Those with kids in school - Does the teacher/school ban certain foods?

Does the teacher/school ban certain foods? Not the regular allergy foods, but "candy". Yesterday in Donevan's lunch I sent him a rice crispy square as a treat. We made them together on Sunday afternoon. Well it came back with a note that said, "I do not allow candy my classroom. Donevan is more then happy to have his fruit, raisins, and yoghurt that you normally send." I do send cookies and they NEVER come back. I sent a package of molasses cookies today to see what she does. Donevan was in tears last night about his rice crispy square. I am honestly a little peeved. There have been other incidents with his teacher with sending home notes and overstepping her boundaries or so I feel anyway. And what is the difference between a cookie and a rice crispy square really?

 

For snacks in the classroom, yes, we have very strict rules. They can have fruit, cheese, goldfish, or pretzels and water to drink (probably veggies too, but mine wouldn't bring them.) For lunch in the cafeteria, they can have anything. Cookies can be more of a grey area, since some can be whole grain, oatmeal, or other more healthy ingredients, and it is too much work to ID homemade cookies, whereas a rice krispy treat is rice crispy's, marshmallow, and butter, no healthy ingredients there.

There is a huge push in our school for healthy snacks. Even parties can't have anything where the first 3 ingredients are sugar.

 

If it is just the teacher's rule, I think she's overstepping. But our entire school has the rule of only healthy snacks, and while they cannot dictate what we send in the child's lunch, they do encourage healthy lunches as well. The hot lunch program is quite healthy, but twice a week they can purchase a whole grain (healthy~ish) cookie for a quarter. They can't bring in a food treat for their birthday at all, and we can only bring healthy treats in for class parties (ie. Valentine's Day).

So we'd get the same type of note if we tried sending that in as a snack.

 

I think I would be a little miffed. Especially if you normally do provide healthier snacks, there's nothing wrong with a treat now and then. My twins' school does encourage healthy snacks, but I've never had them told they can't eat something. I have sent in Rice Krispie treats with my one son in his lunch and he's never been told no.

 

Wouldn't there be some sort of note or correspondence issued at the beginning of the school year that outlines snack/lunch policy? If not, I would be upset and talk to the teacher about it.

 

I'd be pissed. It's one thing if you constantly send junk food for their lunch all the time, but a rice krispie treat one day? Especially a homemade one? Ugh! I probably wouldn't push the issue, but I'd be ticked off none the less!

 

I agree. Before the start of the school year, they were sent home with a list of approved snacks.

I guess I could see it from the teacher's point of view if she is the one who has to deal with Johnny or Billy who's snacks are grapes or celery sticks and he's eating a rice crispy treat.

You mentioned you have sent cookies, are they homemade or packaged? I know our school frowns against homemade snacks because of food allergies.

Maybe you should ask her for a list of approved snacks?

 

Our school encourages healthy lunches & snacks, as well, and our hot lunch program has been completely reworked in recent years & is much healthier now (we have no cafeteria, so kids bring their own lunches 4 days a week & get hot lunch brought in 1 day a week). But, even so, I would be a bit angry if I got a note like that. I can understand & even support rules about the types of foods that can be sent in for class parties, after all you don't really know what the other parents would allow their children to eat & it is hard to control the amount of treats the kids get at those parties, but I think sending home food that I sent with my child along with a note like that crosses a line. Encouraging healthy eating is great, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with a treat every now & then and I think it is up to me, not the teacher, to make that decision.

 

When the girls could have snacks the entire class had the same snack as a whole. I can pack whatever I want for the girls lunch. However treats in the class must follow a healthy guideline on the website. However I know Cereal Treats are ok since the mail ingredient is not sugar.

 

I don't know if this is a daycare or preschool situation. I've never had experience with daycare growing up, or now with my own kids so I don't know. But I have to say this post sounds crazy to me. Especially all the replies confirming that this is how things are now! I'm all for encouraging healthy eating. And I can understand if it's a treat for the class from a food allergy perspective. But when it's your own child's lunch that you packed for them, I would be infuriated. And I would find that note she sent home to be sort of judgmental and condescending.

My kids are in preschool 2 mornings a week and they don't eat there - they may have an occasional treat or snack brought in for a party or birthday. So I'm not sure what it's like when a child younger than grade school age is eating lunch at school. I'm sure there's more help from teachers and stuff then from when I remember being in school, unpacking and eating my own lunch. I just couldn't imagine a teacher coming around and taking something out of it and saying it wasn't appropriate. I would have felt horribe.

 

Our teacher gave us a list of appropriate snacks for their 9am snack which is eaten in the classroom. For lunches, there are no prohibitions, not even peanut butter. Does the teacher eat with the class? Ours does not and would not know what I sent with him on any given day. I do send in candy for him every now and then as a special treat. Nothing huge, just a hershey's kiss or gummi bear. I've never got a note back.

