Montessori and HBO woes
I'm in such a bad mood today. What's bothering me? What am I annoyed about?
I have this roiling anxiousness inside me. WTF?
Part of me is irritated that I can't seem to come up with any evidence against the Montessori's lunch choices. I've been to various sites that talk about good food choices, but even those will say something like, "For kids 3-5, lunch should include 1/2 cup of cereals or cooked pasta and 1 ounce of protein like lean meat, cheese or nut butter" but don't say "whole grain cereals" or "low-fat cheese." I mean, according to that guideline, macaroni and cheese is perfectly fine. And I agree, if the macaroni is multi grain and the cheese is real cheese made from milk and enzymes.
But you know it 'aint. It's Kraft macaroni and cheese or worse, Velveeta. What really bothers me is not so much that the choices they're providing the kids are SO BAD (spaghetti's fine, really) but that they aren't taking the opportunity to really present a variety of truly good foods. The site I was at actually recommends a good source of Vitamin A and C every day, and in the list they gave of around 30 vegetables and fruits, the only thing on Kaden's school's menu is carrots once a week.
But without knowing their financial or equipment situation, I can't really make any suggestions for ways they can improve. Maybe that's what I need to do: write a letter asking for clarification. Are any of the grains whole grains? What kind of mac n cheese is it? Who's doing the food prep? Just from the most basic perspective, the fact that the menu doesn't change from week to week is problematic. Kids may want to have the same thing every day, but it isn't good for them.
My mood might also be tanking because I watched the first episode of "Tell me you love me" with Dan last night and it was utterly depressing. Note to self: when your husband warns you that the blogosphere has been commenting on the extremely long, extremely graphic sex scenes, do not think to yourself "I'll just look away, how long and graphic can they really be?" Just, ew. Plus the whole show was about dysfunctional crap and relationships where people aren't connecting, communicating, or respecting each other or themselves.
I've been noticing lately how ugly most of pop culture is. Quite honestly, I don't want to hear it. I want something uplifting. Not corny, mind you, or campy. Just...hopeful. I want a story about someone who turns to God for strength and receives it, or someone who uses their talents to do something good for the world. "Blood Diamond," for all the violence and horror, was uplifting. There was redemption, sacrifice, healing, reunification. HBO is winning awards up the wazoo for its character-driven, "slice of life" programming, but I hate it. Even Rome made me unhappy because it was so hard to watch all the ugliness. I love stories, but to me, the point of conflict is to change the characters so that they grow, mature, overcome. I have very little expectation that the characters in HBOs newest drama are going to overcome anything. Not if their previous shows are any indication. And frankly, I don't want to pollute my soul with that crap.
Puts me in mind of some good advice our church fathers have given us: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." -- Phillipians 4:8
I have this roiling anxiousness inside me. WTF?
Part of me is irritated that I can't seem to come up with any evidence against the Montessori's lunch choices. I've been to various sites that talk about good food choices, but even those will say something like, "For kids 3-5, lunch should include 1/2 cup of cereals or cooked pasta and 1 ounce of protein like lean meat, cheese or nut butter" but don't say "whole grain cereals" or "low-fat cheese." I mean, according to that guideline, macaroni and cheese is perfectly fine. And I agree, if the macaroni is multi grain and the cheese is real cheese made from milk and enzymes.
But you know it 'aint. It's Kraft macaroni and cheese or worse, Velveeta. What really bothers me is not so much that the choices they're providing the kids are SO BAD (spaghetti's fine, really) but that they aren't taking the opportunity to really present a variety of truly good foods. The site I was at actually recommends a good source of Vitamin A and C every day, and in the list they gave of around 30 vegetables and fruits, the only thing on Kaden's school's menu is carrots once a week.
But without knowing their financial or equipment situation, I can't really make any suggestions for ways they can improve. Maybe that's what I need to do: write a letter asking for clarification. Are any of the grains whole grains? What kind of mac n cheese is it? Who's doing the food prep? Just from the most basic perspective, the fact that the menu doesn't change from week to week is problematic. Kids may want to have the same thing every day, but it isn't good for them.
My mood might also be tanking because I watched the first episode of "Tell me you love me" with Dan last night and it was utterly depressing. Note to self: when your husband warns you that the blogosphere has been commenting on the extremely long, extremely graphic sex scenes, do not think to yourself "I'll just look away, how long and graphic can they really be?" Just, ew. Plus the whole show was about dysfunctional crap and relationships where people aren't connecting, communicating, or respecting each other or themselves.
I've been noticing lately how ugly most of pop culture is. Quite honestly, I don't want to hear it. I want something uplifting. Not corny, mind you, or campy. Just...hopeful. I want a story about someone who turns to God for strength and receives it, or someone who uses their talents to do something good for the world. "Blood Diamond," for all the violence and horror, was uplifting. There was redemption, sacrifice, healing, reunification. HBO is winning awards up the wazoo for its character-driven, "slice of life" programming, but I hate it. Even Rome made me unhappy because it was so hard to watch all the ugliness. I love stories, but to me, the point of conflict is to change the characters so that they grow, mature, overcome. I have very little expectation that the characters in HBOs newest drama are going to overcome anything. Not if their previous shows are any indication. And frankly, I don't want to pollute my soul with that crap.
Puts me in mind of some good advice our church fathers have given us: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." -- Phillipians 4:8