Big Brother Is One Step Closer In California!!! (A Rant)
Decorating By debsuewoo Updated 25 Sep 2006 , 9:12pm by debsuewoo
My husband is a phys ed teacher, so this topic hits home for me. It's not the every-so-often cupcake in schools that's making our kids fat, it's the lack of physical activity imposed by the government in favor of teaching to the NCLB test (which is crap also, but that's a whole other story). Yes, kids should be active at home also, but for those whose parents can't or won't find activities for their kids, they need the opportunity to exercise in school.
Fortunately we don't have that no-treat rule, and if we did I'd have to break it. That is just ridiculous. I agree with those who have said this is completely hypocritical - a child can't bring in cupcakes to celebrate a birthday, yet the schools themselves are serving up crap for lunch. Kids are allowed to have sports drinks & fruit juice, yet those have almost as many calories as a regular soda and more calories than a diet soda. Granted, fruit juice does have additional nutritional benefits, but unless you are an athlete who is actively training, the sports drinks just load you up with extra calories & other things your body doesn't need. I think starting next year the drink machines in school (which are only turned on after school) are only allowed to have diet sodas & fruit juices.
My kids have daily recess & P.E. twice a week, and still have birthday parties, pizza parties, & holiday parties. I can't wait for Halloween to send cupcakes in to school along with candy for the class party 
-Lisa
Let's also not dump on public schools here. I know this was not the intent of the original post, but I have seen some other opinions that seemed to be starting down that path. Admittedly I am biased and become defensive when this topic is raised, as my mom was a public school teacher forever, my husband is, I went through public schools and my kids are and will. Yes, there are problems, but no school anywhere is perfect. I have had nothing but positive experiences both in my own schooling and with that of my children. If your public school wasn't the right fit for your child, then finding someplace that does work is beneficial for everyone. But please don't make generalizations that all public schools are bad, and all public school teachers are unqualified. I know for a fact that private religious schools in this area do not require the educational background that our public schools do, and also do not require background checks on their employees. Just last year in Maryland a registered sex offender was found to be teaching at a private school, and he had been there for some time!
Also, if you homeschool, PLEASE enroll your kids in outside activities! I have only met one homeschooling family, and I know this is not the norm, but the poor kids have no social skills whatsoever. The kids are 16, 12, and 9, and the only time they leave their house is to go to church. They will occasionally play with the other kids in the neighborhood (they live next door to me), and I feel so sad for them because they don't know how to interact with the other kids. At neighborhood birthday parties both adults & other kids try to engage them in comversation and play, but they just don't respond. I have no idea what they are going to do when they have to face the "real world" because they have no experience with it.
Just my more than 2 cents...let's get back to baking 
-Lisa
bluehen I am sorry your only "experience" with home schooled kids hasnt been the best, I too knew nothing about it nor knew anyone who had until we moved into our home 3 years ago...A neighborhood family with 5 children were home schooled and are the most friendly, well mannered, totally social (they play with other kids when they get home from traditional school)....totally NORMAL kids.....
I do plan on sending my child to public school when he gets of school age (because I know I wouldn't do home schooling justice) but I like the fact that we have OPTIONS, if it turns out not to be best for my family, we can make adjustments.
I am hoping in the next few years the Pendulum will swing back the other way....in favor of BALANCE.
mkerton - my husband has met homeschooled kids at the high school (they can come in for special classes & to participate in extra curricular activities) and they have all been "normal" too. I think this particular family is just extra odd anyway 
The 16 year old is not going to be allowed to go to college, so I don't know what she's gonig to do with herself!
-Lisa
I am hoping in the next few years the Pendulum will swing back the other way....in favor of BALANCE.
I hope so too. Sort of on the original topic, we are all going to pay dearly for this generations health problems. Kids need to be taught that no food is bad, but that you need to moderate your intake of less healthy things. Having a cupcake in school once a month to celebrate a birthday isn't the end of the world.
-Lisa
ummm....hmmmm....okay....growing up, at school, we had parties with lots and lots of treats. on many occasions i took mayonnaise sandwiches. after school snacks, for me, was to take the jar of mayonnaise out, unscrew the lid and grab a spoon! oh yeah, and to peel a stick of oleo for my sugar sandwich and instead of wrapping it back up, i would eat what was left in the wrapper. when i say sugar sandwich, that is what i meant....two pieces of bread heavily laden with oleo the sugar poured on it until it just started spilling off the mound onto the counter. obesity was never a problem.
the difference between then and now....WE WORKED AND PLAYED OUTSIDE...HARD!!!!!
