Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-01-23
Problems
With the Children
Issued BY the National Kindergar-
ten Association, West 10th ST.,
New York City
Food Budgeting
For Juniors
BY JOY C. BAKER

What are We going to eat?" This
Mrs. Lyle realized with some amuse-
ment, was the chief concern of her
three growing children. Though re-
toicing in their hearty appetites. she
did wish they were little more inter-
ested in their schoolwork Their arith-
metic, for instance, was amazingly in
accurate. She sighed and, picking up
pencil from the kitchen table, be-
gan planning the next weeks meals
and grocery purchases:
2 pounds butter at As cents a pound.
81 pounds beef at 291 cents a pound.
Stop-Why couldn't the children
help do this?
During Fridays breakfast she
preached the subject. How would you
like to make out our food budget for
next week." she asked.
John, the eldest. stared at her in
credulously, and Nancy asked, You
mean we may decide what we are to
have ice cream every day?" asked
Freddie, the youngest.
"Perhaps-if you fit 1t into the week.
ly budget-the amount Of money we
set aside from your fathers pay check
for buying food supplies" their moth
er replied. But first, you must be
sure to include those foods which you
learned in school are necessary"
'Whoopee!" the young Lyles ex-
claimed.
Their weekly menu scheme, they
learned, extended from Saturday sup
per to the following Saturday lunch,
tnclusive-2l meals each for five per-
sons. An inventory of the groceries
on hand showed what staples must be
purchased. After a discussion of the
qualities of different brands and grades
of flour, extracts, butter and similar
items-in which their mother guided
them-the children scanned the gro
Gerry advertisements for prices. The
cost of the different staple purchases
to be made were entered in the budget.
Each made his own copy, so that any
error might be checked
They turned next to the making of
menus for the week. AS each addi-
tional dish was considered for a meal,
the junior Lyles figured its cost. The
care regarding the inclusion of items
of food necessary for building strong
bodies brought more wholesome re-
spect for the lowly carrot and humble
spinach after the children had weighed
their values against their costs. Elab-
crate frills, they soon learned, could
increase the cost Of meal two-fold
Also. the value Of the labor of the
homemaker was made so evident to
them, that they were more willing than
before to assume duties connected with
the preparation Of food.
Perhaps 1t was because the project
was such practical one for children
with healthy appetites that their in
terest in it continued week after week.
Perhaps, in part, it was due to Mrs
Lyle's watchfulness She was always
patient when any difficulty arose and
made special effort to prevent inter-
ferences of any kind
And the arithmetical practice each
one Of them gained! Addition, sub
traction, multiplication, division and
fractions had to be juggled constantly.
Accuracy came with practice and the
knowledge that two rival bookkeepers
would show up ones errors with glee
If miscalculation was made Encoun-
tiers with the mathematical world
about them made the young Lyles
"number-conscious"
"Whoopee!" they uually shouted
when the budget was finished salts
factorily. I'VE have the right answer!"
And they really had-to much more
than that one series of calculations.