A Richmond mother鈥檚 petition about 鈥渉angry鈥� children and the need for longer lunch times at schools is resonating with parents throughout the province.

Judie Schneider鈥檚 petition on change.org calls upon the B.C. Ministry of Education and the B.C. Teachers Federation to work together to ensure all children in B.C. elementary schools are given 35 minutes to eat their lunch, supervised by adults.

鈥淲e demand that this is achieved without taking away time from their recess or outdoor/recreational time during the afternoon break.鈥�

Schneider began the petition in response to the 17-minute eating time allotted to students for lunch at her son鈥檚 elementary school. She says the short eating time isn鈥檛 enough, resulting in packed school lunches coming home largely uneaten and kids coming home hangry (hungry and angry).

鈥淵ou spend the rest of the afternoon playing calorie catch up,鈥� explained Schneider. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e just fed them at 3:15 p.m. and he ends up staying up a lot later at night because he didn鈥檛 eat a great dinner, he鈥檚 hungry at 8 p.m. and he can鈥檛 go to sleep. So I sit there feeding him more food to try and get him full and to sleep and he hasn鈥檛 gone to bed on time and it鈥檚 a vicious cycle.鈥�

Schneider says a minimum of 35 minutes for lunch, supervised by an adult, would not only give kids more time and opportunity to eat, it would help instill a healthier approach to food.

鈥淩ecognizing when you have to eat more, or less, and enjoying your food and making mindful choices 鈥� this is the biggest new change on the Canada Food Guide鈥�,鈥� said Schneider. 鈥淪o here we are, creating a schedule where children have to scarf back their food as quickly as they can, and the parents who are in the know now have to start packing lunches they know their kids can eat in that amount of time鈥� and we all know it takes a lot longer for a child to eat an apple than a processed granola bar. So it鈥檚 affecting even the choices of food we鈥檙e sending with our kids.鈥�

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Lunch eating times in North Okanagan-Shuswap School District #83 are around 15 minutes and Carl Cooper, the school district鈥檚 director of instruction, curriculum and innovation, thinks students would find themselves bored with any more time than that.

鈥淢y reaction to that is just the behaviour challenges 鈥� I think you鈥檇 be fighting boredom issues,鈥� said Cooper. 鈥淲hen I鈥檝e been in a classroom and watching kids eating, most of the kids are done in probably 10, 15 minutes, and for some kids who are quick eaters and stuff, they鈥檙e looking around and they鈥檙e like, 鈥榳hat鈥檚 next?鈥� Thirty-five minutes I don鈥檛 think would be a good model at all.鈥�

Cooper says in his 20-year experience as principal, the issue of kids not having enough time to eat seldom came up. And when it did, he would check it out for himself at lunch the following day.

鈥淚 actually didn鈥檛 see them not finish their lunch when I was there, probably because of the adult supervision part,鈥� said Cooper. 鈥淢y experience when I鈥檓 sitting in class has often been that students who don鈥檛 finish their lunch, and that does happen, is primarily because they haven鈥檛 gotten to it. They鈥檙e socializing or visiting or doing things like that. But I haven鈥檛 had the experience where students haven鈥檛 had the time to sit and eat their lunch. Fifteen minutes in my experience is fairly substantial.鈥�

It鈥檚 been three weeks since Schneider initiated her petition (nearing 10,000 signatures). In that time, she says she鈥檚 heard from lots of other parents with similar experiences, seeking guidance on what to do in their school district.

鈥淧eople are even contacting me from Alberta and Ontario,鈥� said Schneider. 鈥淚 had a woman reach out from Calgary asking me how can she do this in her region鈥� And I said, well, I haven鈥檛 been successful yet, but certainly you can start doing the same thing I鈥檓 doing and start lobbying the province to change it.鈥�

Judie Schneider鈥檚 petition can be found on change.org, titled: Longer Adult Supervised eating time at lunch for elementary school children in BC.

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