OT: Give me liberty, or give me.. Ritz crackers? Daycare fines mom for not including grains in lunch

I would make my doc write a note that my child is allergic to gluten and lactose. I thought Canadians got some brains but their brain size is no larger than a peanut.

That's good that she called and got the fine dropped though. Potatoes having the starch equivalent of a grain.

It's a neat idea... but don't punish the parents actually doing good for their children!!

The daycare overreacted, they aren't allowed by law to charge the mom.

I'll only say this as a reply to the stupid Canadian comments......what the daycare reacted to is mild in comparison to some of the knee-jerk do-good food comments on here.

q

what are you talking about? It was a misplaced protection with stupid decision.

q

quincy said...
what are you talking about? It was a misplaced protection with stupid decision.

q

You are aware of the reasoning behind including grains in school lunches right? Canada's food guide emphasizes grains, so the daycare felt pressure to comply or face the consequences of not doing so.

Post Edited (StealthGuardian) : 11/20/2013 12:15:04 PM (GMT-7)

Eh (<<< notice my use of a "Canadian" word), if you read the article, the mom says that the daycare first implemented the policy because parents were sending their kiddos to school with crap like "pizza pops" (or some such crap).

I don't even know what a pizza pop is, quincy, so I can't say what it does or doesn't have! This all actually happened a year ago, but it was featured on a blog about obesity recently, so has become popular again.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so doubt the daycare was bowing to governmental pressure by applying the policy, but rather, was sick of dealing with kids who were crabby because they were eating junk for lunch. So, they implemented a policy, based on the government's food guides, which may not be ideal. They also might have been sick of little Johnny crying because Susie had a pizza pop, and he had a healthy meal, and figured that a policy like this might help erase some of that.

The article further states the daycare has since scrapped the plan and is now serving a hot lunch. As a busy, working mom, I can say that I wouldn't send my kiddos to a daycare that doesn't provide food. The menu at our current daycare is reviewed by the hospital nutritionist, and I feel quite comfortable with it. I know that some people on here would still say it's garbage, but whatevs.

No, grains aren't required for an optimal diet. However, the daycare really seemed to need a plan on which to base their lunch requirements, since so many of the kiddos were being sent with horrible lunches. So, they picked one, and it's my guess that the one they picked was the least "offensive" to the majority of the parents, given it's the one they probably see the most often. I imagine they'd have gotten a lot of resistance if they'd based their requirements off the Paleo Diet, for instance.

Further, the daycare was FINE with the mom's explanation/reasoning. It's not like they told her she had to pay or they'd kick her kids out of the center.

Daycares are private, so that whole "violation of liberty" thing doesn't really apply. If you don't like a daycare's policies, fine, move your kids elsewhere. There are certainly a number of centers out there that I wouldn't take my kids to, based on their policies.

fruitgirl said...
No, grains aren't required for an optimal diet. However, the daycare really seemed to need a plan on which to base their lunch requirements, since so many of the kiddos were being sent with horrible lunches. So, they picked one, and it's my guess that the one they picked was the least "offensive" to the majority of the parents, given it's the one they probably see the most often. I imagine they'd have gotten a lot of resistance if they'd based their requirements off the Paleo Diet, for instance.

Further, the daycare was FINE with the mom's explanation/reasoning. It's not like they told her she had to pay or they'd kick her kids out of the center.

Daycares are private, so that whole "violation of liberty" thing doesn't really apply. If you don't like a daycare's policies, fine, move your kids elsewhere. There are certainly a number of centers out there that I wouldn't take my kids to, based on their policies.

Point taken. I'm sure they came up with what they thought was good, and while trying to adhere to the government guidelines. Regardless, my intention was to point out that it would set a bad precedent when daycares or other private entities define what parents should and should not do with food.

ambling said...
What an offensive statement.

I did not mean to say what you think I said. There are people who need any kind of food so they don't starve. By comparison, starvation is worse than eating ritz crackers.

Post Edited (StealthGuardian) : 11/20/2013 4:23:32 PM (GMT-7)

Sibby said...
The low income population -which I am a part of- deserves a hell of a lot more than Ritz crackers, thank you.

It goes without saying that everyone deserves the best kind of food. I think I want to rephrase what I said to people who need SOMETHING on their plate, even junk food to prevent starvation.

@pb4,
You didn't get the sarcasm and most likely you did not read the story.

The teacher fined mother, because there is some regulation in Canada (or the province) that mentioned grains in diet. She was just following regulations. So my comment was directed at the government body that framed the regulation. By no means, I mean to say all Canadians are stupid, but certainly the regulation is, you agree or not. And the solution is Ritz crackers, really? I mean, REALLY? Don't even get me started on trans fat, if any. (I don't eat that so no idea.)

What if they tell your kid that s/he has to drink soy milk as a source of protein, when the country (wherever you live) produces GM Soy and the Soy industry paid their friends in government to make this regulation. Totally ridiculous.
(BTW, this cow milk thing really happens in US of A.)

@Quincy,
The grain and gluten connection is NOT assumed but proven. There are articles on Pubmed.
Plus, whatever grain that we eat today is lot worse than what our forefathers did. I doubt if those varieties even exists today. The amount of gluten in current grains is significantly higher than the previous ones. It lot more to it than just plain gluten.
In the beginning I was also under the same impression that gluten-free stuff is just another fashion or fad. As a father of a child with ASD, I seriously looked into it. All pubmed results show it against gluten connection but dig deeper and gluteomorphins play havoc in our system. Having said that, I am not in the NO grain camp but I certainly do not want it in every food stuff.

The thing that irks me in all this story is, there is total disregard for health of the society and thus, future generations are going to be pretty sick. Our generation is suffering enough as it is, probably sickest generation so far, isn't THAT enough?. See the money trail.

deltaforce, I read the story on my local news facebook page the other day, before you posted about it here...it's not always easy to read sarcasm in posts, and what you wrote about Canadians didn't come across as sarcasm to me at least.