Is she right or wrong?
Options
msarro
Posts: 2,748 Member
What do you think??
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/nyregion/16bigcity.html?ex=1402891200&en=a0aa56130c9b56bf&ei=5124
MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.” Ms. Roth is being driven mad by Public School 9, where her children are in second and fourth grades, and it seems that P.S. 9, in turn, is being driven mad by Ms. Roth.
Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has no problem with the school lunches provided at the highly regarded elementary school on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street. What sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym, the sugary “Fun-Dip” packets that some parent provided the whole class on Valentine’s Day.
“I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese,” Ms. Roth, a trim, impassioned 40-year-old from Atlanta, said in an interview. “Is there or is there not an obesity and diabetes epidemic in this country?”
When offered any food at school other than the school lunch, Ms. Roth’s children — who shall go nameless since it seems they have enough on, or off, their plates — are instructed to deposit the item into a piece of Tupperware their mother calls a “junk food collector.”
This solution seemed to be working pretty well until Ms. Roth’s daughter dutifully tried to stick a juice pop — a special class treat from her teacher on a hot day — into her plastic container. The teacher told Ms. Roth’s daughter to eat it or lose it, and according to the child pointed out that she had seen the young girl eating the corn chips served with school lunch — did that not count as junk food?
This prompted one of Ms. Roth’s infamous heated e-mail messages to the school. Which, in turn, prompted administrators to pull her daughter out of class to discuss the juice pop incident, which only further infuriated Ms. Roth, who said her daughter felt as if she’d been ambushed.
What followed was the kind of meeting in which bureaucracy masquerades as farce, or maybe it’s the other way around. Ms. Roth and her husband, Ben, say they were told by Helene Moffatt, a school safety official, that if they considered the regular dissemination of junk food a threat to their children’s health and safety — and indeed, they do — they should request a health and safety transfer, something that generally follows threats of violence. That transfer request, they were told, would also require filing a complaint with the police.
“What would that conversation even sound like?” asked Mr. Roth, who works in marketing. “ ‘We know you guys are dealing with stabbings and shootings, but stop everything: We have a cupcake situation’ ?”
Both parents left feeling they were being pushed out of P.S. 9, which they perceive as exhausted by Ms. Roth’s intense lobbying for, among other things, permission slips for any food not on the official lunch menu. It would not be the first time: The Roths previously lived in Millburn, N.J., where, after Ms. Roth waged war on the bagels and Pringles meal served to kids at lunch, received e-mail from one member of the P.T.A. that said, “Please, consider moving.” That was in 2006, and P.S. 9 has been hearing about its transgressions against healthy eating pretty much ever since.
“The community is very concerned,” the principal, Diane Brady, wrote in an e-mail message. At the meeting with Ms. Moffatt, Ms. Brady said that Ms. Roth “was hostile” and “threw candy onto the table and cursed.” It was not the first time, she added, that Ms. Roth had “displayed this hostile behavior.”
Ms. Roth’s message is hardly outlandish: There is an obesity epidemic, and there are probably better ways to celebrate a child’s birth than sending a passel of kids into sugar shock in the middle of math class.
Her extreme methods have earned her attention before: The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream. That was Ms. Roth who called Santa Claus fat on television that Christmas, and she has a continuing campaign against the humble Girl Scout cookies, on the premise that no community activity should promote unhealthy eating.
“She has some valid points, but the way she delivers them is abrasive,” said Jim Stanek, a fellow P.S. 9 parent, who responded angrily to an e-mail message Ms. Roth sent to around 75 parents saying that the physical education teacher who served her children doughnuts probably “couldn’t pass a standardized phys ed. test.”
It is too bad that Ms. Roth’s suggestions come in e-mail messages strung with too many capital letters and undiplomatic, if accurate, scare tactics (on the threat of diabetes—“we’re talking amputations, blindness, endless finger pricking, endless disabilities”). It would probably benefit New York’s students, and no doubt Ms. Roth’s family, if she tried to catch a few flies with honey. Make that agave nectar.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/nyregion/16bigcity.html?ex=1402891200&en=a0aa56130c9b56bf&ei=5124
MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.” Ms. Roth is being driven mad by Public School 9, where her children are in second and fourth grades, and it seems that P.S. 9, in turn, is being driven mad by Ms. Roth.
Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has no problem with the school lunches provided at the highly regarded elementary school on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street. What sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym, the sugary “Fun-Dip” packets that some parent provided the whole class on Valentine’s Day.
“I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese,” Ms. Roth, a trim, impassioned 40-year-old from Atlanta, said in an interview. “Is there or is there not an obesity and diabetes epidemic in this country?”
