Great topic! I love seeing so many preschools take in active role in shaping healthy eating habits! When my children went to preschool ( they are now in high school and middle school), the preschool allowed home made birthday treats, and did not set guidelines for lunches. Now, I work at this same preschool and times have changed! Birthday treats guidelines are set by head teachers, however, the school does not allow home made food ( pretty sure on this). There is a no candy at school rule, and juice boxes are discouraged. All lunch boxes must be stored in the refrigerator.
When my oldest child started bringing lunch, I struggled to find a healthy food that could be easily packed and stay fresh enough for him to eat. I was able to hold off on desserts at lunch until kindergarten, then crumbled to peer pressure. From my parent head, I think having restrictions on home-packed lunch is great because peer pressure for junk is high! On the down side, it can be hard for families that eat home cooked, warm food at lunch, and store bought, prepackaged food is so tempting- but usually a nutritional nightmare of added sugar and salt, not to mention mountains of single use plastics.
Personally, I encouraged my children to distinguish between food and "treats", food, like fresh fruits and veggies, proteins and whole grains, we eat because we are hungry and to fuel our bodies. Treats, like cupcakes, candy, chips, we eat because we like the taste and they are fun. I don't mind having cupcakes for a birthday party- cupcakes are party food! But when we turn to treats for everyday eating, like high sugar yogurts, French fries, chips, granola bars and juice boxes for lunch, it is hard to maintain a healthy balance, and our "sugar and salt meters" get thrown off. In my perfect preschool world, I would allow home made cookies back in for birthday parties, but ban prepackaged salt and sugar bombs that sneak into lunch boxes masquerading as real food! However, the Pinterest pressure of making 24-36 perfect butterfly cupcakes was sometimes heartbreaking for working mom's & heavy on stay at home moms, so I am glad to put those days to rest! One last aside, my family now struggles with "disordered eating" by my 12 yr old daughter. She often goes long stretches without eating because she is afraid of getting fat. We are seeing professionals to help create better eating habits, and her eating patterns are complicated by OCD and rigid thinking; ASD runs in our family, so it is a complicated area. None the less, society's labeling of good food, bad food, thin good, fat bad, has definitely played a role. Under "doctor's orders, " we now allow ice cream and Doritos at the breakfast table!
------------------------------
Margro Purple
Rockville MD
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2019 10:38 AM
From: Robin Page
Subject: Restriction of sweets/school policy
Hi,
Do you have any policy at your school restricting sweets/junk food being brought in to school? Most of our parents are bring in donuts for a morning treat when it's their child's birthday. There other times throughout the week when cookies are brought to the class, a parent my bring pizza for the class, etc. This all adds up to a lot of sweets and junk food throughout the school year. I was wondering what other school do to implement a policy of restricting this being brought to school Thank you.
------------------------------
Robin Page
Early Childhood Division Head
All Saints' Episcopal School
Fort Worth TX
------------------------------