’ve probably developed a taste for random American garbage.

I’m a big believer in healthy food for kids but I also feel that parents should be able to decide what to feed their kids, especially in a public school. Yes it’s sad that some parents send soda and chips to school with their kids but I know plenty of parents who pack healthier lunches than the cafeteria as well. Suppose a parent feels strongly about using all organics or free-range meat? What about a vegetarian child or one who follows a kosher diet? I doubt the school is prepared to accommodate all of those preferences though none of them are medical needs. Or what if you just plain want to give your kid a treat on special occasions and teach them about balance in their diet?

It’s not force-feeding. Cut the drama. I bet they have choices among the things they are offering (they would pretty much have to offer something meatless, for example), and people can get a doctor’s note if they really want to get in a huff (can’t handle the “Mexican” spices, for example, yeah sure, whatever). Also, again, this is not the richest, most well-advantaged neighborhood, if you catch my drift, and it is my gut sense that they are, in fact, doing these kids a favor. You may also notice they are wearing uniforms. This is clearly a public school that is trying to raise the bar a little for the kids. I think that these things really depend on the specifics of locality, and you clearly don’t understand this locality. Also, newsflash, when you send your kids to public school, you kind of DO have to deal with “lowest common denominator” administration/decisions. If you want to give your kid a treat, do it at home. Personally, I wouldn’t like this if they did it at my kid’s school, but they wouldn’t because of the demographic here (read=enough parents send their kids to school with appropriate lunches). It’s not something I’m going to fall all over myself to defend, but it’s not an outrage, either.

Justin Wilson’s group, The Center for Consumer Freedom, has taken money from the alcohol industry and campaigns against Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In fact, they even hired a convicted drunk driver (named David Martosko) to do it! See more at http://www.AboutDavidMartosko.com. They’ve also attacked the Centers for Disease Control, the Humane Society and the National Association of High School Principals. They are not a credible source.

I haven’t had a lot of experience with public school lunches that could, under almost any rational, be considered healthy. Healthier than eating only soda and chips? Maybe. I don’t know about this school specifically but when public school lunches are the “healthy” option the bar must be set pretty low.