School bake off- why do parents do this?

[tangerino]

Argh. There was a baking competition at my daughter's primary school a few days ago- a note came home asking parents only to give minimal supervision and we were even ask to sign a form confirming that this was the case. My daughter worked hard making some cupcakes and icing them- she did it all on her own and was v proud of what she'd done.

Of course when she got to school, she found that other people had brought in incredibly elaborate creations, some featuring spun sugar(!), almost all obviously done by the parents.

One mum has just put a picture of five tier rainbow cake her son took in, with a caption saying "Do I win mummy of the year?" No you do not, you fucking cheat.

Gaaargh, it drives me crazy. It's so unfair on the kids that do follow the rules. And what message does it give the children? What's the point?

[KikiNeedsABroom]

[Soubriquet]

It's competitive parenting
Why risk letting your child lose when you know they can win if you do it?

I prefer a child to learn they can't always win and that parents are not there to hold your hand forever

[user1477282676]

They won't win though.

I used to "help" dd with her Easter bonnet and she never bloody won of course.

The child who'd obviously made her own from start to finish won. As she should.

[ChasedByBees]

That's disappointing. I would hope the school take it into account, but its difficult!

[Believeitornot]

Surely the teachers know.

I think the case of the FB post I would be tempted to add a picture of my dcs creation and say "lovingly created by dd, with no parent help at all"

[PerryHatter]

I think that's just embarrassing. Why take away the fun from their children just for the sake of some brownie points? Brownie points they won't get because every other parent who has abided by the rules will think they're knobheads.

[WhatHaveIFound]

It's annoying. I'd much rather they had cake decorating competitions within school time rather than judging baking brought from home. That way it would be an even playing field and those who can't afford the ingredients would still be able to take part.

I'm so glad that i don't have primary aged DC any more!

[BarbarianMum]

It's time for my anacdote.

When I was 7 I won second prize in a cake-baking competition. I was delighted but astounded that my own modest pathetic effort had been chosen over creations like a huge chocolate fort etc etc There were some amazing entries.

Years later my mum told me that first and second prize had gone to the only two cakes that looked as though a child had been anywhere near them. Apparently it was the talk of the playground for weeks.

[hatsandbagsandshoes]

Grrr, this really bugs me! We took our DD to an Easter bonnet parade a couple of years ago. She had decorated hers beautifully. The only help I had given was putting the glue gun glue where she told me to. Some massively elaborate ones, very very obviously done by the parents, and they were the winners! I'm not one of these parents who thinks my child should always win, but that's not fair, same with the cakes!

[User1029384746]

I was one of these parents once

I misread the leaflet and thought it was a baking competition for the parents.

my dd won

[JosephineMaynard]

My feelings about this sort of school competition - child is supposed to make something at home to be judged in school competition - is that the making of the item should be done in school, with no parents around, so any parental interference is minimised.

It's just far too open to competitive parents doing the whole task for their darlings otherwise because they don't want their DC to lose.

And yes, it's utterly pointless if the parents are doing it all for the child.

The decorated harvest boxes at DS1's school were bad enough this year (as in, numerous boxes looking far more professional than any infant school child could realistically produce), and that was without the added pressure of the boxes being judged.

[Lancelottie]

Oh Barbarian, you've reminded me of my one and only triumph in the Brownie show, for best flower arrangement. Towers of lilies and roses and arty foliage, and the prize went to my 'handful of buttercups shoved in old teapot', on the grounds that clearly no adult had had a hand in it.

They were very nice buttercups.

[needsahalo]

Oh dear Lancelottie, my son won an Easter Egg once for his 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Egg' creation. It was genuinely the only one that looked like a child had done it. Only a child hadn't done it, it was me! Every last bit!

[Groovee]

We started giving out a prize to best professional cake maker to try and embarrass them! They still sent one in every year when it was clear their child could never have made it.

[jopickles]

we had this last year with lighthouses! there were fully rotating light up versions and all sorts. Ours was a covered pringles tube with odd bits glued here and there and looked thoroughly like a 6 year old had made it. Which was great expect that my daughter had got fed up and refused to help so I did most of it and it still looked like a childs effort haha

[anonymice]

They canceled the bonnet competition at DD1 s nursery. They awarded first and second prize to the bonnets obviously made by three year olds and all the parents complained !!! Imagine being such a massive dick....

[sirfredfredgeorge]

Have you watched junior bake-off, do you know how good some of the primary school kids on there are?

Spun sugar is actually something that you can get good wow effect without much skill - so a good choice for a primary school baker, certainly it's not something a kid would do first time without assistance, but a skill to teach up in prep for a baking competition, seems a good one.

That's beside the point of course, as I'm sure lots of kids didn't do it by themselves...

[user1477282676]

Handbags God that's so unfair. In DDs school, the children who've obviously laboured over it themselves always win and the embarrassingly professional hats are always ignored.

including my dds vintage inspired birdcage fascinator

[Lancelottie]

Oops, Halo. Still, it's nice to have your artistic talents, erm, recognised...

[BrieAndChilli]

Hopefully the judges should be able to choose a winner that they think has done it themselves. However on the other end of the scale my DD won the summer cake comp at the fete and her cake was amazing - but I honestly did nothing apart from get out stuff she asked me for and helped her with one tricky bit that involved hot glueing a stick to some card for her to cover in icing for a parasol! She is really crafty and full of ideas, she plans her projects out on paper first and works out what she wants to do etc and I think the teachers know this so were confident that she would have done it herself as opposed to say another child who never does anything creative then brings in a professional looking cake.
So you do need to be careful as she would have been really upset if she had lost to another cake that wasn't as good as hers as she put a lot of time and effort into it and isn't her fault that she is good at it!

[claraschu]

My sister was an incredibly talented artist as a small child. One of her pictures was rejected on a similar occasion and the teachers wouldn't believe she had made it all by herself, but she had. This was deeply hurtful.

I agree that kids can sometimes do amazing things by themselves, but I agree with the OP here, parents shouldn't be helping!

[Greengoddess12]

It's pathetic isn't it?

When my ds was little they had to make a model house. The local architects 7 year old turned up with a Queen Anne creation which was amazing and clearly untouched by child hands.

Ds made a pretty shit one out of clay and won.

The architects wife complained to the head! Really.

Stop she always hated me as ds beat her son to the part of Joseph in the nursery play!

[FeralBeryl]

Halo

This thread reminds me of the scary Easter bonnet thread!
Can anyone link it?

[merrymouse]

I think the whole concept sounds unfair.

Unfair on children whose parents follow the rules, but also children whose parents, for various reasons, aren't involved at all - children still need somebody to provide an oven, ingredients and baking equipment.

[Mischa123]

our school used to have topic homework where the child had to make something every weekend. Every Monday morning there were parents strutting around the playground proudly showing off the papier mache crap they had spent their weekend creating. LET THE BLOODY KIDS DO IT!