Mom made sure we had nutritious dinners and nutritious snacks were available....but...it was sugar that made us smile 
[quote="mbelgard"]
I wonder how many of us have kids who don't eat healthy food and are terribly overweight (not just a little chunky) since we make lots of sweets. That and how many have kids who won't eat healthy foods.
My children love stuff like broccoli and fruit, I have more trouble keeping pears in the house than cake. They have foods they don't like but everyone does and they eat a good variety, neither one is anywhere close to heavy.quote]
I have two girls and a son.... my son, whom I lovingly call my "Dinky Dude" is 9 years old and about 3 inches shorter than my youngest daughter, who is 7. He is also only something like 65 lbs because he takes medicines that retard his growth a bit. Both of my daughters are tall and, admittedly, over weight. However, it isn't because of the junk food issues. Both my husband and I are over weight, so my oldest daughter is presdiposed to it. My youngest daughter is adopted and her birth mother and grandparents are all over weight. Both girls loves fruits and vegetables and are willing to try new things, whereas my son is so picky it is ridiculous!
I just think it's pretty sad that the government is telling us what we can and cannot feed our kids during school hours. It isn't as if the government buys my groceries (Okay, that's a totally different subject that I don't want to get started!!!)........
Children's weight and health has gone to heck in a handbasket since they took PE and recess out of the school day.
I remember going to school in the mornings and running around for about 30 minutes before we got lined up in the courtyards to go in. Then Lunch was an hour long so we would gulp our foods down, because the faster we ate the longer we could go out to play.
play which included using the outdoor gym equipment, running, jumping rope and playing tag.
then going back out for about 30 more mintues to run around before we lined up to get into the school busses.
I believe that burning all that excess energy made us more "mellow" in the class room. Hungrier for our lunches and or snacks.
and burning all that excess energy made us pay attention, behave better and no need so many of the medications we give our young children because they are "ACTING OUT" in the classroom making it hard for teachers to teach and other kids to learn.
I do believe that recess SHOULD be brought back into the school, as it also teaches children valuable socilization skills.
Play is a great equalizer! Someone that may not be so bright in the classroom may be a GREAT team player, and someone that is considered a "brain" may not be the best runner...or whatever, you get my point! lol
So, instead of worrying what the kids are putting in their mouths, we should be worried about all the little "couch" potatoes we are breeding. ( and I'm generalizing here!! so please, I don't mean to get anyone's knickers twisted with my GENERAL comment! lol)
I think there is a big part of it that is genes....my hubby comes from a family where he remembered his mom making cookies EVERY DAY and that was his after school snack....my after school snack was fruit, carrot sticks, cottage cheese etc....and yet all his siblings are super thin! They can eat whatever, whenever and in any quanties and are tiny...I go visit and just watch them I swear I gain 5 pounds...now dont get me wrong I was never a heavy child.....we were all very active, but even in high school when I was MOST active in sports, I struggled to stay in a size 9....oh I would love to be back in a 9 now ...but at the time I felt fat next to so many other teens.
I think there is a huge misunderstanding about overweight people out there...sure we would probably all be thin if we worked out hours and hours a day....but there are thin people out there who dont have to work out at ALL....
as for eating the sweets I make, I send all my practice cakes (and class cakes) to my husbands work (fully intact) so that I am not tempted to sample....and my niece and son...just love fruit and no they dont really eat cake!
People, it's about to become open season on fat people. It's the new "mission" that will replace the anti-smoking nazi's. Talk about judging a book by it's cover! My husband is an overweight man but he gets regular checkups and anyone on here would kill to have his great cholesterol and blood pressure numbers! the long and short of it is that he is healthy as a horse but people look at him and blame HIM for the rising cost of health care! "If you are fat, it must be your fault because you are a pig and it's the government's job to regulate everything you do and eat!"
There was a local news story about foods and the "expert" labeled normal foods as "poison" for our bodies. My daughter looked at me and asked me if I was poisoning her!? My DAUGHTER asked her MOM if she was being poisoned!!!
It's not eating habits entirely. You always hear the "my grandfather ate 8 eggs everyday for breakfast and lived to be 102". Yeah .... well, my grandfather did that but he was a farmer who worked in the fresh air, outside with lots of exercise. My daughter, while in the army, told me she was living on McDonalds and Pizza and losing weight ..... because of all of the exercise she was getting in the military.
