School Lunch & Milk

Apparently today is World School Milk Day.  I had never heard of this, but then again there seems to be something to celebrate or acknowledge every day.  So why should we have a day to honor milk in school?  A few years ago I probably wouldn't have thought too much about it.  Lately, I've thought about milk in our schools quite a bit.

Due to the overweight children in the United States, we, as a society, have become more aware of what our children eat and do.  There's been numerous studies about how our kids aren't eating healthy and/or getting enough exercise.  There are also groups who would like to see chocolate milk removed from our school breakfast and lunch programs because they believe that would be a good way to remove sugar from the diet. 

I asked several kids of various ages what they drank for lunch at school and almost everyone responded: milk...chocolate milk to be exact.  So I asked them if they could only get plain milk, would they drink it?  Most said they'd probably get a juice from the machine in the hall or skip a drink all together.  I've checked the label on that "juice" and it has more sugar per bottle than the chocolate milk.

I asked several moms I know if they thought chocolate milk should be removed.  Every single mom thought it was crazy to take it away.  They felt it was one of the only items they could count on being nutritious - it is milk after all.  Added sugar didn't seem to bother them as much as some of the items on the lunch menu that were offered.  The high school offers choices; the kids can get a corn dog, burger, slice of pizza, etc. every day if they want.  The lower grades often have similar items more than once a week with a vegetable such as corn or peas...that go uneaten more often than not.

Perhaps the schools would do better by signing up for the Fuel Up to Play 60 program (details at www.midwestdairy.com ).  I'll be the first to admit that I'm no nutritionist and I don't hold a degree that gives me the right to tell others the proper way to determine what's best for their diet.  I am however a mom and I think I know what's best for my kids.  As for me and the other mom's I spoke with, we'd just like to go on record and say: "Leave the chocolate milk in the schools!"