Does your ES Allow Birthday Treats in the Classroom?

[Anonymous]

I'm baffled. Do your children not have Friends that they celebrate with?
Can't believe so much whining over not having the entire world stop for your special snowflakes.

Our school.never had this, 10 years ago even

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In K we were not allowed treats but were allowed to bring little things like erasers to give out and the birthday kid got a paper crown and a special job for the day. It was fine and still fun per my kid.

This is what we do in our school: no food treats, but you can send in bookmarks, pencils, small fidgets, whatever. It’s just fine and every kid I know gets celebrated PLENTY for their birthday. Honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No birthday celebrations at my Focus school. It’s actually sad as the majority of kids can’t afford a party and the celebration used to be their friend celebration. Instead, they just get announced on the announcements and get a pencil from the office.

Same at our Focus school. Often the kids don’t have birthday parties where they can invite classmates. And the kids would look forward to handing our cupcakes at school. Even the lower/income families would send in small treats. It was equitable and fun. And took up less than 10 minutes at the end of the day.

Can’t think of a good reason why they nixed these.

You can’t think of anaphylaxis from peanut and tree nut exposure?

BS

There are PLENTY of nut-free options and our school required nut-free birthday treats.

There are PLENTY of clueless, careless parents who don’t get it. “This doesn’t have peanuts!” Well, it does contain TREE NUTS, which are also deadly to some kids.

Stay mad.

Up until this year, our ES had a policy that all birthday trays had to be store-brought and nut-free. Parents sent in items in their original packaging. I have been at the school for 7 years and 3 kids and it has NEVER been an issue.

Also, you sound like a peach. My guess is that you are miserable and unhappy and you want others to feel the same.

Oh yeah? Define “nut free.” Because I’ve seen plenty of parents try to give kids peanut-free items, that think only peanuts are dangerous, and that almonds and such are just fine. People are clueless. My kids don’t have allergies, but I am a former camp director who saw all kinds of parents send in and offer and expect all kinds of things, and who thought I was somehow the bad guy for patiently explaining that not. All. Nut. Allergies. Are. Peanut. Allergies. As if I personally invented peanut and tree nut allergies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Westland doesn’t allow this. More of cancelling the fun part of childhood while cramming social politics down our throats.

How about you stop trying to cram peanuts and tree nuts down the throats of kids with deadly allergies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Westland doesn’t allow this. More of cancelling the fun part of childhood while cramming social politics down our throats.

How about you stop trying to cram peanuts and tree nuts down the throats of kids with deadly allergies?

Nobody is doing that. Nobody.

When we were allowed to send in birthday treats, parents and teachers were vigilant about requiring store-bought treats that were nut-free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm baffled. Do your children not have Friends that they celebrate with?
Can't believe so much whining over not having the entire world stop for your special snowflakes.

Our school.never had this, 10 years ago even

I’m baffled that you can’t see beyond your wealthy privilege.

Have you not read this thread? Two posters talked about how these in-class birthday celebrations were kind of a big deal for many of the kids at our lower-income school. These families were not doing big parties at ZavaZone or SkyZone. Plus, it’s not always possible to invite the entire class anyway. Even for families who can afford these parties.

Bringing in Oreos to share with their classmates was a fun, low-key way for them to feel a bit special on their birthday.

But, who care, right? Your kid gets a fun celebration with her friends and that’s all that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm baffled. Do your children not have Friends that they celebrate with?
Can't believe so much whining over not having the entire world stop for your special snowflakes.

Our school.never had this, 10 years ago even

I’m baffled that you can’t see beyond your wealthy privilege.

Have you not read this thread? Two posters talked about how these in-class birthday celebrations were kind of a big deal for many of the kids at our lower-income school. These families were not doing big parties at ZavaZone or SkyZone. Plus, it’s not always possible to invite the entire class anyway. Even for families who can afford these parties.

Bringing in Oreos to share with their classmates was a fun, low-key way for them to feel a bit special on their birthday.

But, who care, right? Your kid gets a fun celebration with her friends and that’s all that matters.

Agree. My kids went to a Title 1 school where most children lived in apartments and most families could not afford to have parties at paid facilities. In-class celebrations let kids celebrate with their friends and feel special for a few minutes at a low cost.
What a privileged post!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Westland doesn’t allow this. More of cancelling the fun part of childhood while cramming social politics down our throats.

