Friday, January 11, 2019

The battle over milk in schools

While at the grocery store with my son one week, I asked him what his friends at school drank at lunch (for those who brought their lunches). He said that most of them drink Gatorade or other sports drinks. A few of them - like him - drank juice or milk.
I was a little shocked about the sports drink - how many calories could they possibly be burning at recess and need to replenish? - but felt that my son was getting the healthier option. 

I, for example, always drank milk at school when I was growing up. And, as a parent who packs their child lunch, I know that I am always thinking about how to make my son's lunch interesting and healthy at the same time.

But maybe milk isn't always the answer. In this informative (but long) article covering the struggle over dairy at school lunches, I learned that milk is at the center of a lunchroom war. While I learned late in my life that those dairy ads from my youth were not all necessarily true, I still tend to offer milk for my son to drink. Yes, I know there is calcium in other foods...but he tends to not like those foods still. We are lucky enough to be able to digest milk in our family, and my son likes it.

I feel like this is - like so many other things in life - one of those moderation lessons. You can drink milk...just not at every meal. And you can have cheese...just not at every meal. But, I understand that it is very difficult to moderate for an entire school.

What does your child drink at school? Tell me in the comments.

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