But if we cut potato chips from school snacks, that will solve everything.
I'm tellin' ya .... watch out for it. I don't believe in "conspiracies" but these people need a "cause" and fat people are the next target. Once their foot is in the door, they won't back out. (remember when seat belts first became law and it was a secondary offense for those in the front seat only? Now you have to have your 12-year old in a car seat!!!!???????)
My children attend public school at a "level 5" (superior performing) school in MS. They are still allowed 2 parties a year but can't bring "un healthy snacks" either. And yes, the cafeteria still serves nuggets, pizza and corndogs here too, luckily they do have recess, PE and a music program too (which we all know the Arts are the next thing on the chopping block, if not already gone) but it just seemed unnatural to me to send my daughter to school on her birthday with Go-gurt (yougurt in tubes) instead of cupcakes! I mean what says "happy birthday" more than yougurt? Geesh!
And yes, the cafeteria still serves nuggets, pizza and corndogs here too,
My 13 year old tried to do Weight Watchers because a friend of hers did it. She was doing very well, too! Except she couldn't eat the school lunches because one school lunch would use up all of her points for the day! Schools need to either get consistent or get their nose out of our business!
(Can you tell I get passionate about this one?)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and a little off topic, but I don't really think the stuff my kids eat is much different than the stuff we ate, and yes we played outside more but i have always been an indoors kind of girl prefering dolls and arts and crafts to sports (though i did and still do love to rollerskate!) Never been a fan of vegetables and I was never an overweight child and yet i fight my children's weight constantly. I wathc their snacking, keep them active in extra-curricular activities and limit their screen time (tv/video games/computer) Did it ever occur to y'all that it might not be what they are eating but rather what is IN the food now? I'm talking about hormones in their milk and chicken (we eat ALOT of chicken) and lord knows what else! Probably does have something to do with my daughter showing signs of early puberty by the time she was 8? I'm not looking for a scapegoat or taking personal responsibility out of the mix, but i feel like we didnt have to try so hard to "diet and exercise" as kids, and even making a concienscius effort does not always work, perhaps it's something else? Just a little "food" for thought-
Thank goodness my kids are finally out of elementary school where there are a lot of parties and junk because I would once again take on the school district with this!! Yes, and won!!
Without going into EVERYTHING that drives me mad about the schools now! But I was always the 'head' room mom for each of the different grades that my kids were in (remember I have 7 kids so I've seen a LOT over the years). I was criticized for having the parties I had because their children were fat, or wound up after the parties. BUT...did any of those parents EVER donate, help out or volunteer in planning of ANY of those parties???????????????? No! Towards the end of my elementary years as a room mom I turned the veggies fun. Then I was criticized for the 'fun' games I played. Halloween was my all time favorite!! 3 parties a year all spaced out and these parents wigged out! They would have rather had them drinking milk and watching a video and called it a party. Then costumes were taken away! Well, I'm sorry that your kids had fun, were active, stretched their muscles and brains at my parties and my oldest is now 27 and kids she went to school with STILL remember the great parties and games I had. And isn't that what being a kid is all about? Seems to me that plunking a kid down with a video isn't very active, now is it?
In our middle and high schools, the pop and bad snacks have been taken out. That's fine. Our high school is mostly all atheletes so it doesn't bother them a bit! I blame our parents for laziness! Instead of getting out there with their kids and throwing a ball, they'd rather let the video's be the babysitter.
I'm sorry I'm probably off topic here, but we always seem to be punishing the kids. Parents, take a step back and look into a mirror!
rosiecakes, I totally agree with you about what is in our food.......My son was 9 lbs 2 oz when he was born (and that was BEFORE the due date)......my OB says for some reason we are seeing more and more big babies (and I didnt pig out, I only gained 14 lbs total with my pregnancy and over 9 of that was all baby)......he also suggested that growth hormones might have something to do with it (but he was just guessing...had never done any research). I would love to go all organic, but I dont see how I could afford too.
I guess that I am lucky. I have two kids in school, and I can cook for them to my hearts content. Mind you, I don't do it enough. Both kids have a 15 minute recess, and around 3/4 of an hour for lunch. They don't have PE every day, but it's getting there. This year, they are not only focusing on nutrition, but also physical education. I am lucky enough to live on 6 acres with no neighbours, and as soon as my girls get home, they are outside and burning off energy. Not because they want to (I have to tear my 9 year old away from the TV) but because I make them. After a minute (not even that much) of whining and complaining, they are outside jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the swing set and riding their bikes. Neither one of my kids have a weight problem. I however, do. I like to tell my kids they need exercise and eat properly, but I; however, can't seem to follow my own advise.
