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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

All Animal Crackers are Equal but Some are More Equal than Others

You might think that George Orwell is not the most relevant author to a mother of a toddler and an infant. Alas, today I learned differently. My older son (OS) came home from preschool with an approved snack list. I was surprised for two reasons: 1) the preschool already provides a snack and 2) with all of the allergies out there I didn’t think I was allowed to send in a snack. I was grateful, however, that the school had not only provided me with a concrete list of approved snacks, but that they specified which brands were acceptable (hence the Orwellian realization some fish (particularly Goldfish and Swedish Fish) are more equal than others ). I sat down to peruse the list.

The letter had a nice introductory paragraph about food allergies. Then I got to this line: “We know that many parents like to send in a snack for the class on special occasions.” Having previously learned the importance of celebrating birthdays in playgroup, I thought I understood the sentence, but something was bothering me. Then I realized what it was: it said “special occasion,” not “birthday.” Wait a minute! What exactly constitutes a special occasion? Can I decide to send in a snack to celebrate September 22 just because I like that it’s a day with two twos? To me this looked like a faux pas waiting to happen. I envisioned years later hearing from OS how every child except him brought in Hostess cupcakes(listed on the approved snack list) on the day that they got a new goldfish. I knew I had better nip this one in the bud! I immediately consulted with an expert, specifically a friend who’s a former preschool teacher. Boy, was I glad I asked. Apparently in addition to birthdays or half birthdays (if your child has a summer birthday) parents traditionally (and how they know about this tradition to begin with unless they’ve already messed it up with an older child is a mystery to me) send in snacks to celebrate major and minor milestones including potty training, a new brother, a new house, sleeping in a big boy (or girl) bed, and the list goes on and on. In fact, with no limit on what constitutes a special occasion, I could send in Doles Fruit Bowls (which are also on the approved snack list) to celebrate September 22.

I’m all for celebrating things. If you can’t celebrate tiny things when you’re 3 then when can you? I also like that OS’s school does allow us to celebrate birthdays. For those of you who haven’t dealt with preschool yet, the days where you can bring in any cupcakes to celebrate birthdays are pretty much gone, because there are just so many food allergies out there.

What I have a problem with is not being told that every other kid would be celebrating these things. That leads me to my next question: Is one approved snack better than the other? I mean seriously if I had a choice between a Dole Fruit Bowl or a Hostess cupcake it wouldn’t take genius to guess which one I would pick if I were 3 (or 30).

I therefore recommend to all preschools the addition of the following paragraph after explaining about allergies and listing what snacks are approved.

In addition to birthdays and half birthdays, if you would like to send in a snack for the class on special occasions you may do so. Please note that other parents will define special occasion broadly, celebrating wonderful events like potty training, new siblings, new houses and new episodes of “Blues Clues.” Every parent may choose whether to periodically send a snack or turn your child into a pariah while being declared worst parent who ever existed. Should you not want to eradicate your child’s social standing, you can choose from any of the snacks listed above. While you may choose fruit or Nabisco Graham Crackers, because they are on the approved snack list, you should be advised that other parents will send Fruit roll-ups, Gummi Bears, or Skittles, which are also from the approved snack list. While you may think it’s better to send in animal crackers and applesauce because they are indeed healthier, you will probably hear for the rest of your life that you were the only parent IN THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL to ever send in a healthy snack. Of course you must send in the snack you feel is the most appropriate from the approved snack list. After all, we are the ones that will deal with the class of sugar high kids. Thank you very much.

A. Elliot’s Lessoned Learned: Read a letter from your child’s preschool with the same care you would read a legal contract.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 10:01 PM   1 comments
1 Comments:

  • At 9/26/2006 9:34 AM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    On sunday, Husband and I were discussing the food allergy issue. It seems that although parents are given this letter, some parents will insist on sneaking peanut butter sandwiches into their kid's lunch. I personally think that if a kid dies as a result, that parent should be charged with depraved indifference, but Husband said that the dead kid was weak and needed to be weeded out. Such a charmer. (I think I will write about this on CUSS.)

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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