Pathetic sign of the times.

[gcvmom]

easy child wanted me to bring cookies to share with her class today in honor of her birthday. We were going to do this at the morning recess, so I called the school to find out what time her class goes to recess. I explained to the office clerk what we were planning, and she interrupted me mid-sentence to say that they had to be STORE BOUGHT items. WTH? You've got to be kidding me!

I wonder if the store-bought Nestle's cookie dough falls under their guidelines?

Frankly, I'm just disgusted and feeling very rebellious over this. Something about ridiculous rules put in place to "protect" a very small minority over something they can simply say no to if it conflicts with them in any possible way (food allergy, general mistrust of their fellow student's family, paranoia in general, etc.)

 

[AnnieO]

Store bought. OK fine. I will go to the grocery, buy flour, butter, chocolate chips, and eggs. That makes 'em store bought. Right?

 

[busywend]

I recall being furious with this rule as well. Then I walked into someone's kitchen and was like.....I certainly do not want difficult child eating anything from THIS kitchen. So, I was OK with the rule then. But, it does take some of the fun out of it.

 

[gcvmom]

I'm just thinking, if it's safe enough for ME to eat and my KID to eat, it should be safe enough for anyone else. And like I said, people always have the option to decline the offer.

And if you think about it, most commercial restaurant kitchens are MUCH dirtier and put you at risk for unsanitary conditions than a private home's kitchen. My place does not have rodents or roaches, and I do not spray insecticide. I have a vested interest in practicing good hygiene because I am eating what I cook and I serve it to my family. How many restaurant employees can say that? And in all honesty, I don't think my family has ever ONCE gotten sick from anything I've prepared. Now my sister in law's, they can't say that, and neither can my mother in law. And I HAVE gotten food poisoning from restaurants.

It's just asinine, the whole ball of wax.

 

[tiredmommy]

You know... having been on the other side of the food allergy debate I can understand (to a point) where the school is coming from. It's about liability. Duckie's school "encourages" store-bought and they have classrooms that are allergy-intensive. Appropriate snacks are provided by the school, birthdays are celebrated monthly in these classes. Parents are encouraged to send in non-food novelties like stickers, pencils, etc. It's accepted because there are several children in the school with severe allergies. Non-allergy classes still have treats brought in, but parents are encouraged to provide store-bought.

My problem with easy child's school is that it is May and you obviously had no idea about this policy. They have not done a good job communicating the policy to the parents. And I'd bet that it is a suggestion, not a rule unless easy child is in an allergy classroom. You would have received information and special instructions if that were the case.

 

[gcvmom]

I'm bringing them at lunch today when all the families will be there picnicking with their students. The parents can decide whether or not they want their child to have one.

 

[AnnieO]

What a great solution!!! That way the parents can be bad guys... LOL

A while back we had cupcakes - BAKERY bought - for Jett's birthday, took them to football practice. One of the kids had a severe peanut allergy - but no one knew except him and his parents. Guess what happened. No nuts in the cupcakes... But... The bakery processed peanut butter cookies...

Oh - the child did NOT eat a cupcake, and we were outdoors. What happened was a little frosting got on a teammate's jersey or arm, or something, and touched the kid when he made contact.

 

[Hound dog]

I dunno, I never liked the rule. Seems senseless. Just because a cookie is store bought does not mean said cookie is not going to cause an allergic reaction. Not when you take into consideration that any person at any given time can have an allergic reaction to anything. Even something they've been around/eaten thousands of times in the past.

With that philosophy, why are they bothering to serve school lunches? Now there is a liability for multiple reasons. ugh!

I understand having a kid with allergies is hard. I get that. I do. But there are ways around it so that all can still enjoy.

This just was getting started when Nichole was young. I'd been baking goodies for the school for Lord knows how long at that point. I did it every holiday, plus the kid's bdays. She had a child in her class that had some pretty severe allergies, one was peanuts. Teacher made everyone aware of this from day one. So I was careful that the stuff I prepared didn't contain things the child was allergic to. And if I couldn't get around it, I'd contact the parent and ask something the child enjoyed that they were able to eat and prepare that special something for them. Worked out fine. Nichole shared a class with this child for several years.

easy child ran up against the same thing with Darrin's pre-school. The store bought rule didn't stick. Instead parents got together and made sure holiday party menus contained nothing any child had a known allergy to......and the kids still got to have their homemade treats.

 

[gcvmom]

So. Wanna hear how it went down?

I showed up a few minutes early. Waited outside the classroom door. Teacher came out, saw me and said, "Oh! You're here! Come on inside and we'll sing to easy child." So the class sang to her (in English and then in Chinese, no less). After which point the teacher invited me to hand out the cookies to the class as they exited the room! I swear, it's a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing and no one really cares after all. And every student took one. And they were thrilled to get a still-warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie. Mission Accomplished.

 

[Shari]

We have the same rule, and I HATE it. Understand the rationale behind it, but hate it. I choose to beleive that people are still generally good. I don't teach my kids to fear people they don't know. Caution? Yes. Fear? No.

Besides, if someone wanted to intentionally make children ill, the wrapper on store bought isn't going to stop them.

And good for you!

 

[skeeter]

I have one of those allergic kids. I taught him how to live in the "real" world.

When treats were brought in, he would politely decline, or ask if he could take it home to his brother, if it was something he absolutely was not certain was milk free. Most of the parents would call me first, however, to ask what they could bring for him instead.

