sweets in school

[Clarabel22]

My son in Y2 has just come out of his class eating a Haribo Maom chew bar. Whilst I am not a sweet nazi, I do restrict treats at home and don't give them to my kids often, especially avoiding the ones with loads of additives like Haribo.
When I asked the teacher why they had them, she told me it was somebody's birthday. Does it not occur to the parent of that child that not everyone will be delighted to see their children eating crappy sweets before tea time?
It happened in Y1 and in Reception too, and when I talked to the teachers about it then, they said they could make sure my son didn't get them if I wanted. ???!!! I am not going to be cruel and exclude him if the others are all having them.
Am I the only parent that wishes people wouldn't do this?

No biggy Imo ..its only a sweet

FGS....please believe me when I say this is the least of your worries and it will only get worse ..........

I never had a problem with this but I trained my DDs to wait and ask if it was ok to have before opening the sweet (and yes this was right from reception). I usually used to let them save it for after tea.

You just tell him to wait until he comes out and then you can say whether he can eat it or not. At our school the child hands them out at home time and no one is allowed to eat it until they are collected.

But I've never had a problem with it - it's only a sweet no biggie.

It wouldn't bother me. It is one small sweet. Even if every child in the class did it, it would only be 30 small sweets in the school year.

One small sweet at half past 3 really wouldn't affect my DD's appetite for her dinner later either, so that isn't an issue here.

DD's school allows children to have sweets and cakes on birthdays, which they actually share during school time. Again this is something iI have no problem with. They know who is and isn't veggie, etc so can monitor, and know any allergies.

At the school work at (infants) we allow them to be brought in and they issuesd at hometime for the child to leave school with, and for the parents to decide if they can have it or not. Seems a fair compromise.

I'd prefer it didn't happen ...but there are many other battles to fight...you could always swap it for a healthier treat.

Well it's no biggie really...but it is totally and utterly unneccessary.

Doesn't bother me. I think it's nice. But I'm sure one day it will be outlawed.

Actually you know what bothers me - they won't allow us to put one tiny Percy Pig in our child's lunchbox because we're supposedly a "Healthy School" but it's absolutely fine to send them home with a packet of sweets full of additives for us to deal with the fall out.

"Does it not occur to the parent of that child that not everyone will be delighted to see their children eating crappy sweets before tea time?"

No, I would imagine it occurs to them that it would be nice to celebrate their child's birthday by generaously sharing a small treat with the whole class. I always accept on that understanding, anyway.

We had some parents raise the same question, so we put it to a parental vote. We sent home a questionnaire, giving multiple options and lots of space for comments. We said that as a school who listened to parents, we would support whatever the majority decided.
They decided to keep the sweets, not to be opened until in the presence of a parent, so they could decide what was acceptable.
Many were outraged that sweets risked being banned as an occasional treat.

Oh deary me. Will you listen to yourself?

Who, me?
I never listen to myself. it's always too noisy around here to hear myself think.

Bit ott to have a vote on a few sweets ..could understand it if they were handing out bottles of WKD to celebrate

Or crack cocaine, random.

Did it kill him?

Oh. I thought not.

No no goblin. The op.

Did it kill him?

Oh. I thought not.

For goodness sake - the children bring them in because it is a kind thing to do. They want to celbrate their birthday and share with the other children. It has been going on for years. I remember cakes coming in on birthdays - and it is 30 odd years since I started school!

It is 30 sweets a year!!!

Out of 365 days!!!

And if it's chocolate you can put it in the fridge "for later" and eat it yourself.

Well, to be totally honest about our vote, we thought that some parents were being hysterical and precious about the birthday sweets thing and were being a pain to school with letters and emails and leaflets on healthy living.
So we thought we'd give them a considered and reasonable approach and watch them turn on each other rather than the teachers

'No Millicent, drop that foul and obnoxious fancy this instant. Have some lovely Organic celery' was our thought.

Wow, I'm glad I raised this issue anonymously on mumsnet and not in the playground. Thank you for some of the more constructive comments, it's been enlightening....

ROFL goblinchild !!!
Would love to see the faces of the children on their way out of class presented with a stick of celery to celebrate little Tarquin's birthday!

Sorry organic celery!

The only place where I've foudn parents objecting to this sort of thing is on Mnet

We do birthday sweets
Teachers give end of term sweet/choc pressies
Sometimes there is reward of box of Cadbury's miniatures for table getting most table points

I love it

Organic celery, my arse!