School Bans Birthday Sweets

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

Jerilyn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:41:57 GMT

i'm currently writing a paper on childhood obesity with an emphasis and on type II diabetes. some how, i have to keep it under 10 pages... i wonder if my professor would understand? might be better for my dissertation instead of an assignment...

anywho, i enjoy cake / cup cakes every now and then and if my honey and i have a craving, we make it all from scratch and do it together. we rarely do this and we do consider it quite the 'treat'. we agree it makes it more fun too. almost like we're doing something we shouldn't. unless we have people over though, we usually end up throwing more than half away... wasteful but better than on our waists! i don't think there's anything wrong w/ enjoying a home made (small) piece of cake or a cup cake every once in a while.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

natural harmonies — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:29:56 GMT

Governmental or school board regulation is flat out wrong. The food that is served from the school kitchen is unhealthy. It is high in fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, low in fiber, etc. On top of that, gym classes and recess times are being cut out of the day. Also, a lot of schools have snack and soda vending machines in them starting as early as 5th grade. Is the problem really an occasional birthday treat? I think not. The school board seems to be uneducated and hypocritical. Things start from the top down. Start by setting a good example in the school - offer nutritious meals/snacks only, get rid of the vending machines, and educate school staff and parents on proper nutrition. Parents need to learn and set a good example in the home too. Then bring back daily gym class and give more play time. No wonder kids are so overweight these days. Poor examples set by lazy adults.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

Jimmy78 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:12:39 GMT

This school that bans birthday treats is taking a dark path. I can picture a school saying, "Ok, you can bring your treats, just not all the time." I don't want the school OR government telling me what I can and can't eat.

As a teacher, I observe the "healthy" treats that are allowed in school cafeterias and vending machines: low cal cookies loaded with artificial flavors, other chemicals, hydrogenated fats and so forth. They literally serve dead drinks to kids, i.e. pasturized, homogenized milk. They serve fruit juices from concentrate that have been cooked(pasturized) so they can stay on the shelf much longer than they should. None of the food is organic. All of this "health" food they serve in the cafeteria comes from animals loaded with drugs and such, fruits and vegetables grown with pesticides, toxic fertilizers. Hmmmmmmmm . . . yummy.

I tried a bag of "fresh" raw carrots from the cafeteria from the bag. I could taste more chlorine than carrots.

Taking away someone's right to bring cake/cookies to celebrate their birthday at school with their friends is plainly cruel. There are many sweets that can be made with organic, natural ingredients. Sure they may still have sugar, even organic sugar. However, moderation is the key.

Hey Government (and schools), we'll decide what we and our children will eat.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

infinity — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:31:55 GMT

Tips from my expeerience: NEVER show any anxiety or anger w/yr child at mealtimes; just take it for granted they will eat whatever you give them. If you don't like s/thing yourself, don't let them know, especially while you serve them s/thing you know is healthy that you ought to eat! Eat a varied diet, not just what you perhaps were raised on, even if that was healthy. Don't let food become boring. I'm on very limited budget as snr cit but I try not to let my meals ever be boring. I'm very busy, active, but I don't begrudge time spent preparing meals; it's the fuel for your body. Remember children always copy what their parents do, you're their first examples and models. Make them the best you can. I look back on many times when I was NOT a good model or my kid! But I managed somehow with their dad's help to keep those times to a minimum. Let kids help prepare food when younger, when old enough, have them take their turn at preparing the evening meal, or one on a weekend. Why shd Mum do all the work! And they'll be better off when they go out on their own to live. Find a food co-op or buying club, start one yourself. It's worth all the work. I belong to one of the best in the country and I don't know how I'd get along now without it. Gaye Leslie

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

rosspainter — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:49:53 GMT

So many people reading these ARE interested in their children's health and DO give their children treats at times. You, I'm sure, make sure you children get all the self esteem they need. Some children going to school "these" days do not get that at home. An acknowledgement that they are special does not come thier way often. If giving them "sweet" treats at school helps this then FINE. Obesity is not due just to sweets anyway but to SITTING watching T.V., playing video games, etc. Obesity is a two edged sword and is not entirely due to the sweet treats at school. Let's let the kids be kids. Teach them what is healthy but---WE have our treats don't we? Why should be cut out theirs? How many parents are obese? Theirs does not come just from sweets or eating. IT comes from NOT moving...

