The Virtual Cafeteria
The authors of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children recommend a visit to The Virtual Cafeteria, where parents and kids can learn about the nutritional value of lunchroom choices in a fun, interactive way. You pick a school, choose a date from the calendar to your left, decide between the Breakfast or Lunch line, and then go ahead and build your meal by dragging and dropping items onto your tray. (You can click on the item on the tray to remove it.) The app keeps a running tally of the cost of your meal and its nutritional content, including calories, protein, carbs, sodium, and saturated fat.
The clock behind Cathy, the lunch lady, flashes green, yellow, or red, depending on how healthful your choice is. Sometimes, Cathy adds an encouraging word or two for smart choices, telling you “Great Job!” and noting that a food is rich in an essential vitamin.
Play around with the available options with your kids to teach them what constitutes a healthful, nutritious meal. You even get a Print option so you can save your selected meals for future reference.
Ruh-roh, flashback ahead! More than 20 years later, I still remember sitting at the kitchen table with my Mom as we roleplayed a foodseller (her) and customer (me) so I could learn how to differentiate between values of currency. (My older brother, who calls ME gullible, had traded a 50-cent coin for two 10-cent ones with a classmate, not knowing he had been swindled, that more wasn’t necessarily better, and that his younger sister would trot this story out in public for ALL ETERNITY.) That kind of parent-child interaction, where education mimics play, truly, I think, makes all the difference. At the very least, I was never fooled by any cons-in-training—although one kid did have me believing for about 5 minutes that her house was made of gold and she had a wooden leg. Psycho bitch. I wonder if she’s in prison now.
rachel said,
August 16, 2006 at 10:42 pm
What a great blog! If it is Ok with you I will link to you and do a reccomnedatio to visit post.
Adelin said,
August 17, 2006 at 1:42 am
No! What had happened was… He traded in a 50 cent coin for 2 5-cent ones because they were golden and shiny… That’s why mom was so pissed!
The Worsted Witch » The School-Lunch Test said,
August 21, 2006 at 11:44 am
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The Worsted Witch » Better After-School Snack Choices Boost Nutrition for Low-Income Kids said,
August 31, 2006 at 11:55 am
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