MEAGRE LUNCHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21498, 23 May 1933, Page 6

MEAGRE LUNCHES

POORER SCHOOLCHILDREN OF TEACHERS CHANGES IN PLAYGROUND The recent declaration of the Health Department that there are no evidences of malnutrition in the schools is disputed by the teachers of some of the schools in the poorer districts of Auckland. They base their conclusions on the instantaneous response made to correct feeding methods in the case of ill-nurtured children sent to the health camp at Motnihi and to personal observations in classroom and playground. One 'teacher stated yesterday that he had observed a number of children coming to school with inadequate lunches. It was pitiful, he said, to see the meagre quantity of food given to children in certain large families. He mentioned the cases of several children whose fathers were in relief camps in the country and whoso mothers were unable to purchase as much food as those in more fortunate circumstances. " In spite of the departmental report," he said, " teachers have had cases of malnutrition pointed out to them by officers of the school medical service during the annual school medical examination."

Gesture by Teachers It was learned that in at least one fcity scliool teachers who have watched the lunches of the poorer children dwindle jfco inadequate proportions make a practice of giving away part of their own lunches to children seen to be in need of more. So that the gesture may not appear studied, the teachers have their lunch first in their own room and then pass what is left—a generous quantity—through the open window. Tiny /hands, that have been waiting, stretch up and take the food, which sometimes includes sandwiches, meat pies, slices of cake or some other tasty morsel, to supplement the children's scanty meal. In this thoughtful distribution no endeavour is made to select the recipients of the food; on the contrary, the teachers merely thrust the packages through the window and do not look. The sharing of lunches among the children in the playgrounds is a growing practice, those children who have more/than others giving the surplus away. The old practice of throwing uneaten food into the refuse basket is over. Sometimes it used to amount to n shocking waste, but to-day, in the poorer districts of the city, there is very little food left over for the seagulls to take.

Distribution of Cocoa " Teachers aro asked by the Health Department to examine pupils' luncheons periodically," remarked one headmaster. " This is done fairly regularly in the very juvenile classes, but for the older children it is a very delicate matter. One thing for which we are all grateful is the distribution of hot cocoa. This is a great boon in the winter time and is all the more appreciated because it is carried out entirely by voluntary effort." One noticeable feature of the child's lunch to-day is the better selection of food that is wholesome and nutritious. " The time seems to have passed," said one teacher, " when parents gave their children money to purchase luncheons. It was a bad habit. Instead of buying good food, the youngsters vised to spend their money on fancy biscuits and cream ,cakes and pastry." He added that the favourite lunch among the children in his school was a pennyworth' of fried chip potatoes, which could be purchased from an adjacent shop.