Lunchbox Shock
When a Colorado mom opened her daughter’s lunchbox, she was shocked. What had she done to deserve this awful treatment?
Lunchbox Shock
What Happened?
The lunchbox incident sparked fierce debate, with both sides sharing opinions on whether what happened was necessary or not. It also created controversy over what is actually appropriate for teachers to say to parents about their relationship with their children.
What Happened?
Not A Normal Day
For Leeza Pearson, it seemed to be just another day. But when her young daughter came home from preschool hungry and complaining, she knew something was wrong. And as a mom, Leeza knew she had to do something about it.
Not A Normal Day
Natalee Is Hungry
Natalee, Leeza’s child, was always treated well wherever she went in Aurora, Colorado. So when Leeza found out the reason behind Natalee’s hunger, she was confused. What concerned her more than anything was the way her child was being treated.
Natalee Is Hungry
A Note For Leeza
It was extremely unusual to find Natalee’s lunch unfinished, and it was even weirder that Leeza found a note in her lunchbox. Leeza found herself feeling bewildered about her child’s experience as a preschool student at Aurora’s Children’s Academy.
A Note For Leeza
The Best For Natalee
Schooling is competitive from a young age nowadays. That’s why Leeza always wanted Natalee to be around the best and learning from the best. She thought she had struck gold with Aurora Children’s Academy – especially with Natalee starting school early.
The Best For Natalee
A Good Education In Colorado
In Colorado, Children’s Academy & Childcare Center is one of the most popular preschools. It has an amazing reputation among parents of its 150 learners. It is considered a great start in education, which is exactly what Leeza wanted for Natalee.
A Good Education In Colorado
Learning With Each Other
The mom and daughter duo were learning together, with Leeza close to getting her degree and Natalee enrolled at an excellent preschool. They were happy, but one note slipped into Natalee’s lunchbox changed that for them. It made lunch a sour topic for mom and tot.
Learning With Each Other
Friday’s Events
Leeza recognized that Natalee was thriving in preschool and that made her ecstatic for Natalee. On Friday when she found the note in Natalee’s lunch, Leeza couldn’t do anything but tell her husband who was equally shocked to the core.
Friday’s Events
The Busy Mom
Pursuing a degree and being a mother of a young child isn’t easy at all. Leeza knew this and understood that this made things a bit more complicated. Even the smallest task could be a complex problem – like grocery shopping.
The Busy Mom
Sweet Lunch Treats
Being so busy meant that fruits and vegetables sometimes ran out and Leeza had no time to go get some more. On the odd occasion, Leeza would use this as an opportunity to treat little Natalee to some sweet treats.
Sweet Lunch Treats
What Was In The Lunch?
The lunch Leeza had packed for Natalee on this Friday consisted of some of Natalee’s favorites like a ham and cheese sandwich and some string cheese. The cherry on top was a pack of Oreos for Natalee to snack on.
What Was In The Lunch?
The Problem With Oreos
Oreos are a popular household favorite, but how bad are they? Consuming the processed sugars in Oreos can be bad. Eating loads of Oreos is linked with diabetes and heart problems. So, it could definitely concern some that Natalee had them.
The Problem With Oreos
What Is In An Oreo?
Some shocking facts have even surfaced about Oreos recently that could make parents cringe. The main ingredient found in Oreos is sugar, which makes them very addictive. The creme center contains the most sugar, making it the worst part of the cookie.
What Is In An Oreo?
Testing Oreos Out
In some studies, lab rats were tested whilst eating Oreos. When the rats ate the cookies, the pleasure centers of their brains were activated. They would even eat the white icing center of the cookie first when presented with two whole cookie.
Testing Oreos Out
Cereals Aren’t Safe
Even some cereals that children eat before attending schools would make doctors shudder. Just a serving of Froot Loops has as much sugar as a can of soda, excluding sugar added by the child or their parent who serves it.
Cereals Aren’t Safe
Fruit Snacks Are Out
Even snacks posed as healthy, like fruit snacks, are awful for children. With a coating of sugar, or corn syrup as a main ingredient, it is best to keep them away from the kids. Any fruit, with natural sugars, is a better alternative.
Sweet Sugary Easter Candy
What About Processed Stuff?
Lunchables are a popular pre-packed lunch but they are not safe either. They are made of processed meat and cheese with 18 grams of fat in every package, which is not ideal for an adult but even worse for children.
What About Processed Stuff?
No More Crackers As Snacks
Crackers seem healthy with low fat and sugar, but sodium poses a huge problem to health as well. It can cause heart problems and high blood pressure. So crackers as a go-to snack for children should be avoided as well.
