Winnona Park Elementary Cuts Back on Snacking
Decatur Metro | August 25, 2010A concerned parent writes in about a new experimental program at Winnona Park Elementary aimed at eliminating student “snacking” during the school day. The parent wonders “How does one determine just plain old hungry vs. really hungry anyway?”
From the August 5th Winnona Park newsletter…
Snacks- Winnona Park is experimenting with eliminating snacks during the school day. Students who eat a substantial breakfast will consume an adequate number of calories to sustain them until lunchtime. And students that eat a complete lunch should be OK until dismissal. We expect to see an increase in consumption of food at lunchtime, which will reduce the amount of food wasted daily. As needed, healthy snacks will be available, if a student is really hungry.
However, after speaking to a couple of teachers in each grade level kids don’t seem to miss the snacks. Other than a few kids asking, “Hey, when’s lunch?” the students don’t seem to miss snacks at all.
This is a great move, and it is long time coming.
Wow. Organizing, assigning, remembering, buying, and bringing in boatloads of snacks is so ingrained in my CSD parent consciousness, that this sounds like heresy. I have two contradictory reactions:
1) Whoopee! No more trips to Sam’s Club! No more agonizing over the best assortment of 5 days worth of snacks that will illustrate what a health-conscious parent I am and yet please my child who of course wants to wow their classmates with stickiest, most chocolatey brownies or cookies ever! No more lugging in boxes and bags for five days worth of snacks, all in sanitary individual packages or plastic sandwich bags! No more worrying about what happens if a family forgets! No more shame if WE forget!
2) They can’t possibly survive without snacks. My children can recite every snack they ever ate at school, who brought it in, and on what date. I have to believe all that effort we’ve invested in snacks over these many years was needed and appreciated.
I am also skeptical about being able to distinguish between hungry and really hungry. It’s like getting a drink of water, going to the bathroom, going to the nurse’s office. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. If one child expresses that they feel really hungry enough to need a snack, soon their classmates will too. I think a no-snacks policy has to be absolute or not exist. If a teacher or staffer perceive that child has actually not had enough to eat, they should give them something substantial from the breakfast or lunch menu, not snacks or dessert.
I suspect that if that available snacks are “healthy” enough, only the really hungry kids will be willing to eat them! Fat-free tofu-rice bar, anyone?
Perfect! Embarrassingly, I used to believe the teachers and room mothers when they said to send in only healthy, peanut-free, egg-free snacks. So I did. Not only did my children complain that they were not well-received, but I’d find the unfinished containers of them in the corner of the room or closet at the end of the year. So I came up with a formula–fruit the first day, healthy snack the second day, fruit gummy snacks the third, homemade cookies or brownies the fourth day, chips or crackers the fifth. What will I ever do will all this expertise I’ve developed?
When my kids went to Winnona Park, they never had snacks. Or air conditioning. How did they ever survive?
No iPhones, either, I bet. The horror!
Hmmm. My daughter is a slow eater and has remarked that she can’t finish her meal during her alotted lunch time. All I know is that even after snack, she comes home every day absolutely starving.
The time for lunch is way to short. Sort of like prison feeding, feed them as little as possible, for the least money and get them back to their cells (classroom). I advocate longer lunch times combined with slower dining and time for conversation followed by club or other extracurricular meetings. My children experienced that when they lived in South America, and it is way better. They had tables to eats on, with China plates and silverware and waiters!
Well, I’ve been in the schools during lunchtime, and I disagree. The students who don’t finish their lunch aren’t really trying to eat. They’re dawdling or talking or just not eating. They give the students at least a half hour for lunch, some of which is taken up with standing in line, etc.
I really rather doubt that there is any child in the school who is truly malnourished. Access to the snacks may actually encourage students to eat the snacks…which tend to be less healthy than the lunch. Although, you can still eat loads of junk in the lunches.
Now, MY big issue with lunchrooms is that there should be a hand washing station directly in front of the lunch line. My teenage son tells me he doesn’t wash his hands before eating lunch, and won’t even use the hand sanitizer I put in his lunch box.
When flu season comes around, we’ll all panic and start washing our hands again. Why not do it now?
If my mom put hand sanitizer in my lunchbox when I was a teen, I wouldn’t have used it. Of course, I don’t think it was invented yet when I was teen. As Namaan says, ‘I’m just saying.’
Chadly, I think what you’re saying is you were a dirty little boy. :-p
uhm, wow, I’m all blushy.
Zoikes! Looking at it now, it does read much pervier than I intended– sorry!!!
No need to apologize. You made an old married dad’s day.
When flu season comes around we’ll get sick anyway, cleans hands or not.