.sometimes I get very tired or our taking ourselves sooooo seriously!

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

curious7 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:29:50 GMT

Getting rid of the sweets in our schools is a good start, but Iam more concerned about processed foods, and GMO foods. Now if the so called "Educators" would look more closely at these two dangers then that would be real progress.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

CrowSnake — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:00:04 GMT

We had foster kids, we asked and asked the school to stop giving them sweets, They got sweets every day at school. If they got a star they got a sweet. Here these kids are on medication and they are HYPER and the school would not stop. They had more sweets in their book bags then Halloween.

You think about it. Every kid gets one day that they get to bring birthday sweets to class. The teacher spreds it out for the kids who do not have a birthday at school, Say there are 30 kids in the class, that is more than a month of sweets every day.. Bigger schools more yet. They get dessert on the school menu, every day they give those kids sugar and HFCS. It is not right.

Sure it is ok for your kid to get sweets on his or her birthday and on holidays a few times a year, but we are talking every day at school, it needs to STOP.

I never bought sweets for those kids, but they had it all school year. It was bad enough when they visited their parents every week they came home with candy. Then you wonder why the kids are so unhealthy..

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

LoriSmi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:37:02 GMT

"One thing that has to be considered is the background of the parents who are teaching these kids. Are they teachers themselves? Are they otherwise highly educated people who also have the capacity to design curricula to rigidly follow? Many people do not have the backgrounds to be able to teach like this. Even with something like the Robinson curriculum to work with, it’s highly debatable how well the AVERAGE parent can pull it off. On one income. Also worth noting is the fact that we don’t hear about the average and below average homeschooled kids, do we?"

I am a homeschooler of over 16 years. I am a high school drop out. My husband has a diploma. I have done all the teaching. I don't design rigid curricula for my kids to follow. I've made up our curriculum based on my kids' interests. I've one kid (16 1/2) still of school age. Four of my kids never attended school of any kind (unless you count Sunday School). My kids are all above average and you can't tell my homeschooled kids from my public-schooled kids, except the homeschooled are more independent in many ways.

The 3 older kids, now "graduated" from our home, all have jobs, have leadership positions, and are trusted to handle important things. I am proud of all of my kids~public-schooled or homeschooled. All are smart, witty, and successful.

I've been a full-time homemaker the past 25 1/2 years; we live on one income, we've been "poverty-level" before, and we are still not rich, though we live comfortably. Using the stats the schools use~none of my kids should be "successful" as we have all the wrong criteria for a stable and successful home, yet all 8 of my kids are great kids who've never been involved in the law, are all above average in intelligence, and successful in their own right.

You make absurd observations not based on truth or facts.

My husband and I are both above average in intelligence and are independent thinkers.

We are average. We believe in freedom of education. We are unschoolers

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

LoriSmi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:01:18 GMT

"Anyway...I fail to follow your logic. Swami mentioned local control, of which this is an example, and which all parents profess to want. The function of school boards and committees is to set policy for their district. You elect the members of this board. As a parent you can attend their meetings and voice your opinion. If you have issues with the way they do things, run for that office yourself."

YIKES! I didn't know I elected school board members to set policy for me so I wouldn't have a voice or a choice with my own child! My children still belong to ME, not to the schools or the school board!

When public schools were first implemented the parents made ALL the choices, including who could teach their children! We have given up way too many rights and responsibilities.

I have 8 kids, 4 who attended public school, 4 who were homeschooled (took a while to get hubby on board), and I can tell you I would NEVER send another one of my kids to public school.

If the schools are truly "public" then why doesn't the "public" have any say except at board meetings where they are often treated with disrespect (I've been to the meetings!). And if truly "public", then why don't they operate iike the truly public library system where anyone can use their services, it is not compulsory, and no one grades, tests, disciplines you for what you read or do not read, or tells you what you can and cannot eat? I am able to take drinks (covered) into our public library and no one asks me what is in it or asks me if it is healthy or not. Ditto for my kids.

