Ask kids what their favorite part of the school day is and I’ll bet anything that the majority will answer: “LUNCH!”
Unfortunately for those students, bad news may be on the horizon. According to reports, several school districts around the country are trimming lunch and recess and devoting the extra minutes to classroom time. The reason: Lunch is bad for kids. Not the nutritional part of it; rather experts say the whole experience of cafeteria dining is chaotic, stressful, unappetizing and akin to feeding time at the zoo.
Educators who support reducing lunch periods maintain that with younger kids lunchtime has become more of an eating contest and the atmosphere it creates does more harm than good. Interestingly, these school administrators are being backed by an unusual source. South Beach Diet doctor, Arthur Agatston, says kids who shove food down their throats in a mad dash to get outside and play are hurting themselves. Agatston says these eating contest environments, which are teeming with noise and mess, is not only bad for children’s digestion, it is also “robbing them of an opportunity to learn how to eat properly.”
Agatston suggests educators school kids on proper table etiquette. He says kids should learn how to eat slowly and civilly.
“The lunchroom culture is fast food,” says Dr. Agatston. “But it shouldn’t be fast food. The teacher should be sitting at the table with a tablecloth for a civilized meal. I think it’s a huge learning opportunity for kids.”
The schools that subscribe to Agatston’s theory say they have noticed a difference in the way students behave during lunch. For example, some elementary schools in New Jersey have reduced their lunch period from 50 minutes to just 30 and students don’t eat in the cafeteria; rather they dine at their desks in their classrooms. The smaller setting includes a teacher who eats with the children in a calm and quiet environment. School administrators say students not only eat better in the new surroundings, but also complain of fewer stomachaches.
What do you think about this new trend in reduced lunch periods? Does your child eat better in quieter surroundings?
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