I knew I wasn't always going to be there to police his diet, so he had to learn how to do it. Even while on ship in the Navy, he worked it out that he could always have a peanutbutter sandwich if they were serving something he couldn't have (he worked night shift, so there wasn't a large choice).

 

[Josie]

I have allergic kids and I don't care if parents bring something wrapped or homemade. Either way, my kids have to learn what they can and can't eat.

Interestingly, my daughter's Junior Scholastic has an article on this very subject this week. It says that NYC decided that only fruits, vegetables, and approved packaged foods could be served in the schools. Homemade items were not allowed because portion size as well as ingredients were not available. It is about trying to reverse the obesity trend in children, more than food allergies and sanitation. The article mentioned that CA and some other cities have done the same thing.

 

[Shari]

The studies on corn syrup, tho, which pre-package foods would be made with where homemade wouldn't, strongly suggest it promotes weight gain despite the aloric content being the same as sugar. Its banned in a lot of other countriesy.

So I won't even buy that excuse, but hey....who am I? lol

 

[muttmeister]

I agree the whole thing is stupid; as you said, just a sign of the times. As a former teacher I know I was asked to spend more time on this kind of stupidity which left less time for reading, math, etc. No matter what rules you have, if a child has a food allergy, that child has to learn to live in the world and deal with it. If somebody intentionally wants to make kids sick, they can do it with store bought just as easily as with homemade. As for obesity and portion control, eating a birthday cookie does not make you fat. Going home and having your parent stuff you with high fat, high calorie foods is what makes you fat. We have lost all semblance of common sense and until ordinary people like you (and me) stand up and scream holy he!! every chance we get, it is only going to get worse.

 

[Kathy813]

Well, this might make everybody mad but as a teacher I don't eat anything that students bring to me that is homemade. Just because your kitchen may be clean doesn't mean everybody has the same standards. I've had students with very poor personal hygiene bring me a treat and proudly announce that they made it themselves. I just smile and say thank you and tell them I'll eat it with my lunch and then throw it away after they have left.

Ironically, there was a thread on Amazon around Christmas time about this very topic. Teacher after teacher came on and said that same thing . . . they don't eat food sent as gifts that are homemade. It really upset some of the parents on the thread.

~Kathy

 

[slsh]

Kathy - I think you're right on there. Who *knows* what goes on in other peoples kitchens? Think hepatitis, salmonella, or just good old food poisoning.

Intentional or not, *if* something were to happen to a kid as a result of a homemade treat, I would think the school would have significant liability.

When the rule was first implemented in our schools several years ago, it kind of torqued me too. But the bottom line is the kids' safety comes first so... I wasn't aggravated for too long.

 

[Hound dog]

Kathy I see your point. And that of course would be up to the person as an individual. Although I'll just say I've met plenty of people with poor hygiene who had spotless homes, and plenty of people who were all but Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) about hygiene who hadn't cleaned their houses in years.

Mutt, AMEN!!

 

[Tiapet]

In the school district down here, which is a whole county not town by town, each school seems to have their own policy which is so crazy. What is even crazier is that it seems that the kids keep getting "reassigned" to different schools each year as well. My kids have been in different schools. My youngest has been in 3, my middle one 2 different. My oldest at least has maintained the same high school for her 4 years. Luckily we do get the option to choose year round schools, tradition, or magnet options.

One of the schools said No treats at all. One school said ONLY store bought treats due to liability issues and allergy problems _my son has allergy problems and I don't see the difference between store bought or home baked personally if you just ASK about ingredients or cooking issues or just opt out or provide a staple in classroom standardly for when those times come up like I did. And yet another one allowed any kind of treat but said it had to be distributed ONLY at lunch times!

Why couldn't they adopt a district wide policy so that every school was on the same rule and you knew what to expect ALL the time? The do prefer in all the schools, however, the healthier treats (like pretzels, fruit chews, etc.) or non foods.

Same goes for Valentine's day or holiday treats.

 

[svengandhi]

In the school my daughter went to for K, all of the other mommies baked. I was ashamed and humiliated to bring in store cookies but the kids loved them. In her later schools, it was more mixed and I didn't feel badly about my store bought cookies.

As for the allergies, there is one boy in my son's grade who has severe peanut allergies. He is a vicious child, a bully who delights in tormenting others, but his mom is rich and donates much to our public school (need i say more)- even my daughter, who volunteered at the school while she was in HS, couldn't stand him. One year, my son begged me to bake peanut butter cookies to bring in for his birthday. I despise peanut butter and the smell nauseates me so I questioned him on why he would want this. He was in first grade at the time and said "I could give one to meanboy and then he'd never be in school again to bother anybody." Needless to say, my son did NOT bring in peanut butter cookies. and we had a long talk about this. Even now, going into middle school, he still fantasizes about offering meanboy a Reese's cup. Over the next years, at least 6 other parents have told me that their kids also tried to get peanut butter snacks sent in to serve to this boy.

I could never bear it if my snack was responsible for a child being hurt - even that child! So I buy storebought and check the ingredients.

 

[GoingNorth]

Where I get annoyed is with the warnings on foods: "contains peanuts" on a jar of peanut butter. Or, "contains tree nuts" (peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts) on a bag of pecans.

I deal with a life threatening allergy. I am violently allergic to shellfish. I was in my teens before I found out as growing up Kosher, I'd never eaten shellfish before.

It doesn't take much, either. Just touching shellfish can set off a reaction. I can't expect a shellfish free environment. I have to own my allergy and do what is necessary to avoid contact.