Food in School
My family and I have lived in many different countries, and among diverse cultures and religions. We discovered that no matter where you are in the world, people show care for each other through food. Everyone loves to give their families and children the best of what they have.
I know this is a feature of Indian culture too: food is precious and never taken for granted. And when it’s time to celebrate, the family table is at the centre of the action.
I have thought about this concept a lot over the past year, as my Food In Schools Bill has been prepared for its first reading in Parliament.
Through interviews with doctors, teachers, school principals and indeed children themselves, I have developed a new understanding of the challenges we face in feeding the children who arrive at school with empty lunchboxes.
Last year I visited one of the poorest primary schools in the country – and they had said ‘no’ to government food. Why? Because they have worked in partnership with their families to develop a school culture that values good nutrition. And, they’ve achieved healthy lunches for 100% of their children: fruit, vegetables, sandwiches, water.
You could see the good health in the children’s faces. Obesity levels are down, and the ability of the children to concentrate on their work in class is up.
If they can do it in one of the poorest neighbourhoods we have in New Zealand, I believe any school can do it.
That’s why my Bill is going to support schools to teach self-sufficiency, nutrition and gardening skills. What’s educational about a truck turning up and dropping off crates of food? That’s a good short-term solution, but there’s an old saying that if you feed a person a fish you feed them for a day, but if you teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. Only self-reliance will bring the long-term change New Zealand wants to see for its children.
Currently one in four New Zealanders is obese, which brings with it other problems, like diabetes and heart disease -- the single most common cause of death in New Zealand. It’s both a tragedy and an economic burden New Zealanders can't afford.
With better food comes better health and with better health there are fewer chronic diseases and hospital admissions that cost the country so much in taxpayer dollars.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my work as a teacher, as a parent, as a humanitarian with the UN, and as a politician, it’s that people and communities operate best when they’re engaged in providing their own solutions for their own problems.
I asked the principal why her community had turned down free food from the government. She explained that most parents at her school are busy and hard-working, sometimes holding down several jobs, many of them shift-work.
Feeding their children nourishing meals is a way they can show love to their families every day. They didn’t want that important role taken away from them. Neither should we.
My family and I have lived in many different countries, and among diverse cultures and religions. We discovered that no matter where you are in the world, people show care for each other through food. Everyone loves to give their families and children the best of what they have.
I know this is a...
My family and I have lived in many different countries, and among diverse cultures and religions. We discovered that no matter where you are in the world, people show care for each other through food. Everyone loves to give their families and children the best of what they have.
I know this is a feature of Indian culture too: food is precious and never taken for granted. And when it’s time to celebrate, the family table is at the centre of the action.
I have thought about this concept a lot over the past year, as my Food In Schools Bill has been prepared for its first reading in Parliament.
Through interviews with doctors, teachers, school principals and indeed children themselves, I have developed a new understanding of the challenges we face in feeding the children who arrive at school with empty lunchboxes.
Last year I visited one of the poorest primary schools in the country – and they had said ‘no’ to government food. Why? Because they have worked in partnership with their families to develop a school culture that values good nutrition. And, they’ve achieved healthy lunches for 100% of their children: fruit, vegetables, sandwiches, water.
You could see the good health in the children’s faces. Obesity levels are down, and the ability of the children to concentrate on their work in class is up.
If they can do it in one of the poorest neighbourhoods we have in New Zealand, I believe any school can do it.
That’s why my Bill is going to support schools to teach self-sufficiency, nutrition and gardening skills. What’s educational about a truck turning up and dropping off crates of food? That’s a good short-term solution, but there’s an old saying that if you feed a person a fish you feed them for a day, but if you teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. Only self-reliance will bring the long-term change New Zealand wants to see for its children.
Currently one in four New Zealanders is obese, which brings with it other problems, like diabetes and heart disease -- the single most common cause of death in New Zealand. It’s both a tragedy and an economic burden New Zealanders can't afford.
With better food comes better health and with better health there are fewer chronic diseases and hospital admissions that cost the country so much in taxpayer dollars.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my work as a teacher, as a parent, as a humanitarian with the UN, and as a politician, it’s that people and communities operate best when they’re engaged in providing their own solutions for their own problems.
I asked the principal why her community had turned down free food from the government. She explained that most parents at her school are busy and hard-working, sometimes holding down several jobs, many of them shift-work.
Feeding their children nourishing meals is a way they can show love to their families every day. They didn’t want that important role taken away from them. Neither should we.
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