Mom Congress on Education and Learning Talks School Lunches

[Ed. Note]  This is a guest post from Melissa Taylor of Imagination Soup.  Melissa reached out to me after she read my post Better School Food - Every child, lunch box or lunch tray, deserves it.   It's encouraging to see that in the education community a conversation about the link between food and learning is underway.  Melissa is a former elementary classroom teacher. Good stuff.  Check out her report on school food talk at Mom Congress.

Mom Congress on Education and Learning hosted by Parenting Magazine and Georgetown University invited one mom-advocate delegate from each of the states and D.C. to talk about educational issues. The conference surprised me with it’s rigor – most meals included speakers even. One of my biggest take-aways was what’s happening with school lunches – from Mrs. Q. and Jamie Oliver.

Mrs. Q.

Do you know about Mrs. Q? She’s the teacher who ate school lunches for a year and blogged about it.  We got to meet her at Mom Congress and listen to her story of average mom to leader-activist. She explained that as a busy mom and teacher, she never had time to make her lunch. So, she ate at school, then decided to blog about it, and as a result, became an activist for improving school lunch in our country.

“It’s actually not just food – it’s everything. It’s the basis of learning,” she told us.

And, the scary thing, that if it’s the majority of what many low-income children eat, their basis for learning sucks. Instead of building brain function on whole-grains, fresh produce, lean proteins, the kids and Mrs. Q. are eating processed, high-sugar, high-saturated fat foods. Not much of a building block for learning.

Mrs. Q.’s Call to Action

1. Educate yourself.

2. Get others to join you.

Eat your school lunch. Invite others to join you for lunch. That will convince other parents more than talking or blogging. Just try it. Watch the kids and what they’re eating and what they’re throwing out.

3. Take a stand for better school lunches.

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

I’m sure you know about Jamie Oliver and his passion for improving school lunches across America. We were treated with lunch and some words of wisdom from Oliver's staff.

dishing up $.66 per head lunch, photo: Parenting Magazine

Oliver’s chef cooked us a "school lunch" for $.66 a person – and it was delicious. Barbequed chicken thighs or drumsticks, rice and veggies. The point was that it can be done – you can feed large amounts of children fresh, healthy foods without a huge expense.

Personally, I love Oliver for what he’s doing to make changes in school lunch. What never ceases to amaze me is the resistance he’s up against – and not just by the school lunch ladies, but by the parents of students. Really?

But, on his latest episode, he shows parents what the ingredients are in the lunches their kids are eating. Doing so convinces the parents and they join him in rallying for change. You can see it all on his reality show, The Food Revolution, Tuesday’s on ABC.

You can find out more about Oliver and The Food Revolution on his website.

Jamie Oliver’s Call to Action

           
1. Get the facts.  Resources here. Tool Kits here.      
2.  Support the staff.           
3. Mobilize a team.
4. Start with the basics.

School lunches aren’t going to change. Not unless we change them. We as parents must advocate on behalf of all children, children who don’t have a voice, who don’t have lobbyists, who are depending on YOU, ME, US.

The Mom Congress Resource Center

More from my experience at Mom Congress at http://imaginationsoup.net. Search for "mom congress."

Bio: Melissa Taylor writes about education-related topics at her award-winning playful learning blog, Imagination Soup, and for publications such as Scholastic Parent and Child, Babble.com, Colorado Parent Magazine and others. She's the Book Editor-at-Large for Colorado Parent Magazine, writing their book review blog, Bookmarkable and is a certified teacher with a M.A. in Education.