Ice cream van outside school

[MummyJasmin]

It’s nearly November and we still have the ice cream van turning up outside primary school! I appreciate he has to make a living but can he not stick to summer or park up somewhere away from the youngest children?

You could maybe reason with an older child but a recently turned 3yo, is nigh on impossible! My lo finishes school tired and therefore prone to be irritable. I usually give in because I can’t be doing with the drama or attention from other parents - by drama I mean screaming and tantrumming etc! He parks in such a place where he cannot be avoided.

I rang my local council and they weren’t bothered. So long as it wasn’t a public protection matter he wasn’t doing anything wrong. The woman I was speaking to had thr audacity to suggest I needed to reason with my 3 yo…so wtf now it’s a parenting issue?! That’s not how 3yos are!

Ive sent an email to the school but I doubt they will do anything

aibu?

Because DC knows and has proof that tantruming works to get ice cream.

very funny

Slightly off topic, but I never trust ice cream vans in general (and especially in front of schools) because when I was at secondary school in the 1990s there was an ice cream van parked up in front of the school every day at lunch time. Approximately half the school spent their dinner money there instead of the school canteen. That was bad enough (nutritionally) but the reason he eventually he got busted was because he was also selling weed.

School are not the highway police, they have absolutely no say over what happens. And your 3 year old needs to learn the word no. Plenty of others manage it, myself included. If you don’t want to buy ice cream just deal with the tantrum, they’ll soon get the message.

Just say no! Your DC is tantrumming because its working and you are giving in.

There's a van by my kids school every damn day. They know they get one ONLY on the last day of the year and never any other day.

No is a full sentence, that even a three year old can understand.

Why are you even sending a just turned 3 year old to school?

School starts at age 4/5 years old. By then, it'll be a lot easier to say no as less tantrums.

I’m with you OP.

Yes, you should say no to your DC, ignore any tantrum and not give it a further thought. But when public health experts talk about the obesogenic environment and a lack of regulation making it difficult for people to make healthy dietary choices, this is a good example of what they are talking about.

Have you spoken to the headteacher?

If you think saying the ability to say "no" to your children is making you an amazing mum, you have extremely low standards. 🙄

You'd love my local schools, not only they attract the usual ice-cream vans ,but the PTA organise sweet shop and ice-cream sell on the playground to raise money once a week 😂

Still not terribly difficult to say no, or why a McDonalds would be any different.

Next we will have the tantrum of the kids bringing Haribos to school on their birthday, the horror.

(I tell you the secret, if you learn to say "no" and give a healthy diet, a mini pack of Haribos is a complete non issue...)

There's one outside DS' school we just say no, he doesn't even ask anymore. He does get ice cream, but we live on the coast so it's omnipresent. Same with birthday haribo, occasionally he can have them mostly it's no. His dentist always praises him for very white very clean teeth and backs us that haribo are essentially the enemy of teeth. DS enjoys the super heroesque battle scenario.

It’s annoying, but you can figure out a way to say no and avoid tantrums. My son has severe food allergies and we’ve had to say no to all of these things all through the toddler years and after.

I can't believe this op rang the council!! 😂

I bet they had a good laugh at her expense....as will the school ..

You've taught him that screaming gets ice cream.

I've got a 4 year old, today we went to the cinema and had to walk past McDonald's, KFC, Millie's Cookies, Krispy Kreme etc etc to get there. She didn't ask me for anything, because she's been taught that screaming and demanding is getting you absolutely bog all.

Even in summer months it was a Friday treat. My kids accepted that.

I wonder if so many of the amazing mums on here would be saying the same if there was a McDs outside their school?!

(Not so amazing are you lol)

I don't think anyone is claiming to be 'amazing'.
Saying "No", and not giving in to a tantrum to your dc is pretty basic parenting though.

Excellent idea! I’m on it ✍️✍️✍️

@ReadingSoManyThreads have you never heard of the Nursery Class? It's for the 3-4 year olds in a primary school. Every primary school I know has one.

😂

must be interesting if he starts a tantrum in front of a vape shop because they smell "yummy"

I actually sympathise with you, I'd hate to go through that every day and it seems like an easy target, but you need to manage your child's tantrums. Giving in often will only lead to more.

I do think some posters have been quite harsh in their replies though.

Hopefully some of the ideas suggested will help!

If you would hate to have to go through that every day, you have NOT been managing your child's tantrums.

This is a teaching moment for your child- you can't always get what you want, ice cream every day isn't healthy. You don't give in to avoid tantrums. You're going to raise a monster if you keep this up.

I've heard of nurseries yes. Wouldn't ever call where a 3yr old attends "school" though. Where I live some schools have these facilities but certainly not a common thing.