Our school district has decided to no longer allow parents to bring
homemade treats into the school for birthdays and holiday parties.
And, my 8 yr old's school has decided to take that a step further
and encourage parents to bring only non-food items for birthday celebrations.
They made this decision to focus on the children and his or her special day...and not on the food.
It's to focus on childhood allergies, diabetes, obesity and the overall safety of the students.
Here are a few suggestions of acceptable non-food items:
- pencils
- notepads
- tattoos
- crayons
- books
For holiday parties at the school, only pre-packaged food items
with nutritional labels will be allowed.
Now, I'm not insensitive, I understand difficult issues facing parents and educators these days.
But I couldn't read this handout without laughing.
Seriously?!
We're saying no to homemade food and yes to toys and processed food?!!
Do your children's schools have these rules?
What do you think?
I think this is taking things a bit overboard.
As with anything, I think moderation is the rule.
In about ten years we have a note coming home about how materialistic birthday celebrations at school have become and to just bring cupcakes instead.
Or a back to basics campaign where they'll want only fresh food and no chemically processed.
Sheesh.
What next?!
7 comments:
Here in France the no-food rule is strictly enforced. The reasoning is that the school is legally responsible for what the kids eat while they're there, and they just can't control the quality of home-made products. Definitely overboard!
My kids go to a small rural school with less than 400 kids in the middle of nowhere and we have the same rule about no homemade goodies. Our school actually instated a rule this year where the kids can't wear sunglasses! Really?!?!
We have had that rule in our schoo for years now. They are also really strict on the prepackaged food we can send in for parties. My friend got a call because she sent in gummy snacks to add to a end of the year grad bag. Gummies are a no no. I think that it is rediculous.
i taught 4th grade until this year. the parents weren't allowed to bring homemade things to our schools, either.. but it was in direct response to a nutball who really did try to put something harmful in baked goods and give them to the kids. the little girl told her teacher she didn't think her mommy made them right because she used something from the garage. it could have been a HUGE disaster.
i wish we could use home made goodies, but i don't trust a lot of parents unfortunately. and i know parents don't always trust other parents. perhaps the pre-packed food only rule is to make sure it's not tainted in some way? i don't like that rule myself, and so i didn't really allow it in my classroom. i asked kids to bring fruit, juice boxes, and popcorn. maybe candy if it were a holiday party. it was also a good way to keep kids happy since i did have a couple of students with severe (and random) food allergies that would prevent them from even being in the same room with some of those ingredients.
it's a shame. i miss the big school parties from my childhood, but, i can certainly appreciate the school's side of the issue, too.
I think this is just a natural flow from the vicious people who used to put things in Halloween candy... it got too dangerous and so Halloween parties were started and only commercial candies allowed... I haven't seen a child at my door for Trick or Treat in years... we've lost something very special when we let our children trust the adults, but that's what we've done... don't know how to fix this... can only commiserate... come visit when you can...
I agree with you Rhea, part of it is the way society has become and part of it I think is the "Big Brother" mentality of the governing bodies like Texas PTA. Please note, I'm a PTA member, but sometimes feel like you, that the system wants to control obesity by controlling every aspect of school. As a mom of 4, and a veteran room mom, I can tell you how much food is thrown out at school parties! The kids want to socialize, even in young grades! How is processed food better than home made food??
Oh well, last two are in middle school and I don't have to worry with it, more school parties for us big kids, enjoy them while you still can!
This is my 12th year at my school and we have never allowed homemade items to be brought in. I totally agree with that one. I wouldn't eat anything kids brought in. Nor would I want my own kids to. I've seen the homes of some of my students...I don't want food from there.
I have a bad feeling we are headed toward the direction of non-food celebrations. We JUST got a survey about how much food we use during parties and what type. We were also encouraged to give non-food rewards or gifts during parties. Stupid. It's a party. Let them have cake!!
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