Food as a reward in class?

Call me naive. When E started kindergarten this year, it never crossed my mind that I'd have to worry about what he would be eating. My husband and I have always been conscientious about what our kids eat.

As the first few weeks of school progressed, E would report on how he was doing on the class behavior chart. If he moved up, he was rewarded with gummy bears. He would also get gummy bears for doing well at a class game and he would get gummy bears if his teacher noticed him doing a good deed.  I complained to my sister and she mentioned that my niece was also getting a food reward for similar reasons (skittles, in her case).  We were both pretty irritated because our kids don't get treats like that on a daily basis and we don't use food to reward behavior.

After a few weeks of complaining, I grew the courage to email E's teacher.  Among other things, I wrote, "My hope is that you, and all the teachers at (my son's school), can find ways to reward the students with non-food rewards.  My husband and I would like to be able to support you in these efforts.  We very much live by a budget and can fully understand the financial strains that you, (the school) and the (the district) may face. To that end, I’ve attached a list of student reward ideas that are free. There are a lot of resources online that advocate for healthier alternatives for children. The list I’ve attached is from www.100daysofrealfood.com."

The list I attached can be found here. After some back and forth emails, E's teacher responded favorably. I didn't want E to feel left if he was the only kid that was opting out on the gummy bears and explained that. We eventually agreed on a compromise, wherein E's teacher would offer the kids a choice between the gummy and a non-food reward.  It wasn't my ideal result, as I would like for food rewards to disappear altogether. However, at the very least, E would have a choice that would hopefully be influenced by our parenting. As an unexpected bonus, E's teacher let me know that she had printed out the list of non-food reward ideas and placed them in each of the teacher's mailboxes. Woohoo! Maybe the other teacher's would use some of these ideas, too! I really was pleased to this teacher's openness and I was impressed with her quick responses.  Communicating with your kid's teachers can be rewarding and so important to making sure you are comfortable with leaving your kids in the care of someone else.

It's been two months since the emails. Lately, E has told me that he isn't being offered a choice anymore.  I suppose I'll have to contact his teacher again to verify and reiterate the point.  In all honesty, I don't like being a nag but E's health is too important to me.  I'll press on.

What do you think? Am I making this teacher's job harder than it needs to be? Do you mind when your kids report getting candy or other treats as a reward for their good behavior? Maybe this is a non-issue in your kids classroom?  I'd love to hear how its going for other parents.

Stress at Work, Worry at Home

I don't intend to write a lot about what I do 40 hours a week. Its not the focus of this blog. However, work has been crazy and stressful this week and it hasn't left much of my brain space open for writing in this blog.

Add to that, my husband has been sick and finally went to the doctor yesterday to find out he has pneumonia. Taking care of him and our two kids has taken up much of my time.  My poor husband. He has antibiotics now and it seems to be helping him. This morning, he is already feeling better.

I have been on Twitter though. I have new followers! Woohoo! It still amazes me that it is now so easy to connect to people and organizations so easily. If anyone is reading this, head over to Twitter and follow me -@onemomforchange.

Thanksgiving Lunch at Daycare

Baby O's daycare provided a Thanksgiving meal yesterday for the kiddos and their parents.

The daycare center is actually a private preschool that also provides infant care. At their back to school night, the director emphasized how important it is to her to feed the kids fresh, nutritious food. I was so happy to hear this!  They have an onsite cook that makes meals fresh every day from mostly organic ingredients. They also make a point to never use food as a reward or punishment and they recognize that a child might need to be exposed to new foods many times before they will try it and enjoy it.  I love their food philosophy!

Knowing this, I was excited to see what they'd serve for this Thanksgiving meal. They had turkey, of course, with not-too-sweet cranberry sauce. They also had roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts. For the little ones, they had mashed sweet potatoes and mashed cauliflower.  Baby O loved the veggies! I am not a fan of turkey, so I stuck to the veggie sides. And I'll be honest, this was the first time I've tried Brussels sprout. I figured I needed to try new foods if I'm constantly asking my kids to do the same. I liked them! They offered desserts as well, but we didn't have any.

It was so nice to spend time with my little guy during the work day and it was made even better by sharing a good meal!

Just One Mom

Food.

I have two sons - a kindergartner and a very-soon-to-be one year old.  I have always paid attention to the food that I offer them. I am not perfect.  In fact, my own dietary habits fall just short of the standards I have for my children. There is a bit of parental hypocrisy there, and I'm working on that.  As my son started kindergarten this year, I was determined to send him with a healthy lunch from home.  Without looking at the hot lunch menu, I'd assumed that it would be bad.  When I did read the menu, I was disappointed with the offerings.  When I looked even closer to the items and found their ingredient listings, I was appalled. Very little fresh food, nothing local, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils - the list of offenses got to be too long.

This really bothers me.

Food.

The newest health data at County Health Rankings and Roadmaps shows that the county I live in, Kern County, ranks 54 out of 57 ranked counties in California for health outcomes.  We rank poorly in adult obesity, physical inactivity, and 58% of our restaurants are fast food restaurants.  Kern County also has an alarmingly high rate of food insecurity. Kern County is a very agriculturally productive area.  How is it possible that so many people suffer from hunger? Why are so many residents overweight or obese? How do both of these issues exist together in one place?

This really bothers me, too.

I started thinking about these things and started connecting dots. I wondered if this was bothering anyone else.   I talked to other parents. My child wasn't the only one receiving a food reward (ranging from gummy bears to candy) for doing well in class. My son wasn't the only getting questionable snacks during after school care.  What were those parents doing? Strategies ranged from talking kids about healthy food to outright forbidding kids to accept the junk food to giving in and letting kids have what seemed to be well accepted and established food rules in the elementary school environment. I found it all very frustrating and I was very uncomfortable with the changes in my kid's diet.  As I thought more and researched more and learned more and talked more, I started to believe that I needed to do something about it.  But what could I do?

Food.

And now for a bit of a disclosure.  I am part of that percentage of overweight adults.  I contribute to that statistic.  I was a chubby kid growing up and I've always self-identified with being overweight. I've lost a little and gained a little more and lost a little.  Since my first son was born, my weight has remained fairly stable.  I haven't gained more, but I have lost much either. Oh, and I'm not very handy in the kitchen. My husband does most of the cooking, but I'm learning.  I've been picking up skills, but it doesn't come naturally to me.

I am not perfect. This also bothers me.

I want to be a good example to my children.  I want my family to be healthy. I want more for my community.  Issues related to food are so complex and they can be so emotionally and politically charged.  Its a touchy subject. That isn't going to stop me anymore though.  These things matter.  Food matters.

I'm just one mom, but I'm going to make a change. It's going to start with me and end some time in a better future. Are you with me?