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Whatever happened to packing your child's lunch (re: Cheese-gate)

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Liberal_in_LA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:29 PM
Original message
Whatever happened to packing your child's lunch (re: Cheese-gate)
Seriously. Isn't there a middle ground between paying for lunch and having your kid embarrassed at school? the kids look
well fed and healthy so I'm assuming their are getting good meals at home. It's cheaper to pack a lunch than buy one.

I'd pack a lunch for me kid BEFORE I'd let them be embarrassed at school or applying for the school lunch program

Yeah, sometimes you can't don't have the $1 in the morning, but is the cupboard totally bare?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29385572

Her mother, Darlene Vigil, said there are days she can't spare lunch money for her two daughters.

"Some parents don't have even $1 sometimes," the 27-year-old single mother said. "If they do, it's for something else, like milk at home. There are some families that just don't have it and that's the reason they're not paying."


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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
1. You assume there's something to pack.

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damntexdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #1
22. And assume that there's something to be embarrassed about.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:11 PM
Response to Reply #22
26. One of the first things poor kids learn how to do, once they figure it out,
Edited on Tue Mar-03-09 06:11 PM by EFerrari
is how to be invisible. "You can't see me" not have a lunch, not have whole shoes, not have books or paper or pens or money to be on a team or go to a school function.

If it doesn't exist, you don't have to be embarrassed. Voila.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:29 PM
Response to Reply #26
40. Exactly.
To this DAY, I find myself lying sometimes when I'm in a class discussion and the topic of "stuff you did as a kid" comes up. I'm too ashamed to blurt out over and over, "I didn't do/have XXXXXXX because my parents couldn't afford it."
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:38 PM
Response to Reply #40
43. My high school district disappeared me.
When I was applying to Berkeley as a re-entry student, I went back to request my transcript and, *pOOF* -- I never existed! The disappearance becomes part of the institution.

But that didn't keep me out of school. It didn't keep me off the honor roll or out of PBK or out of a class of 12 in my graduate program.

Magic works both ways. :)
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #43
47. I'm right there with you.
I am currently in my sophomore undergrad year, and so far I've been published twice, won two writing awards (and am going to win a third in about a month,) made President's List three times and Dean's List three times, made the NSCS, and am generally kicking much ass.

I have my fingers crossed for PBK, but they don't invite until Junior or Senior year, so we shall see.

:hug:
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:52 PM
Response to Reply #47
53. You go, my sister.
:hug:

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leftyclimber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:20 PM
Response to Reply #40
59. Yep. I still want to crawl under my desk sometimes.
I was lucky enough in grade school and junior high to go to school with mostly other poor kids. We thought the rich (likely middle class, in reality) kids were really weird. :D

When I got to high school we moved into town and I ended up at the "rich" (and this time I mean REALLY rich, like kids with brand new BMWs) high school. I was suddenly the radish in the bunch of roses.

Now that I'm in grad school I'm going through it all over again. I'm surrounded by all these people who do not understand why I only have a couple of nice outfits to wear to conferences and won't wear them the rest of the time, why I don't buy new stuff unless I absolutely have to, why I don't go out to eat lunch (I always seem to be "too busy"), why I don't go skiing every weekend (again, "too busy"), why I never fly across the country to visit my family...

So even though I'm kinda middle aged now I find myself still feeling like the radish. Often. When I get too stressed I go hang out with the "farm kid" professor in my department, and we commiserate.

:hug:


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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:22 PM
Response to Reply #59
60. "Radish in the roses"
:rofl:

Man, you really are in the wrong program. When am I gonna be able to convince you to switch to writing?

:hug:
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leftyclimber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:32 PM
Response to Reply #60
62. Wait for me to get completely fed up with The Report That Will Not Die.
It came back to life again, and if it don't die soon I'm going to have a helluva time collecting dissertation data, which is time-sensitive in this case.

