The Mustang Café at Chisum ISD: Tales from the Lunch Line

First the Carrot, then the Stick(er) or How to Get Your Kids to Try New Foods I’m told that bribery is an essential skill learned by parents of small children. I never had small children, but I learned it also works for adults in a corporate setting. No, I never proffered anyone with bags of money, but I once held a contest and gave the packaged condiments from the lunch we just ate as prizes. Maybe that was less about bribery and more about competition. Either way, it worked. A few weeks ago we had a new potato dish in the elementary school. I knew it was going to be tough a tough sell. Tiny whole potatoes with the skin still on are not what young children usually eat. As I walked around the lunchroom talking to the students, I asked them if they’d tried the potatoes. You all know what they said. They looked dubiously at the untouched potatoes and said, “I don’t like them.” In true parent fashion, I responded, “How do you know? Have you tried them?” Yes, folks, I became my mother. After about the fifth child’s response, I asked two girls, “Would you try it if I gave you a sticker?” Both girls grabbed a potato in their fingers. I stopped them long enough to run to my office and find a roll of stickers. The game was on. Potatoes were pretty easy. Almost every child was willing. In fact, we had to find more stickers to get through that lunch. There was one young man, though, who couldn’t be swayed. He looked at me very seriously and said, “I already have a million stickers at home.” Touche! The next day, many students asked if there would be a sticker that day. The fifth graders told me they’d try anything on their plates for a sticker. Success! How many kids eat broccoli and cheese sauce? Probably more than you think, but not as many as you wish. The next sticker day was a bit more difficult. This was a planned operation and we printed special stickers with a happy broccoli stalk and a happy cheese wedge on them. The stickers said, “I tried a bite.” Even a one-of-a-kind sticker wasn’t enough for a lot of the students, but it did work for some. Of course, the little boy with a million stickers, still had a million stickers. He just wasn’t having it. But there were many who took a small taste. One little girl really wanted to, but she said she was afraid. She watched everyone around her win their stickers. I told her to come tell me if she changed her mind. A few minutes later she came hopping up to me. She was so excited. “I did it!” she exclaimed. She made this lunch lady so proud and I know she was proud of overcoming her fear. One boy proudly held up his sticker and said, “My mom will never believe I tried broccoli, but I have proof.” I think he won much more than a sticker, don’t you?