Sunday, August 23, 2009

And yet again, the school district gets a big WTF???

So, I went to a meeting at the school on Friday, to meet with the girl’s kindergarten teacher, see the classroom, etc. And they were giving us The Rules. There have been quite a few changes in The Rules since the boy was in kindergarten. Most of these rules revolve around snacks.

Now, I will admit, I am all for healthy eating (I know, not that you’d know it to look at me). I used to complain when the girl was in preschool and parents took turn bringing a snack. Some of us brought healthy stuff, like yogurt and fruit and veggies. But most brought cookies and donuts and crap. I don’t really have a problem with cookies and donuts and crap, but for the kids’ daily snack, empty calories are a pretty shitty choice. The whole point of the snack is to hold them over through lunch or dinner. Yogurt will do that. A donut will not.
So anyway, The Rules say that grades K through 2 are allowed to have a snack in the afternoon in class. But the snack must be:

1: The first ingredient must not be sugar.
OK, I get this one. I just talked about this in the preschool snack issue. But I still get a little, “Duh - I don’t need to be told” about it.

2: They can’t have peanuts or peanut butter.
Again, I get it. Peanut allergies are evil. My kid can live without the peanut products for afternoon snack.

3: They can’t be more than 200 calories.
OK, I get it. But I’m getting a little squirmy about the telling me what I can do for my own kid. I know there are some parents that don’t care and there are plenty of obese kids. I know. And I wouldn’t likely send a snack more than 200 calories. But it’s bugging me a bit to have The Rules.

4: They must be individually pre-packaged.

DANGER DANGER DANGER!! What the FUCK???

So, let me get this straight: it’s OK for me to send my kid an individually pre-packaged fucking Twinkie (1st ingredient: who-the-hell-knows, calories: 150, fat: 4.5, cholesterol: 20mg, sodium: 220mg, carbs: 27, calcium: 20mg, god knows what other kind of processed, preservative laden shit is in there), but NOT OK for me to send her some celery and carrot sticks that I put in my own goddamned baggie (1st ingredients: fucking fresh vegetables, calories: 39, fat: 0, cholesterol: 0, sodium: 0, carbs: 9, calcium: 52mg, not to mention all the good vitamins and stuff)? Are you fucking kidding me?? I don’t get it. I really, truly don’t get it. I mean, I can understand that if I were sending a snack for the whole class it needs to be pre-packaged because of cross-contamination or dirty ass kitchens or whatever. But for my own child? Bullshit is all this is. And anyway, I wouldn’t be sending a snack for the class ever, since for parties, there are no edible items allowed, period. Last year, it was no candy – this year, nothing edible at all. Not for birthdays, not for anything.

I can live with the sugar thing and the calorie thing and the no-edible treats thing. But this pre-packaged thing is nonsense. And you want to know the biggest fattest nonsensical part of it? The fucking school cafeteria sells cookies, ice cream and fruit snacks (which - despite their name - resemble fruit only in the most basic of ways) every day to anyone with money in their account. And it gets better – in high school, they have all that, plus vending machines selling Coke and Mountain Fucking Dew and the like.

Hypocrisy, much?

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7 comments:

Burgh Baby said...

Please please please please let our school district not be so stupid in a few years when Alexis starts kindergarten. Please please please please . . .

Shelly said...

Wait, does that mean you can't bake cupcakes and take them in for your child's birthday anymore? What is the world coming to?

Lisa said...

Are you kidding me? If they would only spend a fraction of the time it took for them to come up with this garbage to instead do something original, like TEACH THE DAMN KIDS, life would be grand......

3carnations said...

I missed the part where the snack was for your own child. I thought it was for the whole class. There is no way on earth you should be required to send prepackaged items for your own child.

And the no edible treats ever? Sigh.

Wide Lawns said...

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of in my entire life. It sounded like they were trying to get people to send healthier snacks but then that all just went down the toilet with the last rule. Pre-packaged?? Yuck. I can't think of anything prepackaged that is truly good for you. Some things may be better than others but generally the healthiest thing you can do for yourself or your kids is to avoid processed food. These people are out of their minds. You need to give them hell and tell them you don't feed your kids packaged garbage and you'll be sending a healthy snack that you packaged and just let them try to take it away from your hungry child. This makes me mad.

Jen said...

WTF?!? This is why (okay, one of the reasons), I don't want to teach anymore. So much time is spent making up ridiculously stupid rules, instead of TEACHING. My kid is starting preschool soon, and I am scared. Am I going to be able to keep my mouth shut at all? I have really strong opinions about education and a really big mouth at times.

Unknown said...

holy cow that's a lot of rules.