To agree with the new guidance in Scotland to ban cake at nursery?

Honestly this is ridiculous, this is exactly the time that cake should be eaten and always has been eaten.

Obesity is caused by the things that were occasion/special food being eaten constantly, not just on special occasions/rarely.

ive known a few people whose children are morbidity obese. DDs friend was eating whatever she liked whenever she liked, McDonald’s a few nights a week, other takeaways, packets of cakes. Denying her a single tiny piece at nursery would have made zero difference.
Pointless.

To me the guidance itself isn't super clear but the sample menus further down do suggest serving a piece of fruit alongside so perhaps it's not quite as bleak as it first seems! I do know our nursery staff - who are uniformly wonderful - have been working their socks off to try to figure out how to implement the new guidance but still keep the food appealing enough that the weans will actually eat it.

I completely agree with you. A huge overstep and completely the wrong thing to focus on.

I think many nurseries won’t take on the new guidance. You do have to wonder about a government who are like fascists when it comes to 3 year olds but somehow accept burger vans serving food to school kids.

As others have said, obesity doesn’t come from birthday cake at nursery.

What does come from it, in my experience, is a boost to the birthday child’s self esteem, a chance to feel special with their friends, a good example of sharing. I’m shocked that a parent would tell the nursery that their child shouldn’t have a bit of cake just because they’re so anal about health, imagine how that one child feels. Shit parenting, and far more damaging than an occasional square of cake with their pals, IMO.

No it’s a step too far. When I worked in childcare years ago it was a lovely social thing. Birthday child would choose a friend and a few others who had not had a chance to bake a cake. Then at snack they’d all sit together and sing happy birthday. They did this in most council nurseries in Scotland that I worked in.
It was lovely, the odd treat a couple of times a month at nursery is not a problem. It’s education in the home environment that really matters. Really nice for children who didn’t bake or parents couldn’t afford or wouldn’t get a cake and simply nice for any child. Scottish government are being far too heavy handed.

What the heck is wrong with yogurt??

Children are not fat from the odd bit of birthday cake

they are fat from generations now having no idea what a healthy diet looks like.

In a class of 10 kids - that’s cake every month on top of the cake and treats they get at home and from grandma - get enough kids and it’s cake every week which isn’t a treat it’s a habit

DD's nursery didn't allow cake. Instead they invited parents to provide fruit and they would make an amazing fruit 'cake' from it.

Children aren't fat because they have a piece of birthday cake, there's far more too it than that - in my experience they only get a tiny piece anyway

Don't you get your free hours?

And I suppose the adults who came up with this guidance are all nibbling away on their bi-annual rice cake, are they?

Soulless ghouls.

Oh nose, willnae someone think of the weans eating a slice of cake a whole THREE times a month??

The lollies I would say are far more of an issue.

Ate they allowed to offer fruit and veg along side this?

I agree.
Dear God - what a joyless society we are becoming. What happened to the philosophy of everything in moderation?

My daughter hasn't ever had cake from/at nursery, so this seems a bit of an overreach? People share things for their kids birthdays- Hello Panda biscuits, party rings or something similar to take home. Sometimes little party bags with a few chewy sweets and some bubbles. That cake is considered a big enough problem to legislate is strange!

The guidance goes well beyond birthday cake - as you can see from the excerpt (once it makes it through the image checker) it's pretty prescriptive. I agree something needs to be done about childhood obesity, I'm just not sure this is the best strategy.

Banning pudding every day yes, for the occasional birthday, too far.

Ok then let them serve fruit and natural yoghurt. I would've thought they'd do that anyway. And the puddings wouldn't be highly sugared either. So a tiny bit of cake, or one small individual cake a couple of times a month shouldn't be outlawed.

Yes, just nursery because this is guidance issued by the Care Inspectorate which is responsible for nurseries. No, not just birthday cake - that is just a side effect of the comprehensive new guidance which is, on the whole, very good.

hub.careinspectorate.com/media/6013/setting-the-table.pdf

Primary are okay but not brilliant - they have free school meals for everyone from primary 1 to 5, so the kids are all getting the same. But the menus are a bit samey and a bit more 'kid food' than the nursery ones, and they're not so strict about nutrition. Secondary is an utter shit show as they just let the kids off school grounds to go and buy junk food every lunchtime.

No they are not feeding other children other parents can just say no.

Does anyone have a link to the wider guidance? It sounds like this situation is more complex than cake just being banned.

I agree with you. It’s a start and might be the only time that children are being taught to eat healthy food.

They can still sing happy birthday and do all of the fun things, you don’t need a cake at nursery to feel special.

Out of interest, what are the primary and secondary (or equivalent) schools like for food in Scotland?

My initial reaction to this was that it’s the sort of rule made up by fun sucking jobsworths, but actually I think there’s some sense behind it.

Whatever parents opinions are on this, it is an undeniable fact that childhood obesity is far too high so something has to be done. If children are being offered treats and cake from parents who want to send them into nursery more than once or twice a month, then it’s too much. I can remember there being a couple of times when my dc were at school that I have to avoid giving them treats I’d have liked to because they had already had cake and a packet of haribo.

Children can celebrate and acknowledge a classmates birthday without cake being involved. If parents want a big fancy centrepiece for the pictures, they can make something out of a watermelon.