Super Policy or Food Police Gone Wild?

stealthq

Are you guys saying you're not allowed to send a home packed lunch with your kid anymore? They have to eat cafeteria food?

I never want to be a teacher but I honestly might consider homeschooling my future kids if that's the case. With my province being rated the dumbest province in Canada multiple years running... I might have to.

If I had a kid, I'd be figuring out how to make home schooling work, believe me.

There are districts in the US that don't allow any food from home.

A friend's kid goes to a preschool that does allow food from home, but mom can't send whole milk, just 2% or skim because whole milk is 'not healthy'. The teacher takes the whole milk away if she sees it so the kid goes without. :huh:

Personally, I figure the school district can get their noses out of how a family chooses to feed their kid. They can have all the control they want over school-provided meals, but stuff from home had best be hands-off. If a parent is causing their child to be malnourished or severely overfed, there is always child services just like in any other case of suspected child abuse.

The funny thing is that I grew up eating cupcakes or cookies at birthdays (~40 of us), Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc, up until 6th grade. It was a badge of honor to have the mom who brought the yummiest treat. We also had an hour of recess where none of us were allowed to just sit around. Everyone had to be on the playground equipment or playing some other game that involved actually moving. This was on top of phys. ed. Somehow, there were very very few kids in our class that even qualified as 'chunky'. Wonder how that happened?

MKEgal

I know a few of my friends with kids in school were really bothered by the policies that began several years ago here of no homemade food. So just store bought prepackaged treats. I think one school specifies individual size portions, too.

"store bought prepackaged treats"????
IOW, crap.
They want healthy, then mandate crap.
This makes sense how, exactly?
I'd probably send something special in my kids' lunch, for them, and if I knew they eat lunch with friends I'd include some to share.

If the school had a policy against celebrating with special food, then I'd make a goodie bag to give to each kid in class: stickers, stampers, pencils, pens, little toys.

Daiako

Schools are all about wiping out 'differences' between kids. Some kids are fat. Some are poor. Some have summer birthdays. We can't have kids who aren't those things 'highlighting' that they aren't those things and making the kids who are those things feel bad.

Most of us probably agree that 30 cupcakes a year isn't ruining any kids life. That's what, 1 cupcake for every week of school? Not really noteworthy in any way shape or form. But that Jane Doe can't do that because reasons and might feel left out? Well that is a problem!

Some schools police what you can send your kid in a packed lunch. Soon some schools won't let you pack a lunch at all, I'm sure.

MKEgal

There are districts in the US that don't allow any food from home.

My kid would not go to school in one of those places if I knew about that policy.

A friend's kid goes to a preschool that does allow food from home, but mom can't send whole milk, just 2% or skim because whole milk is 'not healthy'. The teacher takes the whole milk away if she sees it so the kid goes without.

That would happen exactly _once_, then I would be meeting with the principal & maybe the superintendant (and perhaps even the media) to find out why my child was being denied food... the healthy food I chose & sent. :explode: :mad:

How about using an unmarked plastic bottle, remove the label? Miss Nosy can see that it's a white liquid, but doesn't know how much fat is in it. Children need more fat than adults anyway; they're growing, they need energy. The child can be taught to say, "Mommy packed my lunch, you'll have to ask her what kind of milk this is"... as she's drinking the last of it.

I figure the school district can get their noses out of how a family chooses to feed their kid. They can have all the control they want over school-provided meals, but stuff from home had best be hands-off. If a parent is causing their child to be malnourished or severely overfed, there is always child services just like in any other case of suspected child abuse.[/quote
Yes. This. Exactly.

amy8400

For those of us with birthdays in the summer (waaay back in the late 60s early 70s), we never got to be the center of attention and bring cupcakes and candy to pass around in class for our birthdays. This was Pre-Everybody-Wins Era, so if you had a summer birthday, too bad. No recognition; no being the cool kid for the day with the mom that brought in treats. I think I have a complex now from all that lack of attention :laugh:

yesmikan

This is the policy at my kids' school, too. Honestly, I'm glad. While a few cupcakes aren't going to hurt anyone's health, the average class size at my kids' school is about 30. My kid get enough treats already without having 2 to 3 dozen cupcakes given to them by teachers over the course of the school year.

I honestly believe that acknowledging a child's birthday and wishing them well is enough in the classroom and I don't see any purpose for everyone getting a "mini party". If parents want to serve birthday cake or cupcakes, they should have a party outside of the classroom.

I agree with this. It's not just one treat, it's one treat multiplied by however many birthdays there are in the class. Which might be an extra 25-40 (!) treats for yours and everyone else's kid over the year.

If you wanna celebrate your child's birthday, do it at home where you can have control over everything.

meshashesha2012

there's also the food allergy issue.

i had a summer birthday and wouldnt have shared my cupcakes/cookies anyway when i was that age but kids at my school would save their treats for their birthday party

lemurcat12

Even back in the olden days when I was in school I don't recall people bringing in treats for the whole class because it was one child's birthday. You'd get homemade treats for holiday parties (like Halloween) and other special events, but not everyone's birthday. So I guess I don't see it as a bad thing. It seems awfully disruptive and to take away time from real school stuff (like learning) if it's done for everyone's birthday, and I kind of do think it creates a weird dynamic if some moms do it and others do not.

But I don't have particularly strong feelings either way.

If there really are schools that don't let the parents choose what milk their own children take from home or the like (I'd want to see some source for the policy, because stories about horrible stuff schools do are often exaggerated), that is, of course, idiotic and wrong.

LiftAllThePizzas

I guess I'm kind of sentimental - the idea of a child taking 10 minutes of the day to share a treat with friends and to let the spotlight shine on them seems a sad thing to say goodbye too. I was also shocked when I found out that the kids get 1 15 minute recess per 6 hour day (we had 3 when I was growing up in the 1970s). Perhaps if they would introduce more recess the kids would burn off the cals from the 20 cupcakes (1 per birthday) that they bring in each year...