Might be a good time to cut and run.... ;)

:hug:
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:46 PM
Response to Reply #59
63. LOL! Together, we'd make a decent salad.
:rofl:
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leftyclimber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #63
64. LOL!
:toast:
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kiva Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #40
65. I don't know how old you are, but the embarassment
does fade, at least it did for me. My parents worked hard, provided us with a home and food but didn't have money for the extras that some people still think of as 'normal' in childhood. I'm working class in a work environment that's mostly upper-middle class, and say it with pride (but it took awhile to see it that way).
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 08:09 PM
Response to Reply #65
68. I've found that it's a lot easier to talk about it *here*
than to talk about it in real life. The anonymity here helps, I think. It's a lot harder to be in a group of friendly people telling funny stories about stuff like band camp, dance classes, field trips, etc. and not feel pressured to lie and go with the flow. You end up feeling like if you said, "My parents couldn't afford any of that stuff" you'd just cause an awkward silence and maybe even some resentment for messing up the lighthearted atmosphere. :(
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kiva Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 06:09 PM
Response to Reply #68
92. One of the few advantages of age, I've found,
is that I am less sensitive about things I couldn't control, like my childhood. When people talk about their trips to Disneyland as kids or how much they hated their piano/dance/French lessons, I just sip my drink and look attentive.
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endarkenment Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
2. How about we just stop with the public humiliation?
And do we really need another cheese sandwich flamefest?
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:35 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. No, let's just promote Republican myth that parents don't take care
of their children and that they expect you to feed them because they're too dam lazy to pack a lunch every morning.

:wtf:
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Critters2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
3. I honestly don't understand this. I'm open to hearing an explanation.
If they couldn't afford even a dollar for food, why weren't they on the free lunch program?
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. They don't know about it, they don't know how to get on it
or, more likely the program's income parameters need to be reset. The working poor fall into cracks too often.

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WolverineDG Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #3
87. Because Mommy didn't fill out the forms for 2 weeks
this particular school district gives a 10-day grace period (2 weeks), sends letters home with the kids AND calls the parents DAILY to let them know of the situation. (Never mind the fact that the forms are in the registration packets & available at all times in the school's office)

I just don't get why it's elitist or Republican to expect someone to answer the phone, return the call, make a lunch, or fill out a form when they were given ample opportunity to do so.

dg
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paparush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:37 PM
Response to Original message
5. I've packed my son's lunch every school day for the past 7 years.
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NavyDavy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:52 PM
Response to Reply #5
52. and? some people don't have the money to pack their kids lunches,
Edited on Tue Mar-03-09 06:53 PM by NavyDavy
I was on free lunch program and never felt embarrassed
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Chorophyll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #5
61. Be grateful you have something to pack for him.
Some don't. Hunger exists in this country.
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paparush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #61
70. I'm very grateful. I'm grateful I worked my ass off to attend a public university.
I'm grateful that I've overcome 2 layoffs in the last 4 years, but I've still managed to put food on the table.

I'm grateful to have an amazing kid who is #1 in his class.

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Chorophyll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:53 PM
Response to Reply #70
88. Congrats. Not everyone can pull that off.
Given the topic of this thread, what are you really trying to say?
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luvspeas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:38 PM
Response to Original message
6. We were poor when I was a kid...
But my dad took his lunch to work, so there was always a little baloney and bread to piece together a sandwich or two. I would not have been caught dead with a school lunch. Sometimes I had very little in my lunch bag. I always carried bags and claimed they were cooler than those new lunch boxes we could never afford. When I got into high school I'd bring my dad's gray lunchbox to school as a purse. That was pretty cool.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
7. No, the cupboards aren't usually *totally* bare.
It's usually more a question of logistics and safe transport. For example, my son has been bugging me to pack his lunch. However, I do not have any freezer cold-packs, small tupperware containers, or even ziplock baggies, and cannot afford to go buy them right now. His school (due to student allergies) absolutely will not permit any peanut products, either, so PB&J is out of the question.

