Brown bag it

With schools back in session, parents thoughts have turned to tuna sandwiches, juice boxes, fruit cups, SpaghettiOs, assorted lunch meats and whatever else can be crammed into a Spiderman lunch box and handed off to their children first thing in the morning. As the year progresses, with busy schedules making mornings more rushed and kids being rarely satisfied with the lunches meticulously assembled for them, it will grow increasingly tempting for moms and dads to simply hand students some cash to buy food at the cafeteria. But as popular as that option may be with the kids, a study released this past week reminds us of why parents should try to avoid it.

In 2003, the Institute for Health Information studied habits of 4,200 Grade 5 students and their parents. Among other findings, including higher obesity rates for children in low-income neighbourhoods and those attending schools with fewer physical education classes, the institute’s report reveals that kids who bought lunch at school were 40% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who brought it from home. And on a related note, those who regularly ate dinner with their families were less likely to be obese than those who did not.

Anyone who remembers their childhood or teen years should have no trouble understanding these results. Left to their own devices, most kids will opt for junk food — either picking up the least healthy option in their school cafeteria or, when old enough, heading over to the local fast food joint for their lunch break. The ensuing dangers aren’t just higher obesity rates, but also poor nutrition and bad long-term eating habits.

Even packing lunches isn’t foolproof, since many kids will toss out the items they don’t like and use their allowances to buy chocolate bars and soft drinks. But it’s far better than letting them choose their entire menus.