A local town recently banned children from bringing in cupcakes or any other food to school to celebrate their birthday. The school board thinks that it will "help children make healthier food choices."

I say that is complete crap. It is a child's birthday for goodness sakes! Are we to forbid our 7yr olds from eating a freakin' miserable CUPCAKE on their or their friend's birthdays!?! Ridiculous.

it's a new health thing that the whole country is going under. Eventually, there will be no more vending machines, or soda machines in schools either, and there will not be any "unhealthy" fund raisers(no candy bars ect) It's a government power trip and I agree that it's crap. The teachers can also no longer give out candy as a reward, what are thye going to give? A sticker? Woohoo! So yeah, your school is probbaly just following protocall. I dont think its a law yet but its coming down the drain pipe and will be that way eventually. I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether or not their children can have sweets, if a child is raised not eating sweets, theyre probably not going to eat a lot of sweets, even if offered, so why does it matter? It's the parents choice, personally I think. BAH! I'm off my soap box now sorry.

Sorry, I am going to take the other side. I am an elementary school teacher who teaches in a very food toxic environment. Birthday cupcakes would not be a problem if it is once in a while but put 25 kids in a class.. each of them having a birthday and a high percentage wanting to bring in punch and cupcakes on their special day. Add that to expectations of a Halloween party, Christmas parties, end of the year parties. All which seem to have the idea that junk food is the norm. Sorry.. I avoid them unless parents work it out to bring in healthy choices. Go into other classes and its chips, cake, icecream .... candy.. on and on.

Then throw in the constant treats teachers give them for doing simple expected things. And I do mean candy treats.

Add this to lunches of pizza and tater tots on the same tray for *&&*^*^ sake! Woudn't be so bad if it was a "choice" but most students at my school are on free and reduced lunches. So guess who is paying for this junk?

Jeeze let me hop down from my soap box. It's a long jump as this just irritates me to no end.

Yeah, it's a little overkill. When I read the title, I thought the thread was going to be about birthday celebrations being banned because they're not culturally sensitive or something.

I do sometimes wish cupcakes were banned in corporate America, though! Would make my life a lot easier! LOL, I'm mostly kidding.

I can see it from both sides (professional fence-walker here ).

Jayde, I can see you point of view. I think one of the key points you mentioned, however, is 25 kids per room. 25 kids????? That's waaaaaaaay too many! And it's one of the biggest problems I have with our publc education system in the US. Too many kids and too few teachers per room. If you had just half that many... the kids get more attention, the teachers are less stressed and as a bonus, you have far fewer birthday cupcakes to contend with!

With 25 kids, I sympathize with you on the cupcakes and parties and sweet-laden treats.

OTOH, I understand how a kid wants to share the celebration of his/her special day, and in many cultures, like it or not, celebration = food. Maybe it's a holdover from when food was more difficult to come by, but it's the tradition we've inherited.

I wonder if there couldn't be a compromise? If a kid wants to bring cupcakes for their birthday, have them bring the mini-cupcakes? One per student. Have the teachers use something other than candy for incentives. Pencils, erasers, bookmarks, trading cards? Hard to get away from candy at the Halloween party but do you need it for the Valentine's party? Why not daisys or tulips?

It's tough all around, but I'm not sure cutting off birthday cupcakes is the right solution. It's an easy solution, but easy doesn't always equal right. Right?

Hmmmm one more thing... the theory behind this cupcake ban is to help the kids learn to make better food choices, right, Shrinkinchica? I'm not sure "decision making" is being taught when there is only one option available ("Ooooo look, birthday celery sticks! Yum!").

Again, not sure how to solve the problem but I don't think a ban will do it. And the "decision-making" explanation just doesn't cut it, as far as I'm concerned.

And isn't that why it's become a problem? If a kid is bringing in cupcakes for the whole class to celebrate their birthday, what if some of the parents of the students in their class don't want their kids having the cupcakes? Shouldn't that be up to them to decide? Can't that child celebrate their birthday after school? School is supposed to be for learning. Not birthday celebrations anyway. I don't see banning A cupcake. But involving the whole class in it...I completely understand their reasoning for it.