What else is left that poor people are likely to have around the house or in the fridge, that (1) does not need to stay cold, (2) does not require a tupperware or other plastic container, and (3) fulfills the nutritional standards of an average lunch? I suppose we could send our kids with last night's leftover tuna casserole wrapped up in newspaper (ick) that is then wrapped with ice, but by lunchtime it would be a soggy, unsanitary mess.

The peripheral costs are what kill poor people the most. Things that nobody else even really thinks about, like the stupid freezer packs and the tupperware containers. They go right along with things like food handler's licenses, state ID/license fees, the costs of buying special non-skid shoes to work at restaurants, etc. Those little hidden costs are a serious problem throughout the daily lives of the poor.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. When I didn't have a lunch, I used to walk home and open the cupboards.
There was usually some milk in the fridge, some dry rice in the cupboard and some honey.

I don't know how I could have packed that to take to school.

But, let's get back to slamming parents!
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:00 PM
Response to Reply #9
15. I didn't slam parents. I defended them.
:shrug:
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. (Yes, that was me chiming in.)
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. Ahhhh, gotcha.
:hi:
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #21
24. People don't get it. Until you've been a 9 year old
that opened the fridge or the cupboard and found only dry beans or sugar or a little bit of butter in wax paper, they don't get it.

In a way, maybe it's better that more people really don't understand what that's like. lol
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #24
29. I would like to give guided tours of my childhood.
And even my current life, although my own son doesn't have it anywhere near as badly as I did, thank goodness. My Mom was lied to by her church and told that welfare was "evil" and "a sin" and that she'd go to hell for accepting it, so we grew up in dire poverty with no help at ALL, save for short-term Food Stamps twice (I remember both times well) because Mom got tired of church and desperate enough to apply. There was also a serious culture stigma about accepting welfare and going "on the county," as my grandma used to say. And racism, too, although it shames me to admit it. My grandmother is STILL a racist, homophobic person, and I cut her out of my life almost eight years ago for it.

Poverty is hell, especially for kids. No child, and I mean NO CHILD, should ever have to be hungry in America. Regardless of how we feel about their parents, the kids do NOT deserve to suffer.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:19 PM
Response to Reply #29
32. I think giving a visual guided tour of what some kids do
at lunch time would be a great idea. If you want to do it, I'll help in any way I can.

There are some people that just don't get that children are not eating. :shrug:
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Silent3 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:57 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. Schools treating peanut butter like a Class V Biohazard...
...annoys the hell out me. Yes, I know some kids are allergic, but the scenarios for accidental exposure are pretty damned far fetched, and the kids with the allergies should be taught how to be careful in school -- just like they need to be careful everywhere else out in the real world -- rather than depriving everyone of peanut products who might enjoy them and/or save a little money with cheap, easy-to-make, easy-to-carry food.
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dysfunctional press Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #7
19. apparently- some people just shouldn't have kids.
when they obviously aren't up to the responsibilities involved.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:10 PM
Response to Reply #19
25. I can't tell if your reply is sarcasm or not, but just in case it isn't
I want to say that a LOT of poor parents were not always poor. I can't tell you how many poor single parents I've met who came from perfectly comfortable, middle-class marriages, and had their kids during a period of their lives in which caring for them was not a problem.

It's often only after the hell of divorce, abandonment, and medical crises that these people become impoverished and need help. They made their choices in good faith, but just because someone is financially comfortable *today* does not mean that they will always be so.

As for the multi-generational poverty issues, all I can say about that is that poor people are even MORE terrified of dying old and starving and alone than middle-class people are. They have kids for two reasons--first, they don't know much (or have bad information) about birth control. Second, they don't want to get old without any kids to take care of them in their old age. Poor people don't have 401ks and retirement pensions, and nobody but nobody can live on what meager Social Security a poor person would collect. Poverty = shitty nutrition, which leads to greater old-age health problems, and more expenses.

It's not as cut-and-dried as the holier-than-thous would have us all believe.
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karynnj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:13 PM
Response to Reply #7
28. Freezer cold packs?Tupperware containers??
I was one of 9 - we had paper lunch bags with sandwiches wrapped in wax paper (or later in the "new" baggies), an apple - and we bought milk at school. For a while,my mom would get us to help and mass produce sandwiches - a pile of turkey, a pile of bologna, and a pile of peanut butter and jelly. These were then all frozen. Each of us made our lunch by taking a bag putting in a sandwich (to which we added ketchup or miracle whip), some cookies and fruit.

