In my humble opinion schools should allow students to celebrate their Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Valentine's Day (not friendship day), St Patrick's Day and any other Holiday that is a part of the students life. While our family celebrates Christmas, I would love to see a Menorah and a Kwanzza Kinara right next to a Christmas Tree. Celebrating different Holidays teaches our children diversity.
Cupcake & junk food bans are in the media again, many are either stating cupcakes should not be allowed because of students having allergies or because cupcakes are not healthy. I know many are not going to agree with me but cupcakes and other junk foods should be allowed in school, not just on special occasions but every day. Yes I am all for our kids eating junk food in school - insert your scream here ********************. I am sure many of you have just cursed me to hell, that is fine, many have done it before and many will do it in the future but do not stop reading as I will explain why I feel junk food should be allowed in school, I will break it down into two parts - Allergies & Healthy Eating.
ALLERGIES
My boys and I have Celiac Disease and cannot have gluten. For most people gluten makes them sick, some very sick, some like myself can barely walk the next morning because my joints are so swollen. Since Mike is only home 4 to 6 days a month, I need to be able to walk to take care of our three boys. Our need to be gluten free is not taken seriously and many feel that we do not understand what it is like to have a 'real' allergy. My experience with food allergies and what food can do to a body goes way beyond having Celiac Disease.
My medical history is long I could write about 4 eight hundred page books so I will keep this part as short as possible. At 11 weeks old I became very sick, Doctors could not find out what was wrong with me. Trying to figure out what was wrong Doctors removed all store bought formulas from my diet and I was only allowed to have a homemade meat based formula. As I grew up my Father told me - "it looked like shit, smelled like shit and you poor kid, it must of tasted like shit." To this day, the sight of gravy makes me gag. I am sure you are thinking that it is no big deal that they had to make a homemade formula and you are right. At first it was no big deal but then three years later I was still not allowed food. Through the first 3.5 years I was admitted into hospitals 57 times, this didn't count the times I went & stayed 12 hours in ER then sent home, my parents lost count of the ER visits. During those years I went through every test the doctors could think of and even lived in a plastic bubble for two months. At 3.5 years the Doctors in RI told my parents they could do no more for me. My Father talked with his connections from the East Providence Ambulance Company and made an appointment for me with Boston Children's Hospital. Two weeks later we had the appointment, Doctors there yelled at my parents for not telling them how bad I was. My parents responded "What?? Today is a 'good day' " While at BCH they found that I had been born with Colitis, a disease that was thought to only affect adults. I was allowed food for the first time, of course when the nurse gave it to me and insisted I eat it, I threw it against the wall. See, my parents taught me to protect myself, they taught me that I was not allowed to eat unless my Doctor or parents said I could. I was taught that nurses & candy stripers might make a mistake. So I threw the food against the wall, boy was she mad, she started to yell when my Dad and the Doctor came in, they stopped her and praised me for knowing how to protect myself. I left the hospital two weeks later on a very strict diet.
Fast forward to the present - I have three boys with Celiac Disease, I have brought them up to protect themselves and only to eat what is safe for them. I also do not ask their classmates or school to be gluten free because my son dietary needs should not be the burden to the rest of the school or the parents. I am very sensitive that some children have severe allergies and feel measures should be taken to keep the child safe but that does not mean all children needs to live allergen free. There are many ways to protect a child without having to alter the lives of the other 90 % of students in the schools.
HEALTHY EATING
I am plum sick and tired of that fact that people want only healthy foods in school. Everyone keeps saying that by not allowing junk food in schools we are teaching kids how to eat healthy. NEWSFLASH - By not allowing junk food in schools you are teaching children to binge eat when given junk food. It is the same logic as to why most diets do not work, once the dieter does have a treat they overindulge. If parents and schools want to teach a child how to eat healthy than they should be teaching children to eat in moderation. How about allowing one item of junk food daily along with all the healthy foods.
I am sure that if people saw my food cupboards they would think I am the worst Mother in the world because there is a LOT of junk food. Here is the thing, I taught them to eat in moderation. They eat a lot of fruits & veggies so I have no problem with them having junk food. For those of you that know my boys or seen their pictures, you know they are all thin, healthy and ACTIVE boys.
Active, the key word to keep our children healthy. Too many kids today have IPads, video games, computers and other electronic items that do not allow the child to be active. Sadly the schools encourage less activity by giving children IPads, laptops and websites to learn. Maybe just maybe if the electronics were packed away a few times a week children would go outside to play, interact with their family and learn to make better decisions.
Again, moderation is the key to success with most things. We need to teach our child that the occasional cupcake is OK to have, that electronics are only tools to help us not an appendage to their body and that most things in life are OK to have in moderation.
As for allergies, yes it sucks to have a child with allergies but it is not fair to force every child to eat allergen free as there are to many allergens in the world. I hear all the time that 'needing to be gluten free is not deadly.' That statement baffles me and I think 'since I will not die on the spot it is OK to make me sick'??? What many do not realize is that being Gluten Free is the hardest of all the allergens to deal with because it is not a solid. ONE crumb of your child's bread, cracker, cookie, cake or any other item can be brushed into my sons food and make my son very sick. The peanut butter in my sons sandwich IF I sent PB & J sandwiches (I don't) would not jump out of his sandwich onto your sons food. My boys have been taught how to make sure they are not glutenized and they do not expect nor do I expect anyone to do it for them. Too many parents micromanage everything and the children are not learning how to be allergen safe on their own. No one wants your child to get sick, die, have hives or anything other
reaction. But if you took fish, shellfish, all nuts, milk, egg, gluten,
soy, and dairy out of the schools, what would be left??
Those
kids with allergies will be fine!!! Their parents can send in a special
safe treat for them and they can learn the life lesson of "they are not
going to have everything they
want in life." They will not be scared for life because their cupcake
was GF, sugar free, dye free, etc.... They will learn that life will go
on around them even though they have an allergy. My boys with Celiac
have no problems with not being able to eat the same food as their
peers.
