I have been touched by so many of your comments and everything that you have shared with me via email. It seems like there is a real need for people to share their school lunch experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
In the spirit of sharing and continuing the dialogue about school lunches in the US and abroad, I’ve started a Flickr Photo Group (see flickr badge to the right):
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fedupwithschoollunch/
If you choose to join my photo group, your “homework” is to take a picture and share it. The photo can be anything related to school lunch. You might be a teacher who wants to take a photo of the lunch at your school. You might be a nutritionist who wants to highlight some really great lunches. You might be a lunch lady who wants to share some terrific (or not so terrific) meals. What are you (students, kids, teachers) eating for school lunch? Or even what great lunches have you packed for your child?
I need you to know that I will be monitoring the content aggressively. The group rules include:
- Post only your own pictures (taken by you).
- Please obtain parental permission to post pictures of students’ faces.
- If you must post pictures of students’ without parental permission (as in a large group photo), please blackout their faces.
- Might as well get adults’ permission to post their faces on the photo group.
For example, you can take a picture of your own child with a lunch, because you are that child’s parent. For this reason I haven’t taken pictures of the cafeteria or the lunch line because I do not have parental permission to shoot the kids.
You also must have a Yahoo ID to access Flickr (it’s a part of Yahoo). And if you want to enjoy the photos and comment, you do need to log in with your Yahoo ID.
A picture is worth a thousand words. It seems that mine are making a difference… and I want you to be a part of the School Lunch Revolution.
I think that's a fabulous idea. So long as people use it correctly, it should be a really interesting collection.
And while I'm here, I wanted to point out this post to you: http://www.themomjen.com/2010/01/how-to-save-hundreds-year-on-your-kids.html While her actual story is about her son and him eating two lunches, I thought the "sharing table" was a really unique concept.
Basically, the kids can put the foods on the table that they don't like (whether from their own bagged lunches or those bought at school). It poses plenty of issues (like food allergies or contamination from some parent's prepped food that makes some other kid sick….I'm guessing they probably have rules), but over all, it's pretty cool that they can share the food they don't really like, and others can enjoy it (and possibly benefit from it nutritionally, although again, it could be bad). *Shrugs* I just thought it was a pretty cool "school lunch" idea.
I think this is a great idea! I'd be happy to post a few of the lunches I pack for my kids – I already blog about their lunches and host my pictures at Flickr, so it's an easy leap. 🙂
Hi Mrs. Q,
I wanted to let you know that your blog inspired me to do the same at our elementary school. However, I'm only doing it for the month of February. I am a parent who has worked with a team of parents for over a year to effect changes in our district. You can see my blog here: http://myschoollunchadventure.blogspot.com/
I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by the changes that have occurred THIS month in our cafeteria. I believe the most recent changes are in reaction to what our team has worked on in the past and the "publicity" of my documentation.
Thank you for your work on this project. I know it is very time consuming, but worthwhile.
Warmly,
Ms. Tree
http://bit.ly/9nGzDw
I thought you may enjoy some of our submissions from our Through Your Lens campaign – highlighting conditions in schools across the country.
Wonderful work…
Actually,
there's a website that's just about how terrible
school lunch is!
It's called http://schoollunchfoundguilty.wordpress.com/
My daughter is 13 months old and her daycare says that they are proud of their healthy menu. It is a very nice daycare and we are spending a lot of money to have her there. I spoke to the owner about the menu when my daughter was old enough to eat food. They serve corndogs, chicken nuggets, pizza and fishsticks 2 to 3 times a month. I have asked them not to serve it to her due to an acid reflux problem she has but honestly, I wouldn't want her to eat these items anyway. I am going to print a copy of the school lunch wish list and leave it on her desk.
I bought you a Flickr pro account. I sent you an activation code (to your gmail account.) Let me know if you don't get it! Once you activate it you'll have unlimited storage space. tacomamama (at) gmail (dot) com