On Fridays, she made egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:22 PM
Response to Reply #28
35. Your parents let you take turkey sandwiches to school without a cold pack?
Egg salad, too? Seriously? I'm digging through my kid's paperwork folder for the cold-lunch rules, but I don't even think such a thing is *allowed* at my son's school. Frozen or not, those things thaw pretty fast in a hot classroom, *especially* if they're in paper lunch bags and not the insulated type. There's no way I'd let my kid do something like that. He leaves for school at 8:00 am and doesn't eat lunch until noon--that's four hours of unrefrigerated time in a stuffy, hot classroom. No effing way, not even if it's frozen.

Also, waxed paper is yet another expense, just like the sandwich baggies and the tupperware containers. The cheap tupperware is probably a better deal, actually, because it can be washed and re-used. The problem is that for low-income families, the choice is often between that and buying soap and toothpaste.
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karynnj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:37 PM
Response to Reply #35
42. Yes - I was born in 1950 I was not recommending it - but that's what we did
Everyone did the same at my school. Most of the time it was frozen and no one else did that. None of us got sick - in fact, several of us each year got perfect attendance certificates. (I feel like my granddad telling us how he walked to school.) The luncheon meat had preservatives -I'm more surprised that we took tuna and egg salad sandwiches.

When my kids took lunches to school - it was in insulated bags with cold packs.
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dustbunnie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:47 PM
Response to Reply #42
49. I still do that today.

:D Have no probs walking around with tuna or chicken sandwiches in my purse or backpack sans cold pak. At work, there were definitely times I'd forget to put them in the fridge. Like to live dangerously I guess, but so far, so good. Luncheon meats have enough preservatives, you could probably leave them out for days without an issue.
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noamnety Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 07:59 PM
Response to Reply #49
98. Same here.
Today I had raw tofu, yesterday I had curried chicken muffins, I make it up at 7am, lunch isn't til 11:00, seems to be fine tossed in my computer bag for the morning. I seem to be doing just fine.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:48 PM
Response to Reply #42
50. "I feel like my granddad"
:rofl:

Yeah, according to my kid's cold-lunch guidelines (man, THAT was a search) all cold foods must be kept cold with a cold pack, and all hot ones hot with a thermos or insulated mug.

It's a bummer that they've totally banned peanut butter. We couldn't even bring Reese's cups to his Halloween Party. :(
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Retrograde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #42
77. cold cuts are designed to last awhile
Most sausages date back from a time before preservation, when meat was preserved by smoking and/or massive amounts of salts. Even mayo-based products will last a few hours without refrigeration, provided you use common sense, i.e., make sure the ingredients are in good shape before making the sandwiches, keep them cold until you leave the house (my mother always made them the night before) and don't let them sit in direct sunlight (or on top of a heat source). A few hours in a cool dark closet is not going to make much difference.

Wimps, that's what we are. BTW, at the park I work in, we store the children's lunches in an outdoor, non-refrigerated locker while the little dears are out with the plants. It's in a spot that gets absolutely no sun, and I've noticed no reluctance to eat - or bad effects with - paper-bag lunches that have gone a few hours without a fridge.
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #35
48. Believe it or not, this was fairly common in the 1960s.
My mother was appalled that some of my classmates brought egg or tuna salad sandwiches to junior high but here's the kicker: several of my friends who did this were the children of doctors! It is relatively safe if the food was frozen.

On our side of the divide we made PB or cheese and mustard sandwiches in our house (thank you, USDA surplus commodities program.) We used wax paper when we had it (it was relatively cheap back then) and recycled bread bags --we'd reuse the same one for weeks at a time and rinse it out at night.

