Elizabeth Harrington
CNSNews.com
10/18/2011
First Lady Michelle Obama said yesterday that the government can affect who kids “will be forever” if it can shape their “habits and preferences” during the large part of the day they are at school.
Mrs. Obama was speaking on the South Lawn of the White House at a reception to honor schools that met the goals of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC). The USDA Web site describes HUSSC as “a voluntary initiative established in 2004 to recognize those schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity.” The program has since been rolled into Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative.
“When many kids spend half of their waking hours and get up to half their daily calories at school, you know that with the food you serve and, more importantly, the lessons you teach that you’re not just shaping their habits and preferences today, you’re affecting the choices they’re going to make for the rest of their lives,” said Mrs. Obama.
“That’s why we start with kids, right?” she said. “We can affect who they will be forever.”…
The article continues, with video, at CNSNews.com
Related: $500 Million Obama Administration Program Will Help Kids ‘Sit Still’ in Kindergarten
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that the administration’s new $500 million early learning initiative is designed to deal with children from birth onward to prevent such problems as 5-year olds who “can’t sit still” in a kindergarten classroom.
“You really need to look at the range of issues, because if a 5-year-old can’t sit still, it is unlikely that they can do well in a kindergarten class, and it has to be the whole range of issues that go into healthy child development,” Sebelius said during a telephone news conference on Wednesday to announce the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge…
