Dr. Janice Crouse, senior fellow of CWA's Beverly LaHaye Institute, agrees with those who argue the "
Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010" [PDF] is unfair and unnecessary -- specifically, the regulation of school menu items and vending machine snacks, and even USDA authority over bake sale goods. (
See earlier article)
Still, Crouse points out that she does not think "any of us would say people ought not to do anything when kids are hungry."
"I don't like the idea of schools providing meals [like] breakfast and so forth," she concedes, "but far too many of our children can't learn because they're not getting breakfast and they're not getting the rest that they need and so forth.
"We are in a vicious cycle," Crouse continues, "but even there, they're following the path of least resistance. [Government policies are] attacking the periphery and haven't really addressed the major problem."
In Crouse's opinion, the major problem is an American culture in which children are spending too much time watching television; and parents -- married or single -- are not providing the guidance their children need, including how to live a healthy lifestyle.
"And so we have [schools] full of children who are eating junk food and drinking sugary sodas and not really learning," she laments, the result being that "our teachers are ending up babysitting instead of providing instruction that our kids need in the academic subjects that they need to have."
The expert on family policy adds: "You can lay down as many laws and regulations as you want to, but that's not going to get at the root problem we are facing with children today."
A leading member of Concerned Women for America (CWA) says the child nutrition bill that was signed into law this week does amount to government overreach -- but even so, she adds, it does little to meet its goal of curbing child obesity.
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