We walked home for lunch in elementary school, another tradition that has gone out the window in most urban areas now because of consolidated schools, busing, and stranger danger obsessions.
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:51 PM
Response to Reply #35
66. OMG! "Cold Lunch Rules"?
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 08:06 PM
Response to Reply #66
67. I know!! ZOMG!!11
Safety rules about the storage of food meant for children to consume on school property is UNBELIEVABLE!!!111

:eyes:
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HarukaTheTrophyWife Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 03:31 PM
Response to Reply #66
91. I'm cracking up at that, too
I'm only 26, and we never had "Cold Lunch Rules" in school. My mom used to pack turkey, ham or cheese sandwiches for me all the time w/o a coldpack, and I was fine. My mom is a germophobe, and she didn't even think anything of it.
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Marrah_G Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #35
74. We never had cold packs.....
The only cold pack in my lunch was tinfoil around a soda can for class trips....

I never bought lunch until High school and then only because it was uncool to bring a lunch and I complained loud enough.

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Catherine Vincent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 12:12 PM
Response to Reply #35
76. When I was in elementary school, my mom used to pack fried egg or tuna sandwiches
for our lunch sometimes. It wasn't refrigerated or anything. Surprisingly, we never got sick.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:11 PM
Response to Reply #35
80. oh for fuck's sake ... no child is going to die by eating a tuna fish
sandwich that has been out of the refridgerator between 8am and noon without a cold pack, assuming it wasn't already spoiled when the sandwich was made.

i guess i'm REALLY glad i don't have children ... no peanut butter for my kid because there is a small chance someone else's kid might possibly inhale the odor ... you must use cold-packs or a cooler for their lunch ...

my parents used to actually STUFF THE TURKEY the night before with sausage stuffing, then cook the bird the next day!!!! omg, it's a wonder all 5 of us kids plus several cousins who lived with us didn't die of food poisoning!!

as far as the "expenses" of making your kids lunch ... did these people think having and raising children didn't cost money??

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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #80
93. I didn't say a word about tuna fish.
Poultry and eggs are my concern.

Also, your snotty-ass attitude? It sucks. I stopped reading after about the first sentence, because I had no desire to hear anything else written in that kind of holier-than-thou preachy tone. That stuff got old in 7th grade.
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tanngrisnir3 Donating Member (665 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 07:44 PM
Response to Reply #93
97. No one is going to die from turkey or egg salad that's been warm...
for a few hours.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-05-09 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #93
99. right back at ya' sweet cheeks ...
poultry and eggs are your concern, not tuna fish.

if you stopped reading after the first sentence, then how do you know what i said?

:rofl:
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JerseygirlCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-05-09 02:45 PM
Response to Reply #35
100. I do it myself, all the time. I think cooked turkey can hang around at room temp for a few hours. n
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Missy Vixen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #28
75. One more time
I don't even have kids, but I could tell you that PB & J is not allowed in most schools at all anymore.

It's too bad. Peanut butter isn't free, but it's cheap, and would really help the vast majority at least get a sandwich at lunchtime with the minimum of hassle.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:14 PM
Response to Reply #75
81. "PB & J is not allowed in most schools at all anymore"
this is totally ridiculous.

i'm really glad i chose not to have kids, if you have to put up with this kind of stupid shit.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:03 PM
Response to Reply #28
79. sounds like my lunches....
tuna, pb&j, bologna sandwich ... rarely sliced lunch meat ... wrapped in waxed paper, with a small bag of fritos or similar, an apple or banana, and desserty type snack, probably by hostess. all in a paper bag, safe in my desk or my locker all morning until lunch time. no freezer packs, no tupperware, no igloo coolers. we bought milk at school or brought a thermos.
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Fire1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:53 PM
Response to Original message
10. I've accepted the myth that a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk
is sufficient nourishment one hundred eighty one days of the school year and fuck you if you want meatloaf and peas that the cafeteria serves. Be thankful you got a fuckin cheese sandwich.:sarcasm:
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sharp_stick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:57 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Yeah but that cafeteria meatloaf sucks
I'd rather eat the cheese. Unless it's government cheese, then we're into a whole new world of yuck. ;-)
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #11
17. It's government cheese.
It's a school; government commodities are always on the menu.
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Fire1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:06 PM
Response to Reply #17
23. Gov't cheese was the BEST back in the 70's. I don't know what
it tastes like now.
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #23
36. Think Velveeta.
But mushier and sweeter.

