System lets parents spy on kids' lunches


Recommended Posts

MARIETTA, Ga. - As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert, he has a secret. Hidden underneath the eighth-grader's right leg is a chocolate cookie in shrink-wrapped plastic. That's for dessert. In the past, his parents had no clue when he bought a treat at school. Now, thanks to a new school-lunch monitoring system, they can check over the Internet and learn about that secret cookie. Health officials hope it will increase parents' involvement in what their kids eat at school. It's a concern because U.S. federal health data shows that up to 30 per cent of U.S. children are either overweight or obese. "My parents do care about what I eat. They try, like, to keep up with it," said Hughes, a 14-year-old student at Marietta Middle School.

Three school districts in the Atlanta area last week became the first in the country to offer the parental-monitoring option of an electronic lunch payment system called Mealpay.com, created by Horizon Software International of Loganville, Ga. For two years, the payment system, used by 1,000 school districts in 21 states, has allowed parents to electronically prepay for student lunches. Students type in their identification number before the cafeteria cashier rings up each day's lunch bill. The bill then is deducted from the student's account. The system was initially designed as a convenient way to make sure children bought lunch without worrying that lunch money would get lost, spent on other things or stolen. However, these days parents increasingly are interested in what their kids eat away from home. It was requests from concerned parents that prompted Horizon Software to develop the on-line meal-monitoring option.

Under the system, parents can see all of a student's lunch purchases. Even those paid in nickels and dimes ? instead of the prepaid lunch account ? are recorded in the system, said Tina Bennett, program director. "A parent could give a child $20 and within two days that money's gone. This allows them to see if they bought chips," Bennett said. "What we're really hoping is to get parents' involvement, to let them know what's happening." Mary Carol Eddleman looked into what her daughter at a Hoschton middle school was buying and found she was getting an extra 12-ounce can of juice each day, even when a four-ounce bottle of juice came with lunch. "That's about 150 extra calories a day. It's one thing if she did it occasionally, but she was getting in the habit of buying it every single day on top of lunch because her friends are drinking it," Eddleman said. "They drink it down like a Coke." Eddleman talked to her daughter, who has since switched to buying a bottle of water instead. "Any system that would help parents understand what's happening to their children's diets while at school ... undoubtedly will help by raising awareness to the problem," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston. The biggest challenge for many school lunch programs, though, is "moving things clearly not good for kids out and making the choices more appealing," said Dr. Douglas Kamerow, an obesity expert at RTI International and a member of the Institute of Medicine panel that released a report on childhood obesity last fall. "The problem in general is the a la carte system," said Kamerow, also a professor of clinical family medicine at Georgetown University. "Now you can buy french fries, chips and a Coke and it's called lunch."

source

Link to comment
Share on other sites

um, don't mean to be all negative, but that sounds really stupid...

i mean, i'm all for not having fat kids or whatever, but how about people just have honest relationships with their family members

:rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

um, don't mean to be all negative, but that sounds really stupid...

i mean, i'm all for not having fat kids or whatever, but how about people just have honest relationships with their family members

:rolleyes:

585991987[/snapback]

Won't happen though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mom: what did you have for lunch today?

Kid: a sallad..

MOM: LIER!! you had a cheese burger

sounds pretty stupid, i think parents should be able to trust their kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what wont happen? honesty between family members?

585992323[/snapback]

I doubt they'll be honesty with children and parents.

(especially when it comes down to food and kids)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"That's about 150 extra calories a day. It's one thing if she did it occasionally, but she was getting in the habit of buying it every single day on top of lunch because her friends are drinking it," Eddleman said. "They drink it down like a Coke."

If a 150 calorie bottle of juice is an issue I think the kid's got bigger problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I doubt they'll be honesty with children and parents.

(especially when it comes down to food and kids)

585992341[/snapback]

is that sarcasm or are you actually being serious?

dont kids have a lot more important things to lie to their parents about, like sex, drugs, and rock and roll? especially the sex and the drugs.....

is lying about food intake all that rampant? seriously, if my parents asked me what i had eaten, i would tell them....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

is that sarcasm or are you actually being serious?

dont kids have a lot more important things to lie to their parents about, like sex, drugs, and rock and roll? especially the sex and the drugs.....

is lying about food intake all that rampant? seriously, if my parents asked me what i had eaten, i would tell them....