When offered any food at school other than the school lunch, Ms. Roth’s children — who shall go nameless since it seems they have enough on, or off, their plates — are instructed to deposit the item into a piece of Tupperware their mother calls a “junk food collector.”
This solution seemed to be working pretty well until Ms. Roth’s daughter dutifully tried to stick a juice pop — a special class treat from her teacher on a hot day — into her plastic container. The teacher told Ms. Roth’s daughter to eat it or lose it, and according to the child pointed out that she had seen the young girl eating the corn chips served with school lunch — did that not count as junk food?
This prompted one of Ms. Roth’s infamous heated e-mail messages to the school. Which, in turn, prompted administrators to pull her daughter out of class to discuss the juice pop incident, which only further infuriated Ms. Roth, who said her daughter felt as if she’d been ambushed.
What followed was the kind of meeting in which bureaucracy masquerades as farce, or maybe it’s the other way around. Ms. Roth and her husband, Ben, say they were told by Helene Moffatt, a school safety official, that if they considered the regular dissemination of junk food a threat to their children’s health and safety — and indeed, they do — they should request a health and safety transfer, something that generally follows threats of violence. That transfer request, they were told, would also require filing a complaint with the police.
“What would that conversation even sound like?” asked Mr. Roth, who works in marketing. “ ‘We know you guys are dealing with stabbings and shootings, but stop everything: We have a cupcake situation’ ?”
Both parents left feeling they were being pushed out of P.S. 9, which they perceive as exhausted by Ms. Roth’s intense lobbying for, among other things, permission slips for any food not on the official lunch menu. It would not be the first time: The Roths previously lived in Millburn, N.J., where, after Ms. Roth waged war on the bagels and Pringles meal served to kids at lunch, received e-mail from one member of the P.T.A. that said, “Please, consider moving.” That was in 2006, and P.S. 9 has been hearing about its transgressions against healthy eating pretty much ever since.
“The community is very concerned,” the principal, Diane Brady, wrote in an e-mail message. At the meeting with Ms. Moffatt, Ms. Brady said that Ms. Roth “was hostile” and “threw candy onto the table and cursed.” It was not the first time, she added, that Ms. Roth had “displayed this hostile behavior.”
Ms. Roth’s message is hardly outlandish: There is an obesity epidemic, and there are probably better ways to celebrate a child’s birth than sending a passel of kids into sugar shock in the middle of math class.
Her extreme methods have earned her attention before: The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream. That was Ms. Roth who called Santa Claus fat on television that Christmas, and she has a continuing campaign against the humble Girl Scout cookies, on the premise that no community activity should promote unhealthy eating.
“She has some valid points, but the way she delivers them is abrasive,” said Jim Stanek, a fellow P.S. 9 parent, who responded angrily to an e-mail message Ms. Roth sent to around 75 parents saying that the physical education teacher who served her children doughnuts probably “couldn’t pass a standardized phys ed. test.”
It is too bad that Ms. Roth’s suggestions come in e-mail messages strung with too many capital letters and undiplomatic, if accurate, scare tactics (on the threat of diabetes—“we’re talking amputations, blindness, endless finger pricking, endless disabilities”). It would probably benefit New York’s students, and no doubt Ms. Roth’s family, if she tried to catch a few flies with honey. Make that agave nectar.
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Replies
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She needs to get a life! Some people just want to complain to hear themselves.
