HEALTH FOOD NAZIS IN OUR CHILDREN'S SCHOOLS

[Anonymous]

Get a clue you lighten up Francis folk. First off the size of cupcakes seem to have doubled and the amount of frosting people use seems to have trippled. Holiday parties are out of control sugar fests. Even if you child is skinny, if he/she eats the "average" amount of sugar for a kid today it is way, way too much. Sugar causes inflammation. Just because your child seems healthy today, doesn't mean that all that sugar at school isn't detrimental to his/her health, not to mention the kids who have immediate reactions (e.g. hyperactivity, moodiness). Eat all the sugar you want in your home. Have sugar parties. The school is not the place for all this unless we can at least go back to modest cupcakes and holiday celebrations. School is a place to learn healthy habits.

[Anonymous]

Sugar is a habit, as is salt. When I was a child, my mom baked a lot of cakes, but always cut the sugar in half. It still tasted sweet to us. Later on, when my Dad remarried and we ate my stepmom's cakes, they tasted sickeningly sweet to us. (She was up in arms about the strange children who apparently didn't like cake).

I tried to do the same with my children, but my efforts are thwarted right and left, first by their preschool, then by their elementary school. It doesn't help to tell them you don't want your child to have sweets. They give them to them anyway. To me, it feels like a violation of my rights as a parent. When children are young, parents should be able to determine how they should eat. I'm not forcing whole grain bread on your child, and I'd prefer you don't give junkfood to mine.

Besides, when so many American children are malnourished (I don't mean starving, I mean suffering nutritionally) why not make public school a place where, if they are going to be given food, it is healthful food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three cupcakes a month (plus halloween, and all the other things...) may not make for a fat child, but at least for my kid, it would make for three afternoons lost to study, and probably a few tantrums....

So let me get this straight, your kid has one cupcake and then his/her entire day is blown? The child is useless and having tantrums after one measly cupcake? Seriously, what kind of cupcakes is this child eating? Where can I get some?

Lighten up, Francis.

Not sure who Francis is, but yes, the afternoon is blown. Peanut allergies aren't the only food issues children have, and the way some of us manage these issues is by teaching our kids good habits and to avoid foods that affect them adversely. Three cupcakes a month during school is a lot. Sorry if you don't think so. No one is asking you not to pack cupcakes in your child's lunch box, so I don't know why you care so much.

The Francis phrase is a quotation from the movie "Stripes."

I care because I don't believe your claims. They seem exaggerated. And I care because the "let's forbid all cupcakes" approach is bullshit.

I agree that chronic overconsumption of junk foods is a problem. I agree that obesity in kids is a problem, one that should be remedied by a combination of an increase in physical activity and a decrease in everyday overeating. I don't believe occasional birthday cupcakes are a problem worth making policy about.

And I don't believe that your children are useless if they eat a cupcake once in a while. Sorry, I don't. I'd buy that they're hyper for 15 minutes, and that wigs you out. But it passes and they move on. You can too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lunches are sickening. I can't imagine what the kids who eat breakfast AND lunch at school must feel like. Yuck.

Sometimes just happy that they're getting food. You should see some of them on Monday mornings--it's pretty sad. No complaining, just silence as they wolf it down....

That is sad. I saw something on the news about a program that sends food home in their backpacks on Friday afternoons. I'd like to contribute if anyone knows about it.

manna house donates food to the school i work at.

[Anonymous]

Sooooo given the choice btw your dc eating a cupcake or going on a trampoline, which would you choose? Or is that moment of choice when the average DCUMer loses it?

[Anonymous]

Trampoline... my kids don't like cake, but they love the trampoline (enclosed and inside).

[Anonymous]

I am sort of in the middle on this one. I certainly allow my children to have cupcakes for special occasions, and once in a while hit McDonalds. That being said, I can respect the decision of other parents to not want sweets in school all the time. For us, in preschool, they did not allow cupcakes, and preferred popsicles of the "all natural or all fruit" sort.

On school lunches, I have one going in to 4th grade. I allow him to purchase lunch once a week. The other days, I pack. This way, I know he is getting a balanced diet. I will do the same with my youngest. He is such a picky eater, I will likely pack every day for him. Lunch usually involves a sandwich on whole wheat bread, a piece of fruit, yogurt (without corn syrup), and something salty like pretzels. On occasion, I will send in a small cookie for a treat. Sometimes they buy milk, other times, I put a 100% juice juice box in their lunch.

The school our youngest will attend this fall (our neighborhood school) has a high % of children on free and reduced lunch. They do have a program that involves sending home food with children on the weekend. I am just learning about this program, and will be happy to share how families can become involved. They also provide school supplies/backpacks at the beginning of the year for those who are unable to purchase them.