Cupcakes Banned in MA Schools

mfpcopine

I am a little confused here. I live in Canada and there is no lunches provided to the kids. They bring their own and in high school there is a cafeteria but you buy your own or bring a lunch.
Are these schools providing the lunches for free?

Many school districts have a free lunch and sometimes a free breakfast program for students whose family income falls below a certain level. Other students buy lunch at the cafeteria.

monty619

fine with me... its those damned bakesales that got me fat in the first place

Polly758

what crap is that??? Completely absurd.

It's total crap from the state that feels the need to control everything we do and how we raise our kids. Do you know that our schools will give condoms to 12 year olds, without the parents knowledge, but these same kids can't be trusted with a cupcake. True story!

So wait... which do you object to more, your kid getting fat because of the government, or getting an STD because of the government? Just curious...

mfpcopine

The happy meal the kids ate for dinner on Monday doesn't make them fat. Nor does that Dunkin' Donut they ate on the way to school on Wednesday. The meat lovers pizza with extra cheese and stuffed hotdog crust the ate on Friday night, not contributing to their weight gain. Oh and at the matinee Saturday afternoon, that extra large popcorn and super size coke didn't make them gain weight either. It's those damn bake sale cupcakes from the annual PTA fundraiser!

True, but the only activity the school can control is the fundraiser. Eureka moment! They could even try to come up with a fund raising event that has nothing to do with food!

pbajwally

I'm sure it's just a matter of time before you add NY to the list. Lord knows, in NYC they want to control it all: banning trans fats in all restaurants including butter in the mix. My thing is this: if you want to indulge once in awhile - DO IT. Who the heck is the government to tell me what I can eat, who I can marry, where I can smoke, when/how or IF I can carry a gun or anything else?!

Do I think people need to be better educated on healthy eating? Absofreakinlutely. But banning CUPCAKES ain't gonna do it. Should people be educated on the harmful effects of smoking? Sure! BUT... you can only LEAD a horse to water. Why should kids have to give up the fun things of being a kid?? Everything in moderation.

People are going to eat what they want to eat. If it's banned, they will find a way. It's just that simple.

The obesity epidemic isn't going to just go away. People definitely need to know what's good and what's bad... BUT be left to make their own choices. I mean, after all - isn't that what this country (once upon a time, anyway) is all about?? The freedom to choose?

Sorry, this commentary seems a bit scattered. Too many thoughts parading around my brain with this issue!

slipandsink

I work for a company that caters meals to schools...just recently we got notified of a HUGE government regulation change to all meals. It should make things verrrrrry interesting....and kids are gonna HATE the new foods!

they did something like this in some schools in the UK. The result? Parents passing fish and chips and other deep fried takeaway food to their kids over the school fence at lunchtimes, because their kids wouldn't eat the new healthy meals.

But eventually (much to my dismay, I'd just turned 12 when Jamie Oliver struck and as a result he is not my favourite person in the world!) they got over it and ate what they were given. Too many kids are fussy nowadays; my 7 year old cousin refuses to eat 'proper' food and only eats turkey ham, Tesco value sausage rolls (he's able to tell the difference between them and other brands and will spit it out if he thinks it's not TV), cheddar cheese (mild), lettuce and Pringles. Why? Because he screams and spits out any other food you give him and his parents eventually give in and get him what he wants. If they didn't do that, he'd soon start eating normal food as he'd be so hungry he'd *have* to.

I grew up right in the middle of the storm that Jamie Oliver made in the UK and my school went from having pizza, turkey twizzlers, chips and cookies on the menu to salads and chicken breasts every day. I went from a healthy 11 year old to an overweight 15 year old because I gave up my biggest physical activity (ballet) and didn't adjust the amount of food I was eating to fuel two hours of exercise a day. I went to an all girls school and whilst we had a handful of overweight pupils (before AND long after Jamie Oliver introduced his healthy meals) we also had a lot of anoretics, who thrived off the large amount of physical activity offered (at least three different sports clubs every lunch time, after school sports and if you wanted it, extra PE during the week) and the lettuce leaves we were served.

When I turned 17 I gained even more weight, why? Because we were allowed out to Tesco to buy our own lunches and I went overboard. Teaching people moderation and nutrition knowledge is far more important than banning a cupcake.

dhakiyya

I work in a preschool that recently got orders to switch up the menu planning options to all skim milk, all whole, grains, all fresh fruits and veggies (or canned in natural juice or water), no processed meats, no sweets. Our children and families are also no longer allowed to bring ANY food into the program (including birthday / holiday cupcakes or anything else for that matter). We are not allowed to sell food to our families or ask them to sell food for fundraising purposes.

We thought it would be a tough transition, but guess what...IT WAS HARDER FOR THE TEACHERS AND PARENTS than for the children. Sure, some of them pushed some of the new foods around on the plate a little before they actually tried it, but THEY LOVE some of their new meal components.

