More Valentine Fall Out

In the last week, I've either talked to or read posts from two people that were shocked at how much candy their children received in Valentines at school. As a former fourth grade teacher, I thought I would put in my two cents on the topic. All I can say is if you were shocked to see the amount of candy in the Valentine box, you should have seen what your kid ate at the party!

It seemed like each year that I taught, the amount of candy and sweets at classroom parties got more and more out of control. I know that busy working parents want to contribute to parties, but their schedules don't allow them to be there to do a craft or play a game with the kids. So they send treats instead. The problem is that when fifteen parents send 25 cupcakes or cookies each, the kids end up with waaaaayyyy too much sugar. And there's really no way to hold some of the treats back, because then you end up hurting the feelings of the child whose parents sent it. I would even make a sign-up sheet that included healthy options like fruit, cheese, veggies and dip, etc. Occasionally a parent would sign up and actually bring them, but usually sweets were sent instead. The sad thing is that when parents did actually bring healthy food, the kids would eat it! The fact that they ate it isn't sad, the fact that more parents didn't send healthier choices was sad.

The best year of classroom parties that I ever had was the year that one of my students was diagnosed with diabetes. It was a small town and a close school community, so all of the other parents were sensitive to this child's needs. We had lots of cool crafts, fun games, and healthy food! The kids loved it and the parties seemed much more calm and fun (without the sugar mania). It was just shocking to me that it took something that serious for parents to realize what junk their kids were eating at parties.

I know I've heard news stories about districts outlawing cupcakes in public schools (if I were responsible I would find a link for that, but I want to go to bed soon). People laughed at the idea like it was ridiculous and said what's the harm in a cupcake. There's no harm in a SINGLE cupcake, the harm is in 15 cupcakes!! It shouldn't take legislation, though, for people to use some common sense.