Yep, I’m not a fan of group snacks. But soon enough, I’ll bet, you will not have to participate in those. As soon as there’s a kid who’s highly allergic in your daughters’s vicinity, group snack will be a thing of the past, IMO.

We don’t tell our daughter, in 1st grade, that we are unhappy with her teachers’ choices, just that we feel strongly about her nutritional choices. Her teacher has suggested that parents bring in healthy snacks for the group snacks, but no one listens.

How many of your kids have this new ‘group’ snack program? I think it’s a nightmare!!

It is not my intent to say that all rules should be blindly followed. I agree that a healthy perspective and an unselfish attitude will help guide which battles or rules we will fight in this life.

They say that evil persists when good men stand by and do nothing. There are definately rules worth fighting against. I just think that we need to weigh the pros and cons of a rule and how it effects the masses before we make ripples that we can’t take back. By evaluating if the rule is in the best interest for the health and safety of the masses we can decide if it is worth fighting for or against.
The cool thing is that we control our homes and it is there that we make the most difference that is where the individual battles can be fought.
I really liked your comment about assertiveness and the right to opinion. I agree that that too is a powerful lesson. And heaven knows in todays world our kids need that characteristic more than we ever did when growing up.
I stand corrected in my original statement it was my opinion on snacks not on all rules but I think that that is how we need to approach things one rule at a time each on their individual merits.
I loved your reply thanks

I do think that you can also teach your child valuable lessons on being assertive and respectful at the same time. Stating your opinion does not mean that you are against the school. You could take it too far, but there is nothing wrong in calling up the principal and politely explaining your position. If it is done respectfully, then the what you have taught your child is that it is ok to have your own opinion, and it is ok to ask questions and you can still support the school even while you do these things. As Stacy stated – it is about the attitude.

As for the snack question: there are ways to get healthy fats and calories into kids without resorting to junk food. If the snack has sound nutritional value, I do not think it should be disallowed. Twinkies and Coke on the other hand?

But, the multi-grain, loaded with fruits and veggies (pureed to hide the texture), baked with eggs and whole milk muffins I make to get healthy fats and calories into my picky kid? I’m tailoring to the individual child, which I thought was kind of the goal.

Good luck with it. I hope he’ll get to eat what’s right for him at school asap.

Juice (even 100% fruit juice) and fruits are high in natural sugars. Milk and yogurt are high in natural sugars and sometimes fats.

Snacks that are usually labeled as “low-fat” get that label because the company got sneaky with the serving size (if it’s 0.5 grams of fat per serving, they company can label it as zero grams of fat per serving) or because there’s a lot of high fructose corn syrup or sugar to make up for it.

I’d rather my kid have a couple full fat, full sugar cookies every now and again than eat those so-called low-fat, low-sugar snacks. Probably healthier for them in more ways than one.

Oh, and I wouldn’t claim that artificial sweeteners are inherently evil, but they do make many people sick to their stomachs (including me).

Sorry for the lengthy post. Having gestational diabetes has really gotten me to pay attention to this kind of stuff.