Ice-cream in middle school cafeteria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not try to micromanage your pre-teen's food choices. Ice cream is not poison and it's just fine as a daily snack. Heaven knows, that kid probably gets limited food choices at home if the parent is having conniptions over ice cream. Did you think your child would stay the size and weight of a 10-year-old? Kids this age grow, gain weight, and change shape. Girls this age are already having body image issues. You should ensure you are not subconsciously reinforcing disordered eating habits.

Thanks, but not an issue here. We are not judging body sizes, and my child does not have a body image problem. I am concerned about HEALTH. It is important what you put into your body. We all should be able to have discussions on healthy diet/weight without gettIng offended.

And yet you mentioned that your child was gaining weight as a negative consequence. Therefore you are judging body sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for sharing. I understand the context of eating disorders outweighs the concern about sugar. But it doesn’t mean we should have an all or nothing approach. Nobody is suggesting that kids diet should be micromanaged: they is what they want and how much they want. I am of the opinion that ideally sweets should be reserved for special occasions, like holidays and birthdays. What PPs might be missing is that it is not just “a little ice cream” every day. Kids are bombarded with sugar everywhere. Teachers bring candies and cookies at my MCPS school almost daily, school events include sweets, kids like to go to Starbucks or get bobba after school to hang out, as PP explained, some kids eat a bowl of ice cream at home after dinner, there are birthday parties, Halloween, Thanksgiving, sleepovers with sweets… it doesn’t stop. It needs to be managed, less sugar is better than more. At least, we should be able to limit ice cream for lunch.

Do you think there's any correlation between the fact that you limit sweets to very rare occasions, and the fact that your daughter is binging on ice cream at lunch every day? Hmmm.

[Anonymous]

This is what you're concerned about? Maybe you hadn't noticed but schools are so focused on equity these days that they aren't even teaching many kids anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to mcps. The ice cream in the cafeteria is your first clue to how much mcps cares about students. Zero.

+100

The ice cream is crap and I agree it shouldn’t be there.

But not much you can do, OP. Just don’t put money in your kid’s account so that she can’t buy.

[Anonymous]

There should be no sugar or junk food in American schools. Policy makers, when are you going to stop this nonsense? Just ban the stuff.

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain what kind of ice cream is available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want your kid to eat ice cream at lunch have that conversation with your kid. There is no need for it to be removed from MS option for all kids.

If you only do sweets at holidays and birthdays, great for you. That’s not most of us. We teach our kids about a balance diet, including how to manage sweets. If the kid is consuming ice cream at lunch everyday, I would be sure they are eating other things that balance that out and then move on. I’m not dying on that hill w/ a teenager. If kids can find joy and bonding over ice cream, then have at it. There are worse things that could be happening.

With the rate of childhood obesity (and adult obesity) it should be. But it taste good, kids will buy it, and staff doesn’t have to actually cook it, so no one cares.

+1. Though I don’t blame the staff I blame leadership. Yet another example (like screens) of schools being lax and therefore parents who care have to be extra vigilant to compensate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what kind of ice cream is available?

It's like this. https://wellsfoodservice.com/products/blue-ribbon-classics/cups/low-fat-chocolate-vanilla-ice-cream-cup

Small, low-fat, and about 70 calories total. Not health food, but not the hill I'm going to die on particularly when kids can only buy it if their parents put money on their account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what kind of ice cream is available?

It's like this. https://wellsfoodservice.com/products/blue-ribbon-classics/cups/low-fat-chocolate-vanilla-ice-cream-cup

Small, low-fat, and about 70 calories total. Not health food, but not the hill I'm going to die on particularly when kids can only buy it if their parents put money on their account.

Artificially flavored!

[Anonymous]

You can call MCPS and advocate for change. But I promise you this will be an uphill battle as it will require every school in the county to change their policy. Chances are slim it would ever happen and if it did, it would become a full-time job. Not worth it--just talk to your child. Or unclench.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what kind of ice cream is available?

They have this at our elementary school once/wk and it drives me nuts. Just why? If I don't let my kid get it, he will feel left out. Let's just remove it. Sure there are bigger things to focus on/worry about, but this seems so simple, obvious and easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain what kind of ice cream is available?

It's like this. https://wellsfoodservice.com/products/blue-ribbon-classics/cups/low-fat-chocolate-vanilla-ice-cream-cup

Small, low-fat, and about 70 calories total. Not health food, but not the hill I'm going to die on particularly when kids can only buy it if their parents put money on their account.

Wait, seriously??? People are up in arms about a tiny scoop of ice cream with less than two teaspoons of added sugar? I thought we were talking a freezer of Good Humor and Klondike bars or maybe a soft serve machine.

Op, you need to get a grip. Even if your kid had three of these a day it wouldn’t be making her gain weight.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of the chocolate milk wars of circa 2014.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want your kid to have ice cream, pack lunch and don’t fund a school lunch account if your kid won’t follow your rules.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it. My kids have ice cream every day for dessert. Perfectly healthy skinny kids. Are you honestly suggesting a little ice cream every day has to do with the obesity epidemic? I’m sorry but you lack critical thinking skills and it’s clouding your judgment. Maybe you are fat/have fat genes and are paranoid that your daughter will also be fat?