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When I was in high school, the student council owned a cookie baker that allowed student groups to make fresh-to-order Mega Chips (a ubiquitous term in my school district for over-sized chocolate chip cookies) and sell them after school in order to raise money. I also have fond memories of various cookie, cake, cupcake and candy sales during my elementary and middle school years, all designed to separate kids and their parents for cash in exchange for something sweet. In those days, it felt like everyone was winning, but in current times, as the obesity epidemic worsens, parents and school officials are bringing and end to the sale of sweet treats on school grounds.
In California, officials are now having to ensure than any food sold in conjunction with a school event comply with strict dietary standards. In Connecticut, classroom birthday parties are a thing of the past, as schools there no longer allow parents to bring celebratory sugary goods.
Our sister site ParentDish has ponder this same issue, wondering whether keeping kids away from high-calorie foods is really the best way to solve the obesity problem. Bethany asks, "Cupcakes exist, even if we like to pretend they don't. So is it better to hide them away from kids, or to teach them that a treat is an occasional indulgence?"
What do you think?
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11-10-2008 @3:50PM R. P. McMurphy said... No Peanut butter and jelly, no lunch trading, no going home for lunch...now no bake sales?
No wonder so many kids go postal.
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11-10-2008 @3:55PM gan said... um isn't this like abstinence? its meant not to work...great in theory, poor in reality
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11-10-2008 @4:38PM Rob O. said... Rather than depriving kids of those simple pleasures why not simply "healthy" up the treats a bit by incorporating whole grains, eliminating artificial coloring and other less-desirable ingredients? There are plenty of ways to easily boost the nutritional value of baked goods without spoiling the fun altogether.
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11-10-2008 @5:29PM Tammy said... The problem is NOT the baked goods / snacks / soda ...
It's the LACK of exercise the kids get at school and home ...
When I was in K-12, the schools had chips / soda / candy / cookies / ice cream ... all of the so-called contraband ... But, we had less than a dozen kids in my jr high that were considered "overweight" (and this was in a school of about 1100 kids ... In high school, their were about a dozen or so overweight, but that included the football team ...
Granted, that was about 25 yrs ago ... and we did NOT have the computers / video games that just about every house / school has ... The schools nowadays spend the money on computers and then cut out phys ed, but bitch about kids being fat ...
The idiots who want to ban all of the contraband food are just teaching the kids that they need to go covert for the snacks ... IF it's "illegal" in the schools, a lot of them will get it elsewhere ... Why else do they think that there are now "candy dealers" in the schools who'll sell ya a Mr Goodbar on the sly ??? And the "candy dealers" are making money ...
Get the kids off their butts & moving ... There'll be fewer fat kids ... Teach the kids about "moderation" ... By banning this stuff, the schools ARE punishing the kids ... Plus, the staff wants the same stuff too ...
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11-10-2008 @9:22PM Gary said... If you outlaw cupcakes, then only outlaws will have cupcakes...
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11-11-2008 @11:22AM Alex said... Of course we should teach our kids that having treats once in a while is ok. The problem is, in a class of 30 students, birthdays happen a lot more often than once in a while. Many kids also have birthday parties outside of school, so that doubles the cupcakes, soda, and chips. If we taught our children that food is fuel for active bodies instead of using it to reward every minor milestone or cheer up a kid who has a bad day, moderation wouldn't be so hard.
@Tammy - even if the kids exercise enough to burn the cupcake calories, that doesn't make a cupcake healthy. Yes, kids are way too sedentary and need to be much more active, but the proper fuel for that is fruits, veggies, lean protein, and whole grains, not cake soda and chips. Just because active kids who had a coke and a cheeseburger every day for lunch were thin does not mean they were healthy.
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11-11-2008 @2:19PM Stijn said... I greatly doubt that keeping children away from sweets will stop them from eating the sweets. It's like adults pretend foul words don't exist, but then when kids or teens hear them at school, they start using them all the time, just because it's forbidden.
A better approach would be educating the children to eat right so they'll actually know what a eggplant or celery is. Preparing higher quality food instead of quick mass volume lunches for kids would also be a much better approach and having kids exercise would also avoid extreme obesity.
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11-13-2008 @12:21PM meryl said... I can assure you that bake sales are still going strong at my daughter's San Francisco school. All Californian's haven't gone crazy. This one is hoping that we can teach kids that homebaked treats are meant to be savored and it's the packaged stuff we need to hold suspect.
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