The schools have taken way too much liberty with other people's kids. Whether kids have healthy eating habits or not is no one's business except the parents, unless the kids are being starved. The only reason the gov't is worried about our health is because of the money it costs~if not for this, they wouldn't care, and if they weren't into socialism, which is illegal under our constitution, it wouldn't cost them anything.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

LoriSmi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:42:02 GMT

This is a nonsense policy as there might be 1-2 kids per year whose moms want to bring in treats to share for their child's birthday. When I was in school (over 30 years ago, but going back 40 for grade school), we had 1-2 kids per year who brought in cupcakes, and in the case of my older kids who attended school, the same scenario, just 1-2 kids per year.

If this was a problem on a weekly or daily basis, then yes, I could see the problem, but 1-2 times per year? Besides, the parents can circumvent these rules and just invite the entire class over for a party and the kids will get the treats anyway!

I also remember one mom showing up and handing out goodie bags to the kids as they left school (off school property) and inside were small toys, a cupcake, a few suckers, along with one of those blow toys that makes noise. She didn't want to have all the kids at her house, the school wouldn't let her pass out stuff in class, so she just passed them out off of school property. This happened about 12 years ago.

School lunches are junk and much worse than an occasional cupcake. I refused to allow my kids to buy most of the school lunches as they were always laden with lots of fat and were always sandwiches. Hotdogs, soyburgers, sloppy Joes, pizza, chicken nuggets, tacos, and other foods not healthy to eat all the time, but these menus varied little one week to the next, so why are they so worried about kids having treats 1-2 times a year?

Kids have Halloween parties with plenty of treats. Ditto for Christmas and Valentine's Day.

And where are the food police in people's homes?

The schools need to stop telling people how to live. They can go over nutrition in health class or home-ec, otherwise, they are there for academics ONLY. They are not there to tell us how to raise our kids.

My kids do not eat a lot of junk. I do not buy a lot of junk. My kids are healthy. My kids get cake on their birthdays (except one who likes Marshmallow Treats).

Lighten up!

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

DrA — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:02:01 GMT

I practice 10 mins from this school district and applaude their efforts to encourage healthy eating. However, there are still a few steps the district has failed to address. In a complete article on the sweets ban, parents are quoted to say that in exchange for the sugar and fat laden treats they would normally send with their child, they are sending items such as sugar-free jell-o. As a parent and a healthcare provider, I would prefer my kids eat the sugary junk on occasion than artificially sweetened "healthy" alternatives. Giving kids artificial sweeteners is a much larger hazard than the occasional cookie. What is really needed is more informational teaching on what healthy snacks are. I'm sure most would agree that it does NOT include Splenda-sweetened Cookies and Sugar-free Jello.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

Heather Marsh — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:46:16 GMT

I am not sure how things are in your part of the world, but there are now some worrisome trends here in Australia.

Unsupervised play is being phased out. Handstands and cartwheels and fun on the climbing frame are being discouraged as are schoolyard games of baseball and cricket. Why? - there is a possibility of injury.

On some beaches a permit must be obtained before playing 'beach cricket'

It is safer to place the child into a non-active environment :(

No doubt some of my childhood games, eg 'elastics' would be assessed as too risky today.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

Heather Marsh — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:30:07 GMT

I have an 11 year old granddaughter who is only slightly shorter than myself, but with otherwise identical measurements and weight. Unfortunately my step daughter has maintained a pantry full of 'snacks' and has allowed her children free access from the time they could pull themselves to stand upright.

There are 6 TVs- one in the living room, one in the family room, one in the dining room, one in the outdoor entertainment area - and one in each of the kid's bedrooms. The children have their own dvd players and access to a computer when at home.

I cannot blame the school for any of their eating habits, weight or health. So far my grandson is not overweight.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

TiaIsWorried — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:41:34 GMT

What saddens me is that instead of banning a fun, harmless rite of passage during the school year--birthday treats, why doesn't the school board institute running around????

If kids ran as much as we did as children, they could enjoy a cupcake without dire consequences.

This is nothing but a feel good measure so that the school board can say, "see we are doing something".

I firmly believe that if we utilized a child's natural energy level to blow off steam and move their litle arses, that the "obesity epidemic" and the rarely talked about prescription drugs for kids epidemic would largely go away.

Kids are bundles of energy and the way to get them to pay attention-and maintain a healthy weight-is to have them MOVE.

What happened to common sense in this world?

Oh, that's right, we wanted a pill to obtain that too.

re: School Bans Birthday Sweets

Brazil123 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:42:34 GMT