341messmicroscopicMSchool Lunch Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat properly in the middle of the day. In Britain schools have to provide meals at lunchtime. Children can choose to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen. One shocking finding of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict standards for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one portion of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like bread or pasta. Lunchboxes examined by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunch time. The research will provide a better understanding of why the percentage of overweight students in Britain has increased in the last decade. Unfortunately, the government cannot criticise parents, but it can remind them of the nutritional value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their childrens diet can_affect their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating_habits at this age, and parents are the only ones who can prevent it. A Powerful Influence There can be no doubt at all that the Internet has made a huge difference1 to our lives. Parents are worried that children spend too much time playing on the Internet, hardly ever doing anything else in their spare time. Naturally, parents are curious to find out why the Internet is so attractive, and they want to know if it can be harmful for their children. Should parents worry if their children are spending that much time staring at their computers? Obviously,if children are bent over their computers for hours, absorbed in some game, instead of doing their homework, then something is wrong. Parents and children could decide how much use the child should_make of the Internet, and the child should give his or her word that it wont interfere with homework. If the child is not holding to this arrangement, the parent can take more drastic steps dealing with a childs use of the Internet is not much different from negotiating any other sort of bargain about behaviour. Any parent who is_seriously alarmed about a childs behaviour should make an appointment to discuss the matter with a teacher. Spending time in front of the screen does not necessarily affect a childs performance at school. Even if a child is absolutely crazy about using the Internet, he or she is probably just going through a phase, and in a few months there will be something else to worry about! The Old Gate In the Middle Ages the vast majority of European cities had walls around them. This was partly for defensive reasons but another factor was the need to keep out anyone regarded as undesirable, like people with contagious diseases. The Old City of London gates were all demolished by the end of the 18th century. The last of Londons gates was removed a century ago, but by a stroke of luck, it was never destroyed. This gate is, in actual fact, not called a gate at all; its name is Temple Bar, and it marked the boundary between the Old City of London and Westminster. In 1878 the Council of London took the Bar down, numbered the stones and put the gate in storage because its design was unfashionable it was expensive to maintain and it was blocking the traffic. The Temple Bar Trust was set up in the 1970s with the intention of returning the gate home. The aim of the Trust is the preservation of the nations architectural heritage. Transporting the gate will mean physically pulling it down, stone by stone, removing and rebuilding it near St Pauls Cathedral. Most of the facade of the gate will probably be replaced, though there is a good chance that the basic structure will be sound. The hardest job of all, however, will be to recreate the statues of the monarchs that once stood on top of the gate. Family History In an age when technology is developing faster than ever before, many people are being attracted to the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can do this is by investigating their own family history. They can try to find out more about where their families came from and what they did. This is now a fast-growing hobby, especially in countries with a fairly short history, like Australia and the United States. It is one thing to spend some time going through a book on family history and to take the decision to investigate your own familys past. It is quite another to carry out the research work successfully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganized way and_cause yourself many problems which could have been avoided with a little forward planning. If your own family stories tell you that you are connected with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, do not let this idea take over your research. Ju