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Preschool for Nutritionally-Challenged (Parents)

3/12/07 - By Anna Fader
In the New York Times this weekend an article depicts Nutritional Sciences Preschool in Brunswick, New Jersey as a preschool on the forefront of a new trend - preschools with a curriculum focus on nutrition. Forget about finger painting and blocks, the class activity focuses around preparing healthy snacks. These kids are going to learn to eat well and like it - and woe is the child who should be so foolish as to claim he doesn't like veggies.
A new boy in the class, Julian Namazi, blurted out that he did not like any vegetables. In a grandmotherly voice, Mrs. Worobey reassured him that she never liked the canned vegetables she ate growing up but now eats fresh vegetables and loves them.
We're all for forgoing the juice, but we can live without the heavy-handed indoctrination.
When Emily Logan, 4, picked up an apple, Ms. Mitchell asked: “Is that an anytime food or a sometime food?�?
Are parents so incapable of teaching and enforcing some discipline and values in their children that they need to farm every little detail out (um, I guess we answered that in the next post)? Can't the kids just play, for crying out loud?

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About the Author

Anna Fader

Founder of Mommy Poppins

A fourth-generation Brooklynite, Anna started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to help families find the best things to do with kids in NYC, with a particular emphasis on sharing activities that are free, affordable, and enriching. The site, used by millions of families, has grown to become the ultimate resource for parents in the major US cities, plus travel guides for 100s of destinations.

Anna is a believer in the magic of summer camps, traveling with kids, and that you can raise kids on a budget and still have a rich life full of amazing memories. Anna's first Mommy Poppins book, The Young Traveler's Journal and Activity Book, published in 2025 and co-written with her daughter, Amelia Eigerman, brings that ethos to life, in addition to this website.

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