Ah, youth

Today I ran the dairy booth at our town's middle school health fair. The 800 kids came to my booth - and the 14 other booths - for their PE class.

It was so much fun! I don't often see kids this age. They were giggly and excitable. I had chocolate milk and white milk to give them, milk moustache stickers (a big hit), Got Milk? pencils, good handouts ... but to get these items, they had to answer a quiz question.

Why is milk good for you?

They all knew the answer to this one. It must have been drilled into their heads forever - they mentioned calcuim, strong muscles, stong bones. It was good to hear.

Name one dairy product other than milk.

75% of the kids knew this one, but 25% answered ... eggs. Then the other kids would say, "EGGS?!" (How did eggs get on the dairy list? I really don't know.) Several other kids answered, "orange juice." One student answered "steak." (This was closer!) One student told me, after much thought, that her favorite dairy product other than milk was "cookies."

How do you milk a cow?

Most students knew about the udder squeezing, though three of them called it the "gutter." They had the idea, anyway.

One girl said she didn't know. I told her to guess ... think about the olden days. She said, "I don't know! I was born in 1997!" I said, "But you're aware that things did happen before then?" Ah, youth!

How do you milk on modern day farms?

Everyone pretty much answered "machines."

Is chocolate milk good for you?

Their answers allowed me to tell them about chocolate milk's health benefits, especially following a workout.

How many teats does a cow's udder have?

I originally asked this because I thought it would be a super easy, jokey question. But, this one was answered wrong the most. 90% of the students said six or twelve. Even numbers, anyway! Cows have four teats.

It was fun answering their questions and promoting dairy nutrition. And did I mention the milk moustache stickers?

This boy put his on his forehead, and I said, "Like Anthony Davis?" He was surprised I knew what he was getting at and said, "Yes!"

I wasn't born in 1997. But milk moustache humor is timeless.