A journal of ideas for the world of after school and beyond

Vol. 1 no. 5 November/December 2005

Food for Thought

Stephen M. Pratt, President

Dear Friends:

Most of us would raise our eyebrows at the thought of after-school programs developing a strategy for nutrition. After all, we're running neither soup kitchens nor public health offices. But then again, most kids eat their school lunches between 11 and 12 (some even earlier) and descend on after-school sites hours later with empty, ravenous stomachs. We can let them raid our vending machines, we can give them surplus food, or we can turn this into a teachable moment.

As I think back on my own experiences working in after-school programs, I recall two extremes. There were the "Snickers" days at the center I ran in Washington 18 years ago, where we rewarded kids who'd completed their reading assignments with jumbo Snickers bars. As a parent today, I shudder to think of those kids coming home wired on chocolate. At the other extreme was Howie, a gem of a man who ran cooking classes at the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club where I worked in 1989. Howie taught kids to cook healthy meals for themselves and to enjoy the camaraderie of gathering around a kitchen while a healthy meal was prepared.

This month, we celebrate the work of those who are turning after-school nutrition into another teachable moment. We're not going to eliminate vending machines and corner stores from our kids' lives out of school. What we can do is give them the tools to make healthy choices for themselves and to learn in the process.

Thanks for reading,