SUGAR SHOCK! Snapshot: Kids Are Like Crack Addicts By Jasmin Singer

Today, I’m pleased to present another SUGAR SHOCK! Snapshot guest column from fellow IIN grad Jasmin Singer. Her observations are quite astute.

Kids Are Like Crack Addicts by Jasmin Singer

My mother is an art teacher at an elementary school located in an inner city in New Jersey. I recently spent a day observing her at work. 

It was jarring to me as I witnessed children go from bouncing off the walls to almost comatose within a matter of minutes. Here are the notes I doodled on the side of my paper as the day progressed:

9:00 a.m.:  The kids seem well-behaved, though very tired. Did they sleep last night? Either they are sleep-deprived or yawns are contagious, because I just witnessed three fourth-graders share a gigantic yawn. 

11:00 a.m.: The children are restless, whining about wanting lunch. How does my mother handle this on a day-to-day basis?                                       

12:30 p.m.:  I asked my mother to let me sit in the cafeteria with the children as they ate their “food.”  I am appalled by what we’re feeding our youth. One example was pizza with a side of mashed potatoes!  When I was a child, I used to have bagged lunch with celery and peanut butter. This stuff that the children are eating is not real food. It is processed chemicals with a side of more processed chemicals. 

1:15 p.m.: The children are downright OFF THE WALL!  My mom had to put the lights down so that they would know to be quiet. They are behaving like wild animals, though without the exotic mystique. 

2:30 p.m.:  Ah, finally, they’ve crashed. The children are whiny again, kind of like this morning, but not so cute and fresh. About an hour ago, I witnessed a student run to the vending machine and buy himself a chocolate bar, stuff it down his throat, and return to his classroom. 

3:15 p.m.: The kids picked up again. There was a line at the vending machine after the school bell rang.

Thoughts: It’s all too obvious. The students at my mother’s school all suffer from SUGAR SHOCK! 

Phew! I’m glad I don’t eat sugar, but I sure wish I drank alcohol right now (which I guess is technically sugar anyway). (OK, I’m joking.)

After spending a day with children, I’m thinking of getting my tubes tied. Either that or I will introduce my future children to whole-based foods and get them excited about celery and peanut butter, as my mom did for me

Want to write a SUGAR SHOCK! Snapshot for this blog as Jasmin did? Contact me now to contribute your observations.