Great preschool but a lot of annoying rules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody tells me what I can feed my kid at school. Give me suggestions, that's fine. But nobody makes rules about whether or not I can give my kid yogurt in her lunch.

I'd pass. But I'd love to hear the other rules!

Yes, but if you signed the contract knowing these were rules then you should follow them.

[Anonymous]

You follow the rules. We had lots of them at our montessori school. No plastic, food had to be sent in metal containers. Snacks were definately low sugar, yogurt was a no no. And a cloth napkin every day. It was a lovely place, wonderful environment, and yes sometimes our snacks got sent home.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Another rule is the kid has to use the bathroom and wash wands. Not just wash hands. (At my current low key place, they even wash the hands for you-luxury!) At this school you must take them and use the bathroom and wash hands.

TBH this makes great sense to me...but it’s a very dictatorial- I mean my kid wakes up and used the bathroom- he’s probably good for a few hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody tells me what I can feed my kid at school. Give me suggestions, that's fine. But nobody makes rules about whether or not I can give my kid yogurt in her lunch.

I'd pass. But I'd love to hear the other rules!

Yes, but if you signed the contract knowing these were rules then you should follow them.

I am not the PP but I will do exactly that as well. I will feed my child what I want. I don't believe yogurt being borderline is part of the contract. It sounds like it's just in the handbook and I would treat it as a recommendation. I will be packing the *gasp* whole milk yogurt to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody tells me what I can feed my kid at school. Give me suggestions, that's fine. But nobody makes rules about whether or not I can give my kid yogurt in her lunch.

I'd pass. But I'd love to hear the other rules!

Yes, but if you signed the contract knowing these were rules then you should follow them.

I am not the PP but I will do exactly that as well. I will feed my child what I want. I don't believe yogurt being borderline is part of the contract. It sounds like it's just in the handbook and I would treat it as a recommendation. I will be packing the *gasp* whole milk yogurt to school.

I'd want clarity on whether it was a recommendation or a requirement and, if the former, whether there would be further discussions/lectures about it. Absent allergy concerns, I believe parents should pack what they want and if the school wants that level of control, they should provide the food.

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I don't think the school should dictate to parents what they can feed their kids. The exception would be concerns for allergies (for instance, nut-free is common, and if there's a kid with a specific serious other allergy and kids trading food is a concern, possibly a request that parents not pack that particular allergen), and foods that might be overly messy.

Yogurt being "borderline" is a red flag for some serious control issues on the part of the administration. It's not the kind of thing kids share, and most kid-targeted yogurt is pretty healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Another rule is the kid has to use the bathroom and wash wands. Not just wash hands. (At my current low key place, they even wash the hands for you-luxury!) At this school you must take them and use the bathroom and wash hands.

TBH this makes great sense to me...but it’s a very dictatorial- I mean my kid wakes up and used the bathroom- he’s probably good for a few hours.

I don't understand the wash wands. You mean at drop off all children must use the toilet and wash hands? Washing hands at arrival is very important, as they are cleaning their hands so they don't bring germs from metro, car, etc. Into school.

Now, using the bathroom at arrival? In our 2s and 3s rooms this is encouraged as kids get really engrossed in activities and don't want to stop to use the bathroom and have lots of accidents within 30 minutes of arrival. But we don't do this in our 4s room, and if a child doesn't need to pee, then fine!

[Anonymous]

My son's Montessori school has pretty strict lunch guidelines. No nuts, no sweets, no beverages, no squeezable things. It's been awesome--he looks around at what the other kids have and has actually branched out a bit. (And the school is amazing. I almost didn't choose it because I wanted a place that served lunch, but I'm glad I sucked it up.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I don't think the school should dictate to parents what they can feed their kids. The exception would be concerns for allergies (for instance, nut-free is common, and if there's a kid with a specific serious other allergy and kids trading food is a concern, possibly a request that parents not pack that particular allergen), and foods that might be overly messy.

Yogurt being "borderline" is a red flag for some serious control issues on the part of the administration. It's not the kind of thing kids share, and most kid-targeted yogurt is pretty healthy.

Not things like Go-Gurt, though, which have a huge amount of sugar. I assume they have a "no sweets" policy and are just pointing out that yogurt isn't good to go simply by virtue of being yogurt. The "no sweets/desserts" thing is pretty common. Our school will hold candy, cookies, and sweet bars when they spot them and give them to the parent at pickup.

The bathroom/hand washing doesn't seem that crazy. Our preschool does this at 9 am (so shortly after dropoff), though I appreciate that they handle it and don't make parents do it as part of dropoff. That part would irk me a bit since it's enough of a challenge to get out the door as it is. But conceptually it makes sense for young preschoolers. (By 4/5, our school just reminds kids but largely has them manage their own bodies. But at 2/3/early 4, that's not a skill that most kids have down solidly yet.)