Deb Shell took notice (as parents do) when her children were returning home every day from school with the lunch bags she sent them with were still nearly full. After conferring with other parents who noticed the same trend, she learned that the Berkeley Unified School District had cut lunchtime to add more classroom time. This change was leaving many kids hungry.When Shell and other parents took a field trip to the lunchroom, what they witnessed shocked them. The students are supposed to have 20 minutes to eat, but they often have only 15, Shell said. Those who were receiving lunches from the school were left, sometimes, with no time to even take a bite of food. “We heard the [ending] lunch bell ring, and there were still 18 kids outside who hadn’t been served,” she said. “They got their food and dumped it right in the trash and were dismissed for recess. It was heart-wrenching to watch elementary-aged kids not eat and infuriating to see the food wasted.”

In Kent, Washington, parents became alarmed when they realized that their children were only getting 12 minutes to eat lunch. “The kids were in this big huge rush, they were all scurrying,” said one child’s grandmother, who was invited to eat lunch with her granddaughter. “They were really just eating at such a rapid pace. It was horrifying to watch.”

According to some parents in Kent, their kids were coming home starving with stomach aches. One parent said her daughter lost weight after school started from the lack of time to eat lunch.

According to a recent survey, more than 20% of public schools are giving children less than 20 minutes to eat.

“It’s becoming a stressful, almost traumatic experience when kids go into the lunchroom,” said Angela McKee-Brown, director of education for the Edible Schoolyard Project, a nonprofit founded by Waters that works with more than 5,500 garden and education programs worldwide. “When you think about it, the cafeteria is the one place that kids of all backgrounds and abilities get to be in community with each other.”

Often, the time restrictions in the lunchroom affect those who need the food the most, said Juliana Cohen, assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Merrimack College. “Low-income children rely on school meals for half their daily energy intake,” she said.

Cohen also pointed out that the Trump administration’s recent proposal to cut 3 million people from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would probably make it even more difficult for these children. “With vulnerable children potentially losing SNAP benefits, they will likely need to rely even more on school meals,” she said. “It is even more important that these children have sufficient time to eat.”

Each school district is responsible for setting how much time students get for lunch said Christine Davis, founder of Arizonans for Recess and School Wellness. Rigid schedules that minimize recess and lunchtime often happen because of the pressure of district-chosen curriculums aimed at raising test scores, Davis said.

Not having time to eat and the hunger that results is just one of the problems experts are concerned with. Robert Murray also points out that the rush through the meal may also create destructive, life-long habits around eating.

Murray is a spokesman for The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) who is pushing for at least 20 minutes of seated eating time, not including the time it takes for students to wash their hands, walk to the cafeteria and get their food.

“Lunchtime is really about the social enjoyment of being with their friends,” he said. “Hopefully kids learn sharing and exploring new foods.”

This is also coming at a time when schools are cutting recess time. According to surveyed teachers, the average amount of recess time children are allowed currently is only 25 minutes a day. In the late 80s, children were given three recesses throughout the day. While all this is in favor of more learning for raising scores in Common Core testing, the only thing that seems to be raising is reported cases of ADD, ADHD and childhood obesity.

According to the AAP, we are depriving young learners of precious time. “Children need to have downtime between complex cognitive challenges,” says Murray. “They tend to be less able to process information the longer they are held to a task. It’s not enough to just switch from math to English. You actually have to take a break.”

Parents, how much time do your children have a day set aside for eating and the decompression that comes along with recess? How is your child fairing with this setup? Ask them how they feel during the day. Ask other parents about how their children are doing. Make visits to the school. Organize. Speak up. Speak out. Be the voice for your children. Advocate for their best interests. Do your best to make the long amount of time they spend at school the least traumatic as possible. Push with all of your collective might to make changes that support children.



