Last spring, some parents were offended that their children’s school districts had taken it upon themselves to send notes home with students considered “at risk for overweight.” Said one parent: “I really thought it was totally inappropriate for school to send a letter.”
Now, California is considering a statewide “parental notification” requirement — and it could hurt the kids it is supposed to help. “Focusing on the kid’s body is the perfect way to make eating disorders,” says adolescent medicine expert to Dr. Marc Jacobson of Schneider Children’s Hospital.
Of course, as we’ve told you time and again, lots of people are making it their business to get in between parents and children in making food choices. Center for Science in the Public Interest mainstay Kelly Brownell is “calling for stricter oversight of schools” and food, MSNBC reports. Calling America’s educational institutions “7-Eleven[s] with books,” Brownell says “when kids are offered hamburgers, French fries and pizza, they will eat those foods whether or not healthy foods are available.”
He’s been blunter recently: “If children have healthy foods available, they’ll eat healthy foods. If they have unhealthy foods available, they’ll eat those… Animals will do the same thing when put in a cage.”
