DCPS food as a reward policy? (Wellness Policy?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

If you think a classroom pizza party is going to give your kid an eating disorder, consider that the unhealthy relationship to food may be coming from you …

I don't care about classroom parties or pizza. I do care when kids are given candy as a specific reward tied to doing a daily assignment or whatever, like they are dogs getting treats, particularly when the treats go to only some of the class.

You should go to a charter.

Agree with this. Go to a charter and you won’t have to worry about candy or sweets - none at our charter.

I do think this is true of some charters. We are DCPS (tons of candy and sweets), but we have friends at some of the "HRCS" (I get it's a dumb name but it makes it easy to know what schools I'm talking about) and their schools are insane about sugar. Like they send notes home with kids to inform parents that their lunches don't comply with the sugar policy crazy. These schools cater to certain kinds of parents.

I don't like all the treats they give away at our school BUT I actually think it's better than an approach where they are insanely restrictive. I am teaching my kid about balanced eating and that it's okay to have a sweet treat but to pay attention to her body and not just load up on sweets because your body needs real food. In the long term, I think being in a less restrictive environment but getting good guidance from us (and us modeling a healthy approach to food) will have a better outcome than just trying to control her exposure to junk food everywhere she goes. Eventually she will wind up somewhere with junk food. I want her to make good choices in that setting, and not freak out because she's been taught those foods are the devil.

Not at charter above but there is no insane restrictive environment. If a school has a no candy policy and new parents don’t realize this, then fine for note to go home. If the parent knows about the policy and sends in candy, then a note should go home because the parent is not following school policy.

No candy at school doesn’t mean that the kid can’t get candy at home. Parents can do whatever they want at home. No one said anything about foods are the devil. That’s coming from you.

I agree that the lower SES schools are much more lenient and more prevalent to give out sweets as rewards. Many posts about this if you do a search,

I’m the PP and the charter in question sent notes home with parents that some of the items in their lunches had added sugar and the school only allows natural sugars in lunches. They were not sending in candy, they were sending in graham crackers. Yes, that is insanely restrictive.

that is completely insane. I once got a nasty note home for something similar - putting a few chocolate chips in a bag of cheerios. nevermind that the endless crackers they fed the preschoolers had many more total simple carbs. such a waste of energy.

At least their intentions are good, and, really, giving students a few treat-free hours is probably goodfor many of them. Plus, they are trying to do what's best even though it would be easier to not bother.

Candy-as-a-reward is exactly the opposite -- not that great for the kids but the easy way out for the teachers/admins.

No, your intentions are not good when you focus on chastising moms for harmless things they feed their kids.

+1

I don't like kids getting sugary treats all the time, but I think once you are telling parents they may not send graham crackers into school with their kids lunch, you've crossed a line. It's not even that I'm dying to send graham crackers to school, it's just that level of policing the food parents are giving their own kids is really invasive. Obviously at a charter people can set their own rules, but I would not be comfortable with that level of restriction on the foods I send in for just my kid to consume.

But I also am not as intense about sugar as I think some parents are. For me or my kids. I have a sweet tooth and love a sweet treat after dinner. We have dessert pretty much every night. I tell my kids the same thing I tell myself -- sugar isn't bad for you, it just doesn't do anything good for you. So it's important to meet your body's nutritional needs first, but then if you want to have a sweet treat just for the pleasure of it, it's not "bad". I do think teaching kids that some foods are "bad" for you and that even being around them is bad can lead to disordered eating, and just obsessing more over food than I think is healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

If you think a classroom pizza party is going to give your kid an eating disorder, consider that the unhealthy relationship to food may be coming from you …

I don't care about classroom parties or pizza. I do care when kids are given candy as a specific reward tied to doing a daily assignment or whatever, like they are dogs getting treats, particularly when the treats go to only some of the class.

You should go to a charter.

Agree with this. Go to a charter and you won’t have to worry about candy or sweets - none at our charter.

I do think this is true of some charters. We are DCPS (tons of candy and sweets), but we have friends at some of the "HRCS" (I get it's a dumb name but it makes it easy to know what schools I'm talking about) and their schools are insane about sugar. Like they send notes home with kids to inform parents that their lunches don't comply with the sugar policy crazy. These schools cater to certain kinds of parents.

I don't like all the treats they give away at our school BUT I actually think it's better than an approach where they are insanely restrictive. I am teaching my kid about balanced eating and that it's okay to have a sweet treat but to pay attention to her body and not just load up on sweets because your body needs real food. In the long term, I think being in a less restrictive environment but getting good guidance from us (and us modeling a healthy approach to food) will have a better outcome than just trying to control her exposure to junk food everywhere she goes. Eventually she will wind up somewhere with junk food. I want her to make good choices in that setting, and not freak out because she's been taught those foods are the devil.

Not at charter above but there is no insane restrictive environment. If a school has a no candy policy and new parents don’t realize this, then fine for note to go home. If the parent knows about the policy and sends in candy, then a note should go home because the parent is not following school policy.

No candy at school doesn’t mean that the kid can’t get candy at home. Parents can do whatever they want at home. No one said anything about foods are the devil. That’s coming from you.

I agree that the lower SES schools are much more lenient and more prevalent to give out sweets as rewards. Many posts about this if you do a search,

I’m the PP and the charter in question sent notes home with parents that some of the items in their lunches had added sugar and the school only allows natural sugars in lunches. They were not sending in candy, they were sending in graham crackers. Yes, that is insanely restrictive.

that is completely insane. I once got a nasty note home for something similar - putting a few chocolate chips in a bag of cheerios. nevermind that the endless crackers they fed the preschoolers had many more total simple carbs. such a waste of energy.

At least their intentions are good, and, really, giving students a few treat-free hours is probably goodfor many of them. Plus, they are trying to do what's best even though it would be easier to not bother.

Candy-as-a-reward is exactly the opposite -- not that great for the kids but the easy way out for the teachers/admins.

No, your intentions are not good when you focus on chastising moms for harmless things they feed their kids.

+1

I don't like kids getting sugary treats all the time, but I think once you are telling parents they may not send graham crackers into school with their kids lunch, you've crossed a line. It's not even that I'm dying to send graham crackers to school, it's just that level of policing the food parents are giving their own kids is really invasive. Obviously at a charter people can set their own rules, but I would not be comfortable with that level of restriction on the foods I send in for just my kid to consume.

But I also am not as intense about sugar as I think some parents are. For me or my kids. I have a sweet tooth and love a sweet treat after dinner. We have dessert pretty much every night. I tell my kids the same thing I tell myself -- sugar isn't bad for you, it just doesn't do anything good for you. So it's important to meet your body's nutritional needs first, but then if you want to have a sweet treat just for the pleasure of it, it's not "bad". I do think teaching kids that some foods are "bad" for you and that even being around them is bad can lead to disordered eating, and just obsessing more over food than I think is healthy.

You are way over projecting and having dessert every night is not normal for majority of households.

You are making a big deal of a note being sent home about not having graham crackers. Who cares, don’t send in the graham crackers.