Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Nothing Homemade

The Saint Paul school district (like many others) has a policy of not allowing homemade treats in the classroom.  In years past I've blatantly ignored this rule in favor of homemade cupcakes, "indoors s'mores", and such.  But this year I heard there were a lot of allergies in the boys' classes, so I had to check in with the teachers.  And I just couldn't bring myself to break the teachers' rules (big surprise, huh?).

Now, if I could have baked a treat for the kids' classes, this would have been a snap.  {Plus it goes against every inch of my soul to buy store bought baked goods.}  Finding store bought birthday treats without dairy, eggs, wheat, gluten, peanuts, treenuts, or kiwi limits things somewhat.  All the gluten-free vegan cookies and sweets I could find were processed on equipment that touched peanuts.  And the boys did NOT like the idea of bringing carrot sticks or grapes.  

My initial proposal to the kids was popsicles- but they actually decided on Whole Grain Milling organic corn tortilla chips!  I'm really surprised they chose something savory over something sweet, but chips were easy, relatively inexpensive, and definitely free of all the necessary allergens.  

9 comments:

Erin said...

That's really too bad that you're not allowed to bring anything homemade. There are so many kids with serious food allergies these days! I don't remember having any problems like that when I was a kid.

ZippyZu said...

That just seems so crazy to me. They should be saying that all they want IS homemade.. what a world we live in. such a bummer.

Catherine Weber said...

We have the same rule at our school, too -- it's quite common among most public schools, preschools, child development centers, etc. It really does have to do with allergies -- having that label on there is the closest way to being able to guarantee something isn't going to give a kid a reaction!!

Popsicles are a common birthday treat in my room, since we have dairy and egg allergies. Chips and salsa are one of our favorite snacks!! Your boys made an awesome choice!

allularpunk said...

that's really sad that you can't bring anything homemade. it's just perpetuating the fact that most kids don't get to eat good, healthy, homemade food anymore.

blegh. that blows.

allularpunk said...

do kids have all these allergies because women don't breastfeed anymore? i don't get it.

jessy said...

that stinks! i'm with Erin - when i was wee i didn't remember all these food allergies. something's go'n on. that's pretty cool that they were good to go with yummy chips 'n salsa though! :) it's sad that something homemade isn't allowed but that store bought (and more likely to be loaded with stuff that's not healthy) is. supersadface! glad your boys made a healthy choice with the organic whole grain tortilla chips! that rocks!

GEORGE ALAN FRAMPTON said...

Interestingly, I was at a medical talk a few weeks back at a local hospital. I asked why so many children have nut allergies, when it was unheard of when I was a child. The scientific concensus is that allergies have come about due to us being "too sanitary." Besides lysoling everything, washing with antibacterial soaps, etc., the children don't play in the "dirt" anymore, being stuck inside with their gameboy, or computer. Antibodies aren't allowed to develop and, therefore, allergies do. They also said that breastfeeding helps give the immune system a better start than non-breastfeeding. It is a sad state of affairs.

Liz said...

Yeah, I'm sure it's for the best that homemade treats aren't allowed- for allergy reasons. Not everyone is careful and not cross-contaminating. At least there are awesome local organic chips to bring!

Anonymous said...

Oreos are vegan :)