My children’s school is the worst for junk food! They don’t have vending machines, but the junior high sells candy afterward to raise money for their yearly trip. All the fundraising is for Little Ceasars Pizza Kits or Butter Braids or candy bars. My kids are constantly given jelly beans or doghnuts from teachers as rewards for good behavior and they get coupons for free pizza and ice cream for meeting their monthly reading goals. This morning they grabbed all their change so they could donate it to Pennies for Lukemia. Guess what the classroom with the highest amount of donation gets??? An OLIVE GARDEN PARTY! It’s absolutely rediculous!!!!!
Fortunately, the school doesn’t have a kitchen, so food is either catered or the kids bring their own. I pack them lunches full of fresh fruits and veggies, but other kids share their junk food with them, since I continually find wrappers in their bags. I just feel like I’m fighting an unwinnable battle here! The reward for donating pennies to luekemia should be a chartiable one, not getting a party of junk!
I don’t allow my kids to turn in their reading charts, because I don’t want the pizza coupons, or sell the butter braids to the poor neighborhood! Which then leads to tears and accusations that I’m a mean mom because I won’t let them eat crap! I’m at my wits end!!
What do you guys do? I don’t want my kids to be shunned because they eat weird, or be known as that crazy vegan lady! I’m willing to compromise – the junior high can raise money with candy sales…but I put my foot down on junk food as a reward! It’s the wrong message to send to EVERY child, not just the ones with vegan parents.
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That has always been our rule – that the kids can choose whatever they want when eating outside the home. (I myself was raised in an organic, homegrown food environment. My parents raised and prepared everything from scratch and I do remember being somewhat obsessed by the candy my friends shared with me. But ultimately, as an adult, I went back to eating the way I was raised – and even healthier.) I just find it disgusting and frighteningly ironic that they are having a fundraiser for leukemia and the reward is an Olive Garden Party! My kids have no idea what leukemia is, why they should donate money, nothing – they just know that they get to eat junk if they bring in enough pennies. It’s such a perfect opportunity for the school to educate kids on disease, or the art of giving!
I try not to forbid them things, and I do set a good example of healthy eating in our home – try to educate the kids about the amazing nutrients in foods, let them pick out recipes and help me cook. And my kids didn’t really remember the reading charts, since we read every night anyhow, so I usually just threw them in the recycling bin. However my daughter’s teacher asked why she never turned hers in so she could get the pizza coupon, which started that whole mess.
I just wrote a long letter with my concerns to the principle. I’ll keep you posted on what happens! Thanks!!
I completely agree with the school menus. My son will refuse to eat any lunch I send and then wait until his grandmother picks him up after school. She will feed him whatever he wants. I try to compromise and send more “acceptable” meals. I will even let him choose. Rarely will he eat. It is so frustrating.
I do have to cut him some slack though as he hates sweets and won’t eat them. If they hand out chocolate, he will save it and give it to his dad. If they hand out crackers or those Goldfish, he will scarf those down. While those are not great, they are a far sight better than the cupcakes, candy and greasy pizza offered at the school. He has taken an interest in my new dehydrator so maybe there is a little more hope.
Good for you for taking a stand with the school on the yucky rewards. I don’t understand how when the schools are limited by law (in my area) and can not sell or serve soda, sweets etc but then they turn around and offer sweets in the classroom and greasy pizza or soda as a reward for reading. My son used to save the pizza coupons and then use them to “buy” his great grandmother dinner.
I am seventeen but did not really learn my healthy habits from my own house. My family was just pretty average my mom usually gave me cereal or toast for breakfast and cooked cassaroles, pasta, or some kind of meat and breads for dinner. I did go through a stage in junior high when I would only order lunch because I thought bringing my own was too lame. haha but I quickly got over that on my own. I became health conscious from gymnastics which I did up until I started high school. I think that being in an environment outside my home where healthy food was important made a big difference. I agree with pianissima that if the food is “not allowed” there will be more temptation to eat it. A good example at home and really a sport that promotes a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference. In gym I of course wanted to do better and healthy food was associated with that so thats what I wanted to eat!
So, I thought I’d update you guys on my situation with my kids school. I talked to the principal who completely agree that the ‘food as a reward’ and junk food amounts were out of control at the school. She said she’d do what she could on her end with the staff, but suggested I take it up with the PTO orgnaization. I’ve emailed the head of the PTO and found a lot of information online (Philadelphia has an awesome School Nutrition Initiative that cut their obesity rates in half the first year they implemented it – their website has toolkits for starting one in your own school) and am armed and ready for the next PTO meeting.
I also just saw a video of a food restriction experiment done in school. The results were exactly as you all predicted above. So I’ve been testing it out at home. My husband isn’t vegan and he has a shelf of junk food in the pantry. However, I keep the counter LOADED with fruit. The kids help themselves to it anytime. Recently, I’ve started saying “that’s enough fruit for a while”, or “no celery before dinner”. Guess what they go crazy for now? – it’s not the junk food on my husbands pantry shelf!!
Thanks for the DVD recommendation, ChrisCarlton. I’ll check it out.
Actually, there are several other parents at the school who feel the same about the school’s lack of concern toward healthy food. I’ve got their support on this issue, so I am certainly not going into this battle alone. And honestly, it isn’t that I want the whole school to be raw vegan. However, I think prohibiting soda on school grounds is a great idea…or maybe only allowing 100% fruit juice, rather than the watery sugar lemonade they sell at school functions. How about a policy of no food containing transfats allowed in the school?...or the eight grade kids could have a smoothie sale rather than a candy sale to raise money for their yearly trip? Thanks so much for all your help and I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes!