- They were starving because they'd not been fed at home.
- The children had not been fed lunch by the school.
- The children just like ice cream.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I Wonder as I Wander
I wonder if I showed up a preschool in Anywhere, USA and offered up ice cream to a bunch of four, five, and six year old kids if they might rush for it, grab for it, and eat as much as I would allow them too. What if I returned a second or third day? Would I see the same thing? What could I conclude from that exercise?
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9 comments:
since we are clearly a country of waste, overindulgence and a sense of entitlement I'm gonna say #3. Completely interesting post.
Robbin
I think you could easily find all 3 in any given classroom. My daughter would fall under #3, but I know there are thousands of kids right here in the U.S. who would fall under #1 or #2.
When Quinn was in daycare the director approached me (he was about 3 y/o) and asked if perhaps we could feed him breakfast before he came in. They fed the - before nine am children breakfast but Quinn did not come until after nine and he always said he was hungry and could he have some breakfast. They of course gave him some.
I explained that he ate right when he woke up - about 5 am - some toast and tea and then had a huge breakfast about 8 AM -
He eats less now - but ice cream - he would eat as much as you gave him every single day you offered it.
With all of that food - we can still see his ribs sticking through his chest and has not an ounce of fat outside of that in his cheeks.
As far as hungry - offer a large group of children an apple or orange in the morning for several days in a row and you'll see who is - hungry - and who is not.
In Q's school - many of the children in the breakfast program I am sure do not have breakfast when they are not in school.
It's really just a rhetorical question that I wrote in response to a poster that suggested that because they gave out bananas at the orphanage and the children ate them up everyday that the orphanage was not doing an adequate job in feeding the children. The evidence of the orphanages neglect was associated with the eagerness in which the children gobbled up their bananas.
I was able to have an opinion since I spent three days at the same orphanage and watched the children eat more food than I could eat in one sitting.
So the answer is there may or may not be a correlation.
Great point Valerie!
I was going to say that the answer could be 1, 2 or 3, probably 3, but there is really no way of knowing. Anyone presuming to know is making assumptions based on their own ideas. Does that make sense?
Very interesting. If you were to offer up a banana to my children at any given time, they may or may not take you up on it. (That is if you did it in our home) However, I suspect if you offer up a banana to my kids and there are many other kids saying 'Me, give it to me", my kids just might chime in and say the same thing. Same with Ice Cream most likely.
So, your question is interesting and a good point to make you think. One should not presume they know what the answer is or why the answer is what they see at any given moment. And the less a child has of something, say Ice Cream, and the more of a 'treat' it is, the more exciting it is to get it.
I like the question. It is more complicated that one might think at first glance.
Jan
Jan your comment reminds me that when I was there I also had wet wipes. Many of the children had runny noses and if I saw one I'd pull out a wipe and do the mommy face wipe. No sooner pulling out the wipe, every little had was reaching out, "me too..." So, it wasn't just fruits no one wanted to be left out.
Valerie I can tell you that my children eat like there's NO TOMORROW when we are at other people's houses even if they had eaten right before we left the house. It's more about something "different" than anything else. If they were offered ice cream every single day, they would take ice cream like they were starving every single day. ;) Also, I know a lot of children that came home from foster families where they were fed VERY well (their chubby bodies and blood tests prove that) that had serious food issues....overindulging, gagging, etc. It was all related to attachment/bonding and had nothing to do with poor nutrition or lack of enough food.
Valarie, I was more impressed by the comment of the person who said that the standard of the orphanage is below the average, children starving,ecc. , but then talking about the Hilton the same person said ''I am very glad we stayed there and would definitely stay there again, even if it meant only seeing my new kid(s) during the day at the orphanage''
I wouldn't have left my girls there one minute more if I had had such an idea of the orphanage!
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