Feed Your Children Well: A Child Nutrition Update

When I was a kid, I ate the “hot lunch” at school pretty much every day, and I liked it. From Tater Tot Casserole to Dagwood Sandwiches, tacos to pizza, my week was filled with meals that appealed to my child-sized taste for comfort food.
Fast forward 35 years, and now I’m sending my own kids off to school each day. And though the fare their schools provide is marginally better nutritionally speaking, we pack their lunches most days to ensure they get whole grains, lean protein, and a good dose of fruits and vegetables. It takes a little more time (my husband’s, since he is the kitchen god in our house), and probably costs a little more than the school lunch. But it’s better for them, and it helps them learn what a healthy meal looks like and develop healthy eating habits.
Yesterday, the House committee responsible for reauthorization of the federal Child Nutrition Act, led by Rep. George Miller of California, filed its version of the bill - the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. The bill is a good step forward for kids like mine who have the occasional school lunch, but more importantly it is a critical step forward for the approximately 30 million children who benefit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, which provides free and reduced lunch to low income children across the country. For too many children in food insecure families, this is the single full meal they can count on each day. The House proposal expands eligibility for the lunch program, makes it easier for children to access the program by streamlining the application process, and gives incentive grants to school districts to start healthy breakfast programs.
The legislation also takes steps to improve the nutritional value and safety of school lunches, increase nutrition education in schools, and connect schools to local food growers to improve the quality of the meals. For younger children who receive meals in child care settings, the proposal helps connect their caregivers to the WIC program to improve the nutritional quality of their meals, and makes it easier for home-based caregivers to enroll in the meal program.
As the school year winds down and some of us get ready to pack lunches for summer camp or serve up PB&J’s by the wading pool, it’s good to note that the proposed reauthorization bill takes one more important step. According to the Committee, it will provide year-round meals for over 225,000 children through school based and community based summer and after-school programs. For kids whose best meal of the day is their school lunch, the Summer Food Service Program is a very big deal.
Feeding our children is a basic part of being a parent, a family, a community, and a nation. The reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is an opportunity to make sure we feed them all, and we feed them well. To speak up on child nutrition and school lunches, contact your Senator or Representative today by going here.
For more information about child nutrition in schools, visit the Food Research and Action Center, Let’s Move! or Farm to School.