I agree that the special snacks are junk - but from my experience with my kids - it's not a common occurance and I worry more about what the school lunches are than the occasional "treat"0 -
I think she has a good point but is a bit crazy in her approach... Her kids don't have to eat it and I'm sure she wasn't a perfect angel earlier in life.0
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I vote wrong. Too extreme. Feed your kids healthy stuff, pack their lunches, but chill out about the cupcakes and fundip... And why couldn't her daughter throw away the juice pop? "eat it or lose it" right? Why couldn't she "lose it"? Doesn't make any sense...0
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WOW! that woman is CRAZY! i mean, she might have a point, but she's definitly going about it the wrong way! i feel bad for her kids!0
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I don't think it is a crime for children to have cupcakes on a birthday...what is up with this lady. I think the problem of obesity is the result of an all or nothing society. it sounds like this school is making an effort to encourage the children to eat well. We all know that a sweet treat once in a while is a good thing. I think this lady has an eating disorder that she is pawning off on her children.0
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I think she's right to an extent. Granted, as with anything else, it is possible to take her junk food crusade too far. There's nothing wrong with being civil, and she'd probably get a much better response from the community at large if she were. Instead of yelling and e-mailing, since she's the parent with the problem, perhaps she should help create healthier snacks for the students on special days. It would teach them a whole bunch more about eating healthy and expose them to new foods. Her flying off the handle at the smallest infraction won't do that.0
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I also don't think you should be putting elementary age children in the middle like that - eat it or lose it yeah but why should the kid have to feel the pressure that the mom's put there - can you imagine how the mom reacted to her for eating the popsicle - I feel bad for the kids.0
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too extreme. let the kids be kids, balance is the key. noone will get obese from the occasional sweet. And as long as the school lunches are healthy, what's her problem? :noway:0
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I liked the agave nectar dig at the end of the article, lol0
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Sounds like she has a genuine concern but she's going about it the complete wrong way. Rather than drive everyone nuts and try to control your children's every last food decision (and everyone else's children, for that matter!) try educating them on food. Show them by example that you can have a treat every now and then. If little Johnny and little Suzy are both celebrating their birthdays this week, pick one day to have a cupcake treat and just say no thanks to the other. If my mother had controlled my food like that, I would have binged on junk food at friend's houses and probably gained about 100 pounds as soon as I moved out! While my mom still didn't teach me quite the right way to treat food, I have to say that it was better than the road Ms. Roth is taking.0
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I don't know what kind of lunches PS9 serves where she lives in New York, but she should be having a problem with the school lunches too............
I know around here (Southern Illinois), the school lunches are anything but healthy.................Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese..........
Grilled cheese on white bread served with french fries............
All junk carbs, barely any protein............0 -
That's way too extreme. The food being served at lunch is healthy....the occasional cupcake and holiday treat isn't going to make her kids obese. And even if she still wasn't want them to have it, when the kid is offered the treat, why can't they say no thank you, rather than accept it and put it in the "junk bin". We have cake for everyone's birthday in the department at work. Between ours and our sister department that makes about 25 birthdays to celebrate each year....when they pass the cake around and I don't want any, I simply say no thank you.
Besides, I am 30 years old....when my friends and I were kids, there was not this obese child epidemic going around, and we had cupcakes and special treats at school. Why is that? Because when we were kids, we played and ran around and got exercise. Now all kids do is sit around like lazy lumps playing video games. Not to mention the fact that recess has been cut more than half of what it was when I was a kid.0 -
Besides, I am 30 years old....when my friends and I were kids, there was not this obese child epidemic going around, and we had cupcakes and special treats at school. Why is that? Because when we were kids, we played and ran around and got exercise. Now all kids do is sit around like lazy lumps playing video games. Not to mention the fact that recess has been cut more than half of what it was when I was a kid.
SO TRUE! Get them outside to play!
Tag - your it!0 -
I have to weigh in here.... intersting post....
Yes, she went too far, and too fanatical....
However, as a mother of two kids with life threatening allergies, and an advocate of healthy eating, I personally think that we shouldn't reward the kids with treats or food, and we shouldn't necessarily celebrate with food. I wouldn't be too jazzed if someone gave my child a "Fun Dip".
Here in Ontario, kids bring their own food for lunch and two snacks) and I love this - everyone eat their own food, and no one brings in any communal food.
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She's right. I have four children, ages 15, 14, 4 and 2. My husband and I work hard to teach them the things we feel are important. Schools often trample all over things we feel should be left to parents but fail to set a good example for the things that are important to our children's future.
Schools have taken on all kinds of issues, sex, racism, cultural sensitivity (including dabbling in several non-Christian relious practices as a part of other cultures), and many other "life" issues that fall outside the boundries of academics. So why is nutrition so different?
I have tried to involve myself in the public schools here to help promote positive changes in the food offerings. The teachers want healthy foods. The kids want healthy foods. The obstacle is PARENTS!
My husband and I have decided to send our three younger children to a private school in the fall. My 14 year old spent an entire day at the school last month. She brought home the school's lunch menu and both of my teenagers oooohhh'd and aaahhh'd over things like cottage cheese and fresh friut (rather than canned) being served. The whole grain hamburger buns and grilled chicken patties had them far too excited. My children are not the exception either.
I've told this story on MFP before. I work in breastfeeding and nutrition, through a program that serves low income families. Last summer I did a series of classes at our local boys and girls club. I brought healthy snacks everytime we met. Nearly all of the kids said they NEVER ate fresh fruits or veggies. ALL of the fruits and veggies they ate were canned, and as they put it, mushy. These kids all eat school lunches, and home meals are often made with foods from food closets. I brought honey dew melon in towards the end of the series and there was nearly a fist fight over the leftovers. The class was 9 to 12 year old girls and they were seriously that upset with each other over honey dew melon!