585992353[/snapback]

I'm being serious, it all depends how old you are and when you are exposed to drugs and sex. A 10 yr old isn't going to be doing pot in the bathroom at school. To me, if a 10yr old is given money to buy lunch chances are he/she is not going to buy healthy food but rather FRIED food, or candy and soda.

BTW: Fedorpheux I'm listening to your winamp DJing. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm being serious, it all depends how old you are and when you are exposed to drugs and sex. A 10 yr old isn't going to be doing pot in the bathroom at school. To me, if a 10yr old is given money to buy lunch chances are he/she is not going to buy healthy food but rather FRIED food, or candy and soda.

BTW: Fedorpheux I'm listening to your winamp DJing. :)

585992376[/snapback]

ah, i see what you mean...

and BTW: thanks for listening to the radio but i'm not DJing right now...i think WishX is....i might DJ later tonight though....actually, i'm gonna hop into the irc channel and see when i can DJ tonight....anyways, thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see countless people at my school buy an entire paper plate (the normal dinner plate sized ones) full of fried fries topped with gravy and cheese, and drink it down like theres no tomorrow. Then they drink a dr.pepper/pepsi, then a marsbar / chips.

Its no wonder children here are obese, dumb and feminine.

When I have kids, im going to make sure that they come home for a good hot lunch rather than buy the crap from the schools.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mary Carol Eddleman looked into what her daughter at a Hoschton middle school was buying and found she was getting an extra 12-ounce can of juice each day, even when a four-ounce bottle of juice came with lunch. "That's about 150 extra calories a day.

I don't have a problem with seeing what your kid buys, but this is just retarded. Your child isn't on the damn South Beach diet, you know how LITTLE 4 ounces is? That's not enough to even choke down whatever "nutrious" crap you're getting. I hate parents/society.

EDIT: It's not like it's a soda, either! It's just more juice. Aargh, I REALLY hate parents today. Let your child eat whatever the hell they want as long as it's not junk food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I know this involves technology and the internet but it's a little too esoteric for BPN.

[Thread Moved from BPN to NFN]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont agree.. maybe in elementary school, but in middle/high kids should be allowd to make their own decisions... i mean 4ox juice.. comeon lady get the frick out of your daughters life... geez... and a cookie wont kill anyone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, if the majority of the schools didn't serve **** for lunch, kids and parents wouldn't have to worry about it. My lunch at school, a tray lunch, not any al la carte food, is $2.10 and you get a milk, some tiny plastic cup of fruit and some kind of dish or whatever you want to call it. The servings are a joke. How can I get full by eating a small sandwich, a pint , or half pint or whatever it is of milk, and 3 spoonfuls of peaches? I usually resort to buying a small round pan pizza for $1.50 and usually get some other junk. Talk about healthy and delicious, mm mm (not...). I'm in high school dammit. I'm 17 years old! I'm a grown boy!

Edited by yert*
Link to comment
Share on other sites

....this is the stupidist serious thing i have read all year. i wonder how many textboooks the school could afford if it wasnt doing useless **** like this. if the school really wanted to make a difference it would take the fries off the menu and add a salad or two

Link to comment
Share on other sites

....this is the stupidist serious thing i have read all year. i wonder how many textboooks the school could afford if it wasnt doing useless **** like this. if the school really wanted to make a difference it would take the fries off the menu and add a salad or two

585992590[/snapback]

A lot fewer.

Because Pepsi, Coca Cola, McDonalds, and the like all pay schools to have vending machines, serving stands, and advertisements placed in the school. Disgusting, yes. Necessary...maybe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert

Even the article admits that school lunches are grade-F crap. So why would the parents not only force their kids to buy it but monitor them to make sure they eat it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ACK! a little to close to home

marietta high school is just a few streets down from me. bleh :\

marietta city schools suck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.