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It was my son's 8th birthday yesterday. In keeping with apparently long-standing class/school tradition, he was sent in to school with a bag of mini Haribo bags and Swizzels (one per child) to distribute to the others in the class at the end of the day. I checked with his teacher when I got to school to drop him off that this was okay, and he said it was fine.
Anyway, I come home today and we've received the following email:
[i]"Hi All
It is [other child's] 8th birthday today - whoop de whoop
[other child] was disappointed this morning to not have 30 bags of sweets to distribute to the class.
I said I would ask [teacher] before school and if well received I would hit the £ shop.
He was not (eyebrow micro expression said it all before he started talking) happy.
The school is going to send a communication to parents asking them not to share hight [sic] sugar sweets as it disrupts classes and goes against the healthy snack policy.
I thought I would share with you all so that you are not placed in a similar circumstance.
Kind regards
[Parent]"[/i]
I was quite annoyed by this. To me, this smacks of joyless overcompensation for the fact he forgot to bring sweets in.
I can't help taking it as a direct criticism of us, since we were the ones that brought the sweets in yesterday.
I am minded to take issue wth him, but my wife has forbade me from doing so.
So, am I right to be irritated, or should I just shrug it off? Or is it my fault for being so bourgeoise as to celebrate things like birthdays, when instead I should be preparing my offspring for the coming revolution etc etc
Sour faces all round. Did you send Tangfastics by mistake?
The school is right.
You are wrong.
HTH
Percy, there were some Tangfastics!
Sweets are the gateway drug you ****ing monster. Give them cauliflower next time.
(in all seriousness, I do agree with the school)
Scotroutes, why?
If it's the school's policy, absolutely fine - I'm more annoyed by the tone of the email from the other parent.
Nah smash on. How many kids in the class? I would imagine it’s only 1 load of sweets for every week of term time, plus whatever other sweets/cakes days they have and as a bonus the kids will be wwaayyy more awake for lessons!
The solution is to have at least two more children.
By the time the third one is at primary school, you won’t give a shit about any of this nonsense.
....and no pudding all round
Unfriend them on Facebook.
We finally got H to accept a healthy snack of nuts. Only to then have them banned from lunches because some picky eater might go into anaphylactic shock.
Not on facebook, so that's a non-starter!
I'm actually quite liking the cauliflower idea. I'm tempted to buy a load of baby cauliflowers and send each child home with one and a note apologising for given them sweets and hoping the cauliflower will make up for it...
Round ours, birthday sweets are distributed at home time. The little darlings will be in a safe, secure environment at home to enjoy their sugar rush rather than buggering up lessons any more than usual with their post-treat behaviour.
The solution is to have at least two more children.
Bit drastic and expensive though!
Round ours, birthday sweets are distributed at home time. The little darlings will be in a safe, secure environment at home to enjoy their sugar rush rather than buggering up lessons any more than usual with their post-treat behaviour.
Indeed, as these were - the birthday child stands by the classroom door and hands one out as they leave at the end of the day, I presume for that very reason.
How did they get your email address?
doomanicHow did they get your email address?
Parents' email chain.
You’ll have the restless spirit of Hugh Fernly-****ingstall haunting you every night, you animal!
Do you live in Chorlton, BTW? This sounds just like the kind of shit the joyless, po-faced middle class, free-range, vegan, organic, ethically sourced yoghurt knitters round there would pull
I am with scotroutes.
My guess its co incidence that its the day your kid brought sweets in
To be fair [Parent] said they were going to buy sweets but were dissuaded from doing so by teacher, though why you would then feel the need to tell the world this is beyond me. Their mistake was to ask permission rather than seek forgiveness. Distributing at end of day is fine. I’d forget it and move on.
Where do they stand on pudding?
though why you would then feel the need to tell the world this is beyond me
I think this is what's annoyed me.
Just be the hippo, man!
BE THE HIPPO!
My 8yo had half a packet of Rolos (a special treat) taken off him. He does football twice a week, cycles on the weekend and regularly rock climbs. This is a policy purely based around those who can't feed their properly. The icing on the cake was that the teacher informing me of this policy was an absolute blob.
I would however understand your situation if the other parent may find it hard to afford the treat.
Next year distribute golden syrup and bags of Tate & Lyle
I would however understand your situation if the other parent may find it hard to afford the treat.
