Teaching Kids How to Unscramble a Food Label
My 9-year-old son thinks he’s cursed. Why did his mother have to be a dietitian? This means there’s never been a loaf of white bread in the house and I occasionally show up at his elementary school to spread the word of good nutrition.
Schools, in general, just dont’s have the time in the curriculum or the staff to do much with nutrition education so I feel like it’s the least I can do. So, last month, at Poinciana Elementary, here in Key West, I held several nutrition sessions for about 400 kids, grades 2-5, so that maybe they would understand some of the gobbledy-gook on a food label.
Each kid was asked to bring in a favorite packaged food that had a nutrition label so everyone could follow along. I did some sessions last year, as well, and I’m always so pleased to see just how into it the kids can be. They are astounded to see the difference, in fat and sugar, between their cafeteria container of strawberry milk and nonfat milk. Ditto on the boxes of breakfast cereals they all brought in. Clearly, there weren’t enough high fiber cereals to suit me, but they got the sugar message when comparing the nutrition panel of Cheerios vs. Fruit Loops. I tell them to go home and tell Mom and Dad what they learned so maybe some of it will translate to the supermarket. After all, the kids are not pulling out their wallets for weekly groceries, and I am a firm believer that kids get their food cues from their parents. Of course, I can say that because I have a kid who adores sauteed brussels sprouts.
Rather than have several hundred kids take their boxes of macaroni and cheese home at the end of the day, we collected everything and made a nice contribution to Samuel’s House, a Key West shelter for homeless women and children. So, not only did the kids do something good for their own health, they did something nice for others. And that’s exactly what we want our kids to grow up doing. Do well by doing good.