Blech.
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Fire1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:25 PM
Response to Reply #36
37. Ugh! Glad I had the other.
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:58 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. I grew up on cheese sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch
Edited on Tue Mar-03-09 05:58 PM by stray cat
Just about the only people who didn't bring their sandwich for lunch were those who got it free or at a discount due to a limited family income. I didn't begrudge anyone the school lunch - although it looked better than my bag lunch each day. Most of us knew those in line were limited income - because if we had to pay full price we bought sandwiches.
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JerseygirlCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 05:59 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Not looking for trouble, but
thinking about what sort of mystery meat meals might be had in the school cafeteria, personally? I'd rather pack a cheese sandwich.

In fact, I often did as a kid. I like cheese.
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. I agree - depending on the lunch at school my cheese sandwich was more appealing
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ejpoeta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:11 PM
Response to Reply #13
27. in our school the only thing that even looked close to being any good
was the pizza. in elementary school our stuff was cold and gross. but i didn't eat the school lunches either. unless they made me.
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:19 PM
Response to Reply #27
33. The pizza at our school was vile
A sandwich would have been better. x(
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Lost in CT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:21 PM
Response to Reply #10
34. Good Lord I remember my school's lunches... I would rather have a
cheese sandwich.
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Tierra_y_Libertad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:02 PM
Response to Original message
20. Many the time, when I was a kid, no lunch, no bag to carry one in.
Being poor is always embarrassing. "I forgot it", is easier than explaining why you haven't got one.

Poverty is not romantic, ennobling, or good for anyone.

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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:17 PM
Response to Original message
30. BAD MOTHER, not fit for motherhood
can't take care of their kids properly... I mean if they could....

:sarcasm:

Yes, dear... there are places and families that indeed have an EMPTY cupboard.

Seen it with my damn two eyes

Perhaps you should try that sometimes

Oh and there is more, it is not their fault... but OUR SOCIETY'S fault


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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:27 PM
Response to Reply #30
38. These OPs freak me out.
"While you all were out at the mall, I tried to find something to feed my brother." :crazy:
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readmoreoften Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:30 PM
Response to Reply #38
41. Me too.
Another "Look what the big tent dragged in..." post.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #41
44. So screwed up and in so many ways.
What about, you don't put kids in the middle of an adult problem? :wtf:

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Iris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 11:38 AM
Response to Reply #41
73. good description - "Look what the big tent dragged in..."
I haven't been to DU in a while and came to see what people thought of the cheese sandwich story. I had to leave in dismay.
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noiretextatique Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 06:49 PM
Response to Reply #41
94. bingo
:rofl: someone suggested skinner rename the site to "libertarian asshole underground"
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #38
46. THey don't freak me out
there is this little factoid, most Muricans are VERY SHELTERED.

Hell, not more or less than I was growing up in Mexico... though we were more conscious of the crushing poverty some folks lived in

But most folks are so sheltered that they don't realize the conditions I saw regularly as a medic in Tijuana are way too common in places like oh Appalachia... or the really bad side of the tracks here. Ok, so the houses are of slightly better quality... most people don't realize folks do starve or die from cold exposure in the good ol' US of A. In that sense the Mexican Press is better... every cold spell you read how many people died due to the lack of a simple thing such as blankets

Nor do I expect my media to do that, unless that happened in TIjuana, if ye get me drift

And some are just willfully ignorant of those conditions.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #46
51. A lot of kids in suburbia are in a very bad way due to
the financing we've seen in the last 20 years.

You don't need to be in Appalachia to go hungry. My brother and I did it just fine in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's perfectly possible for your parents or parent to be paying the equivalent of rent on a home in suburbia and for you to be hungry.