Not round these parts. I distinctly remember the occasion that just before the boy was due to start school, we had been left down by our after school childcare, so my wife sent an email round asking if anyone had any recommendations. One of the other parents replied (to all) that she wouldn't know, as she didn't need to work because her husband earned more than enough for both of them...
she didn’t need to work because her husband earned more than enough for both of them…
Otherwise known as living within your means and providing a stable, consistent family environment for your children. That used to be standard practice before the desire for fancy holidays and material possessions made it necessary for both parents to work. Maybe there's a lesson to be learnt?
The solution is to have at least two more children.
By the time the third one is at primary school, you won’t give a shit about any of this nonsense.
Now THIS is good advice. I speak as one who knows.
whoop de whoop
WTF is that?
That deserves a massive over reaction right there.
<edited to remove aberrant HTML>
Why would you give children sugar? They are shits at the best of times
scotroutesOtherwise known as living within your means and providing a stable, consistent family environment for your children. That used to be standard practice before the desire for fancy holidays and material possessions made it necessary for both parents to work. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learnt?
Bloody hell. You must be a right laugh at parties. What a judgmental prick you come across as.
D'you know what fancy holidays we went on last year? Camping to Cornwall. Dead fancy, right? Oh, and the fancy car we drive? A 54 plate Subaru. Living the dream, we are...
Patronising knob.
Oh Primary School politics and parents. Thank god that's long behind us now.
Parents’ email chain.
That's what BCC: is for.
My 8yo had half a packet of Rolos (a special treat) taken off him. ... The icing on the cake was that the teacher informing me of this policy was an absolute blob.
You know exactly where the Rolos (and the cake) have gone, then. Ask for them back.
D’you know what fancy holidays we went on last year? Camping to Cornwall. Dead fancy, right? Oh, and the fancy car we drive? A 54 plate Subaru. Living the dream, we are…
Saving up for Haribo requires sacrifice. 😉
I'd reply explaining that the teacher's reaction was probably simply that a better, organised family (oh yes, the comma's important, though "totally accidental") had already sent sweets in that day and so additional supplies might not be so welcome. You could go on to say that it's longstanding custom for kids to bring in a small supply of sweets for the rest of the the class, whereas being a graceless cock when caught out being stingy is somewhat frowned upon.
;-P
I do like the hippogif though
Oh Primary School politics and parents. Thank god that’s long behind us now.
Yeah it's hard to tell who are the kids and who the parents are some days 😉
What a judgmental prick you come across as.
Not like you then, commenting on another parents response to the childcare question. You come across as a very angry man. Perhaps try cutting down on the sweeties.
Saving up for Haribo requires sacrifice.
Class sizes have got bigger...
I think you should reply in the style of Malcolm Tucker.
Not like you then, commenting on another parents response to the childcare question. You come across as a very angry man. Perhaps try cutting down on the sweeties.
3/10 for troll. Irritated, and annoyed - mystified, certainly, but not angry - try harder.
Mr Routes, you're bang out of order.
Otherwise known as living within your means and providing a stable, consistent family environment for your children. That used to be standard practice before the desire for fancy holidays and material possessions made it necessary for both parents to work. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learnt?
How the heck do you know this woman is stable and consistent? How do you know they live within their means?
Had it occurred to you that some women go out and work because they want to engage their brains and do something else worthwhile with their lives that will benefit society and give them additional fulfilment. Rather than being sat at home being a brood mare.
Haribo?? That's where you went wrong. It's moaom stripes now ftw. No one can argue against those. Especially the cola flavour. Like cola bottles of yore, but better. Cherry ones are good too, maybe closely fighting off the apple for 2nd place . Mmmmmmm 🙂
Had it occurred to you that some women go out and work because they want to engage their brains and do something else worthwhile with their lives that will benefit society and give them additional fulfilment. Rather than being sat at home being a brood mare.
That's a bit sexist of you. Who suggested it was only women that should consider the role of stay-at-home parent? We've at least a couple of househusbands here on STW.
Not round these parts.
What a statement of ignorance.
Haribo?
Rookie! Next time send
matt_outandaboutWhat a statement of ignorance.
Jeez, all the sanctimonious bell-ends are out in force tonight, aren't they?
Not ignorant at all, in fact based on actual knowledge. We are lucky enough to live in an affluent area and all of the parents of the children in my son's class are either gainfully employed in professional jobs, self-employed business owners or independently wealthy enough not to have to work.
Elsewhere in town there are less affluent areas where that statement would indeed be incorrect, and indeed it may be that there are children from disadvantaged backgrounds at the school, but not in that class.
what is a
Parents’ email chain.
got 3 kids in primary as of september
what is a
Parents’ email chain.
