To think this is absolutely joyless of nursery?

[Bettycrockered]

DD attends a private nursery and if you want to, on their birthdays you send them in with a shop brought cake and some candles. Everyone sings happy birthday and the cake gets shared out.

There is around 40 kids in the room, so an average of one birthday a week. By the time the cake is cut down to share, each kid gets a small cube of sponge and jam.

one of the parents via a nursery/parent forum has complained that they feel the cube of cake a few times a month is excessive sugar and so now there’s no birthday cake. On their birthday, the child sits in a chair and everyone sings happy birthday. Once a month the chef will instead bake a sugar free cake for each room and they have a little party instead.

AIBU to think this is totally joyless? DD doesn’t even like cake so I’ve seen the minuscule cubes of cake that come home with her. The meal plan at the nursery is really nutritious and varied - a little cube of sponge cake surely isn’t that big an issue? They could always alternate the children’s pudding with the cake rather than getting rid of it.

YABU - kids eat too much sugar as it is
YANBU - moderation is fine

V never understood the whole "one person coming so immediately pander to them" rule. If they think its too much sugar, fine, your child doesn't have any. Why does everyone else miss out?

YANBU. If they feel that strongly about it, they can remove consent for their child to have it. Don't ruin it for everyone.

Joyless. My school only allows shop bought cake in fear of food poisoning and allergies!

Because this sadly seems to be the way of the world these days - no agreeing to disagree or accepting of differing viewpoints but rather everyone has to bow down to those who complain the loudest!

Totally joyless! My daughter primary school used to let them take a bag of sweets and hand them out at the end of the day but that’s been banned and now they can buy a book for the class instead! Not sure anyone has done that yet, bloody boring!

No wonder kids are so miserable. So many rules and restrictions. I wonder if they will all grow up to be healthy, fit, slim paragons of virtue.

In my children’s nursery they had a wooden birthday cake. It was paraded in everyone sang happy birthday that was it. They all loved the honour of the wooden cake

The preschool I work (kids aged 3+) the teacher chooses a recipe with the kids celebrating the birthday - I.e. all the kids in July. Then she divides the ingredients I.e. Juliette brings eggs, Anthony sugar, Peter flour etc. Then the kids bake the cake at school and in the afternoon they eat together. They celebrate the whole months birthdays at once, everyone is involved and they have a mini party in the class.

So by the same token carrot cake isn’t good for you !! Veg has sugar in it too. It’s getting ridiculous now.

I think carrot cake tends to have added sugar. I don’t think anyone eats carrot cake as it’s ’good’ for you.

Of course carrot cake isn't good for you! It's cake.

It's delicious, but it's definitely not good for you. Not from a nutritional standpoint anyway.

😂

At my GC's daycare there is a cake with candles on it and happy-birthdaysinging etc. I don't know for sure if the children actually eat the cake but I think they do as a desert after their tea. It's probably very basic but done op really festive. I know everything is made in-the-house and taken in account each and every child's allergies&sensibilities. I also know they use f.i. sweet-potatoes instead of sugar in some puddings so really can't break my head over a tiny amount of sugar once in a while.

I went looking for sugar free cakes and the very first recipe I alighted upon used xylitol as a replacement.

That is one NNS I won't even allow in the house.

Xylitol is a nutritive sweetener, from birchwood, it reduces plaque formation and is antimicrobial. I have never baked with it though so don't know how it performs.

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol from plants that studies show has some benefits. It's not the stuff in sugar substitute packets.

I wouldn't know where to get it from so sounds like an annoying recipe to be honest! Also I imagine that was a recipe for adults rather than babies/toddlers.

Mashed banana, cinnamon and sometimes grated apple work quite well in the bakes I make for my 1 year old. Mix the mashed banana with the eggs (and choose overripe bananas or bake them in the oven for a bit) and fat of choice (I normally use vegetable oil but I hear coconut oil is nicer) then add flour (if using cinnamon/cocoa powder add to flour beforehand). You can add grated apple, nuts or other fruit for different flavours - they turn out nice enough and delicious with added nuts (though obviously nowhere near as sweet as a traditional cake).

Utterly joyless!
On DD's 3rd Birthday she insisted she didn't want a Birthday Party but then changed her mind 2 days before. I sent balloons (blown up), Party games, Party bags, food and cake in and nursery did a whole Birthday Party for her!! We were very grateful and all the children were very happy. They said it game them a really lovely easy afternoon as another parent kindly sent in a disco light and they just danced and played.

I was actually making the point that if the poster considered fruit not to be good for you because of fruit sugar, then the same goes for a lot of veg. Fructose, sucrose and glucose are all found naturally in fruit and some vegetables - and in table sugar - while lactose is in dairy and maltose in grains. Sugary drinks are the biggest source of added sugar, followed by processed breakfast cereals, but
natural and added sugars are metabolized the same way in the body. So for most people, natural sugars in foods such as fruit/veg is not linked to negative health effects, because the amount of sugar is modest and is accompanied by fibre and nutrients. On the other hand, our bodies do not need, or benefit from, eating added sugar, so that’s the difference. I’d be more worried about what’s being served in the sippy cups to be honest.

Oh yes it's lovely stuff .... deadly to dogs and it looks like new research shows it isn't great for humans either.

edition.cnn.com/2024/06/06/health/xylitol-heart-attack-stroke-wellness/index.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR08SRWi_TEpfanWkq4uNzdzYxly7wOaBt_IHio_mgjcWvUVJczCpCPViQ0_aem_0-wKXati70byIsN9T_lEpA

One tiny square is not unhealthy

The attitude that some food is forbidden is unhealthy

OFGS

I like the celebrating, but surely, one tiny bit of cake is not going to lead to a life of obesity

Haha the wooden cake wasn’t joyless at all it was very special. Cakes are things you
see every day, not so the big birthday cake and it meant every child in the group got the same honour and song with a mug of hot chocolate. I thought it was brilliant nothing to do with sugar!

The after school club near me used to allow birthday treats. A few months ago a child's mum suggested she make chocolate rice krispie cakes and the staff talked through the ingredients etc. But on the day the mum dropped off the tray and said, only in passing as she was leaving, they are softer than usual because I ran low on chocolate and put in a few spoons of Nutella. Its a nut free school anyhow, but more importantly a child in the class had an extreme nut allergy and carried an epipen. They had come so close to giving him nuts. After that they reviewed their policy and said no in all circumstances. It's frustrating but I understand where they are coming from.