To think this is PC gone mad?

[Frasersmum123]

DS is 8 on Saturday and I have bough him some sweets to give out to his friends tomorrow. He has done this every year so far without a problem.

Today his teacher came to see me in the playground and told me that he wasnt allowed to give out the sweets, as the school cant condone giving them out and that it goes against their healthy eating policy

Surely a fun-size bag of Haribo isnt going to hurt anyone? Its not like its done every day!

Only read the last few posts - I would hate to think that a treat I was sending in with my children couldn't be shared by all of them so, for that reason, I would try to give something that didn't contain gelatin/nuts etc. I don't see why some posters think that muslims/jews not eating gelatin is ludicrous - unless otherwise specified, it's a pork product, fgs.

My dd's school has a healthy eating policy which, yes, is a bit joyless but as she is in reception and there are children in her class who already have lost teeth due to decay (have brown stumps instead of milk teeth), I have to endorse their stance. Having worked with children I cannot imagine that having a class of 30 buzzing around after a sugar rush would be much fun for the teachers .

!it is about that child and what that child wants for that day".....

errr, noyt sure about that.

why not teach the childabout sharing and celebrating something else, not shit sweets?

Urgh, Haribo are awful. Send satsumas.

Oops get down off your high horse, it's affecting your sense of reality.

What has ooops said that is so unrealistic ingles? Haribo are shit sweets that not all of us are happy for our chidren to have.
Nothing high and mighty about that.

Meant to add, many other sweets are fine, and I am in favour of quite a bit of chocolate. Nowt wrong with it, as long as there isn't combined with a whole load of shit.

Why not avoid the problem and hand out small non-food presents? How about a little party bag toy, or pencils, something like that?

Kids don't always have to be stuffing their faces.

LOL, high horse.

I usually say, "I'll beg to differ" but I'm sure your horse is as high as mine... and my dad's horse is bigger than your dad's horse

jack99 - presumably becuase of the cost. Haribo cost hardly anything, where as party bags can really add up.

When did this giving out sweets thing start anyway? Somewhere in between me leaving school and my eldest starting school, obviously.

oops's last post was very high and mighty Gateau.
People can celebrate their birthday however they like. Especially if the school doesn't mind.
I personally don't give out haribo, I have smarties.
What I can't stand is being told what to do by other people.
Why should I alter what I do for my dc's birthday so it doesn't upset you? It's not your dc's day.
I'm not forcing sweets on you, they are offered at the end of the day.
If some parents want to give out haribo, so what. It's their choice and their expense.
If I don't want my dc's to eat them, they're quite capable of saying, no, I'm not allowed.
Your child can't refuse sweets without having a hissy fit? Shame! not my problem, you should have told them you don't approve.
Oh,... and they can't write a note to the teacher either saying they don't want them.
You have ethical reasons for not eating gelatine?
Fine!
don't eat them!
That's entirely up to you
But don't expect us not to either!

I think you're being really stupid.

Most people don't care what YOU and YOUR children do.

But that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is people giving OTHER PEOPLE's kids sweets.

Yeah, course I can and do take the sweets off my kids. But my kids are 4 and 6. If you can't see why this is a problem (not of my making) then you no nothing about kids or parents.

Give what you like to your own kids. But don't inflict this kind of crap on mine. Thanks.

How hysterical and what rubbish Fivecandles!
If you refer back to the OP you'll see we're talking about the teacher giving out sweets, not other people!
and I know plenty about my children just as I'm sure you know plenty about yours! So please, don't cast aspersions
Write a letter to the teacher if you don't like it! Campaign outside the school gate! or maybe just teach your children how to refuse things they are not allowed.

Ingles, I am not hysterical and I have no problems with my kids or my parenting thanks.

My kids know to ask me whether they're allowed to eat something or not (partly being veggie and one having a nut allergy) but that doesn't resolve the issue of my having to take stuff away from them that was given to them by someone else without my consent. This is the dilemma of many parents and you are in the minority here which is perhaps telling you something.

What I have a problem is parents giving other people's kids sweets without consulting the parents. It's not on whether it's via school or not. And parents need to made aware of this.

Up to you what you give your own kids. Really really not up to you what you give other people's kids.

Don't know why that's such a challenging concept.

The OP if you recall was actually a PARENT bemoaning the fact that the teacher at her dcs school wouldn't give out sweets to other kids on HER child's birtday geddit?

Fivecandles this is obviously an issue close to your heart but I won't accept you speaking to me in this tone.
Quite frankly I don't understand why you don't get the concept that many schools and many parents have no issue with this which is why it is so widespread in RL., and that if you personally do, you should say so in writing to the school, so you and children can be excluded. End of story!

OK, I am quite amused myself by the notion that some animals are more unclean, or for that matter sacred, than others.

However, that's not really the point - if my Muslim CM pops round with her kids, I don't dosh out gelatine based sweets, because that would be rude & inconsiderate.

For that matter, we're unlikely to have such sweets - I'm veggie, I don't buy 'em - but the dc have a tin into which all sweets go - so anything given out at school/parties/by relatives might contain gelatine. Which doesn't bother me personally, any more than the 1000s of insect bits in my tomato ketchup.

But 'not eating sweets' & 'not eating sweets which include gelatine' really are not such bizarre & isolated concepts as some of you seem to think.

In ds's class, there are about 10 Muslims, for a start.

As for objecting to fruit, OK, perhaps some parents do. But I imagine it's rarer. If I'm wrong about that, fair enough, I wouldn't send fruit either.

Still don't get why giving out sweets is such an unmissable feature of anyone's birthday.

Now, now children!

I'm with fivecandles.

i DO object to people giving out sweets

30 kids in class

30 weeks school yr

once a week - not rocket science

do the children actually 'ask' mum to give sweets or is it just an attempt to make their kid Mr or Mrs Popular