Childhood obesity begins in the classroom. In the war against childhood obesity, prevention is the most important tool. And, if not at home, certainly we should expect our schools to exceed in nurturing the health and wellbeing of our kids, if not only to create a productive learning environment. As a nation, we have a long way to go, but in Jefferson County Public Schools, it seems we haven't even begun.

My daughter will begin kindergarten next fall, and in researching schools within our JCPS cluster, I was disgusted to discover pre-sweetened Kool-Aid on the list of school supplies for snacks. It's my personal and smugly self-educated opinion that 5-year-olds have no business drinking Kool-Aid on a daily basis, and also that water is a very suitable, acceptable, and even honorable part of an afternoon snack.

Do parents need to begin their relationships with a school system by fighting its Kindergarten teachers? It seems I do.

JCPS, our educators can do better, and our parents can provide better. Sending any of our children home from his or her first school experience with a processed-sugar Kool-Aid coma is unacceptable.