The Right Fangirl

When I posted about The First Nanny's "we can't just leave it up to the parents" statement the other day concerning the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, there were a lot of things I wanted to respond to but instead of several scattershot replies, I'll collect my thoughts here.

What I find objectionable, aside from yet more subsidies sucking up taxpayer dollars, is the whole idea of the federal government acting in loco parentis to determine what your kids should be eating instead of oh, I don't know, the actual people who are supposed to be raising them. Parents have already surrendered too much authority to the government by allowing schools to function as a babysitting service. Schools are there to EDUCATE your children, teaching them to read, write, and compute. They are not there to micromanage the lives of their students.

When I went to school in the '70s and '80s, there were no vending machines available to students except for ones that sold juices. But we did have bake sales and clubs sold bagels, Krispy Kremes, candy bars, M&Ms, etc. as fundraisers. Nobody sweated it unless they were making sales during class. I managed a chocolate bar sale for the Philosophy Club in high school. Dolores Umbridge Obama wants to even ban those sales. I guess it would be all right with her if school clubs sold condoms and medicinal marijuana instead.

As for the argument that school lunches are unhealthy, well, there's a reason why in elementary school we had a song that went, "Great green glops of ooey gooey gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, dirty little birdy feet" about the stuff we'd get in the cafeteria. Both private and public schools in California already offer things like veggie burgers and salad bars. But just because they're offered doesn't mean kids are going to eat it. Are we going to hire prison guards to moonlight in the cafeteria to make sure Chubbs finishes his damn salad or he'll get hosed down?

If they want to do something about making school lunches healthier, maybe they need to look at how what's served is affected by USDA subsidies and stuff. The kind of food little Jake and Ava get at school is exactly the same institutional grade stuff served to prisoners. Honest! If there are subsidies for cheese for instance, more cheese ends up in the food getting served to people. If the cafeteria gets the foodstuff, it has to put it out so it doesn't go to waste. If it's not subsidized, it's a lot more expensive to buy. And for what? Unless it comes from the tater tot food group, an awful lot of school cafeteria food ends up in the trash or as arsenal in a food fight. It's hard to make large amounts of food that's tasty for large numbers of people, and keep costs down.

Parents who are concerned about the fat, sodium, carbs, and cholesterol in school lunches can do what mine did...pack a lunch for their kids. It doesn't have to take up a lot of time or money. I'd only buy lunch on occasion. Don't give your kids money if you don't want them hitting the vending machines.

But schools are getting ready to start dictating what you can pack for them. One guy on Free Republic claimed a relative of his tried to bring a bag of McDonalds food to her kid at school during lunch; this kid is very slim and participates in gymnastics. School officials wouldn't let her on campus with the food because it's "fattening." Do you really want busybody school officials, many of which have the common sense of a butt pimple, poking into your son's or daughter's bento box to see if it meets their definition of "fattening?" Do you want them seizing a homemade cookie, leftover pizza or barbecue chicken, some potato salad, or a sandwich with too much mayo in it? Already they are using peanut allergies as an excuse to ban certain snacks. Already they are prohibiting parents from bringing in birthday cupcakes. I had birthday cupcakes when I was growing up and I was never a fat kid.

Do you want the politically incorrect truth as to why there's supposedly this problem with obesity? People relying too much on convenience foods filled with preservatives, sodium, and fat because tired, busy working moms don't want to have to cook or prepare anything. Couple that with kids who stay in and play video games instead of going outside to play, because there's no one home to supervise them, and you have more fat kids. It's a cultural problem, not a "national security" threat that necessitates less freedom and more government control.