Super Policy or Food Police Gone Wild?

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.

... 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?

But not everyone gets a turn. Summer birthday kids and those who can't afford to bring treats for everyone don't get a turn.

This is typical school BS coming from washington DC on down. At our schools they'll confiscate anything you pack in the lunches they don't approve of. I'd be down there raising hell. It's just another case of the jackbooted food gestapo running wild.

I attempted cup cakes for my eldest birthday at school, but they didn't turn out lol. So both my girls had bought cup cakes for their birthdays lol.

Kindy (4 and 5 year olds) is nut free. Trace of nuts is okay, and they are teaching the kids about food safety. One child doesn't eat cakes, so her mother has given them a bag of chocolates. She gets one of them. The other kids in the class all had the cakes.

At school they haven't said no nuts, but one girl in my eldest class is allergic to peanuts. So we aren't sending peanut butter etc in lunches. On birthdays she goes to the office and gets a cake her mum has sent for her treats. So she doesn't miss out.

I couldn't imagine not sending them lunch. In Australia it's rare that lunch is supplied, though most schools have 'tuck shop' and they cook at a kindy sometimes. We have trouble getting my eldest to eat her lunch, so tend to pack her high calorie options. A couple of weeks ago I found out kids were asking for food from her lunch box. We had a 'chat' about why that's not a good idea. My daughter is borderline with her weight, so needs the food. Some kids may not and also it isn't right that they share.

I think it's a bit over the top that you couldn't bring in anything. I've always asked when bringing in treats due to allergies. There are none in our home but I know others do so I try to be cautious; especially with kids.

My son still refuses to take PBJ to school even though he absolutely loves them, because of a girl with nut allergies in his Kindergarten class. He's in third grade now! Their teacher would make all of the kids with PB go to the end of the line & sit at the "back" of their tables away from the girl with the nut allergy. All of the kids without got to be at the front. I think he saw it as a punishment because the entire year he had to be in the back. It wasn't until towards the end of the year he told me he didn't want PBJ anymore and why he was at the back. I figured it was because they lined up alphabetically & we have a Y last name. Once he told me I sent jelly or meat sandwiches.

Many schools are going to this. I teach preschool and we have a no food donations policy. We tell parents that if they want to bring in pencils or stickers or even special napkins for lunch that they can do that so they do have alternatives if they want to send something. There are so many kids with food allergies that even sending "healthy" treats may cause problems. I am thinking of several kids with peanut allergies. I have bought treats like granola bars that were chocolate chip and the ingredient list said nothing about peanuts but in very small print on the box was "May contain peanuts". If someone bought that and parents and teachers didn't catch it, that could cause huge problems. So yes it is a pain but I am sure the teacher has a wonderful way of acknowledging your child's special day.

I got to my first mention of the federal government "ramming things down our throats" and decided not to read this whole thread, haha. So I'm not sure if this has been said yet.

I think that with all the possible issues with kids feeling left out, with food allergies, special dietary considerations, etc. it's probably for the best that this is the school's policy. (How would you feel if you had an obese child, who you were working very hard with on healthy eating, who snuck two cupcakes every time a classmate had a birthday? Talk about a sugar rush!) Not to mention, there's no saying what is in the home-made treats brought in by other families, whether they used clean hands to make them, etc.

I would ask the teacher if there's anything else she/he could suggest to help your child celebrate their birthday at school? I'm sure you're not the first parent to ask this. The school is trying to do their best to help all the students; I guarantee there's not a conference room of evil administrators cackling at all the insane restrictions they're cooking up just to make your life hard.

At my youngest son's school we can bring in store bought stuff, no homemade. ..and he's in kindergarten, so at the beginning of the year they asked all the parents to bring in snacks for the kids to have throughout the year, with no restrictions.

that was the policy in my kids elementary and that was ten years ago now. THey did let me come in with balloons,sing happy birthday and pass out goodie bags to the kids in the class. its the new thing to get our kids eating right. I am so happy that Michele Obama and her myplate movement has helped kids have better food choices in the schools. Well that is until they hit high school. ugg then its a different story. My kids all hated cake so it wasn't a problem anyways. You can always join PTO if you want to be part of the policies. That is what I had done for everyone of my kids school years.

For a long time now schools in my area have had a no home made food policy. I haven't heard of a "wellness policy" before, but I don't have kids in school any more.

The same for our school(s) here...this is to protect Everyone.
IDK about the higher grades but in grade school they've now implemented 1 day in a month period where everyone who has a birthday in that month is recognized.
1 yr the teacher made banners for the birthday people and all the kids got to sign them....the birthday kids would get a tiara or king crown at the end of the day w/ a blue ribbon sticker saying "birthday girl/boy"
I want to say that on this day (which would be done on a Fri), parents would get sent a paper w/ their childs birthday and you could check off if you wanted/could bring Paper towels, Fruit, Plates, Napkins, Cups, Spoons, Drinks, (cup)Cake BUT you could not have made it at home.
The way the teacher explained it is that it would be so time consuming if they had to take a day for everyones birthday.
Like someone else said, the teachers time is already limited by the kids not getting as many breaks as "She" used to get when she went to school.
Yes, you can provide your Own child w/ whatever you choose for their school meal because only you know your childs dietary needs and kids here are asked Not to share food(s) w/ each other!
All 29 parents had to rotate through the school year based on the childs last name initial on bringing snacks on Fri.
While most only had to do it 2 times we had to do it 3 times and 1 time I volunteered for someone who I knew could not financially afford to provide enough for the whole class for both of their times.
The rules were a little restrictive...no candy, no nuts, no homemade and no cake/brownies (I think this was because they wanted to reserve this as a birthday item).
So you could do fruit slices, veggie slices...I don't know if they would've allowed for any jar kinds of dips but I didn't provide any kind of veggies on my 4 times...(fish)crackers, pretzels, dry cereal (fruit loops, cheerios) etc.
Around Christmas time I bought the class as a treat the single snack Christmas rice crispy tree.
I believe 1 time I sent 2 containers of strawberries (prewashed and air dried)
Another time I bought a bunch of bananas and explained that all her classroom helper needed to do was cut a banana in 1/2, that way 2 kids could share and there would be less waste, whatever was left others who wanted more could have them.
Another time I cut up a bunch of oranges for their little hands to hold.
I believe I also did grapes...not knowing what color they preferred I got green and red (seedless of course)!
Then I just paired those w/ something else.
It was only suppose to be a snack....not a meal!