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

[AmericanMummmy]

The new guidelines from the Scottish government are effective today (1st August) - among other food restrictions, cake should not be brought into nursery to celebrate a child’s birthday (or any other reason). The goal is to fight childhood obesity and promote healthy eating.

I’m totally in favour of this and don’t understand the backlash! Everything I read on this topic is about parents and staff thinking it’s a huge overstep and sapping all the fun out of life, like kids need cake to be happy. If parents want to feed their child cake outside of nursery, that’s completely their choice, but why does it need to be at nursery too? I allow my 3 year old to have sweet treats on occasion (such as birthday parties or holidays/weekend activities), but it drives me nuts when he’s being offered cake at nursery (several times a month), and it’s always at pickup right before dinner time. They give him lollies on most days too from what he tells me, it’s just too much sugar!

Am I the only one who agrees with this guidance? Are there not other ways we can teach children to celebrate that don’t involve ultra processed sugary treats? No judgement to how people parent - and I love sugary treats myself- but I want to teach moderation and show that there are plenty of other ways to celebrate.

Why? Butter is a pure product, far far better than spread.

You are absolutely right.
But it will make a difference on the kids who have a healthy diets at home, and those who parents try their best to keep them away as long as possible from cakes and sweet desserts

I agree with you - their reasoning is that it is too high in saturated fat.

Yes I should’ve been clear to say ice lollies. And apparently my son may be making up stories anyway according to our nursery manager who had assured me they aren’t offering lollies of any sort.

But they are quite literally banning cake.

And there aren’t actually that many opportunities to appropriately serve cake to a child who attends nursery full time.

It’s ridiculous. As is lots of the other setting the table guidance. Well intentioned but poorly executed.

Limit it to once a week. That teaches good habits.

Will it cost anything to implement? The government, no. But the settings which have to make all these changes (which are extensive) will absolutely be paying more. And so fees will go up and parents will complain.... again....

Absolutely nothing wrong with this, nurseries already have guidelines on what food to serve (vegetables, no processed food, etc). This is simply updating them and tightening them up.

If you don't want your child to eat cake, just tell the nursery, don't ruin it for everyone else 🙄

This.

Our primary school had a request that children bring a favourite book to share on their birthday instead of cake or sweets, it was somewhere on their website. I thought that was a lovely alternative. I don't think many people were aware and the teachers seemed to be surprised by it when DD1 took a book in on her birthday. But I think it's a lovely idea and could be done by nurseries. Children without books at home could pick a favourite nursery book.

They aren’t stopping the children eating cake, as they can have that at home but no need to be eating everyone at nursery’s cake.

If you want to give cake to your child just give it at home or on their private birthday parties.
it works both ways

At my child’s nursery (England) we are not allowed to take in sweets/cake on birthdays because of allergies, but the nursery cook makes a cake/ cupcakes for every child on their birthday that is suitable for all , I guess that’s why we have to re mortgage our house on a monthly basis! 🤣

I'm all for the new rules. Birthday cakes are my biggest pet hate (I work in EYFS within a school setting). Many parents expect us to continue what private nurseries have allowed. I've even had a parent who expected a huge novelty cake to be cut, party bags shared and fizzy pop to be given out and filmed so mum could share the experience. We are there to teach and have quite tight timetables and routines to fit everything in, and being completely honest, we don't always have the time. A quick 'What did you get for your birthday? Let's all sing happy birthday to whoever' and allowing the child to give sweets out at hometime for their friends to take home if they wish is more than enough.

Oh come on. How many children at your child’s nursery? And not all of them will bring cake, so possibly 10-15 times per year of having a tiny square piece of cake. You’re over reacting. You could always ask the nursery to wrap it up and then save it for the weekend when your child is allowed a treat!

I get what you're saying

On the face of it it feels like government overreach but if you have sschool age kids you KNOW it's a legitimate problem when every other day they come out with sweets and cakes because it's some kids birthday or the school are celebrating something random and obscure.
I once moaned about it at the school gates and got looked at like a fun sponge but I was raised by a man who never let me eat anything like that and made us watch documentaries like 600lb life and super size me. According to tik-tok I should definitely have an eating disorder because of how I was raised 😂😂

Why is the rest of the world so obsessed with sweets chocolate and cake? Child plays outside and neighbours children share huge bags of sweets with them not to mention confounded relatives taking them out for an adult size large hot chocolate with a cake.

This shit would of blown my father's mind

It’s banned in most schools… and I agree with it. It’s not just an occasional thing. 30 kids in a class means cake about once a week in school - then for nursery/ reception children often a birthday party most weekends - with party bags and more cake.

add in occasional treats at home and family birthdays - and Xmas and Easter and little children are having sweets and cake 3 or more times a week…

it’s impossible to avoid unless people stop providing- no one wants to be that parent who says no when every other kid is having it - it’s a nightmare for those with dietary restrictions- and I’m including obesity in that.

Is your child’s birthday special and deserving of others celebrating it? Just to be clear, it might seem like there is always a birthday to be celebrated, but each child only gets one a year and it is special for them.

Yeah about 10-15 a year plus he gets invited to weekend parties for the same nursery friends plus all his cousins and siblings and other family members- it actually adds up to quite a bit. All other food at nursery falls under guidelines, so I don’t see why this shouldn’t too.

Yes my child and his close friends and relatives - all very special to us. Of course every child (and person for that matter) deserves to feel special on their birthday. But I don’t see why that means cake needs to be served at nursery. I know some see it as tradition and people don’t like change, but I wish more people would be open to celebrating in ways that don’t centre around food and sugar in particular.

The SNP are an odd lot, like to control in some ways such as this but happy for drug consumption rooms. Overweight children are not overweight due to a sliver of cake a couple of times a month

Jeez what a fun sponge!

It’s been my nursery’s policy since we opened 6 years ago!
The guidance hasn’t changed all that much, it’s just much clearer and less open to interpretation. We implemented the new guidance in April (or whenever the new Setting The Table was published) so that we were in the swing of it by the effective date. It really didn’t change much, other than we can no longer offer bagels and pancakes for snacks!
I see no issue with not allowing children to bring cakes in to celebrate birthdays at all, our kids wear a birthday hat and we sing happy birthday and they love it! Plus we have 72 kids, that’s a lot of cake for parents to
buy and send in!

I haven't been keeping up with the thread over the weekend, but just popped back in to say that my 20 month old fucking loves a dry cream cracker. I tried to get myself some last night and he'd only sodding helped himself to all the crackers in the tin.

We haven’t had UPF cake for 1000s years. There is a huge difference between a homemade preservative free cake and the crap that most supermarkets sell. My kids are way past nursery age now but I would have been fully in favour of this regulation in today’s society