Had Sanitizer in the lunch box? Really?
We never had snacks at school when we were kids and we all made it through just fine. I think it’s worth a shot to see if they’ll actually eat their lunches…
Same here. In fact, I’ve never even heard of snack time in Elementary School. I thought that was just a preschool thing. I think we might have had a mid-morning milk break in K & 1. I vaguely remember a milk cart stopping at my classroom, but I am absolutely certain there was no food involved. Sounds like it was a real pain for the parents, too.
I remember the milk breaks.
Hungry or really hungry? – works for adults, not sure about children younger than 12.
1. Drink a cup of water (maybe you’re really thirsty).
2. Count to 50 and walk away from food item, maybe you’re just being visually appreciative.
Speaking of the difference btwn adults and kids regarding digestion and nourishment, the older I get, the more famished I become when doing critical thinking. When I was in junior high and high school, physical activity just made me tired, not hungry. But an hour of homework left me starving. I’m curious if any parents have noticed this in their kids (or in themselves)?
I like what Paula said about offering really healthy snacks…very little flavor but very nourishing. ^O^
Maintaining blood-sugar levels is important.
…..had to walk every day to and from school, five miles each way, carrying a heavy lunchsack, in the freezing snow, in the broiling summer heat, with no air-conditioning in the school, no playground equipment except a tree and dirt, and ………………………………………………………no snacks!
My Winona Park child is complaining of being hungry and seems to be struggling to make it between meals without a snack. There’s a 5 hour gap between breakfast and lunch with their class schedule and apparently requests for “emergency” snacks have been denied. Like Karass said, once you give out one snack, the flood gates are open and all kids would likely want one too. I’m guessing the teachers are probably trying to prevent that from happening.
So, what do some of you DecaturMetro parents think? Is 5 hours between breakfast and lunch with no snack too long for a 6yr old?
Or better yet, here’s an “Old School” approach. If there’s a concern about a classroom or school situation, ask to speak with the teacher or the principal.
We knew cutting out snacks at WP would make many folks happy and others not so much. The overwhelming response in person and by email has been supportive, and the few folks that expressed concern did so very politely and in a civilized manner. Thank you.
We’re giving this a shot. In the beginning, my biggest concern was the first grade classes that have lunch later in the day. However, I’ve touched base with all my teachers the first few weeks to see how things were going. Other than a few cases of kids saying, “I’m hungry,” and “What happened to snack break,” kids seemed to have adjusted. I’ll bring it up again with the staff before the end of the week to see if I’ve missed anything.
I won’t get into the reasoning behind the new snack policy here. It was posted on the website, the parent handbook, etc, but will gladly speak to parents that have concerns.
Take care,
Greg Wiseman
Principal, Winnona Park
I was THRILLED about this policy change when I heard about it. Of course, I have a very “snacky” kid and was interested to hear her feedback. She has not even mentioned it to me, and for the first time in 4 years, her lunchbox comes home completely empty every day. Previously she would rely on the unhealthy snack instead of eating the very healthy lunch I spend a lot of time on every morning.
The kids don’t need snacks. This is why we have an obesity problem now–because they never even get to a point of being hungry. They don’t even know what “being hungry” really feels like.
I was definitely one of those parents who sent in very healthy snacks every day: carrots, applesauce (no sugar added), grapes, clementines, bananas, apples, and homemade trail mix. I am chagrined to know that even the most health-conscious parents still sent in junk food for snacks! All the more reason to be glad about this new policy.
Greg,
What an awesome school system we have that a principal will write in to remind us all, “just ask.” I started to feel grumpy that my lanky young child will be too hungry but your comment brought me back to Earth. So yes, if there’s a problem I’ll simply talk about it with the teacher. Simple. Old school.
Wow, I wish this would happen at Clairemont too.
By the way … The school lunches ARE looking much healthier this year. Now we just need to get all of our kids (and teachers!) exercising regularly.
30 minutes is more than enough time for lunch. If you don’t eat during the allotted time, then oh well. Kids have to learn somehow. Let’s not baby them and give them snacks whenever they ask.
I went through the Decatur system and never once recall a snack break. Let the teachers take care of the kids at school. Parents can take care of them at home.
Hey Oakhurst… you listening????? I would really, really like to get rid of snacks! My first grader eats very little breakfast, explaining that he will have snack soon… and then his very healthy lunch comes home less than half eaten.
I would rejoice if they would do away with snacks. Snack breaks are relatively new to CSD. When my oldest was in K and 1st, there were no snack breaks. It started after the first reconfiguration.