The hardest part is finding other great fundraising options... ideas anyone?

This pisses me off for one big reason.... You don't take whole milk away from pre schoolers! The nutrients in whole milk are far superior than those in skim milk, with more fat to balance out the sugar content. Kids need fat! Whole milk is not going to make a child fat, not will it give them heart disease. And I'm an adult who doesn't even drink cows milk.

Agreed. Preschool kids need the fat in milk. The natural human diet (i.e. palaeo) is to have breastmilk up to age 5 or so, kids need full fat animal milk until age 5 or so (or to be breastfed for that long, but that's for another debate on another forum LOL) Fat soluble vitamins like A and D are not in skimmed milk, because when you skim it you remove the fat - along with all the vitamins in the fat. What's healthy for adults who are fairly sedentary is not the same as what's healthy for growing kids. Children even those over age 5 who are active and not obese are not at risk from full fat dairy, and need the fat soluble vitamins in them.

Going back to the OP... eating cupcakes occasionally e.g. at bake sales does not make kids fat. It's inactivity and constant eating of junk food that makes kids fat. The school would do far better to encourage sports participation and have more PE and break times where the kids can run around and play in active ways, than to ban cupcakes. Kids need to learn to handle treats in moderation. Banning unhealthy food completely is not the way to go about it, because everyone just wants forbidden food more. Give kids choices and educate them about how their choices affect their bodies. I and my kids follow the 95% rule, as in if 95% of what you eat is healthy, unhealthy food once in a while isn't going to do you any harm. So they have trips to fast food restaurants, cake, sweets, chocolate, all sorts....... just not all that often. Day in day out they eat healthy foods, and they play outdoors a lot and have active games/toys and a limit on how much TV each day.

chicpeach

That's my point. The occasional cupcake is not the problem and banning cupcakes is not going to solve the problem. If they want to solve the obesity issue, they have to get to the root of the problem:

Bad parental decisions regarding the nutrition and physical activity of their kids
Over abundance of bad nutrition easily and so conveniently available

The answer is going to have to include educating the people responsible for making nutrition and physical activity decisions for the obese kids. Until parents step up and take responsibility for their children's weight, the problem will continue no matter what the state does.

dhakiyya

I work for a company that caters meals to schools...just recently we got notified of a HUGE government regulation change to all meals. It should make things verrrrrry interesting....and kids are gonna HATE the new foods!

they did something like this in some schools in the UK. The result? Parents passing fish and chips and other deep fried takeaway food to their kids over the school fence at lunchtimes, because their kids wouldn't eat the new healthy meals.

But eventually (much to my dismay, I'd just turned 12 when Jamie Oliver struck and as a result he is not my favourite person in the world!) they got over it and ate what they were given.

Glad to hear it

Teaching people moderation and nutrition knowledge is far more important than banning a cupcake.

Totally agree I don't agree with banning things, it just makes people - kids and adults - want them even more.

Katie3784

I HATE the comment about giving condoms to kids. You may be one of the parents that actually chooses to teach their kids about sex and how to protect themselves on their own, but there are many, many parents out there who think an abstinance only approach is the way to go. Everyone knows that abstinance only programs do not work, and in fact, teen pregnancy rates are slightly higher in states that are highly religious and therefore against teaching real sex education in school. It is not right to take risks with these kids' lives because their parents are not enlightened enough to realize that education does not equal teen sex. Kids are either going to have sex or they're not, and if they do choose to make that decision, it is much better that they know how to prevent things like STDs and pregnancy.

Grandysl

Big Brother knows whats best!!

mfpcopine

Teaching people moderation and nutrition knowledge is far more important than banning a cupcake.

Of course it is. They don't have the money. So they're doing what they can: not giving high-calorie food events the school's sanction.

There are other ways of raising money. Time to think outside the cupcake box.

mfpcopine

Big Brother knows whats best!!

If people don't start controlling their weight and drive up healthcare and insurance costs there probably will be government intervention.

mfpcopine

Kids are either going to have sex or they're not, and if they do choose to make that decision, it is much better that they know how to prevent things like STDs and pregnancy.

Could not agree more.

hillbillyannie

Although I don't agree with school kids selling stuff like candy bars because the school gets very little of it and it's big business, I do agree that it's ludicrous to think that's going to stop the over-weight problem especially in children. Most over weight children have over weight family members. It's a life style that spans generations. I tell people there are two things I had to alter my thinking about: first, no ones going to take my food away from me and secondly, it's not the last meal I'm ever going to get. Unfortunately many children grow up in a household where they feel these two things are going to happen. When we change these situations, we will also change some of the reasons we depend on food for comfort and security.

becoming_a_new_me

I suppose they want the PTA to have produce sales? Band to sell fruit baskets? Sports teams to sell shoes? Good lawd...selling the cookies never made anyone fat...eating all of them in one sitting did. That's like saying guns kill people....no, a gun is perfectly harmless laying there all locked up and unloaded. It's the idiot controling the gun that killed someone. #fail

LilynEdensmom

Ugh how bout bringing PE back and recess and teaching a class on nutrition.

becoming_a_new_me

I work for a company that caters meals to schools...just recently we got notified of a HUGE government regulation change to all meals. It should make things verrrrrry interesting....and kids are gonna HATE the new foods!

they did something like this in some schools in the UK. The result? Parents passing fish and chips and other deep fried takeaway food to their kids over the school fence at lunchtimes, because their kids wouldn't eat the new healthy meals.