You wouldn’t understand.
It’s an “affluent area” thing. 😉
what is a
Parents’ email chain.
Probably something like a whats app thingy for the oldies 🙂 Why does having kids ratchet them up to 11?
what is a
Parents’ email chain.
You wouldn’t understand.
It’s an “affluent area” thing
LOL!
A couple of parents are "class reps" and send emails round if there are events on, or someone's lost their uniform, that sort of thing. Probably totally not GDPR compliant....
mikewsmithWhy does having kids ratchet them up to 11?
If you don't have kids, why are you lurking on a thread about parenting?
*points* Stranger, stranger, stranger!
what is a
Parents’ email chain.
You wouldn’t understand.
It’s an “affluent area” thing
Is this how they share bank statements, as proof of entry requirement's?
If you don’t have kids, why are you lurking on a thread about parenting?
To remind my why contraception is a good idea,
Is it a hormone thing for you lot? The kids will probably have forgotten about it all by tomorrow or you have just created a massive therapy bill for the future
You can tell by the number of "ahem" leased bmw, mercs and audis waiting at the school gates
Jesus wept, threads like this make me glad i dont have children....seemingly schools are now run by SJWs who police the sugar intake of kids on their burthday FFS...get lost and find something real to be concerned about...then the group who believe in no treats on a birthday in case some parents cant afford to supply treats on their spwan’s birthday...yeah that’ll prep ‘em for the outside world, make them think we all have the same stuff (hint: we dont, the world is full of haves and have nots)...then the parent/police who espouse their way of parenting and sneer at anyone doing it differently...if Mrs Dev and me reproduce i’d honestly consider home schooling so neither me nor our poor child had to interact with these joyless prats...home school and then a member of a different sports club for each night of the week seems about the only sensible way to avoid teachers who dictate what kids can and cant eat, parents who read the Guardian and Communists who want to enforce equality of outcome...its like a weird hellish nightmare.
No space to breathe, lack of capitalisation, resorting to calling Communist.
5/10 on the rant scale.
he he he.
Loving the irony of Deviant's rant about precious weirdos and SJWs and strage parenting and then his conclusion:
home parenting
LOL
It's highly possible that the school have decided to change (or decide to enforce) their policy on this kind of thing.
It's unfortunate that it's happened around the time when you have brought sweets in. Considering a typical 2 form entry primary school will have over 300 children (I don't know how big yours is) then it's likely that this is happening pretty much every day and so I wouldn't take it personally. You might have been the final person, but that seems more coincidence than anything. It's someone's birthday every b****y day in primary school and following a staff meeting it was probably decided that they were going to start actually enforcing a typical healthy eating policy.
However, big picture, it is extremely reasonable for the school to have such a policy in place. Parents are not universally happy for others to be providing food for their children to eat, often at the expense of their carefully produced pack lunch, especially if it's for sugary sweets.
My wife and I both teach in a primary school for what it's worth. This wouldn't be something that would be appropriate in our school.
I'll give you an example of something that actually happened this week that caused problems. One of the boy's sports teams did well in a competition and they are coached by one of the dads. Said dad promised the team could have KFC delivered to school as a treat for the 10 children involved. The head of year agreed, but crucially didn't ask the parents. We're not talking permission slips and endless paperwork - it would have been done by phone and we'd have done all the legwork - but it didn't happen...
Funnily enough....some parents weren't particularly happy that their freshly cut fruit pieces, organic milk, and quinoa remained in their lunchbox and their child had a belly full of Zinger Burger at the end of the day.
This isn't dissimilar, and whilst more minor, is possibly being repeated regularly.
We still have picnics, bake sales, and winter fairs with sugar practically dripping from them, where kids stuff their faces. The crucial part is we ask permission first....
Just to be clear, I don’t object to the policy, if that is the school’s policy then that’s absolutely fine. I haven’t found any published policy or anything however. If it is policy I understand completely (though I did check with the class teacher and he said it was fine). I was more irritated by the email.
Primary school supply teachers point of view here. Been in over 150 schools. None mind. A few ask if certain things are avoided if very serious allergies exist in a class. One kid I knew had a head that expanded into a round blob if eggs were touched. Avoid cakes that need cutting, especially cheap decorated things. Ditto home made unless the household reputation for hygiene is flawless AND a separate supply for the teacher is sent in. Haribo etc best shout . Ignore whingers. Most importantly allow a few spares plus doubles for teachers and TAs. Don,t be a mean git and send exactly the same amount as there are kids. Children who bring extra nice choccy for teachers get house points. If you don't agree send nothing. No one will notice.