How about you stop trying to cram peanuts and tree nuts down the throats of kids with deadly allergies?

My kid’s private school lets kids bring in birthday treats. They have to be store-bought and nut free.

It’s very sad that birthday celebrations seem to have generally gone away for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Westland doesn’t allow this. More of cancelling the fun part of childhood while cramming social politics down our throats.

How about you stop trying to cram peanuts and tree nuts down the throats of kids with deadly allergies?

My kid’s private school lets kids bring in birthday treats. They have to be store-bought and nut free.

It’s very sad that birthday celebrations seem to have generally gone away for MCPS.

Brought to you by the perennially joyless parents of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm baffled. Do your children not have Friends that they celebrate with?
Can't believe so much whining over not having the entire world stop for your special snowflakes.

Our school.never had this, 10 years ago even

I’m baffled that you can’t see beyond your wealthy privilege.

Have you not read this thread? Two posters talked about how these in-class birthday celebrations were kind of a big deal for many of the kids at our lower-income school. These families were not doing big parties at ZavaZone or SkyZone. Plus, it’s not always possible to invite the entire class anyway. Even for families who can afford these parties.

Bringing in Oreos to share with their classmates was a fun, low-key way for them to feel a bit special on their birthday.

But, who care, right? Your kid gets a fun celebration with her friends and that’s all that matters.

Agree. My kids went to a Title 1 school where most children lived in apartments and most families could not afford to have parties at paid facilities. In-class celebrations let kids celebrate with their friends and feel special for a few minutes at a low cost.
What a privileged post!

This. Most families can afford a $5 package of Oreos. And the kids would look forward to it!

At our school, some parents at our Focus school would just send in an extra package of Oreos for when a kid forgot hers or whatever. Just like we have extra Valentines, etc.

Birthday kid would get to distribute the Oreos. And everyone in the class knew that they were getting Oreos BECAUSE of Julio, because it was Julio’s birthday. I mean, who doesn’t like that?

It was sweet, EQUITABLE and quick. But it meant a lot to some 7-year old kids, who might not be able to invite the entire class to a birthday party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, and it's been like that for at least three years. Announcement and pencil.

Same, at least since my now-fifth grader was in K. We overall love our ES, but I wish they were a bit more flexible around celebrations.

[Anonymous]

As a parent who have two allergy kids, I always check with the teacher for up coming birthdays so I can send a treat with my kids that day. My kid's allergy is my responsibility, not the birthday kid's nor their parents'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm baffled. Do your children not have Friends that they celebrate with?
Can't believe so much whining over not having the entire world stop for your special snowflakes.

Our school.never had this, 10 years ago even

I’m baffled that you can’t see beyond your wealthy privilege.

Have you not read this thread? Two posters talked about how these in-class birthday celebrations were kind of a big deal for many of the kids at our lower-income school. These families were not doing big parties at ZavaZone or SkyZone. Plus, it’s not always possible to invite the entire class anyway. Even for families who can afford these parties.

Bringing in Oreos to share with their classmates was a fun, low-key way for them to feel a bit special on their birthday.

But, who care, right? Your kid gets a fun celebration with her friends and that’s all that matters.

Oh cram it. So sick of this fake holier than everyone else bs.
I grew up poor and if we had a Duncan Hines cake it was a good year. But we still got together and celebrated birthdays.
Seriously, f u for conflating having money with having the ability to enjoy a birthday. What an elitist pos you are!

[Anonymous]

My kids' ES never allowed it. The principal told me it was prompted mainly because of vast differences in what parents could provide. We are at a school with a lot of high-income families but also a significant population of free-and-reduced lunch families. A string of over-the-top celebrations from the wealthy families were the last straw on top of the usual issues like allergies.

My kids never knew any other way and were fine with it. Plus one of my kids has a summer birthday so he didn't have to feel like he was missing out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent who have two allergy kids, I always check with the teacher for up coming birthdays so I can send a treat with my kids that day. My kid's allergy is my responsibility, not the birthday kid's nor their parents'.

As a teacher, I just want to say, thank you! I love it when parents let me know ahead of time, when school starts that they would like to be notified of upcoming celebrations to bring in alternatives. This keeps the celebrations coming and everyone is included.