On the flip side, my husband was in Iraq over the Memorial Day holiday this year. I planted red, white and blue flowers in our yard and placed 4 reasonably sized flags among our landscaping. My daughters freaked out, fearing some of our neighbors would perceive that as racist. We live in a rural area and there are many hispanic migrant workers who have settled here. At school this year, they spent a great deal of time talking about cultural sensitivity, so much so that my kids started to feel like showing any sense of American pride is considered offensive to those who were not born here.
On the other hand, they sold Krispy Kreme donuts by the dozen as an end of the year fundraiser. Eating Krispy Kreme donuts regularly is potentially hazardous to their health, but that is not important to schools.
This very issue is a big part of why we have chosen to remove three of our four children from the public school system, forever. They will either attend private school or be homeschooled. The public school systems in the US have chosen to "educate" our children in the areas they feel are important and not in the areas that are important to the health and welfare of our children. They too have become victims of Washington DC. There is far too much money and power wrapped up in processed, sugary foods to ever get any publicly funded entitiy to fight them on behalf of our children. We have big tobacco, we have big oil and we have big food. All three are killing the human race with one form of pollution of another.0 -
Besides, I am 30 years old....when my friends and I were kids, there was not this obese child epidemic going around, and we had cupcakes and special treats at school. Why is that? Because when we were kids, we played and ran around and got exercise. Now all kids do is sit around like lazy lumps playing video games. Not to mention the fact that recess has been cut more than half of what it was when I was a kid.
SO TRUE! Get them outside to play!
Tag - your it!
I'm agreeing with these posters. Once in awhile treats don't make kids fat. It's the constant diet that they are fed of fast food, highly processed foods. And the serious lack of activity.
She could have taught her kids to say "no thank you" rather than having her junk food container.
I think that she has an issue with food and she is projecting that onto her children. And the fact that I think she likes attention.0 -
Besides, I am 30 years old....when my friends and I were kids, there was not this obese child epidemic going around, and we had cupcakes and special treats at school. Why is that? Because when we were kids, we played and ran around and got exercise. Now all kids do is sit around like lazy lumps playing video games. Not to mention the fact that recess has been cut more than half of what it was when I was a kid.
SO TRUE! Get them outside to play!
Tag - your it!
I'm agreeing with these posters. Once in awhile treats don't make kids fat. It's the constant diet that they are fed of fast food, highly processed foods. And the serious lack of activity.
She could have taught her kids to say "no thank you" rather than having her junk food container.
I think that she has an issue with food and she is projecting that onto her children. And the fact that I think she likes attention.
Wouldn't THAT be a *fantastic* skill to teach your child - how to assertively say "no thank you" when offered food rather than the "junk food bin". Personally, I'm still working on that...0 -
Just my .02
Maybe she should consider home schooling if she wants control over every little aspect of their day
I think she has an extremely valid point but has gone a tad overboard
My kids are 4 and 5 and I 'used' to be extremely cautious of everything that they ate/drank.....organic etc
BUT I have loosened up a bit as they've gotten older
I think if you concentrate on feeding your kids healthy foods 90% of the time when they are at home/with you....then it's Ok to have a little junk here and there....
We should all eat a healthy diet all the time, but the reality of it is that food is fun and food is often part of social gatherings, play dates etc....
One juice box or cupcake is not going to kill the kid or make him/her obese
Kim0 -
Besides, I am 30 years old....when my friends and I were kids, there was not this obese child epidemic going around, and we had cupcakes and special treats at school. Why is that? Because when we were kids, we played and ran around and got exercise. Now all kids do is sit around like lazy lumps playing video games. Not to mention the fact that recess has been cut more than half of what it was when I was a kid.
SO TRUE! Get them outside to play!
Tag - your it!
I am 33 and you both need to realize that things are a lot different now! For starters, there are many more chemicals and artificial everything in foods today than there were when we were growing up. Video games started with our generation!
It totally pisses me off when people call kids today lazy! It's "parents" who buy the video games, it's "parents" who are so busy with their own lives that they don't take their kids to the park or outside to play.
Our neighborhoods are no longer safe to play in. Criminals have more rights than children do, so blaming the kids for being "lazy lumps" is pretty unfair.0 -
I think the "Junk Food Bin" will eventually grow some things that are not to healthy as well! :bigsmile: This lady is crazy, teach them the right way to eat and get them out in the evening to exercise! That is what wroks for all of us, why not instill that into your children!
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