But eventually (much to my dismay, I'd just turned 12 when Jamie Oliver struck and as a result he is not my favourite person in the world!) they got over it and ate what they were given. Too many kids are fussy nowadays; my 7 year old cousin refuses to eat 'proper' food and only eats turkey ham, Tesco value sausage rolls (he's able to tell the difference between them and other brands and will spit it out if he thinks it's not TV), cheddar cheese (mild), lettuce and Pringles. Why? Because he screams and spits out any other food you give him and his parents eventually give in and get him what he wants. If they didn't do that, he'd soon start eating normal food as he'd be so hungry he'd *have* to.

I grew up right in the middle of the storm that Jamie Oliver made in the UK and my school went from having pizza, turkey twizzlers, chips and cookies on the menu to salads and chicken breasts every day. I went from a healthy 11 year old to an overweight 15 year old because I gave up my biggest physical activity (ballet) and didn't adjust the amount of food I was eating to fuel two hours of exercise a day. I went to an all girls school and whilst we had a handful of overweight pupils (before AND long after Jamie Oliver introduced his healthy meals) we also had a lot of anoretics, who thrived off the large amount of physical activity offered (at least three different sports clubs every lunch time, after school sports and if you wanted it, extra PE during the week) and the lettuce leaves we were served.

When I turned 17 I gained even more weight, why? Because we were allowed out to Tesco to buy our own lunches and I went overboard. Teaching people moderation and nutrition knowledge is far more important than banning a cupcake.

I love this point!! My sister caters to her children's nit-pickyness. There are days when she makes 3 separate meals!!! And she lets them eat junk. My daughter loves going there cause the pantry is full of chips, cookies, candies, etc. All her kids are lean but that will change when they aren't doing sports anymore.

The funny thing about her catering to their requests? When they come to my house, the eat what I put on the table...and they like it. The same foods they will not eat at her house, they love at mine. That tells me the problem is my sister, not the kids.

vanessalillian82

The last school lunch I saw consisted of (alleged) chicken nuggets, corn, fruit punch, and canned fruit......I don't think the problem is the bake sales or birthday parties.

Definitely this. Jaime Oliver did a series about getting schools to change habits to help stop childhood obesity and ultimately he wasn't very successful because the bad foods are cheap, easy and the kids are so hooked on the salts, fats and textures that they refuse to eat real food. Coming from a school where I ate that same crap day in day out I can attest to the fact that it majorly contributes to the problem.

I'm from Australia where we generally pack our own lunches, and if I'm not much mistaken, our obesity rate recently overtook that of the USA. It sounds like school lunches are a huge factor in the States and the UK, but it's probably the fatty take-away food that time poor working parents feed their children for dinner that pushes the problem over the edge, at least, it is in Australia. That, and the crud kids mindlessly stuff their faces with while they sit on their behinds in front of the X-box after school instead of playing/exercising outside. A high-calorie school lunch probably wouldn't be such a big deal to an active kid who was fed healthy food when they got home, but, knowing that it isn't the case, it sounds like school lunches could do with an overhaul.

Also, here, people **say** take-away is cheaper than fresh food but they're totally wrong. E.g. potatoes = $1.98/kg + about 18c for the oil to fry them; vs a bag of oven fries at about $5 per kilo; vs (let's say) $2 for a 100g box of french fries at McDonalds = $20/kg!!! Many people simply lack the knowledge of how to cook cheap, quick, healthy food, and any notion of the calorie content of both processed and fresh foods, not to mention an accurate concept of portion size.

A lot could be solved, regardless of whether or not school lunches are provided, by giving new parents nutrition classes (and possibly parenting ones - I will eat anything, and I can probably attribute it to the fact that if I didn't eat what was put in front of me I went hungry, simple as that); teaching nutrition in Home Economics/cooking classes at schools; and re-introducing sports to schools. If you educate parents (and children) in nutrition and fitness then being overweight becomes, in many (non-medical) cases, an informed decision. I gained about 10kg the year I stopped taking PE classes 3 days a week and my lunchbox (which invariably included a sandwich and a couple of pieces of fruit) didn't change, and it took me ten years of educating myself to understand nutrition and calories in/calories out and shift the weight back off again. The answer isn't banning cupcakes in schools!

dejatyja

And my kids say they get to eat junk food at school because I stopped buying it....lol