The Popcorn Stand: When did it become OK for kids to waste food?

As I’ve written before I’m an old fuddy duddy. I’m also a bottom line guy. This isn’t about politics to me, although somehow school lunch programs have become a political issue.

I try to be fair and I’ve tried to do as much research on this subject as I can. But something really irked me about an article that appeared in Wednesday’s Nevada Appeal and I’m taking Gov. Brian Sandoval to task.

The article stated: Sandoval said when he visits schools, huge amounts of food are just thrown in the trash by students. He said his own middle school daughter and her friends won’t eat at the cafeteria.

Really? Why are we coddling our kids? Why are we letting them waste food? Should we just continue to do what we’ve done the last three decades and let kids continue to stuff their faces with three slices of pizza and a soda at lunch every day? You think that might have something to do with the obesity problem we have in this country?

And of the sinners I’m chief because the older I get, the harder it is to resist foods that are expanding my waistline. So to me, that’s why it’s so important our kids learn to eat better than the way I’m eating right now.

The food can’t be that inedible, can it? At least it shouldn’t be judging by what’s available by looking at this website http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/nslp-usda-foods-fact-sheets. Yes, there’s less sugar and less salt. But it still looks like good, nutritious food to me.

And it sure looks a lot better than the school lunches I got when I was a kid. When I was younger, I promised to never become an old fuddy, duddy who says “in my day.”

Well, I’m an old fuddy, duddy saying “in my day,” it wasn’t like Oliver Twist or anything like that, but either you ate your lunch or you didn’t go to recess. And if you threw out your lunch — that meant a trip to the principal’s office — and a call to your parents.

And I guarantee my parents wouldn’t have complained to the school about forcing me to eat a lunch I didn’t want. They would have, though, made sure I knew about the time they had to take off from work to come to school because I wouldn’t eat my lunch.

OK, that’s the end of my rant. I’m going out for pizza now.

— Charles Whisnand