I went back to compost duty today. The kids are really getting the hang of it. They want to help - I had quite a crowd of 7 year old with latex gloves helping their friends sort trash. It's fun and they are proud of what a good job the school is doing reducing what they throw away. Still, even though the wasted food all goes to be composted and therefore to good use...ham sandwiches and burgers are expensive fertilizer. I am blown away by the amount of food we throw away. I see kids (not just a few) throwing away whole sandwiches, entire hot lunches, fruit....I spent a fair amount of time today negotiating with 5 year-olds about saving their leftovers to eat later. The kindergartners eat at 10:30. My kids, for example, had a good breakfast at 7:30 so I'm not entirely surprised that they are not too hungry at "lunchtime". School schedules sometime defy logic. The cafeteria made food - mostly prepackaged "wholesome" imitations of fast food (bean and cheese nachos, burgers, whole wheat corn dogs?!) - are a little gross in my estimation. It reminds me of the food you might buy at a gas station and many kids toss it. I don't know how to change that because budgets are incredibly tight for food at school. I'm volunteering for a PTA committee that will focus on that challenge so we'll see. But the group of kids who are tossing really nice lunches that some tired parent made probably in a rush that morning, made me sad. I have no answers today. Just a lot more thinking to do about how to talk to kids about the value of their food. How to make nutritious lunches that will get eaten. Congratulations again to Glenview Elementary for teaching kids about compost and about how to make a difference in their world by doing the right thing everyday.
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