Our Children's Nutritional Future

Well, it sounds good, at least there's that. Last week when Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said "as children learn more about the nutritional value that's available to them they're going to make the smart choice and the wise choice". On the perfect day, at the perfect time, on a perfect world this could very well be the case. On this normal planet we call home it's pretty much just wishful thinking. To insinuate that all parents, teachers, and schools prior to this particular moment in time have failed to inform children about good nutrition and the importance of physical activity for their overall health and well being would be a great injustice. My husband and I, like our parents and their parents before them, did our best when it came to providing our children with healthy food choices. The fact remains, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". Yes, we should still make every effort to provide nutritional school lunches, and inform our children about the health benefits of keeping active. Will this guarantee that they will always make healthy food choices? No, but as every parent can attest, the hope that our children will be wiser and stronger than we were is an ongoing state of mind.