SCHOOL LUNCH

I remember school lunches back in the sixties. We paid 25 cents, for a lunch, and 2 cents for a carton of milk. You could buy lunch tickets for the whole week. They posted the week's lunches in the Sunday paper. We use to have it read to us each day before school so that we could decide if we wanted to have a school lunch or bring a lunch from home.

The school lunches were pretty good. There was always some type of veggie, and some type of dessert. The main course could be turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes, or pigs in a blanket, pizza or sloppy joe's. We had fruit also. And at mid-morning we all got graham crackers and a carton of milk.

Remember the lunch ladies? They were always there, serving, washing, and cooking. Hair under little nets and white aprons. They served up a lot of meals every day. And they were good meals. 'Course some of us might try to get some extra dessert every now and then, like on pineapple upside down cake day.

There was a lot of prep work to make those meals for us, not like today where just about everything is pre-made. I remember some of the lunch ladies got together, and every Friday we had homemade pie. This was extra, and we did not pay for it. It came with our lunch on its own little paper plate. Nobody made them do it. They did it because they wanted to.

I know that some schools have a hard time feeding all of the kids nowadays, but somethings have just gone too far. I read just yesterday that at some schools in Chicago, students are now not allowed to bring a sack lunch to school. The students either eat cafeteria food or go hungry. The schools think that they can do more nutritious food than the parents can.

Why has the school taken this position? My parents worked hard to put food on our table. They fed us good food, homemade food. And, yeah, we got some store bought goodies with sugar, but we had a choice at school: bring a lunch or eat a school lunch. Our teachers even had extra lunch tickets for students who forgot to bring a lunch or forgot their lunch ticket. And, yes, even for some of the kids whose parents might be a little short of money for the week.

I think that they know what's best for their children, and I do not think that the schools should be able to pull this kind of stuff. They are worried about obese kids. Then bring back P.E. classes! Get them kids moving around instead of setting in front of a computer all day. Make them walk the track every day. Make them work up a sweat a couple of days a week. It would be good for them. It would be good for our country.

So, there! I have popped up on my milkbox again. Sorry if I ruffled a few feathers. All of you have a great day. And God bless.