Removing flavored milk from schools! Good or Bad Idea???
By speedy1279
@speedy1279 (2665)
United States
April 6, 2011 8:10am CST
I live in the state of Florida where currently the State board of education is trying to remove flavored milk from our schools. Thier reasoning is the rising numbers of childhood obesity. Now yes, I do agree that child obesity has become a huge problem. But is removing flavored milk going to change that? It may make a very small impact but until parents start teaching thier children to make good choices when it comes to nutrition it's not going to help much. This could possibly make things worse. Why? Well, if parents aren't teaching thier kids how to eat healthy and the board of education gets its way and removes flavored milk from the schools, how is that going to force kids into drinking plain milk? It's not, those kids that were drinking flavored milk are going to then result to drinking something else other than milk altogether. So we end up going from having kids who were getting calcuim and vitamins A, D, and B12 from drinking flavored milk to kids who most likely start drinking other alternatives that don't contain any of the nutrional value that milk does but just as much sugar if not more than milk does.
So in my opinion, I personally think removing flavored milk from our schools is a bad idea. What is your take on this? Do you think it's a good or bad idea? Why or why not?
6 responses
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
6 Apr 11
First thank you for responding! You say you didn't drink flavored milk until you were in middle school? Was it because you just liked plain milk then got tired of it? Or because your parents taught you that plain milk was better for you?
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
7 Apr 11
oh no, I quit drinking plain milk then, I had chocolate milk since I was a small child, but this strawberry milk wasn't around and I think sounds disgusting - I like eggnog tho (a lot more than it likes me!) 
I quit drinking plain milk because it was making me sick, before then, my mother wanted us to drink milk for breakfast and lunch, but when it is coming back up 2 days of 7, well, pretty soon its not going down either... First I stopped during lunch and then, finally breakfast. Now, most of the milk I get is either in coffee or in a recipe, I can eat cheese, yogurt and ice cream, tho I do have to be careful sometimes with the ice cream, so I started out being careful with yogurt. The only thing I seem to not have trouble with are aged cheeses.
I am not lactose intolerant, but actually allergic to dairy, but only straight cows milk seems to upset my stomach like it does.
I quit drinking plain milk because it was making me sick, before then, my mother wanted us to drink milk for breakfast and lunch, but when it is coming back up 2 days of 7, well, pretty soon its not going down either... First I stopped during lunch and then, finally breakfast. Now, most of the milk I get is either in coffee or in a recipe, I can eat cheese, yogurt and ice cream, tho I do have to be careful sometimes with the ice cream, so I started out being careful with yogurt. The only thing I seem to not have trouble with are aged cheeses.
I am not lactose intolerant, but actually allergic to dairy, but only straight cows milk seems to upset my stomach like it does.1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
7 Apr 11
Wow, allergic to dairy. That stinks as so much stuff has dairy in it. But I am glad you have found ways to still get your calcuim without having to sacrifice too much.
I like eggnog as well, it just sucks that you can only buy one time through out the whole year.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
8 Apr 11
HOw stupid. That little bit of sugar in the flavor mix is not enough to make them gain weight. Aren't the boxes like 4 or 6 oz? Sorry, they need to come up with something better. Odds are...after they eat and drink the milk..they go to the playground and run that off, and get that calcium and vit D so how can it be so bad?
Plus, the flavor is often the only way to get a kid to drink milk. THey'll grow out of it, but for now...if they don't get the flavor, they won't drink the milk nad choose a sugary drink. I know as this is my grand daughter! She won't drink plain white milk. Her choice at school is some juice box...full of sugar and nothing else. At least with the milk..they get the calcium and VitD. Boy are state board of educations stupid!
1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
8 Apr 11
First of all it's so nice to see you are still around coffeebreak. I know I have been in and out on this site alot in the past couple of years. I've had alot of personal things going on in my life.
Now to the topic at hand. You are absolutly right, 9 times out of 10 the only way to get kids to drink milk is to flavor it and majority of kids grow out of it as they get older. And yes the cartons of milk are only about 4 to 6 oz. at most, so taking that away is not going to make that big of a difference.