I guess the constructive thing to do would be to work with the school on some type of alternative birthday celebration.

I just need to wrap my head around the fact that we no longer seat 6 unbelted 7 year olds in the back of mommy's station wagon - 1 per booster in her SUV. And we don't send in cupcakes anymore. Perhaps it isn't as bad as I initially thought.

I don't understand why it's the school's job to celebrate your kid's birthday, or the job of your kid's classmates to celebrate someone else's birthday.

meridianova

i'm torn on this one. i fully agree that we've gone WAAAAAAY past the point of overboard when it comes to school regulations, what can and can't be brought, the laundry lists of what must and must NOT be in kids' lunches (including sending notes home if you're missing some fundamental thing in their lunch box), the allergies... being a parent is confusing enough, i don't want to have to play a guessing game when it comes to lunches too. but kids should be able to celebrate holidays and special occassions... it's half of what made going to school fun!

my son's preschool asks the parents to send candy or treats for the big candy-type holidays (halloween, christmas, easter) and for their birthday, but anything you send can't have been within thinking distance of a peanut... which means no baked goods because nobody can verify that nuts haven't been somewhere along the assembly line. technically, the kids have to be semi-quarrantined if they have ANY food from home, they have to finish it at the table away from the other kids, and it has to be fully gone before they're allowed to play. but my son gets hungry easily so i send him to school with an apple every morning. half the time i'm surprised they let him have it.

meridianova

I guess I'm kind of sentimental - the idea of a child taking 10 minutes of the day to share a treat with friends and to let the spotlight shine on them seems a sad thing to say goodbye too. I was also shocked when I found out that the kids get 1 15 minute recess per 6 hour day (we had 3 when I was growing up in the 1970s). Perhaps if they would introduce more recess the kids would burn off the cals from the 20 cupcakes (1 per birthday) that they bring in each year...

I guess the constructive thing to do would be to work with the school on some type of alternative birthday celebration.

I just need to wrap my head around the fact that we no longer seat 6 unbelted 7 year olds in the back of mommy's station wagon - 1 per booster in her SUV. And we don't send in cupcakes anymore. Perhaps it isn't as bad as I initially thought.

I don't understand why it's the school's job to celebrate your kid's birthday, or the job of your kid's classmates to celebrate someone else's birthday.

... maybe because it's nice to make someone feel special?

it's not like this happens to just ONE kid out of the entire class. everyone takes a turn at being the birthday kid. why is that bad?

jayliospecky

I wonder when the schools will institute a policy that bans giving gifts (non-food or otherwise) to teachers.

Shalaurise

For those who had summer birthdays. I was always jealous. Sure, I could bring something to school.. but that was it. For me it was no birthday party at all unless I brought something to school. No sleep overs. There was just no time for it with the school schedule. Not like those lucky kids who had summer birthdays and could have those things because they didn't have school on their special day. Because it didn't matter if their birthday fell on a Wednesday, there was still no school to be at that day or the day after.

Just some food for thought. It is super duper normal to be jealous of what someone else has that you don't. It is also kinda screwed up to tell someone they can't have something just because you can't. Great meme about it out there, but it is typically attached to another subject that is unrelated to the topic of this thread.

ChristineS_51

Even back in the olden days when I was in school I don't recall people bringing in treats for the whole class because it was one child's birthday. You'd get homemade treats for holiday parties (like Halloween) and other special events, but not everyone's birthday. So I guess I don't see it as a bad thing. It seems awfully disruptive and to take away time from real school stuff (like learning) if it's done for everyone's birthday, and I kind of do think it creates a weird dynamic if some moms do it and others do not.

When I was at school (olden days also :laugh: ) we got to stand at the front whilst the whole class sang Happy Birthday. Didn't bring cakes for the whole class. I don't have any little ones but my friend's children take cupcakes to school (Australia)

I can see that there could be allergy issues etc. and that could be why the school said no cupcakes, strawberries or grapes.

I find it horrific that teachers patrol children's individual lunch boxes - and to insist that everything be pre-packaged - ridiculous! Definitely not affordable or healthy.

veganbettie

at one of the preschools that i was looking at for my 2 year old, I had to provide a doctors note if I was going to provide my child his own food from home because we follow a vegan diet. That REALLY bothered me. He is my child, I should be able to decide what he eats, not a freaking school, not a doctor. Me. (well and of course his father)

That said, it's because they lose government funding if the child doesn't eat there.....Which I understand...but it still really bothered me.

School is for learning, not for celebrating birthdays. I think cupcakes are unnecessary personally. And it isolates kids.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

A lot of schools don't allow birthday treats anymore. There are allergies and it's a distraction in class. If they took 30 minutes out of the day to eat treats every time a kid had a birthday, they'd lose a lot of time.

Hungry_Annie

The restrictions these days are brutal. I'll feed my kid whatever I want. Within reason of course.

kmbweber2014

My son goes to a private school and they still allow treats brought in. A few kids have allergies and the teacher informs the parents about the issues and the parents are usually really good about making sure all the kids get to enjoy. Most of the kids in his class are summer babies so they don't really get too many parties, and it only takes 10 minutes.

veganbettie

my elementary school did one thing for the summer birthdays.

Maybe a smart idea would be to once a month just give the kids a break, throw a mini party or something. But I agree with 30 plus kids in a class, that's a lot of cupcakes!!!

sentaruu

we had birthday parties and Christmas parties and Halloween parties and random cookie and cupcake days. I don't remember any of my classmates hospitalized or committing suicide over them.

I say the school keeps pushing the boundaries of sanity just to they can feel good about themselves.