No food allowed

Jesse's school called with a message saying that students are not allowed to being any type of food to celebrate birthdays or holidays. I imagine this also applies to Halloween and Valentines day. They suggested sending pencils instead. I understand many children have food allergies .. but this seems so extreme. Besides .. I have a drawer FULL of assorted pencils they have gotten from school !

Is this a common practice in schools now-a-days ?

 

My girls school only allows food for birthday's in K and 1st. No halloween candy or Valentines day candy allowed.

 

We got a notice as well.

They are encouraging class books (bring in a book to share and donate to class on birthdays). They also get to wear a crown and get a treat from the office (non-food trinkets).


I am ok with it. I would not spearhead a campaign to get rid of such treats, but I am actually happy with the situation. Considering there are 22-24 kiddos in the class and school is 180 days. That is a sweet treat every 7-8 school days for birthdays not including any holiday parties. So add in holidays or various other celebrations- just about EVERY week would be a sweet treat- that seems like a lot in our low sweet household (yes we eat candy & cookies but it is a treat every once in awhile not daily).

Here are a few reasons I am OK with it:

1. our school promotes healthy eating- its seems a good practice what you say type setting. Lots of kids I am sure get such things at home as well (including mine). Regular bagged treats like animal crackers or graham crackers will be in lunches, so really not a 'treat'.

2. allergies are not a minor thing. School banned 'homeade' treats as a way to try to avoid them but that led to expensive store bought cupcakes, cookies, etc. Instead of maybe healthier options that could be made at home. There are nut, egg, milk, dairy, etc. It leads to a child with an allergy being excluded and well...that is no fun on birthdays.

3. It helps promote brining in books (or in your case pencils) as a positive school related gift. It also models school community and kids often enjoy picking out books for peers (or pencils).

4. It helps avoid the competitive -- "I brought X!" that led to bigger and better cupcake confections at a school I worked at. A book is a book-- to be enjoyed by everyone. A good story can be paperback,
hardback, big or small....

5. As a mom of a child on a special diet (not allergies) it is nice not to have to worry about what she is eating at school and taking that into consideration when planning meals and/or toward our health/nutrition plan.


Other fun 'alternatives' to food treats are : erasers (kids love fun erasers), stickers, bookmarks, gel pens, pencil toppers, fun rulers, little pencil sharpeners in neat shapes, and any other school trinkets. Party stores, teacher supply stores, Home Depot, Target all carry them and they are fairly cheap and fun looking.

 

Our school does that, too. The kids can bring in something small to pass out to the class (like pencils, etc) or donate a book (what we did) to the classroom. What about gift cert? I know Friendly's often does their Easter Seals Ice Cream cone gift cert, would something like that be acceptable?

 

Good points ! I can understand the schools concerns .. and our schools are also promoting healthy food choices. They have a ban on all soft drinks and such sweets.

I'm sure those would be fine ! I think they just don't want to take any chances of a child ingesting something they are allergic to.

Jayden has some food allergies (one of them being maple) and he knew to ask the teacher if the pancakes they were serving for breakfast had maple syrup in them. But I guess there's always a chance that someone could be mistaken.

 

Our school has a similar policy. In fact, after 2nd grade, you are not allowed to go into the class for a birthday anymore. The only time food is allowed is for the scheduled class parties, and even then, the first ingredient cannot be sugar. Our parties as a result tend to have bagels, pizza, veggies and dip, and chips. Very little sweets.

 

I like that idea !

 

The teacher does one party a month for all the birthdays. We have to send a snack once a month that is healthy( no cookies or candy)

 

Our school has the same rule. Too many allergies -- and, I suspect, too much junk food. I wouldn't want my kids eating a cupcake for every one of the 24 birthdays, or whatever. They get enough sweets at home.

The school has their own non-food-related ways of celebrating birthdays.

I assume there will be food at the school-sponsored holiday parties, but I don't know what the rules about Valentine's Day will be.

 

No, thank goodness. If there are certain allergies in the class, a note is sent home as to what would be appropriate to bring in (Pretzel Factory soft pretzels are usually a safe one, and a big hit too!). I remember having parties and such in class and it was always a highlight and so much fun. I'm glad we haven't gotten to that point yet. I'd be bummed too.

 

I am glad to be free of the cupcake competition and I am excited we can contribute things like books and games for the classroom. Honestly, I hated the goody bags we got in preschool so I like the classroom donation a lot better.

 

Our school does this too, and I am very cool with it. The treats/sweets/candy were getting a bit out of hand at preschool, IMO. This will be a nice change.

