Health Nuts (peanut-free)

We just got some of the basic info for the boys on starting school. They'll be riding the bus to school together in the morning and then Caleb will be home by noon and Sam will come back just before four.

Reading through the information, I learned that for $50 each for the year, they will be provided with a healthy snack mid-morning. All kids are restricted from bringing soda to school for lunch or for any other time, and in order to set a good example, parents are restricted from bringing soda if they'll be eating with their child at the school. It's not healthy. And it's down with birthday treats! Not only are they restricted from bringing homemade goodies (you never know when that martini mom's drinking will spill into the brownie mix), they are now restricted from bringing goodies of any sort. Instead, each teacher will decide a way to celebrate a child's birthday in a healthy way. A "happy birthday" apple, for instance. Or perhaps a celebratory drink of milk.

I'm all for healthy. For the most part, I don't allow my children to drink soda, I don't feed them candy, and they are required to eat veggies at meals. I really appreciate this effort toward healthy. I wouldn't want one of the drink choices to be soda at lunchtime. My soon-to-be first-grader does not have the self-discipline needed to choose milk each day. But no birthday treat?? One of Sam's highlights of his year last year was bringing a birthday treat to share with his class. And really, with 24 or so students in each classroom, it's not like they'll be eating one every day!

I suppose Adam and Eve didn't have a Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup tree in the garden of Eden. I suppose they ate healthy and organic all the time. Just pick and eat. That fruit must have been delicious.

So am I wrong to want birthday treats in school? I must be getting old, because I remember "the good old days" when Mom sent me to school with peanut butter coconut balls to share. And nobody had trouble opening the cellophane. Because those were packaged with Mom's tender loving handmade touch.

I guess birthday treats are just one more thing that's gone the way of riding in the station wagon with the backseat down and walking up the street to a friends house - one without a sidewalk.