Are “Crappy” School Lunches Michelle Obama’s Fault?

May 6, 2014

I’m a mess of LOL’ing over here. I’m on board with healthy school lunch options, but maybe I’m spoiled because my kid (who is 6, not 16) is a fantastic eater and our school offers awesome hot and cold lunch options daily.

Every month the menu posts to the website. Jack and I review the selections and decide if he wants to buy his lunch at school or bring it from home. Today he’s buying white-meat chicken nuggets, a whole wheat roll, green beans, and reduced-fat milk. Tomorrow is pizza and salad day, so he’ll be buying again (Our school gets fresh pizza from a local pizza place). YUM!

If he doesn’t want the hot lunch option—he never wants the open turkey sandwich—he can always choose from whole-grain cereal that comes with a cheese stick, fresh fruit, and grahams, or a bagel with the same sides. Of course there are days when I pack his lunch. Jack loves turkey and cheese sandwiches on whole-grain bread. I add a side of cherry tomatoes and baby carrots, veggie chips, a cookie, and a lemonade box.

I totally feel for parents with kids who will not eat anything other than nuggets and pancakes—um, but these are toddlers or school grade kids, not teens.

I’m a little miffed over one teen’s photo tweet about her sad lunch. It’s of 1% milk and a chicken patty sandwich. The caption is: “All we get for lunch today. Thank you Michelle Obama.” But this is totally misleading because the meals at her school are required to provide whole grain, protein, low-fat milk, a fruit, and a veggie. The kid turned down the fruit and the veggie — solid nutrition — and is complaining that there are no deep-fried, caloric tots offered up.

Side note: She has nada to do with this.

Cry me a river, kid. Next time get the apple and broccoli. You’re hungry and whiny because you’re not eating the full, healthy meal and that’s just absurd. What are you? A two-year-old on hunger strike? If my six-year-old can enjoy salad and low-fat milk you can too! Maybe these teens need sticker charts.

This brought to you by a mom who just had celery, yellow peppers, and cucumbers with hummus for lunch.

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Single mom Christine Coppa is the author of the Target Breakout Book, Rattled! (Broadway Books, 2009) and the founding blogger of glamour.com's acclaimed Storked! blog where she spilled it about navigating an unplanned pregnancy and single motherhood minus her son's father. You can also find her witty (and often controversial blogs) on parenting.com, babble.com and Nickmom.com A professional writer/editor, she's contributed to Glamour, Marie Claire (Australia), First for Women, In Touch, Parenting, Baby Talk, and Parents among other publications and notable websites. Her work has been buzzed about in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on ABC's 20/20. Coppa and her son represented the Yoplait Kids brand in 2011. The Sunday London Times called her a writer "at the forefront of a wave of modern moms who are reinventing the parental publishing genre." Coppa lives in North Jersey with her son Jack Domenic, 6 who is currently campaigning for a Golden Retriever puppy.