I like that gift certificate idea. I think I'll do something like a little kit that lets them make foam bookmarks, or something similar. I'd buy everything separately and then make up the kits in little sandwich bags. My girls have a bin full of pencils so I'm not going that route.

 

The schools in our county are allowed 2 parties a year, our school chooses Halloween (and they have a costume parade) and Valentine's day. Our school does allow us to bring in treats for the child's bday, they are passed out at lunch and have to be individual servings, like cupcakes or brownies (no cakes that have to be cut). :good: I always take cupcakes in and have lunch and pass them out to the students. Some parents just send them in to be passed out by the person on lunch duty.


The bday treat rule is up to each individual school here.

 

We got a letter sent home today that said food items will no longer be allowed for celebrations because of an increase in students with allergies.

I understand, but I'm bummed. ardon:

 

Yeah, me too !

I have a friend in MA who's dd school has banned juice box's. Only bottled water is allowed.

 

I sometimes wish that would happen at the girls school there is so many treats. Every birthday cup cakes. Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, Easter end of school parties and most kids bring a treat thing in for the whole class, I dread picking them up those days such a sugar high.

 

Our school did that. It was b/c of the allergies.
I was just as glad; at the class parties, kids would eat all these gooey, bad for you treats so fast b/c of limited time. So many parents sent in food! They had little time for anything else. And for birthdays, it became too competitive -- "so-and-so brought doughnuts,(or made cookies with each kid's name on them in frosting,etc.) and you're just making brownies?"
But I know that some kids really wanted to share their birthday with the class -- and some moms/dads preferred to send in treats.

It became a hotly contested issue -- sadly. I just wish all kids had happy birthdays, no matter what they brought in for goodie bags.

 

Now THAT seems a bit extreme!!

 

I wish our nursery would implement that kind of policy, it is so extreme, the parents of the kids bring in sweets for every type of event - it works out to sweet treats a few times/wk! And, we are a low sugar household, so I have to send treats that my kids can have when they have all that high-sugar stuff. I hope and have been pushing that they implement a no food policy, for everyones sake (allergies, and just for general health of the children).

 

Our preschool doesn't allow birthday treats to be sent in. The birthday child can donate a toy or book and the school provides a snack that that all of the children in the class can eat. My kids don't have food allergies but I am glad that all of the kids are able to participate.

 

I'm with Heather! I would be so bummed if our school went to this extreme. It is always great fun for the birthday kids to bring in a treat.

 

We can only send water for lunch this year, but I think the policy is different in the older grades and they are allowed milk and juice. As far as I know, for us it is more a way of avoiding spills than anything else.


We have a no treats policy for birthdays, too, I think. For holidays, most classes do have parties but the treats are limited to 1 or 2 and the rest have to be things like pizza, fruit, veggies, sandwiches, etc. I am okay with it, the less sugar the better as far as I am concerned. For L&L's birthday this week, I think I am going to send cute pencils. They are actually more excited to go pick out the pencils for their friends than they would be about cupcakes anyway.

 

We are not allowed to bring candy of any type. They have 2 parties a year and they get treats (sugar free icecream, fruit etc) there. No holiday themed parties and no home baked goods.

 

As mom to a kid with a nut allergy, and someone who's kids get crraaaazy when they eat stuff like cake, I really appreciate the no-food-treats rule. At our school the kids get to be a "special helper" for the day, and if parents want to bring in treats for the class it just has to be non-edible (so stickers, pencils, pins etc.)
I also like that our school asks they bring only water to drink (in reuseable containers- they do "litterless snacks/lunches" at school, another cool thing!), and not bring cookies, cake or candy as a snack. The school is a "nut-free" school, so all snacks and lunches must also be nut-free, too.
I get that it's a blast to have cupcakes during school hours, but my son wouldn't be able to eat what the other kids are eating, plus there would be a constant worry that he would be given a treat by another kid while a grown-up wasn't watching (he's pretty good about saying "no", but you never know), or him getting peanut protein into his body by accident (by touching something smeared with icing and then touching his mouth, for instance). There's plenty of time for edible treats outside of school. It's not even remotely worth the risk for us.

 

being as i have one of those kids with nut allergies, i completely support it. it's just too dangerous. my allergy dd is in a completely nut free room (there are 14 kids with severe allergies). It's just too dangerous to take the chance. kids tend to share snacks and parents aren't always savvy on what's in what. I'm still learning it myself having my dd just diagnosed in April. My other dd's class allows food for parties. will be interesting when the other one finds out and we go through the whole "that's not fair" thing. <_<