No More Crackers As Snacks
Water Is The Way To Go
Fruit juice isn’t even a safe option in lunches when it is overdone. 100% fruit juice is only good in small quantities. The lesson to be learnt from all these foods: it is never bad to be mindful of food.
Water Is The Way To Go
The Oreo Problem
Leeza found the Oreos still in Natalee’s lunchbox when she got home, along with a note she didn’t bargain for. The note made Leeza livid – it felt like a personal attack on her over cookies that so many people eat.
The Oreo Problem
What The Note Said
“Dear Parents, it is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch… all children are required to have a fruit, vegetable, and a healthy snack from home,” the note pointedly said. Leeza still recalls the hurt she felt.
What The Note Said
She Shared It
Leeza’s immediate reaction was to share it online. She thought that the note was too harsh – especially since it is not a normal occurrence for Natalee to get a sweet treat. The note mentioned what could be a healthy alternative snack.
She Shared It
Parents Banded Together
Support flooded in for Leeza after she shared this awful experience online. Parents in her same situation expressed how wrong they felt it was that the school was monitoring home packed lunches. Friends rushed to Leeza’s post to show sympathy.
Parents Banded Together
Concerned For Natalee
People were outraged, but the school saw this as a necessary precaution in today’s age of obesity in children. The teacher who put the note in Natalee’s lunch most likely did it from a place of concern for her health.
Concerned For Natalee
America’s Obesity Issue
In America, obesity is a huge problem that has increased recently in children over the years. Aurora’s Children’s Academy has been trying to take the steps needed to avoid this in their students. For them, healthy lunches are a must-have.
America’s Obesity Issue
Being Watchful
This is why when Natalee’s lunch seemed to consist of too many carbohydrates and unhealthy options, warning alarms went off in her teacher’s head. Leeza knows it’s a once-in-a-while lunch for Natalee, but being watchful of what kids eat is crucial.
Being Watchful
Bad For Health And Education
Whether it required such swift action is still up for debate and it definitely is being debated online. As Aurora Children’s Academy prides itself in giving children an amazing education, they may see ‘bad’ foods as a hindrance to education.
Bad For Health And Education
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
Scientific studies have proven a link between nutrition and learning ability. This means that a child with a lunchbox filled with fruits and vegetables is more likely to outperform a child who is eating sweets and processed foods.
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
Benefits Of Fruits
“Students who eat regular, healthy meals are less likely to be tired, are more attentive in class and retain more information,” says Sean Patrick Corcoran, an Associate Professor at NYU. This is why the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed.
Benefits Of Fruits
Able To Play
Children experience many benefits from eating healthy. The most visible is maintaining a healthy weight. This seems obvious, but is often overlooked. Children need to keep an average weight to be able to cope with activity-filled days they encounter at school.
Able To Play
More Long-Term Energy
Good nutrition also stabilizes children’s energy. Filling up with sugar and carbs can be awful for a learning environment when the children are expected to concentrate well and sit calmly without being disruptive. Having stable energy can fix that problem.
More Long Term Energy
No More Tantrums
Healthy eating also means good moods, which is not only good for the child but is also important for the parent. For toddlers, who are known for mood swings and tantrums, this can be a great way to keep peace.
No More Tantrums
Remembering Healthy Foods
Memory is so vital to learning and can be increased with nutritious foods. The mind needs the right fuel to work as effectively as possible, which is achieved with healthy foods. For children to learn better, they need these foods.
Remembering Healthy Foods
No Mommy Shaming
However, nobody wants to be mommy-shamed. Perhaps the school was a big too hasty in sending the note home. If Leeza only gives Natalee these Oreos every once in a while, there is no need to make her an example.
No Mommy Shaming
Natalee Went Hungry
It seems that Natalee was prevented from eating her lunch, which can be quite shocking because Aurora Children’s Academy does not provide lunch either. Natalee seemingly had no choice but to be hungry – making her suffer for what the school saw as her parents’ mistakes.
Natalee Went Hungry
Over The Top
Leeza saw this as “definitely over the top, because they told her she can’t eat… They should have at least allowed to eat her food and contacted me to explain the policy and tell me not to pack them again.”
Over The Top
A Good Solution
There have been a lot of reports of this kind of situation happening across America. It happens so often that parents have even started businesses packing healthy lunches for schools. Leeza isn’t the first mother to feel shamed and hopefully more solutions arise.
A Good Solution
None Of Their Business
“What the school thinks is healthy for her is not what I think is healthy for her. She needs to eat what she’s going to eat. That’s between me and her and our doctor – not the school.” Leeza even said.
None Of Their Business
School Speaks Up
It can definitely be said that Leeza had a fair point – the school cannot replace health professionals, and had no proof that Natalee was an unhealthy child that needed help. But the school also had something to say on the matter.
