School Canteens to be cleaned up by 2009

And Sssanta, AQIS don’t allow bananas into the country from anywhere. There be no respite for the banana-loving public. We’re going to have to get used to expensive bananas till the trees grow back.

I dunno – I reckon the canteen is a very good way of the government (and all sides of politics) trying to put “runs on the board” without actually having to do any real work.

I’d say it’s not the food (though it plays a part) nearly so much as the lack of activity.

Time was, kids used to be able to run around the streets after school, kick the footy, ride bikes (insert idyllic memories of youth here).

Parents have been effectively terrified into locking their kids inside. They are convinced that the world is a scary place, filled with paedophiles, biting animals and drug dealers. The kids are dropped off and picked up from school (or told to come straight home an lock the doors).

Of course the little buggers are sitting around doing their best to stay occupied. In the same situation, I’d be glued to the Xbox too.

Bonfire – the XBox thing is a symptom, not a cause. Xbox is a good way of staying occupied when you’re stuck inside. Hell – I’ve got one for rainy days.

There was junk food around when I way in primary school. There was junk food around when I was in high school. Hell – like DaNmAn, I too did a chef’s apprenticeship (and lost almost 10Kg, despite being surrounded by foie gras and truffle oil – but that’s another story. And no, it wasn’t drugs).

The difference was that unlike today’s kiddies, with their cosseted existences; I was allowed to run around like a maniac, fall off my bike, get stung by bees and play in the dirt…and it was laughed off by my parents as “boys will be boys”. I had also been taught not to talk to strangers with candy.

Let little Timmy and his cohort act like kids, and maybe there won’t be an epidemic of obesity any more.

AD, When i was 17, I hated teh mall, that was 11 years ago and even now I put off going there. If I do need to go there, Its a military style operation, in and out as fast as possible, achieving main objective with minimum fuss. As fro canteens, when i was in primary school ( a long time ago ) our canteen at St Michaels was voted the healthiest in the region. We had carrot sticks and celery sticks and fruit balls and yoghurt drops, frozen yoghurts, frosty fruite etx etc. Of course we had pies anbd yummy drummies, but they coul;d only be ordered for a lunch order, which was once in a blue moon for me. I had google eyes when i went to high school and they sold sausage roills ( in a bun ) and hot dogs, smiths crisps and red frogs. I was aghast. Anyway, being an ex chef and having done plenty of nutritional training through the course of my apprenticeship, and knowing good from bad generally, I eat healthily now, and exercise, and still have weight issues, i pity the kids whose parents just shovel junk down their trap, not caring whats in it and then wondering why they have ADHD. Anyway time for me to STFU

I reckon this will mean the either partial or full closure of a number of canteens in ACT high schools. Why? Because there are so many schools with shops nearby under no obligation not to sell Coke, chips, lollies or full fat milk, and so many kids with their own money that want them. Which is fine, market forces, invisible hand etc etc. if that’s your bent.

But a lot of these canteens are run by P&Cs as fundraisers for the school. Close the canteen, and you lose a multi-thousand dollar donation to the School each year.

of course, you can have other fundraising activities – and do you know what one of the single best fundraising earners is? Chocolate drives! Neither kids, nor parents, nor parent’s workplaces can get enough of ’em! They sell heaps! Deeply ironic when you think about it – but hey, its “market forces”!

Get your wallets out, people – our schools need YOU!

Bananas are about to come into our domestic market from the Americas, Mid-East and Asia. Growing/harvest seasons over there are about to come to an end, then they will be our hot little hands.

Has Stanhope Inc consulted with the UN on this issue?

I think they’ll find that kids have rights to eat whatever crap they want to!

bonfire, your ignorant comment once again prompts a moral obligation in me to set you straight.

They play Playstation and Xbox, not Atari.

Just watch yerself in future, ya hear!

I think it’s a good thing, in general. Kids that get pocket money will make their own decisions, but if you make it harder to buy crap then they might get more accustomed to eating good food.

My complaint is that the guidelines aren’t freely available. The Canberra Times said something about full-fat milk being banned, and I want to know if they just mean flavoured or plain too. But do you think I can find these guidelines anywhere? No chance!

There was a spot of bother with the bananas in qld getting whacked by a cyclone.

now we’re not allowed to eat furrin bananas so as not to do down the aussie battler queensland banana farmers.

markets might have some at outrageous prices.

slighty off the topic, were can you buy bananas these days, woolies doesnt seem to stock them anymore..

My biggest concern (same as the issue of junk food advertising) is what classifies as junk food? Coke? definitely. Pies? Maybe. Fruit roll-ups? Muesli bars? Flavoured milk? Ice-blocks? Peanut butter? All these foods have some nutritional content, but are also high in sugar/fat. And (as bonfire said) active kids need comparatively more fat and sugar than adults.

Absolutely. I’ve grown up in a family with parents that have blamed everyone for their misfortune in life. There hasn’t been a day in my life that i have spent with my parents without either whinging about the banks, Government, Schooling, Woolworths, or any other large organisation. Growing up with this, it is so hard as an adult to break out of this pattern, but now that i have, it really gets under my skin when crap like this is actually a social issue.

You got it in one Abesent Diane, products only sell because we buy it. Stop buying it and they’ll stop selling it.

A lot of parents do seem to be looser on their kids in general….. ever been to the mall lately ?the little shits are everywhere running amok..eating crap and participating in gross acts of obese consumerism… when I was kid the last thing I wanted to do was go to the mall (that hasn’t changed much).. I wanted to run around like a nutter playing sport or something….. ok sure I carry some extra luggage now… but that is mostly because I quit competitive sport and took up beer…

So my vote is for cleaning up parenting…. and the reality is that if the kids don’t want it / aren’t allowed it.. the canteen’s won’t sell it…

high five blewy. As far as i am concerned, you got the nail on the head. This obesity whoo-hah and the subsequent blaming of society rather than the parents, whose really are responsible for the passing on of life skills is beginning to wear a bit thin with me.

How about spending some time educating your kids on the importance of eating healthy instead of blaming the schools/canteen/Government or which ever random soul happens to be in the way. And yes Bonfire, agreed. These are the same parents that let their kids sit around playing computer games for hours on end eating crap and then blame the canteen for selling bad food. It’s always “They” when it comes to taking control of your live. “They” told me it was ok! “They” have the bad food, so it’s their fault i’m fat. They told me to jump off the bridge, so I sure as hell did it!!! It’s like that fat guy suing McDonalds for not kicking him out of the restaurant, or the drunk guy paralysed for crashing on his car on the way home and then suing the pub for serving him alcohol. Idiots!!!!

Get over it and take some kind of responsibility for your own actions.

i think a meat pie on a cold winter day si ideal tucker for a little scamp.

its the litres of cola they jam down their gullets that cause the real damage.

and the fact that mum lets them sit on their arse playing atari for hours after school.

When I was a kid it was very simple.

We had no money. So we couldn’t go to the canteen willy nilly. That was a privilege reserved for the very few days that our parents would allow it, in which case it was OK to eat sausage rolls for those few and far between occasions.

The rest of the time we either ate the salad sandwiches and fruit Mum had packed, or we went hungry.