7 Quick Takes About School Lunches, Food Photography and Why I'm Starting to "Get," Twitter

I had a lot on my mind this week, but not a lot of time to write… so, I'm joining the party at 7 Quick Takes!

--- 1 ---

Have you heard about the daycare in canada that fined a parent $10 for not including a "grain," in her child's lunch and also "supplemented," the lunch with Ritz crackers??

Everything in me says this is soooo wrong...

But, and I'm pretty sure that this topic is worthy of it's own post, and I'm still trying to process this one, here's my question: Does a school, a government, or anyone else, ever have the right to tell a parent what to feed their child?

What if, (assuming my daughter is to be believed) a child brings a lunchbox full of candy and nothing else for lunch- every day?

--- 2 ---

Speaking of school lunches. This week the blogger from 100 Days of Real Food shared on Facebook that she discovered that her daughter was buying and sneaking extra snacks from the school cafeteria. She was concerned, not so much about the food, but about the lying and deceit. However, a bunch of her readers (shockingly, as far as I'm concerned) reacted really strongly. They chastised her for "forcing" her beliefs about food on her children, and basically told her that because she was being so restrictive her kids were going to grow up to have major issues regarding food. (There were also a bunch of people who chimed in with the opposite response, but, as of the time I read it, the overwhelming reaction was really negative.)

The thing is that this exact same thing happened to me with my daughter last year. It was a big deal at the time because she lied to me, but I never saw it as a food issue. It was, as far as I'm concerned, just one of those parenting moments. One of those teachable moments. When young kids go to school and first have the opportunity to buy a lunch- that's a big deal. I don't think it 's so much about the food as it is about exercising an opportunity to make a decision and buy something on their own. It's about pushing boundaries, whatever they are. This is part of growing up, is it not?

--- 3 ---

I've been trying to work on my food photography skills. I'm working with a pretty primitive camera at the moment and had been using that as my excuse. However, about a week ago, I discovered a blog called Pretty Hungry and I was truly inspired by her food photos. I showed them to my (8 year old) daughter who then said that she would "help me," with my food pictures.  Here's what we came up with together, which, if I do say so myself, is a huge step up from the some of the pictures I've posted on the blog before!

She later spent about 10 minutes "staging," and taking photographs of her dinner…

--- 4 ---

I have always enjoyed "thrifting," but my experiences have mostly be limited to "chain," stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army. However, we recently moved to a small town and I have been getting to know my small local thrift store and it. is. amazing!! This place makes Goodwill look like a seriously overpriced boutique. I have yet to spend more than $3 during a single visit and have left with bags of stuff!

My favorite find was a set of 8 vintage Christmas placements for ($0.50 TOTAL!!) Sadly, I shrunk them, which is testament to my poor laundry skills. I'm quite sad but looking at is as an opportunity to be creative. Any ideas for how to use use "mini," placements? I should warn you, I don't really sew...

A few weeks ago, I started checking out their placemats, fabrics, etc. for backgrounds, and this week, it occurred to me to look for more interesting dishes, bowls, and accessories to dress up the pictures (new bowl and new placemat used in soup picture above.) Now I'm just going to need a place to store all of my new finds!

--- 5 ---

Have you seen Master Chef Junior?? I just started watching it yesterday on Hulu and these kids are unbelievable!

--- 6 ---

I resisted Twitter for a long time, I really did't get it and I didn't intend to try to get it.

But, I  finally gave in a few weeks ago. Part of this is due to frustration with Facebook. Facebook picks and chooses which posts to show. Therefore, if you "like," a blog, you may see only a small fraction of their posts on FB. Facebook tries to decide if you really want to see a post from that blog you just liked, or not. It feels like playing a game trying desperately to get Facebook to actually show my posts to my followers.

However, from what I can tell, Twitter doesn't try to be smarter than you.

I'm also starting to understand why people say Twitter is so much fun. If you haven't tried it yet, I encourage you to give it a try. Join. Follow bloggers whose blogs you enjoy, or people you admire or find interesting. Then, start interacting. Respond to a tweet. Refer to someone using @ in one of your tweets… you'll see.

On the other hand. I also started Instagramming (is that a verb now?) and I'm not really getting it yet. If you have any words of wisdom for enjoying it more, let me know.

--- 7 ---

Finally, it's shameless plug time.  I hosted a guest post and giveaway on my blog this week. If you are fighting mealtime battles over food at your house, or if you know someone who is, I highly encourage you to read the post and enter the giveaway (it ends Sunday at Midnight… well, technically, that's 1 a.m. so it's Monday right? Anyways… read. enter the giveaway. thank you, thank you!)

Also… I love sharing the stories of people who have found ways to improve their kids eating habits. If you would like to share your story on my blog, please let me know (info (at) teachinggoodeaters.com)