Thursday, November 10, 2011

Teachers approving our children's snack - subjectively

The denied snack.

It is hard enough to get multiple lunches packed and ready in the morning without having to worry about a separate snack as well.  Each of my elementary school aged children have snack time in the morning before lunch.  First of all, is this really necessary?  I have an opinion on that question, but we will save that for another post.
In our school, there are multiple allergies and several peanut free rooms.  Our house contributes to some of this since we have peanut, egg, and fish allergies.  Finding a safe snack that is labeled, for the teacher to check, healthy, and different that the other items in their lunch can pose a problem some hurried mornings.  Some teachers are now insisting that the snack chosen also must be what they deem to be healthy.  Sounds good, right?

Well, as much as I like that teachers are concerned about our children's health, is it really their choice to make as to what snack my child consumes?  If I pack a safe snack that does not have any classroom allergens and is labeled, is it right for the teacher to take away my child's snack because she does not deem it healthy enough?

I bought a multi-pack bag of Baked chips: Baked Ruffles potato chips, Baked Doritos, Baked Cheetos, Pretzels, etc.  for my children's lunches and snacks.  All these items are labeled and safe for the classroom.  These snacks may not have high nutritional value, but they are not sugary snacks either that will make the kids hyper.

Recently, my child's teacher did not let him have his snack because it was not healthy enough.  It was Baked Cheetos.  Let me also add that I have sent him with Baked Doritos and Baked Ruffles before.  So, when are Baked Cheetos so much worse than Doritos and potato chips?  Why is this the teacher's choice? 

What about treats that kids bring in for birthdays.  Most of the time they are sugary snacks that the children are allowed to eat in class.  Why is that o.k. and Cheetos are not? 

Yes, we need to keep our children as healthy as possible.  We need to give them healthy options to eat.  But, since when is it the teacher's job to overrule the food choices we make for our children?  I am not talking about food allergy restrictions here.  That is a medical matter of keeping children safe.  I am talking about safe snacks that are taken away because a teacher makes the subjective choice of what is healthy enough.  Absurd!

 

1 comment:

  1. UGH! It happened again! This time I called prior to school starting to make sure that his snack was not denied. The teacher let him have his snack, but only after embarrassing him with a little lecture on bringing healthy snacks. He brought Doritos (other kids were eating CheezIts, which she approves of). Should I let this one go or have a little talk with his teacher?

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