DATE: Sunday, November 23, 1997             TAG: 9711230020

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL

SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

SOFT DRINKS OR MILK? SOMETIMES WE NEED FEWER CHOICES

A recent column questioning the installing of soft drink machines in schools ``struck home,'' reports Melissa Darden.

Coca-Cola has contracted to pay $1.5 million annually for the right to place vending machines in the schools of Madison, Wis.

A nutritionist observed that the sales of soda pop diminish purchases of milk, which is vital to building calcium in children.

Melissa's views are seasoned good sense.

A soda machine, installed in the hallway at Franklin High School, is proving very popular, she notes.

Her daughter, Becky, a math analysis student, says that the reason soda is chosen over milk is simple. ``It costs less per ounce, and the milk producers need to lower the cost of a one-half carton of milk.''

On National Public Radio, not one on a panel of experts suggested that the higher price of milk might help explain its shrinking sales.

Melissa notes that there also ``is a Ho-Ho lady who sells snack cakes, brownies, Twinkies and the like during the lunch break.

``Our children go to school equipped with the money to purchase lunch and end up snacking for half an hour,'' she writes. ``In the world of choices, they have been allowed too many options for even the simplest decision.

``School lunch used to be just that. You were not asked, just served the meal. Your only option was to pack a lunch from home.

``Mrs. Duke at Ivor Elementary served homemade rolls, fresh vegetables, and the best fried chicken. It was like going to Grandmama's on Sunday.''

In those days, Melissa was allowed to eat for free in exchange for assisting Mrs. Duke in the cleanup after lunch. ``I was not poor, just a good student who was allowed to skip class to scrape trays.''

By not giving more direction to children, we have left them to wander through life trying to sort out what is important and what is not, she suggests.

``They do too many things and do them `all right' instead of doing fewer things and doing them `well.'

``So how many children will choose milk over soda, a salad over a piece of cake or a job that requires skills over the easy money in dealing drugs?''

Let parents know that today is the day to teach children to make the right choices, she urges.

``If they have been given the guidance and support over the years, they may even choose milk over soda once in a while.''

In my childhood, no vending machines were in schools and even had there been during the Depression, few of us would have had the money to buy candy and soft drinks. Hard times enforce discipline on parents as well as children.

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