 

Our school encourages healthy snacks, but I hear from the girls that some kids bring in cookies or gummy fruits on occassion. Also it seems like the most common snack to bring in for birthday celebrations are munchkins (even in Ana's class where there is a child with a peanut allergy). Today the girls brought in Annie's graham bunnies. I would be mad if 1) the teacher took it away from my kid, and 2) sent it home with a note to me about how its unacceptable. I don't know what I'd do though... maybe send an email asking about it and requesting a list of the school's approved snacks (sort of an passive aggressive way to ask what the SCHOOL policy is).

 

Yeah - my girls entire school (preschool - 6th grade) limits foods and snacks. No candy or overly sugary stuff is allowed. Some families are really good about it and others aren't. My girls come home with stories of one boy who has a cookie every day, another who has jello daily, etc. But I do know that the teachers take candy away - I've heard those stories as well. In the end, the extra sugar affects the teachers the most... they're the ones who have to deal with hyper kids.

I don't have any problem with teachers enforcing the agreed upon food rules (like taking candy away from kids if candy isn't allowed) but in your case it sounds like you didn't know what was allowed/not allowed. And her note sounds a bit like you were being scolded. I'd be annoyed too.

 

Dumb. I think it makes total sense to have school lunches be healthy and well-rounded, and some education for children and families about what is healthy seems like a good idea, too. But I think the schools often go too far in parenting the children. I realize there are parents who pretty much abdicate responsibility for most of their child-rearing to the schools (my mom was a grade school teacher and had a few crazy stories), so in response the schools may try to be the parents to all the children. This just sounds ridiculous to me. And her wording of the letter (you'd hope a teacher would get it right) was obviously incorrect. He wasn't happy to have only those previous things. He may have been welcome to, but not happy.

 

I don't consider a rice krispie treat to be candy. It's not healthy either - it's a treat! ANd, treats are okay, in moderation. Are cookies actually "more" okay than a RKT? I guess it does depend on the exact recipe, but I consider them to be treats as well and not healthy either. So... I agree with you that it doesn't make sense that cookies are okay and RKTs are not. That seems to be a very fine line. I'm also not wild about the wording of the note she sent you.

That said, I think it's fine for the teacher to ban candy & treats from her classroom, even if it's not the policy for the whole school. I do think she should make it clear up front precisely what is and is not acceptable and be consistent in enforcing it.


ETA: Okay, so now I'm wondering what kind of cookies you have sent in. I think I would be tempted to make m&m cookies next. BWHAHA I think I'm generally very supportive of teachers - but this seems very random to me. What about brownies? are they okay? I think she would be better off with a No Dessert policy than nitpicking everything sent in everyday.

 

I never even got a note explaining what was allowed and not allowed. The cookies I have sent are molasses cookies, which seriously aren't the healthiest, arrowroot cookies, and oatmeal. Maybe I will make M&M cookies and send them. No the wording of the notes I think is what ticked me off the most.

I have issues with this teacher though, she has written on Donevan's shoes to show which shoes goes on which foot, when there are pictures on his shoes to help him with that. I got notes that he didn't wear winter boots when it was 15C and rain. I got a note that he needed to have Aveeno put on his hands, he has severe eczema, and they way she worded it was that I don't take care of him properly. I don't like her in all honesty, but the rice crispy square thing I think really pushed me over the edge. He is 4 and he knew he was getting a treat and she took it away from him. He cried all the way home.

 

Here is my girl's snack policy. I remember reading it for the first time and thinking 2 oreo's are ok but 3 are not.
i should add that today both of my girls have celery and carrots. I think Dani has popcorn and Sydney has Chex mix.

 

It really sounds like she is micromanaging a bit too much. I am supportive of teachers overall, but there are some that just need to step back & reevaluate whether they are acting more like a teacher or a parent. Does she have young children herself?

 

It's a school, he is in Junior Kindergarten and goes all day everyday. They eat in the gym with the rest of the school but the teacher does go through the kids lunches. I agree with healthy snacks, I don't have an issue with that. He saw her take it away from him, which to me is NOT acceptable. His lunch yesterday was a sandwich on raisin bread, a yop to drink, a yoghurt covered granola bar and a little container of fresh mixed berries.

Oh and the way the note was worded, it is a classroom policy, not a school policy.

 

I am unsure. My twins start school in Sept of 2013, I hope they don't have her.

 

ljcrochet - Wow. Again I understand eating healthy and I am all for it, but I think that the schools and teachers are overstepping their boundaries somewhat when they decide what you pack in your kids lunch.

