This story hit the news in New Zealand yesterday. An Auckland primary school has decided to adhere strictly to the new national healthy eating guidelines and will ban birthday cakes from the school.
My initial reaction was WHAT???? How can they take this polictical correctness and adherence to stupid rules so far? What harm does a slice of birthday cake do to a kid? Frankly, I was horrified.
I happened to catch an interview with the school principal on the news last night. Yes, it’s true. They are banning birthday cakes from the school and part of the reason is because they believe in the healthy eating guidelines. However, the main reason is the entire birthday cake thing has turned into an expensive competition between parents. Evidently the kids prefer expensive cakes purchased from a bakery and when the cake needs to be big enough to feed 30 children, that means serious money. Some parents couldn’t afford to pay for a cake and others, with busy lives, didn’t have time to bake a cake. The school took the decision to ban all cakes and remove the extra expensive from the parents’ budget, because after all, educating a child these days is expensive enough without adding extras.
The owner of the local bakery was also interviewed. Won’t it cut into profits? the reporter asked. No, not really. Parents still purchased cakes from her bakery but the cakes were shared after school with close friends and family. Wasn’t that what birthdays were about? No, the bakery owner wasn’t concerned in the slightest.
After hearing all this, I was much happier, but I notice that most of the media still chose to highlight the healthy food guidelines rather than the commonsense rationale behind the decision.
You can read the story here.
We never had birthday cake at school. We had after-school parties where we invited our friends. What do you do with regard to birthday cakes?
When #1 was in kindergarten, it seemed like one of the 25 kids in the class had a birthday every single day. Impossible, given 25 kids and 180 days of class.
This year, the school insisted that a 2-day notice be given if any food is going to be brought into the classroom — because of allergies, they said. The principal told me she wanted the food GONE. I don’t blame her. Having watched the food mess up the diabetic kid and having watched the kid with severe, severe food allergies (the kid was allergic to tofu and garlic!) have to bring his own snacks…
It’s SCHOOL. It’s a place for learning. Not for eating — well, around here, it wasn’t cake, but Krispy Kremes. Daily, it seemed like.
by Susan Helene Gottfried April 5th, 2008 at 5:50 amHi Susan - I hadn’t thought of allergies etc. The school also mentioned that some weeks there were lots of birthdays and too many cakes. I have to agree with you. It is a school and not a cafe.
by Shelley Munro April 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pmOur birthday cakes were always enjoyed at home with family and friends.
by Estella April 5th, 2008 at 1:50 pmMy girls birthdays usually fall on a holiday or when school is not in session. I don’t mind all the birthday cake they eat over the school year. I try to bake cup cakes if one of my girls birthdays is on a school day.
THe schools here do ask about allergies when the kids start school and most the kids are responsible enough to know their limits.
I also have a nephew who is allergic to wheat,so whenever we have parties, he’s happy eating the frosting :D
Hugs, Danette
by danette April 5th, 2008 at 1:55 pmI think it’s a good idea to ban something that has turned into a competition and has lost the original meaning.
I’m also for introducing school uniforms in Germany to spare kids being bullied because their parents can’t afford to buy them the ‘right’ clothes.
by Gabriele April 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pmI smiled at your disappointment with the media reporting, having had the misfortune to be involved in several incidents that caught their attention over the years and several disaster desk exercises with senior jounalists.
by Amy Gallow April 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pmThe intellectual laziness they enshrine in the name of expediency has always saddened me, even when they are not reporting on matters beyond their technical competence and journalistic ethics (an oxymoron?) never survives beyond cocktail parties.
Birthday parties and birthday cake at kindergartens and daycare facilities are regulated here too-a very good thing.
Amy
Amy
When my girls were little they’d take in fun size bags of chocolate - a small treat for each child at break time (which is plenty really). We saved the cake for their parties. Bu then there were the party bags which is a whole nother matter - couldn’t believe how some parents turned *that* into a competition
by Christina Phillips April 5th, 2008 at 6:18 pmMy son’s school does birthday cakes but he’s not in public school right now. When he moves onto primary school next year, I doubt anyone will be taking birthday cakes to class. The schools just aren’t structured to have time for such a time.
by pussreboots April 5th, 2008 at 9:03 pmWhen I went to school, just a short time ago
, we used to have an end-of-year party where every child brought a plate. That used to be fun and there was no competition. It was also a small country school, which probably made a difference.
Estella - same here. Birthday cakes were an at-home thing.
Danette - it’s funny I’ve been thinking about cupcakes recently. All Lauren Dane’s fault. I know she likes them and for some reason I’ve been thinking I’d like to bake a batch. They’re so cute.
Gabriele - a lot of primary schools here have uniforms. I’ve never minded wearing uniforms since it saves having to think about what to wear!!
Amy - yes, the media tend to go their own way and do whatever suits their purposes. Actually, it saddens me that a simple pleasure like a birthday cake needs to be banned. I understand many of the reasons, but the growing number of rules regarding innocent things makes me shake my head.
Christina - sad, isn’t it? - the competition that evolves from the simpliest things.
Pussreboots - I agree. Schools are there for learning. I think things like birthday cakes should be for personal time.
by Shelley Munro April 5th, 2008 at 10:50 pmNo cakes when I was a child either. Most public attention we got during school hours for our birthday was if the teacher allowed the class to sing “happy birthday” to us. I shared a birthday with two other children in my class so imagine how long even that could take!!
Cake and parties were private events held out of school hours.
I don’t send cake to school for my children now either, though I think some parents do.
by Jenyfer Matthews April 5th, 2008 at 11:52 pmShelley only on birthdays I can send in a cupcake each for the class. provided it’s nut, gluten, milk and PORK free. LOL!
But as for Boo’s snacks, no nuts, no chips, no cookies, no granola, no peanut butter, no juice of any kind. No muffins. Nothing like that
She can bring cheese in, or plain crackers, veggies or fruit and water.
They are promoting healthy eating too. The only thing is that Boo gets constipated and the thing that helps keep her bowels moving is a cookie called a Bowel Buddy. Full of fibre and it’s sweetened with Honey I think. Anyways Boo loves them (and she really doesn’t like a lot of fiber filled things); but the school (despite doctor’s notes) won’t let Boo have a bowel buddy cookie at school.
I give it to her when she gets home, but still I mean it’s a health cookie. Alas, I have to stick to the strict guidelines.
No nuts, gluten, anything NOT on dietary guidelines and no Pork.
Not that I would send a 4 and half year old to school with Pork … LOL
by Amy Ruttan April 6th, 2008 at 5:57 pmI must admit I was quite relieved when we moved to NZ and the school we sent the kids to didn’t let you send stuff in. It cost a fortune when we were in the UK because the parents did cake AND goody bags. One parent even sent in a freaking clown!!!!
Also, actually the school they’re at now is nut free because a little girl has a very bad allergy so cake would probably be too risky.
by amanda ashby April 7th, 2008 at 11:31 pmGood grief! A clown? Now that’s a bit OTT.
by Shelley Munro April 8th, 2008 at 2:37 amWe didn’t have cake in school either. It ’s not uncommon for people to bring cake into work on their birthday. The last few years I see less of that though. Tightening up everywhere.
Birthday cakes are usually for family. Or birthday parties.
by Connie April 8th, 2008 at 5:55 pm