That's one of the latest Big Lies -- that surburbia is just fine. It hasn't been for many years.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #51
57. Correct, but the fact remains
that people are way too sheltered.

And that is part of the problem

Recent local story, the number of parents going on aid in places that are very well to do...

Of course the economy is to blame

Never mind that those families have been on the edge for years, most likely

We don't do that bad, but that is partially because I watch our money like a hawk. That does not mean we could not be there very easily
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Iris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 11:36 AM
Response to Reply #57
72. still, is it so wrong to have some expectation of empathy and a willingness to understand
at a place like DU?
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Iris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #30
71. No, kidding. I recently read a report that said some families forgo COOKING because they can
only afford to use a certain amount of dish soap to clean up afterwards.

Why, oh why, must people assume that everyone is on a level playing field? That we all have the same resources to work with?
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kestrel91316 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:18 PM
Response to Original message
31. My mom packed my lunch at least 30% of the time when I was a kid.
PBJ, tuna, cheese or bologna sandwiches. Piece of fruit, some carrot and celery sticks. Little baggie of potato chips. No embarrassment, but then this was in the 60s.

Once I was in JHS, bringing a lunch was so juvenile and uncool, so if I didn't like what they were serving, I got milk, a piece of fruit, and a package of Skittles, all from the vending machines. Didn't want or need more. In HS I ate school lunch every day. Again, bringing a sack lunch was uncool, lol.
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shari Donating Member (90 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:28 PM
Response to Original message
39. I'm confused.
These discussions keep talking about the poor kids who have no lunch, or who have to be humiliated by being served a 'different' lunch. The reason I'm confused is because I've always thought that the kids who really couldn't afford lunch had either a free hot lunch or a reduced price hot lunch. Aren't the kids we are talking about here the ones who either can afford lunches but charge and don't pay the charges or the ones who qualify for the reduced price and don't pay the difference? I understood that it's an issue of the schools not being able to afford paying for the lunches, so instead, until the over-due charges are straightened out they offer a cold lunch so that the kids won't have to go without lunch. Am I misunderstanding something here?
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #39
45. No, you aren't misunderstanding anything. This is largely DU'ers proving how UBER-Liberal they are.
Edited on Tue Mar-03-09 06:44 PM by KittyWampus
My point to make- even if all schools just automatically gave all enrolled students free hot lunch, there would automatically be the "cool kids" who would then proceed to BRING their lunch and probably with the designated cool lunchbox and thermos. So even if this was a case of poor kids getting looked down on and taunted, the bullies would STILL find a way to make others feel uncomfortable.

I would really rather focus on children being allowed to engage in crappy, anti-social bullying and teasing and how that should not be acceptable or tolerated.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:27 PM
Response to Reply #45
83. teach children that what others say about them, especially stupid bullies/other kids
in school does not reflect on them ... it says way more about the bully/teaser than it says about the tease-ee.

teach them that self-esteem and pride come from within, and that no one can MAKE you feel anything (other than pain) ... we are responsible for our feelings and how we react to other people.

teach kids to say, not in so few words, FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE when other kids are being jerks.

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Dr. Strange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #45
89. Yep, that seems to be it.
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:55 PM
Response to Reply #39
55. Yes. You're missing the kids whose parents haven't applied for free/reduced lunch and should.
As has been discussed ad nauseum, the parent shouldn't delay applying for free/reduced lunches if finances are tight and parents who can afford to pay, should. It's the policy of offering cheese sandwich alternatives to the standard lunch that has a high potential for appearing to shame the kids, especially in schools where the children are sent to a different line once it's determined that there's money owed. Regardless of the reason that the parents haven't paid, it's the kids who bearing the brunt of the collection efforts in a social setting where the adults should be role models. If the school can handle the situation in a way that isn't obvious (say for example, offering the cheese sandwich option for sale to anyone) no one here would care about.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:57 PM
Response to Reply #39
56. Yes, you are confusing what children need with adult conflicts.
There is no reason not to feed children and to figure out the money later, right?