 

OH MY GOSH! That is ridiculous!! If a school wants to micromanage snacks that much, maybe they need to add a snack fee onto the registration/book fee and purchase their own acceptable snacks to provide the kids! I can't even believe how detailed that list is! :faint:

 

I agree with Jori completely. If they feel a need to be that picky, they should just provide the snacks. Wow, that list is seriously crazy!

 

Totally agree. They aren't the ones doing the grocery shopping, the parents are.

 

last year we got a note from the teacher about "HER" snack policy. She never took a snack away from my children but she made a big deal in class about who brought a "good" snack in. Those who brought healthy snacks got "funny money" once they earn enough money they can purchase prizes from the box. This snack was hers alone. The school did send a note home suggesting that parents send only healthy snacks and that soda and colored juices were allowed because the children ate in the classroom on a rug and colored juice causes stains. We totally understood that and followed it strictly.

This is ridiculous!

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If I got a note like that I would be either on the phone asking the teacher to call me back for a meeting or writing a note for a meeting. I don't think I would have waited for this to be that straw that it for me. You shared that she wrote on your sons shoes and did other things already. She is WAY overstepping her authority. I completely agree tat children need to eat healthy but they like everyone else deserve a treat now and then and if a parent sends in a treat now and then they should be allowed to keep/eat it. I could understand a respectful note asking that snacks lean more toward the healthy side but what she wrote was unacceptable.

BTW I would not take a chance at my twins getting her as a teacher. I would set up a meeting now with the principle to express my displeasure with how you are and have been treated and request that she not be an option for the twins.

 

I can understand teachers/schools wanting to limit junk food sent in for class snacks, but I'd be seriously pissed off if someone took something out of my child's lunch bag. What I send for my child to eat for lunch is MY business. I would not let something like that slide, especially since it upset your son so much. Huge hugs to him!

 

I am setting up a meeting with the principal. I am waiting for him to confirm a time and a day that works with for both of us. As for the the twins having her, I made a comment to my mom last night that if the do get her, I am requesting that that they be moved to another class. I am hoping by 2013 she is either no longer there or not teaching JK. With my luch she'll be moved to teach senior kindergarten next yr and Donevan will have her again.

 

She wrote on his shoes before?? :huh:

 

I'd request that none of the boys have her again. Our teacher is a bit weird and when they were doing group snack she requested healthy stuff but did not have enough parents participate....real suprizing considering its a public school. My girls eat in the caf but peanut butter is the only exclusion from sack lunches

 

Naomi and Luke are allowed to bring a snack for morning break but it HAS to be fruit. This is a school-wide policy. When they were in the younger classes (up to age 7) the fruit was provided for them by the school. Older classes bring their own. If a child doesn't want fruit they don't have to have it but they cannot bring anything else.
For packed lunches they are allowed pretty much anything, I think the only things banned are chocolate bars (get too melted and messy) and yoghurt tubes (again because of mess, too many kids have trouble opening them and the yoghurt goes everywhere) and they are not allowed any fizzy drinks. Those rules are the same for when they take lunches on school trips.

I think that if this teacher wants strict rules on snacks/lunches she should have made that known at the start of school. I know many pp's shared they think the list posted earlier is crazy but at least it's clear and parents have the guideline.
I'd be seriously annoyed that she took away his food, especially in an insensitive way that upset him, without ever telling you where the boundaries are. It would have been far more appropriate to let him eat it and then send a note explaining her snack policy (although it should have already been explained to every parent and shouldn't be so ridiculous as to ban rice krispy squares but allow cookies). I think you need to pursue this further, talk with both her and the principal.

ETA: I'm glad you're getting a meeting with the principal. I would bring up the writing on his shoes as well, to do that without your permission is definitely crossing a line.

 

wow...just wow...there aren't any restrictions (that I know of)...the kids get cup cakes for other kids birthdays etc...

if the teacher took away my kids snack she better have supplied one for him - otherwise then the rest of the kids would be eating in front of him - and that sucks even worse!

 

Yes! She put a moon on one and a star on the other to help him to know which one is right and left. The shoes have jordans on each side that face out, that is what I use to tell him which foot they go on. Basketball players face out. I was not impressed and got a letter of apology. I am not a fan of hers. June can not come fast enough!

 

Well said! I was trying to think of how to tactfully explain this thought in my response, but then decided to delete it. You said it better than anything I came up with.

 

When I talk to the principal I will see if I can request that she not teach any of the boys. I am more concerned for next yr if they give her an SK class. The twins start in 2013 so lots of time to deal with that.

 

what the heck does a star and a moon have to do with left and right. YOUR telling your son that the design of the basketball player being on the outside is a much clearer way to teach what shoe goes where. It is good you got the letter of apology but you should never have had to get it in the first place. Even with that letter already given to you I would still bring this up as one of the reasons you do not want her as a teacher for any of your children in the future.