My daughter’s kindergarten gave out a handout about what the parents should bring for a snack for the children. It says to bring a healthy snack and then gives some suggestions and tips. But then it has in bold - " No lollies, no chocolate, no chips, no nuts , no peanut butter sandwiches."
I want to go and challenge them about this. Are nuts and peanut butter not considered healthy? I realise that there are a significant number of kids with serious nut allergies out there. But that is a different issue. My kids have no problem with nuts.
Your kids don’t, but some kids are very allergic and even another kid eating them in their vicinity can cause a reaction. Let’s say your daughter eats some peanuts, and then goes and touches the allergic kid, what then?
In general, nuts/peanuts are pretty good nutrition (a little high in fat, but for active kids, or as part of a balanced diet, that’s not a problem).
The admonition is almost certainly allergy-related - and probably on the rationale that whilst your kids may be OK with peanuts, they may accidentally expose another child (an allergic one) to peanuts - it’s not an unreasonable assumption, as kids at that age cannot be expected to be fully diligent with hand-washing after meals, etc.
Many schools are totally peanut-free due to allergies. Some are so severe that even the smell of peanuts can trigger anaphylactic shock. “Better to be safe than sorry”, and if it was YOUR kid with the allergy you’d have a very different view.
Not to mention that kids like to trade/share their own snacks or take a taste of someone else’s.
I think it’s safe to assume that in a kindergarten, any candy on the premises has a nonzero chance of ending up in the allergic kid for any number of reasons.
I understand the allergy issues. But if they were talking about the allergy issue they should put in a separate sentence that says - ‘also because of the prevalence of nut allergies , no nuts etc’. That is not how they have worded it at all. The whole page is about healthy eating.
Please nothing more about the allergy issue. I want to have some evidence that nuts are healthy. And if they want to push the allergy issue put in a separate sentence about it.
Or, just as likely, decides to share, not realizing the other kid could get sick.
I will admit, that as soon as I saw the “no peanut butter sandwiches” bit, my first thought was, “You monster!”
Blueslipper, just out of curiosity, where are you from? I’m assuming “lollies” means “lollipops,” but I’ve never heard them referred to as such.
Marc
So you understand perfectly well what they meant, but you just want to raise a stink about the specific wording of a handout? Um, whatever floats your boat, but it probably won’t help your case for making “parent of the year” with the staff.
This.
Any anyway, it seems to me that if the No…" sentence is set off and in bold, you can read it as an independent instruction that has nothing to do with “healthy.” “These are four things you should not do.”
Anaphylaxis is generally not considered an indication of good health.
Lollies are candy.
I am Melbourne.
I have just re-read all the info they have given out about my girl going to Kindergarten next year. They do not mention nut allergy at all. What they probably should be doing is having a separate handout about nuts and nut allergies. Just putting in one line -‘No lollies, no chocolate, no chips, no nuts , not peanut butter sandwiches.’ is no good. Presumably many people still do not know about nut allergy prevalence and dangers. So that one line is not explaining things well.
After all there is a big difference between giving too many lollies to your kid and exposing another kid toa life-threatening danger.
You are a dickhead. I do not understand exactly what they are getting at, moron.
Folks, the question isn’t whether peanut allergies are a health issue. The question is whether nuts are a healthy snack:
Peanut butter is awfully high in fat… about 8g per teaspoon. Also high in sodium. I think you’re hard pressed to argue about peanuts as a healthy option because they’re not really nuts - they’re legumes.
Actual nuts are definitely a healthy snack. here are some cites:
Just a guess, but I think they want no chocolate, no lollies, no nuts, and no peanut butter.
That’s just a guess though.
How about chips? Is that OK?
I don’t think this will go unnoticed.
My kids weren’t allowed to take any nut products into school for their first 8 years, or so. It’s pretty much the standard operating procedure in most of the world now.
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hmmmm… tough one. But I’ll take a stab and guess “no.”
It is, and they are, but that’s not the whole picture, and it would be ignorant if we were to try to bluntly and simplistically answer a question that we feel is based on a false or mistaken premise.