Why school lunches should be picked up by the childrens parents - Essay Example

?Why school lunches should be picked up by the children’s parents Introduction Children are the pillars of society and their physical, emotional and mental well being is intrinsic to the social construction of healthy, responsible and proactive society. Proper diet and nutrition is essential for growing children. Balanced diet not only helps them in their physical growth but also ensures mental alertness that facilitates their academic advancements. Also, the increasing concern of rapidly growing obesity amongst children in America has emerged as major social problem. In US, in the last three decades, and obesity in children and adolescent has nearly tripled (HHS News, 2001, ref.1). At the same time, lack of proper nourishment amongst children coming from impoverished families of immigrants, have compounded the problem of academia where children are not able to cope with the stress of the education curricula. In such a scenario, school lunches serve as vital linkages for creating facilitating environment for improved academic results and healthy eating habits. Thesis statement School lunches would help inculcate better eating habits amongst children and thereby help arrest the increasing tendency of obesity amongst American children. Rationale for the proposal Good nutrition and healthy food significantly contributes to a child’s proper growth and general well being that helps to improve his or her academic achievements. In the increasing pluralistic society, the diversity of race, income and nationality has brought forth huge social problems of conflicting ideologies and wide income disparity. The children living in impoverished conditions in the neighborhood colonies have inadvertently become innocent victim of the time. Delgade (2005) asserts that in 2000, 35.7% of Latino population was less than 18 years of age and therefore, in 20 years of time, there will be lot more younger Latinos. There is huge number of dropouts because of many reasons, not the least important being poverty and lack of will to educate themselves. US census corroborates his statement and confirms that that by 2050, Latinos will reach 25% of the total U.S. population (US Census, 1999). This is staggering number could create mammoth social problem if the low literacy problem amongst children of the immigrant and impoverished families is not addresses urgently. Mid day lunch in schools would provide them with healthy food and help meet their physical, mental and emotional need when they would be better able to contribute positively to their academic grades. Obesity amongst children of mainstream American population is another worrying aspect which must be tackled in more effective manner. CDC data reveals that from 1980 to 2008, childhood obesity had increased from 6.5% to nearly 20% for 6-11 year olds and 5% to 18% for 12-19 year olds. Studies have shown that fat intake of children in US has inadequate amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates, but excessive amounts of fats. The increasing tendency towards fast food promotes sedentary lifestyle which causes obesity (Ebbeling et al., 2002; Smith, 1999). The widespread ramifications of obesity considerably increase risks to life and health. Diseases like high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes are some of the major by products of obesity. The children therefore must be encouraged towards healthy dietary habits and active lifestyle. Solution to the problem The advancing technology has covertly promoted sedentary lifestyle amongst children as children have become addicted to the computers, television and mobile phones. This has also resulted in bad eating habits and erratic schedule. The increasing consumption of fast food and aerated drinks by amongst children and adolescents are the major causes for their obese and overweight problems as they are high on calories and low on nourishment. The policy of school lunch for students during school hours, therefore, becomes highly relevant for children as it would encourage healthy diet at the right time. The mid day meals are important for children and help meet their dietary nutrition. The meals at regular time also cuts down the erratic eating habits which mostly occurs when children ignore the mealtime in favor of television or computer games at home. In the contemporary times, the children of nuclear families have working parents. So the children are either left in the daycare or are alone at home after they come back from school. As such, the proper meals are often missed by them and they increasingly get into the habit of fast food and aerated drinks like coke etc. This is extremely harmful trend. The school lunch would assuage their hunger and at the same time, meet their nutrition requirements. So when they go back home, they would not be much inclined towards fast food. School lunches also provide food to the children coming from under-privileged segment of society. At the same time, lunch at school would also reduce dropout rate as lunch could become major attraction for them to come to school. Once they start coming to school on a regular basis, it is assumed that the healthy food would help their all round development and they would be better able to focus on their education. Indeed, children from neighborhood colonies have become regular school goers since the time, mid day lunch was started in the school. Conclusion It can thus be concluded that school lunch greatly facilitates in improving the diet and nutrition at early stage to offset healthiest start of life. School lunch would not only provide healthy food but would also help foster tendency to eat healthy food. Indeed, good food habits needs to be nurtured at home also so that children get into the habit of eating nourishing food that are good for them and avoid indulging in foodstuff that is rich in calories but low in nourishment. It is therefore a very attractive scheme that must be availed by children and parents must become proactive participants in making the scheme success by ensuring that their children consume their school lunch. Reference CDC. Childhood overweight and obesity. Retrieved June 26, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/index.html Delgado, Melvin (Ed). (2005) Latinos and Alcohol Use/Abuse Revisited: Advances and Challenges for Prevention and Treatment Programs. Binghamton, N.Y: The Haworth Press, Inc. Ebbeling, Cara B., Dorota B. Pawlak, and Ludwig, David S. (August 10, 2002). Childhood obesity: Public-health crisis, common sense cure. The Lancet, 360, 9331, 473-482. HHS News. (December 13, 2001). Overweight and obesity threaten U.S. health gains. Retrieved June 26, 2011. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20011213.html Smith, J. C. (1999). Understanding Childhood Obesity. American Sociological Review, 26, 2, 241-247. US Census Bureau. (March 1999). The Hispanic population in the United States. Current Population Reports. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, March 1999:1-5. Read More