Does Your Kid ONLY get 15 min. for lunch. What the Frig???

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Blog post by Tina Winterlik © 2011
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/#!/zipolita @zipolita
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Okay, sorry for my rant here but isn't 15 minutes for kids to eat lunch just F...ing ridiculous. Sorry, but I am so upset about this and I'm trying to vent it a bit here. My kid hates it when I swear so please know these are harsh words to come from me.

What's Up? I'll tell you. Recently due to my lack of finances, and because I am a single parent with 24/7 responsibility for my child, I have been forced stop homeschooling to put my child into the system. And what a terribly broken system it is.

And I don't see it getting any  better and I keep promising my little girl as soon as I get enough cash together I'm going to bust her out! LOL! Seriously though, I will!

So I have a lot of issues with the system but my BIGGEST is the only 15 minutes for lunch. Isn't that CRAZY! Doesn't it go against everything we are teaching about healthy development. Don't dieticians and doctors and nutritionist and everyone say to eat slowly and let your body digest. I don't understand it. I keep banging my head against the wall on this one. WHY??

Why they say is that the grade ones are next and they have to leave. It's so stupid and it makes me angry. HOW DO YOU FEEL?

What can I do? Nothing right now. I feel so helpless. And I know it's not just my child's school as a friend of mine who lives in the U.S. says it's the same for her grandson in Seattle.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? Here in B.C. this teacher's are on strike. So we know the system is really a mess. When I was a kid we ate in the class til we were done and then we went outside, no stupid bell ringing to make the kids stop eating and get out. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR KIDS?

Where is the logic? Why? Why? is this being allowed and tolerated.

I think all of you know I am big supporter of an EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD. Why in this day and age we are concentrating so much on Math and Reading when the kids are so detached from food. Everyone agrees that when children are involved in making the food they like it more. IF you involve them in the growing and harvesting and preparing of food they will be so much healthier. With diabetes such a huge concern, when is everyone going to stop and give their head a shake and wake up.

We have all the technology, info, knowledge but we are not passing it on to our kids. WHAT IF? What if tomorrow the electricity went out. Say a solar flare or something crazy happened. Could we survive? Would your kids be okay? Could they provide for themselves. I know that my dad could have. Can I? I'm not sure? Can my daughter? I am trying. I have been trying to give her these tools and this knowledge since she was little but why is it just me. Why isn't it part of our system? 

With B.C. having the highest child poverty rate in Canada....why isn't a healthy lunch program part of every school. Why don't we have gardens and green houses and farmer's markets and kitchens preparing lunch for the children. WHY?

Do you think I have a point? Does your child face the same issues mine does? If your school ROCKS and you have an Edible Schoolyard or awesome lunch program can you share it. Can you let me know please. And can we work together to force those in control to change things.

We have the power but we have to unite on this.

Maybe it's not that important to you. Maybe it's just me ranting. Maybe with luck I'll be able to bring in more income so I don't have to put my child in a very broken system. I'm praying for the best but I want the best for every child, not just my child. Creating healthy happy children is all about creating a better future for all of us.


For more info on Edible Schoolyards and awesome Lunch programs check these links.

http://edibleschoolyard.org/


AHAH Lunch Program
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com/2011/03/ahahs-lunch-program-impact-of-healthy.html

The company that set up the AHAHS lunch program:
http://www.naturalovens.com/
http://www.facebook.com/NaturalOvens?sk=wall








What is lunch like for your child? At the school my daughter goes to they don't even wash their hands before lunch???  What's it like at your child's school! Are we going to stand for this? Is this acceptable for Canadian children? Is this acceptable for any child? 

PLEASE SHARE THIS WIDELY! 
SHARE IT WITH YOUR PAC, YOUR DOCTOR, YOUR FAMILY!! People are not aware and they need to be.

The Edible Schoolyard

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Blog post by Tina Winterlik © 2011

http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com 

Hi Everyone, Happy Monday Morning, it's a fairly nice day here in Vancouver B.C.  some blue sky with fluffy white clouds. This week is a really wonderful week, we have Good Friday, Easter and Earth Day. 

Angel came up with something last night she said we can call Friday,  "Good Earth Day"  I thought that was very Cool!

So we can Say "Happy Good Earth Day" To everyone on Friday. 

So I would like to ask you to do me a big favor and read my  post before this Change the Education System http://goo.gl/s7lnt and watch the video  "RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms"

And then read this post as well.

Please all the Canadian Parents, Grandparents, Caregivers, Guardians, Teachers and anyone involved in the Education System out there, consider carefully if the government you are about to elect would even consider implementing such important strategies. 

I truly believe "It's time". We need to tell them what we want, and get them to promise to do it.

The experts say we have all the solutions, we just need to apply them "collectively!" What's your point of view?

The Garden 

The Edible Schoolyard garden is a thriving acre of land on school grounds that serves as an interactive garden classroom for students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California.

In the spring of 1995, an abandoned lot adjacent to the school was designated as the garden site. Landscape architects, chefs, gardeners, and teachers were invited to share their vision of a garden where students would participate in hands-on learning. 12 years later, the acre of land is lush with seasonal vegetables, herbs, vines, berries, flowers, and fruit trees.

King Middle School teachers and the garden staff work together to link garden experiences with students’ science lessons for truly integrated experiential learning.

 The garden is carefully planned to grow a wide variety of seasonal produce that favors the Bay Area climate; it shifts and changes from season to season, as we seed, grow, harvest, and rotate crops with new groups of students each year.

Students harvest and prepare produce as part of their garden and kitchen classes. However, produce grown in the garden is not used for school lunch.

Learn more about the impact of this program and its connection to school lunch reform at the Chez Panisse Foundation website.