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For a generation of Kiwi kids, it was just a part of growing up. At primary school every day they were handed a half-pint bottle of milk and a straw, and they knocked it back with the words, “Drink your milk, it’s good for you,” ringing in their ears.
The milk in schools scheme initiated by the Labour government in 1937 was a world-first and intended to provide nutrition for children undernourished in the years after the Depression. But the plug was pulled 30 years later, partly because of the cost and also because some people disputed how necessary it was.
Now, 45 years on, primary school kids are once again going to be given free milk in an attempt to improve nutrition. Fonterra has introduced a new Milk for Schools programme, which is currently being trialled in 112 Northland schools, providing more than 10,000 kids with free milk every day. It’s hoped it will be available to children throughout the country by next year.
Nutrition guidelines for children recommend three serves of dairy a day, and Craig Irwin from Fonterra says the company wanted to help make sure kids were at least getting one daily serve. “Milk is such an important building block of good nutrition. Growing kids need it for their muscles, their bones, their teeth – all sorts of things,” says Craig, group marketing manager for beverages at Fonterra.
“It’s a big undertaking, but we wanted to give something back to New Zealand. And we’re pleased it has been so well-received – we’ve had a great response.” One thing Fonterra will be doing is making sure that, unlike the milk distributed to school kids last century, the milk given out today will be kept cold, thanks to fridges that will be supplied to all the schools involved.
For many youngsters back then, the fact that the milk was often warm by the time they got it made drinking it an unpleasant experience. Aucklander Judith Davies recalls how the bottles would sit out by the school gate in the sun and by the time they were handed out the milk was often on the pointing of turning.
“It was horrible,” she recalls. “It just about put me off milk for life. It’s good to hear that at least this time around school kids will get cold milk.” Shirley Wilson remembers how the cream at the top would get so thick it was difficult to get the cardboard straw through to the milk below. “Unfortunately curdled cream didn’t taste all that great and you’d be left with the taste in your mouth all morning until you had lunch.”
She also wrinkles her nose at memories of the “naughty boys” in her class tipping their milk out the window whenever the teacher turned her back. “Unfortunately, if it was a hot day, you could then smell it on the concrete outside and it was disgusting.”
She adds, “We did moan about it but it wasn’t too bad, as long as it wasn’t warm. When I look back I think there were probably a few kids in my class who didn’t have much in the way of lunch – sometimes I don’t think they had lunch at all – and they would have been much hungrier if it wasn’t for the milk.”
Land of milk and honey
The Milk for Schools programme wasn’t the only initiative introduced in New Zealand last century in an effort to improve the health of our nation’s children. Plunket and health camps were two others:
Plunket: Founded by child health pioneer Sir Frederic Truby King in 1907, the Plunket Society was set up to save babies dying of malnutrition and disease. The organisation went on to open Plunket Karitane Drop-in Clinics, train plunket nurses and provide education for new mums and dads.
Over the years Plunket has responded to the changing needs of society by offering services such as the car-seat rental scheme and telephone advice service PlunketLine. But its most important roles are still monitoring the baby in the all-important first weeks and months of life, and helping to support parents.
Health camps: These were first introduced in New Zealand in 1919, again with malnourished children in mind. They were also intended for kids with tuberculosis and later opened to youngsters with a range of health issues, from asthma through to behavioural problems. Today Children’s Health Camps – or Te Puna Whaiora – runs a voluntary service for kids with everything from chronic health conditions and hyperactivity through to conduct disorders, relationship difficulties and poor social skills.
