Two advocates against the war against obesity want schools to bring back classes in home economics, believing it’s an ideal place for teaching teens healthier eating habits and gives them the practice to prepare healthier meals at home.
Professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University, Alice Lichtenstein, and Dr. David Ludwig, pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital Boston, recently published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association recommending that home economics becomes a staple in American schools again.
The authors write that home economics was started on the thought that “future homemakers should be educated in the care and feeding of their families,” a value that is seemingly lost in today’s obese generation that lives off of fast food and frozen dinners. Home ec classes would give teens the ability to prepare their own food and would perhaps demystify the process for some.
Researchers note that making kids more comfortable in the kitchen will affect how they eat and could influence their parents by teaching them the basics of preparing inexpensive, healthy family meals.
They view the ability to prepare meals a necessary part of life, stating, “if children are raised to feel uncomfortable in the kitchen, they will be at a disadvantage for life.”