I have one question for you. I don't mean for it to be rude, it is just a simple 'out of curiousity' question. How many of these 'overweight (?)' kids have a monkey-see-monkey-do attitude? They sit around watching TV after school, or playing on the computer, or even playing a video game because they see their parents sitting infront of the computer 
. or watching TV when they get home from work. Do you go outside and play after work? Or do you just sit down and do nothing. How many of these kids don't have a parent at home after school to see what they are eating and doing?
Twenty, thirty years ago it wasn't an issue. The world was safer, you went and rode your bikes or played at a neighbour's house until the street lamps came on. It was just the way it was. It's different now, I understand that. But, let's not overthink the problem. How many McDonalds are there now, vs. twenty years ago? How many times did you go out to eat when you were growing up? How many times do you go out now?
What we have to get through to the schools and government, and yes, even to the parents, is this; it is not just ONE thing. It's not the lack of exercise, it's not bad eating habits, it's not poor self-esteem, it's not this kind of school vs. that kind of school, it's EVERYTHING!! It's like decorating a cake. You need a solid foundation and a good start and a positive attitude, or else your cake is hooped from the very get-go.
Neither one of my kids have a weight problem. I however, do. I like to tell my kids they need exercise and eat properly, but I; however, can't seem to follow my own advise.
MSurina, you sound like me. My kids are ok weightwise but I'm not. My son eats everything in sight and is tall & slim for his age. My daughter is average height & weight and is the pickiest eater on the planet. They swam all summer, are still swimming now & love to play outside after school. Of course they love tv & video games too. I exercise 5 days a week but love to eat so I don't lose any weight but I am trying like he-- to make sure that my kids don't take after me in that area. I have no willpower and while it's easy to tell the kids "no, you can't eat 5 cookies," I can't tell myself that! So far they have my husbands tall-thin-athletic genes I was never very active as a child and I think that played a part in why I have always struggled with my weight. I am trying to teach my kids about the importance of exercise and good nutrition, but also that sugar & McDonalds can be enjoyed also - just not every day. I'm totally babbling now, so I'll try to bring this back on topic by saying that the schools could easily use birthdays & parties as lessons on nutrition & eating things in moderation. Those are special occasions and it's not going to kill you to have one friggin cupcake 
-Lisa
oh, I 100% agree with what's IN the food, did you guys know that adolecent boys are/were growing breast tissue because the chicken we eat have been injected with hormones to give them larger breasts because it seems that the WHITE meat is what people want more of?
I KNOW for a fact that being active or not active is what makes me fat or keeps me thin. When I make it my mission to get to the gym or at least work out every day, I know that I can get into my skinny jeans...smallest size 6! now...a size 14..
why? Because, I'm NOT TAKING TIME FOR ME. First I was in a bad car accident, hit by a DUI, in one year I put on 35 pounds! The next 2 years I spent in culinary school...lol
60 pounds in 3 years. I can't BELIEVE it myself!
Trying to schedule my time so I can burn up that gym membership that I'm paying for..lol
This is what works for ME, I am VERY careful of what I eat and EVERYTHING I eat is portioned out...I have a slow metabolism that is ONLY kick started by excercise! That's just MY particular make up.
I was never a fat kid, and YES, I was one GEEKY kid, but did do my share of stick ball, handball and tag with a side of jump rope...!!!
Now, it has to be circut training, weight lifting, pilates and step aeorobics! lol Even helps my mental health.
I get worked up in class, no energy to come home and kick the kids...!
( my 6', 250 pound linebacker son!!..lol)
Well, I am not saying that I am innocent in my children's weight issues, because I am not. However, what I am saying is that the government does not buy my groceries and who are they to tell me what I can and can not allow my kids to take for lunch. I am lucky if I can get my son to eat what I pack him because if it isn't just right, he won't eat it (it's an autism thing, I think).
As far as PE and recess are concerned, in my kids' school we have teachers who will take a childs recess away as a punishment.... make them lay their head on the desk while thier classmates are out playing... yet these are the same teachers complaining that thier students are hyperactive, inattentive, or what have you. Let the children have thier recess, even if it is picking up trash on the playground, but get them moving. (BTW, NOT a knock on teachers... I know they can only do what they are allowed to do).
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