I'm not for or against cupcakes in the classroom. I've taken treats to my son's class on his birthday because it makes him feel special and it is commonplace at his school. But, if they were to ban the practice it would be no skin off my back. I think a good compromise would be to not allow treats for individual birthdays but, instead, have parents volunteer to bring in class treats at the beginning of each month to acknowledge all of the children who have birthdays in that month.

I do think things like birthdays should be recognized in the classroom, at least for the younger children. It really does mean a lot to them. I agree that school is for learning. However, to ensure that a child has a good attitude towards school they need to start their career with plenty of positive experiences. Birthdays can be a part of that. But there are so many ways to single a child out without using food. Last year my son's teacher had the class make, decorate and sign a card for each child's birthday. And the birthday child was appointed class leader for the day (if there were two children with the same birthday one took the next day). She gave them personalized pencils, etc. They loved it.

This year, I shared the title of room mother with another mom. At each of the parties we always made certain that there were healthier options available and tried to make them as fun as possible. Still, you can imagine which trays were barely touched!

Exactly! We can have celebrations and fun without food being the center of it all.. especially junk. Food "treats" are meant to be treats. They cease to be that when they become commonplace. IMO my class and I have a whole lot more fun celebrating other ways.

I definately agree here. Taking choices away does not help with decision making. Tell a child he can't have something and that is exactly what he will want. We see this a lot when books are banned from library shelves. I know 2 fourth graders in particular who google banned books at home and look for these books in our school and public library. (certain books are banned but available if students have parental permission)... go figure.

I totally am on the side of the ban. Many kids who don't get treats at home will eat them at school. Have you seen the new show on TLC called Jamie Oliver's School Lunch Program? He is changing all the schools in his area lunches to healthy choices instead of pizza, tater tots, etc. It took awhile for the kids to adjust, but they did and like the new healthy food.

Our kids spend alot of time at school and they have many opportunities to eat junk food via vending machines, school lunches, club candy sales, parties, rewards, etc. Even the best intentioned parent can't control their kid 24 hours a day. You have to trust that you kid will make a good decision, but sometimes that doesn't happen especially when there is peer pressure involved. What kid doesn't like candy, chocolate, and/or cupcakes?

So I feel that the new healthy path that schools are moving in are something that has been needed for a long time. Maybe that is one of the reasons more children are becoming overweight. To fight this we have to change something. And I think changing their choices at school is a good place to start. Of course choices at home need to be changed as well. But the government can't really step in there.

I think that's something that would change with time. With kids learning to eat healthier fare, then growing up and passing it on to their kids.

I am a school nurse and also a mom to two kids with metabolic syndrome or syndrome x. I am definently for the ban as it help out my kids greatly. They are both in middle school and they have timers on the soft drink machines so they only dispense during after school hours. I see kids choose fruit and other healthy foods all the time. They need to have choices, of course they will not go for the healthier things if they've never seen these things at home!

It is certainly not the hill I would die on........I try for the most part to support the admin at my children's schools........I think that there on those who go too extreme on issues.....a little moderation and common sense is a good thing. If schools want to try something new to change things up then I think people should give it an honest effort. I can't tolerate the whiney parents who show up at school council meetings when they have something to complain about but are never part of the solution on a regular basis.
I also belive that things should be done consistently for the most part across a school....not one teacher doing it one way and another doing it the RIGHT way. I think that it sends mixed messages. I respect the admin at my daughters schools for working together with teachers and parents for the most part as a team.

L

I don't think it helps kids overall to forbid anything. I think we are better served by learning balance and moderation. My son, now 21, was diabetic since age 4, so treats such as cupcakes were an issue for us. I didn't ask the school to ban them but to merely inform me ahead of time so we could plan. Perhaps instead of banning cupcakes for birthdays altogether, there could be a designated day once a month to celebrate birthdays that fell in that month. Other food choices could also be included for allergies or other food issues, so that everyone felt included. Perhaps on that same day as part of the celebration, there would be extra activities for playing outside. I've just seen too many kids over the years, who were banned from eating sweets and junk food at home, go elsewhere and go wild because it was the forbidden fruit. Those things are with us everywhere, so we need to deal with them. My now 21 year old diabetic now eats a very healthy diet (lean protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains), and is a body builder - but that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy the occasional treat. Balance in all things. Just my two cents.