There are too many kids out there that eat nothing but empty carbs… give them a little protein in the morning and they will be able to make it to lunch just fine.
How about if we take the time wasted distributing snack and use it for recess? I bet a good run outside would take care of the hunger and restore focus much better than a cookie.
Hmmm. I really can’t remember if Westchester had snacks or not. I’m thinking Ms. Kuebler wasn’t the snack type the way she kept the school and grounds so immaculate. But like I said above, I’ve been doing this snack thing for so long that I thought it was the 11th Commandment delivered by Moses from the Mountain……”Thou shalt volunteer for two weeks per year per child of healthy, peanut-free, gluten-free, egg-free snacks.”
While my kids aren’t at WP and the idea of empty lunch boxes is very appealing to me, I’m concerned about two things. First, the scenario that JJ mentions, the 5 hours between breakfast in lunch is a reality for my kids. Is 5 hours with no food optimal for blood sugar levels which are critical to focus and concentration? Second, as adults, we’re being told to eat smaller, more frequent meals rather than the traditional 3 large meals to avoid over-eating during those 3 large meals. Should we be bringing up our kids in the same way we were taught if now, we’re trying to unlearn those habits?
I’m not trying to stir things up, but while we’re addressing uneaten lunches are we creating more problems?
Wow, as a member of the Slow Eaters Club, I see several posters with which I would not like to share a meal. Is the attitude of “just suck it up, wolf it down, and be done” really something to strive for? I’m not advocating for changing the allocated lunch time for the few of us who actually eat our food in a healthy manner – but it seems like there could be other options, such as head of the line for the identified slow eaters, etc. that would be better to take than the wolfing encouragement. QueenB has a good point about early eating habits can be around for a long while…
If we do everything for them then there is nothing left to learn.
No breakfast? Well you’ll be hungry at 10 am.
No lunch? Well you’ll be hungry at 2 pm.
And think about the kids who don’t bring snacks (or can’t, for monetary reasons). How do you think they’ll feel?
This comes from a 6 meal a day eater, too.
Oh, don’t worry. None of the kids ever had to worry about bringing snacks! This was a “volunteer” parent duty, as in you better “volunteer” to bring in two weeks of snacks per child per year if you don’t want the Slackard Parent of the Year Award! And most everyone brought in more than their share of non-perishable snacks just in case some other families forgot or couldn’t do it or you yourself forgot later in the year and were consumed with guilt.
Isn’t it interesting that snacks are a recent cultural phenomenon in CSD but we all rotate quickly through the schools and so we just accepted it as gospel. Some Martha Stewart parent must have arrived in ~2004 and guilt-tripped us into the snack ritual……
(By the way, I actually think that a truly healthy morning or afternoon snack makes educational and physical sense for kids, but something truly healthy like carrot sticks or apple slices. How to structure it so it’s a healthy, short, not messy, equitable mini-meal is the question. It might not be feasible. It certainly won’t happen easily through an unstructured volunteer list. Isn’t there a way that the snack could be part of a purchased or free lunch, just delivered earlier or later? And buyable as an individual unit for lunch bringers who forget their snack, like milk is?)
Yes, the problem with having parents bring in the snack is that kids got pudding cups, boxes of Nilla wafers, packages of cookies, unhealthy “granola bars,” gogurts, etc. None of this is healthy and contains really icky stuff that i don’t normally let my kids eat. I’d rather see no snack at all then see the kids rely on these items for their nourishment.
Trust me people, the kids will eat all their lunch if they’re hungry enough. My own kid is a VERY slow eater–she is always the last to finish her dinner even though she often starts first. The fact that she’s bringing home an empty lunchbox everyday tells me the no-snack rule is working exactly as intended.
I am willing to bet that after five hours (what time do your kids eat breakfast?) between meals with no snack the kids will eat their lunch in thirty minutes. Which is plenty of time–how slow can you eat? or is it a matter of trying to consume too much? or chatting…?
I have disliked the snackmosphere at Winnona for years and I for one think it’s a great idea and kudos to Greg and staff for implementing it.
In my case, having raised three children, both parents had to work outside the home (which is the norm, outside Decatur apparently) we barely had time to prepare a healthy dinner, let alone snacks. I am all for the no snacks change, but please let them have more time to socialize and learn outside the classroom, like at lunch. I had a great education professor at Emory who taught me that more then half our learning happens outside the classroom.
I understand that an empty lunchbox would please parents, but the flip side is that during the 5 hours between breakfast and lunch some children might be losing the ability to focus. I believe that education is far more important than an empty lunchbox. Could an earlier lunch time be a reasonable solution? If not, could the kids with the latest lunch time be allowed a snack? Just a thought.