We're supposed to have a program for poor kids, right?

So, if we feed the kids and work out the money later, either the parents pay up or the lunches are covered because the kids' family qualifies.

So2, what the EF is the excuse for putting children in the middle of this conflict?
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #39
82. no, you are not misunderstanding a thing. n/t
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tonysam Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 06:55 PM
Response to Original message
54. This "controversy" is silly.
The same thing happens in "wealthy" schools as in "poor" schools if the parent doesn't pay up. It's no big deal; the kids aren't "embarrassed."

I was not one of those foolish teachers who paid out of their pocket for their students' lunch; only during occasional field trips did I do it.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 07:07 PM
Response to Reply #54
58. When I read posts like yours, I'm so grateful my boys survived their schools. n/t
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Fire1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-03-09 09:06 PM
Response to Reply #54
69. Fortunately, we didn't have to, either, b/c EVERY child got a
school lunch. It was up to the teachers and lunch people to contact a parent who did not turn in the lunch form. We didn't leave it to the child to relay the message to the parent.
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Bill McBlueState Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:33 PM
Response to Reply #54
85. Well, it's *your* ideological counterparts
who seem to keep bringing this up.

Blame them if you think the discussion is silly.
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woo me with science Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
78. Apparently mom has money to pay for webhosting.
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Scout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:30 PM
Response to Reply #78
84. what's the matter with you? don't you think poor people deserve any fun?
don't you think poor people who can't come up with lunch money for their kids should get to do whatever they damn well please, and then berate the rest of us because we "don't care about the children."?

:sarcasm:

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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-05-09 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #78
102. What proof is there "she" paid for it?
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davsand Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 01:40 PM
Response to Original message
86. Seems like a job for the PTA.
Seriously. I think the PTA needs to be stepping up a little bit.

If the local PTA really WANTED to do something to help out they could do fundraisers to pay for school lunches for kids rather than see them go hungry. They could raise funds and buy milk for the kids. They used to do that where I grew up, and we kids never had to worry about the financial stuff if our parents couldn't. We had poor kids but nobody ever thought much of it because it was a farm community and we were all broke anyhow.

By the same token, they could plant gardens at the schools for fresh produce supply, and you will NEVER see that happen either. They could even let the kids do some light work in that garden as a class project, but that would probably upset somebody so the idea can't even be discussed, either...

Truth be told, my local PTO is so freaking useless that I refuse to do anything to to help them--I do stuff at the school directly. They has a big fundraiser last year to buy a LAMINATING MACHINE. Not playground equipment, not books, not food for kids--but a fucking machine to apply plastic to stuff.

Just my two cents.


Laura
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Chorophyll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 03:21 PM
Response to Reply #86
90. In some schools in this country...
They frequently run out of toilet paper and light bulbs. They're gonna plant gardens and have the kids work in them? Where?
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davsand Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 07:39 PM
Response to Reply #90
96. They could plant gardens, if they chose to.
With an increased awareness of nutrition and quality foods I wonder why nobody is talking about doing this. If they can have a garden at the WhiteHouse why can't they have one at the school (assuming there is space...)? My post was a discussion about what they COULD do, but probably choose NOT to do. Sorry to get you all excited over a dream.

My kid always enjoyed the science experiments where they grew stuff or germinated seeds. I'd think growing a garden would be a real hoot for a lot of kids--especially if that is not anything they do at home. I also think it might help introduce kids to veggies as something fun to eat--(because everybody knows it tastes better if you grew it!)

:shrug:


Laura
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Jennicut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-05-09 02:48 PM
Response to Reply #90
101. Not to mention books, paper, etc.
Not much money there at all.
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Zing Zing Zingbah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-04-09 07:07 PM
Response to Original message
95. Actually.. I think the school meals are cheaper than packing meals
$2.40 a day gets my son breakfast, lunch, and a milk at snack time. That's the full price rate. Some people qualify for reduced or free meals. I would think that anyone that honestly doesn't have a dollar for their kids meals would qualify for the free meals program.
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