Yup. That was the line.

[mollyx]

Chicago school bans homemade lunches.

Excuse me?
EXCUSE ME?!

Look, I have no objections to a school improving their dietary restrictions, but if I decide to put a homemade cookie in my baby's lunch box...
Oh, you going to let him eat the cookie.

Yeah. Overstepping. Just a hair.

Comments

[ceebeegee]

It probably has more to do with trying to keep out allergens, especially peanuts and peanut butter--I believe the directive said that only kids with allergies could bring their own lunch. I have more sympathy for that but--well, first of all, I hate to imagine the mean looks those kids get when they're the only ones in the cafeteria eating a homemade lunch. It stigmatizes them. Second, after a point, maybe you should just homeschool your kid. I really don't think it's right to force everyone in the school to forgo a basic, healthy food because of one or two kids.

[wonderpanther]

I am on some Moms' lists and sort of amazed about the restrictions that are imposed upon everyone due to the dietary restrictions of some kids. I understand that allergies are serious business, but I am confused about why these precautions were not needed in my day. I mean, kids were allergic to peanuts then, too, right? In Hoboken, schools took the peanut thing and went a little mad and started aliminating almond butter and this tofu butter thing, too. Kids are allergic and I get it but I am not sure why we are at this point now. I am no expert or anything but I am just wondering. There was one severely allergic kid that I went to school with who had to eat in the nurse's office because he was on a really stric regimen of alternating foods and he just did that. That did not affect my PB&J.

[wonderpanther]

I wanted to add that I object to the same nutrition for all approach. I have VERY low blood pressure and I need my sodium. I have been directed to salt my food by doctors. So their so-called "healthy" lunches with low sodium are not so healthy for me. Frankly, I blame the nation's obesity epidemic on a lack of open spaces and outdoor activities. Kids can pretty much eat whatever as long as they exercise. I think providing team sports or something like that at recess and more active time would be a better idea and less controlling and frankly, inappropriate.

[yolen]

It's just bullshit, plain and simple.

[rredhead]

The school outright says that the ban is to improve nutrition. Kids with allergies or medical conditions are allowed to bring their own lunch.

That said, this is bizarre! Did you see Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? The stuff that kids get at school is highly processed, preserved, and full of sodium. Homemade lunches are bound to be healthier, unless the parents are feeding their kids Kool-Aid and lunchables every day.

I'm not even for banning soda from home. Banning vending machines, sure, but if I want my kid to have a Hansen's root beer, why not?