An Open Letter to My Daughter’s School

I’ll be sending the following letter to the director of my daughter’s school. I’ve removed names for the time being as I want this to be a healthy conversation, and not necessarily a public flogging. Today’s workout log is down at the bottom of the post if you’re looking for it.

Dear Director,

It’s with tremendous respect for your school, your programming, and your facilitators that I write this letter. My daughter has been with your school for a little over a month and we love it. She’s coming home with new experiences to share, and it’s obvious that she’s excited about what she’s learning. She’s never been a wallflower, but she’s engaging in new and productive ways. Her mother and I are incredibly appreciative of the care, education, and stimulation she’s receiving and are proud of our choice to entrust her early education to you.

As an avid health and fitness enthusiast, along with being a nutrition student, I tend to be a little more sensitive to food issues than others. While I don’t particularly enjoy playing the role of food cop or to be the annoying know-it-all parent, I feel it is important to alert you to my concerns and to offer some constructive criticism.

It shouldn’t be news to anyone that the U.S. is the worldwide leader in childhood obesity and incidence of food related illness. However, the issue is acute in Indiana. Several years ago, the CDC ranked Indiana third in the nation for the occurrence of childhood obesity. Poor nutritional foundations can have long lasting and devastating physical, emotional, and financial implications throughout a person’s life. Additionally, there are a number of studies available indicating a direct relationship between nutrition and academic performance. In light of this information, and in consideration of all of the time and energy devoted to delivering an excellent early childhood development curriculum to our children, I’m increasingly surprised that your nutritional plan and menu is so outdated and, seemingly, haphazard. As an example, I’m concerned about the trend to serve Fruit Loops, Cheerios, French toast, Pancakes and the like for breakfast on a regular basis. In conjunction with the rest of the menu, my daughter would be receiving high doses of sugar and simple carbohydrates at regular intervals, short circuiting her potential for the day as well as setting her up for a future metabolic nightmare. It’s for this reason that I opt to serve her breakfast at home as often as possible.

There will always be debate about what constitutes a healthy diet, but there are some fundamentals that are easy and inexpensive to implement. I realize you have a wide audience you need to cater to, but I doubt that any parent would argue that better sources of protein, fewer concentrated forms of sugar, and the inclusion of more nutrient dense foods to be a bad thing. With a little additional effort, I believe the students in your school could be placed on the front lines of the coming and necessary health revolution in our community. 

As a nation, we have a history of being progressive in so many ways, yet nutrition consistently takes a back seat. Our government’s dietary guidelines, while well intentioned, have been guided by industries and corporations who are more concerned with their bottom line than the real health of our people. That places the onus on us - parents, educators, health and wellness practitioners, and medical providers - to force progress, provide real change, and ensure the best opportunity for our children to thrive.

Now, it would be unfair for me to present myself as the pinnacle of nutritional perfection. Rather, I’m a staunch supporter of moderation in all things. My daughter and I enjoy occasionally feeding our sweet tooth, and sometimes convenience provides the motivation to choose good over best. This doesn’t negate, however, the need for a stable framework from which to start. It’s in that direction I would like to see your nutritional program moving.

I don’t know what your meal planning process looks like, but I believe it needs reevaluation. A suggestion would be to seek external advice, be it a 3^rd party nutritional expert, a committee of concerned parents, or simply a volunteer willing to provide feedback. I believe having additional, informed input on the meal plan would help mitigate the issues I’ve described. I’d be happy to volunteer my time in such an effort, or to brainstorm other options with you if you don’t already have those resources in place.

I appreciate everything your school offers my daughter and I’m hopeful that my comments will be well received. If there is room for additional conversation, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If you have other insights you’d like to share, or other options I’ve overlooked, please let me know. First and foremost, I have my daughter’s health and success in mind, but I would be thrilled to see the situation improve for all of your students.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my comments.

Sincerely,

Nick Kirkes

Monday’s Workout - Summer Strength Program Week 2

Bench Press - 2 x 5, 1 x 12 @ 120#
Back Squat - 2 x 5, 1 x 11 @ 170#
Hang Power Snatch + Overhead Squat - 2 x 5, 1 x 10 @ 70#
Pullups, Strict - 3 x max: 7, 4, 4

Pullups have been missing from my workouts since before the big move/training break. Eager to see those go back up. The HPS + OHS was interesting. I think I could have been closer to my previous weight, which was 80#, but the practice was good. Breaking up the movement like that, instead of doing a Hang Snatch, allowed for better focus on each pull, and then on each squat.

PolicyBrief_Childhood_Obesity.pdf Download this file

10 months ago  /  6 notes  /