Your Kids ARE What They Eat... so stop feeding them junk!

Since Corky started preschool, I have spent a lot of time worrying about what she's eating. I pack her lunch every day but the school provides snacks. At first I thought: Oh, this is good. Schools have to serve healthy snacks, right...
Wrong.

Cupcakes, cookies, candy, Cheetos... just to name a few of the more prominent options. There's also chips of all sorts and various other "snacks" that Corky has never liked. Oh, but she likes them now....

Yes, gone is the child that loved broccoli and carrot sticks. Say adios to the kid that would choose a banana over a piece of chocolate. They have corrupted my baby!!! *boo hoo*

Anyway, I could go on and on about how awful the eating habits are in our tiny town and how disappointed I am in the schools... but that would take all day. So, I've been trying to make the best of things by reinforcing our eating style at home...

So....
When we were at softball practice the other day and the coach announced that the team would be provided fruits and vegetables for game snacks, I was ready to whoop and holler (that's southern for "shout with excitement"). Actually, I kind of got vocal about it...

"Yeah, that's great!" I said, way too enthusiastically.

You could have heard crickets chirp. There we were, a group of about twelve parents, and I was the only one who was glad about the fruits and veggies. Several (and when I say several, I mean more than half) of them made comments about how their kids wouldn't eat the fruits and veggies. Several of them suggested snack cakes as an option.

I was mortified. Horrified. And most of all angry.

This is the health of our children we are talking about here, people. Good eating habits start at a young age. Your kids will like what you like. They will eat what you feed them. They will value what you value. I understand this well, being someone who has struggled with being overweight my entire life.

My experience with the school taught me that good eating habits have to start in the home. My experience with the softball parents taught me that the schools (and other public associations) will change their good intentions to suit what the kids will be more inclined to eat...

So where does the buck stop?

When does someone put their foot down and quit feeding kids junk?