School Speaks Up
They Didn’t Want To Punish
“From our end we want to inform parents but never want it to be anything punitive,” said the spokeswoman for the Aurora Children’s Academy. The school had aimed to inform Leeza but this backfired and ended up getting lost in the controversy.
They Didn’t Want To Punish
There Was More To The Lunch
Leeza fired back that she was not feeding her child only cookies – she had included a sandwich and string cheese which is not the unhealthy food the school seems to be against. To make things worse, the schools message is inconsistent.
There Was More To The Lunch
A Plot Twist
What did Leeza mean by calling the school hypocrites? Well, to make things complicated, the school had sent a message asking parents to send sweets for the Easter holidays. This is why Leeza was baffled when she received the note.
A Plot Twist
The School Can’t Decide
To make matters worse, Leeza even stated that Natalee sometimes gets jellybeans as a snack at school. “They say I can’t decide what to feed her but then they sometimes feed her junk food,” the frustrated mother said to ABC news.
The School Can’t Decide
A Friday Snack
The busy mom also defended herself by saying that Friday is the perfect day for a treat and that it was an occasional sweet treat – not the norm for Natalee. Her outrage makes even more sense knowing the school’s previous actions.
A Friday Snack
Mystery Meat
In fact, school cafeteria food is infamous for being mysterious and sloppy at times. The term ‘mystery meat’ is even used to describe the meat in school-provided lunches that is often weirdly rubbery or lumpy when it should not be.
Mystery Meat
The School’s Admission
Brenda Dean, the school’s director at the time, had said that although the school wanted healthy lunches, the note was not a part of their policy. She agreed that the note should not have been sent and understood Leeza’s concerns.
The School’s Admission
More Questions Arise
This response raises several questions – why did the note get sent in the first place? Why was the school not aware of it? Was it the actions of the teacher? These were questions that Leeza made known to the community.
Milk Prices Could Rise Dramatically With Fiscal Cliff Failure
All Over Oreos
It is hard to believe that this happened over a pack of Oreos, but the issue of unhealthy lunches happens across the world. Ensuring that kids are provided with healthy meals, especially while at school is truly a huge issue at hand.
All Over Oreos
Around The World
Other schools, like Byron primary School in England, have been met with support from parents when sending out similar letters concerning nutrition. However, the letter was distributed school-wide rather than just in a specific child’s lunchbox – like in Natalee’s case.
Around The World
What About Picky Eaters?
In America, there are almost 200 school days and for busy parents, making a nutritious and fun lunch everyday is not always possible. What happens when the child is picky or has allergies? It can be very difficult in these cases.
What About Picky Eaters?
Another Twist
In another twist of events, the school revealed Natalee had actually been offered an alternative snack. This means that Natalee was not forced to go hungry like initially thought. Natalee had simply refused the other snack, perhaps out of frustration.
Another Twist
Natalee’s Frustration
Natalee seemed to be just as frustrated as her mother over the school not allowing her to eat the food she had been packed. Offering another meal might have seemed like the right thing to do, but Natalee still suffered.
Natalee’s Frustration
Moving On
The feud between Leeza and her daughter’s school has since been settled. Both parties seem to have moved on. Natalee has moved on to elementary school and the note, although not forgotten, has been left behind as food-for-thought rather than heated debate.
Moving On
The Outcomes
The outcome was a big debate over the role of schools in healthy eating and the schooling system is reevaluating their policies on food. Whilst the issue wasn’t one-sided, it was necessary for schools to take some responsibility over it.
The Outcomes
Shocking Statistics
About a third of American children are obese. Schools can only provide information to parents, but it is up to parents to model good eating for children to follow. Does this mean a note is necessary? Probably not, but in some cases, it may be helpful.
Shocking Statistics
Bad Lunches
On the other hand, the lunches served in schools in the USA are far from exemplary. A typical lunch involves the foods that schools like Aurora Children’s Academy have so harshly shunned, like cookies and other processed foods.
Bad Lunches
Not Nutritional At All
The National School Lunch Program gives low-cost or free school lunches for millions of children. These lunches, in a perfect world, should meet the nutritional needs of the children but are often much farther from nutritional than home-packed lunches like Natalee’s.
Not Nutritional At All
Fatty Foods
The United States Department of Agriculture even reports that typical school lunches serve meals with double the recommended sodium intake and over two thirds of schools serve meals that exceed the recommended amount of fat. The effects are highly detrimental.
Fatty Foods
The True Question
Both sides of the argument between Leeza and Aurora Children’s Academy have merit, but the greater issue is the role of schools in nutrition. It is crucial to keep children healthy – but what is the best way to do so?
The True Question
