When School Comes Home
And brings a side of diet culture.
One of the weirdest things about our new remote school world has got to be how it forces parents to overhear the stray comments and awkward moments that would normally go entirely unreported in our child’s school day. This can be funny and even sweet… or mildly horrifying. For Caitlin Kiarie, it was the latter when her six-year-old’s teacher asked the class to share what they ate for dinner the night before. After every child took a turn, Kiarie heard the teacher say, “I had turkey and vegetables for dinner last night. My husband and I are trying to eat less carbs, so we didn’t eat any bread.” Kiarie was nursing her baby at the time, and told me later, “She was lucky I had a newborn on my breast or I would have dropped right into that Zoom!”
She settled for sending an email, and you can too, as I recently reported for The New York Times. Because school and diet culture shouldn’t mix — even though government standards for nutrition curriculum seem to think otherwise.
By the way, none of this is intended to be a criticism of teachers who are doing heroic work this school year, whether they’re on computers or in person with a bunch of mask-wearing kids who only loosely grasp the concept of social distancing. We are so grateful for your work!
And speaking of gratitude, today also seems like a fine time to re-share my guide to navigating Thanksgiving with a picky eater. If there is any silver lining to a COVID Thanksgiving, I would think it’s not having to explain your kids' weird eating habits to a bunch of relatives who only see them once a year. (Some women are also reporting feeling relieved to not be responsible for the bulk of the cooking, cleaning, and pleasing this holiday normally requires—and I am so here for that.) But you may be feeling stymied by the prospect of still making the meal feel, you know, celebratory, when your kids are, as per usual, going to just eat the rolls. If you are having a small Thanksgiving meal, it’s a great opportunity to focus on the essentials, and do away with the things that don’t serve you or your family.
ICYMI
Read: In September, I wrote for New York Times Parenting about taming your snack monster. “My 6-year-old has eaten so many Cheez-Its, I guess I’m sending the owner’s children to college,” one mother told me. “There’s no sitting at the table for lunch anymore,” said another. “There are just kids running around with pizza rolls.” I talked to the experts and here’s their advice.
Listen: Earlier this fall I went on Real Health Radio to talk about that time my daughter Violet had to learn to eat again after life-saving medical interventions, and the myth of the sugar high. Check it out here.
One Crucial Question: What’s your car sushi?
You're reading Burnt Toast, Virginia Sole-Smith's monthly newsletter. Virginia is a feminist writer, co-host of the Comfort Food Podcast, and author of The Eating Instinct. Comments? Questions? Email Virginia.
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