Finally I can put my pudding to bed .
Percy panther owns the forum tonight, top form all across the chat forum, well done sir.
AND a separate supply for the teacher is sent in. Wine or Spirits etc best shout .
FIFY, especially after someone gave the little gits masses of sugar before class
In order to avoid any dietary/allergy issus why not send in a small gift instead? Sonething educational like a small pamphlet they can read. I understand that many mosques and churches are happy to provide children's reading material.
I understand that many mosques and churches are happy to provide children’s reading material.
Top trolling there!! Reward them with sugar for believing in sky fairies!!
Obvious troll is obvious...
I worked in a secondary school that let the kids go out into the small market town it was in at lunchtime. We went through a phase where the yr8s (12/13yr old) were batshit mental in the afternoons. Discovered the local Tesco Express was doing bogof on their 1lt bottles of own brand redbull and the kids were chugging 2 lts of redbull and a couple of those yard long tubes of colour sugar (what are they called?) for lunch. A room of 30 yr8 high on caffeine and sugar is not somewhere any sane adult would want to tread.
Obvious troll is obvious…
OP or Scotroutes 😉
Timing is all here. The aggrieved parent in question has failed to point this out until the end of the school year ergo they were quite happy to receive said confection since September last and only now, once their forgetfulness/tightarsery has been exposed have they lumbered in to action. Therefore they can go and get ****ed.
Please feel free to copy that into any response you need to send and say it's from me.
I was more irritated by the email.
So you should be, it's a terribly thought out email.
It should have said something similar to:
Dear parents
I'm sure many of you know that the school has previously taken a relaxed view to children bringing in confectionery to celebrate special occasions. However, it has been decided that in future the school will be adhering to the healthy eating policy and any food brought in must be in line with this. The policy can be found at XYZ.ac.uk/healthy.pdf.
We thank you for your co-operation with this matter.
Kind regards
Mrs Headteacher
Give them cauliflower next time.
Nah, get a bag of Brussels sprouts and dip them in chocolate then hand those out.
And scotroutes, you are coming across as a bit of a judgemental, sanctimonious arse.
We have this Class Dojo thing where we get emails pinged to us all ****in day to the extent that we begin to wonder whether there is time left for teaching.
Earlier this week we got the 'nanny state' email about how the school "had noticed" that some deviant parents had sent their tubby little bundles of glucose into school with "unhealthy snacks", which is against school policy.
The very next day, via the very same Dojo came the revelation that the school canteen would be offering Pizza Baps for breaktime the morning after and everybody should send in their mini blobs with 50p each to buy one!
Sounds to me that the biggest issue is around the parent group email facility, as alluded to by Hugo, who knows the score.
EDIT, father of 3, one in primary, one in secondary, one a lawyer. Primary parents are the most needy, understandably...
but my wife has forbade me
Are you some sort of man-child? You get irritated and annoyed over a pissy email about sweets, feel the need to start a thread about it and your wife treats you like a child.
Have a word with yourself and man up FFS.
You get irritated and annoyed over a pissy email about sweets,
Well done, you can read.
feel the need to start a thread about it and your wife treats you like a child.
Actually, it's called 'having a discussion' and she, quite reasonably, suggested that if I made an issue of it, it could reflect badly on our child. She is, of course, right in all things.
Does an independently assertive woman threaten you?
Have a word with yourself and man up FFS.
Clearly you have some masculinity issues that you're trying to over-compensate for. Do you take everything you read on the interest as the literal truth? Could you not see that the tone of the post was not entirely serious?
So, am I right to be irritated, or should I just shrug it off?
Get over it, your kid probably has by now
The bitter rage of sanctimonious bellends ‘disguised’ as ‘trollling’. What else were you expecting 😁?
True, should have known!
Otherwise known as living within your means and providing a stable, consistent family environment for your children. That used to be standard practice before the desire for fancy holidays and material possessions made it necessary for both parents to work. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learnt?
Nothing to do with the increase of housing costs? Oh no, all of a sudden people discovered holidays and spending money. Genius.
A couple of parents are “class reps” and send emails round if there are events on, or someone’s lost their uniform, that sort of thing.
Sounds like a special email folder is required for them
I’m actually quite liking the cauliflower idea.
Take it a step further, cauliflour cous cous.
All / most of the kids in our local school take in sweets for their birthdays.
Like you say, teeny Haribo, a lollipop or a chew or similar for the class.
The grumpy parent totally needs to get over themselves.