I guess I got lucky with my kids, both of my kids love milk and don't have a problem drinking it plain. So, if my kids choose to get flavored milk at school, it doesn't bother me. Plus like you said, they will end up burning it off when they go out and play at recess or pe.
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
9 Apr 11
Thank you and it's nice to be back. Now, if I could just get back into the swing of things here. LOL!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
8 Apr 11
Nice to have you back speedy1279. Life is not so good on my end either and keeps me off MyLot more than I would like too! Keep in touch!
1 person likes this
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
22 May 11
Hi speedy! I think that the schools are taking the obesity thing a bit far. They are doing the same things here in Tennessee. I think that milk..no matter the flavor..should stay. You have a great point. The thing is that some people just do not like the taste of milk. If it is flavored, at least they are more inclined to drink it and it is a lot better than some choices they might have made if it wasn't available.
I think that focusing more on physical activity is the way to go. I know that healthy food choices are important for children too...but there are a lot of things that keep children from getting the same amount of exercise that I remember getting when I was a kid. I could have ate anything I wanted and burned it right off. I was always outside doing something. Parents are afraid to let their children out like they used to though. There are a lot more dangers.
@akangirl (2436)
• India
6 Apr 11
By the way is carbonated drinks like coke or pepsi are also banned by them? If not then they should ban them also as well so students have no other choice.A PTA meeting should be held and parents should be told to educate their kids better about nutrients and good food.
1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
6 Apr 11
Gosh! I know both my kids are in elementary school and they don't offer soda but have tons of other choices besides just milk. As for middle and high school, I don't know. I remember when I was in high school which is near by, they had soda machines on campus.
I see your point about banning everything but plain milk, but how is that going to get kids to drink it and not just throw it away in the garbage and drink nothing?
And Yes, you are 100% right! Schools should do more in getting parents involved in educating thier kids about better nutrition.
@natnickeep (2336)
• United States
7 Apr 11
If they banned everything that doesn't help us teach our kids to make good decisions. I don't agree with pop in school but they have had different kinds of milk forever. And on occasional chocolate milk is a good treat for a healthy kid.
1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
8 Apr 11
Natnickeep - You are exactly right, banning everything but plain milk is not going to teach kids anything. That was my exact point that I was trying to get across in my post just above yours.
@natnickeep (2336)
• United States
7 Apr 11
The government makes no sense on this. I think they are doing little things like this just to make us thing that they care. They tried to push sugar on our kids for the last 20 years to sell products. Get people addicted to sugar and you sell more pop and candy and stuff like that. But I agree with you we should be teaching kids their limitations. In the wild there are good plants and poisonous ones, for a reason, we have to learn to chose what is good for us and what is not. It's been a part of life for all of time, making decisions about food choices and homes and etc. Why try to change it all now.
1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
8 Apr 11
Your right the government makes no sense at all. When I heard about this topic on the news, I was beside myself. We are suppose to live in a free country and here is the government trying to tell us what are kids should and should not drink. I understand that there is a problem with childhood obesity, but instead of trying to control kids in what they drink, They should be trying to educate them into making good choices and then leave it up to the parents to see to it that the kids are getting what they need.
@Ashucool007 (71)
• India
6 Apr 11
yeah it is a good work that ur school is doing nutritiun is the must to be healthy and doing this will make ur health good by giving childrens plain milk.
1 person likes this
@speedy1279 (2665)
• United States
6 Apr 11
Yes, the state board of education has good reasoning behind what they want to do. But removing flavored milk from the schools isn't going to make kids drink plain milk as the schools offer more than just milk to the children. And if they were to remove all beverages except milk from the schools that still isn't going to make kids who don't want to drink plain milk, drink it. Most kids will just end up not drinking anything at all and the milk will end up in the garbage. In my opinion, good nutrition starts at home with the parents teaching thier kids correctly and getting them active instead of allowing them to sit in front of the tv or video games.
