Massachusetts Schools Ban Bake Sales: Healthy or Half-Baked?

half-baked, hair-brained, etc.
of all the ways to fight obesity that one's very far from the brightest.

While I think the bake sale aspect of this is way overboard...I do not think sweets and junk food should be available for sale on a daily basis in school. It is too easy for children to get a hold of junk their parents didnt want them to have and develop eating issues...not to say that it would be the sole cause, but I would consider it a contributing factor.

I voted "Healthy" to this because I do think that junk food sales should be removed from daily school life. HOWEVER....I do not think the occasional bake sale or school party is an issue. I think birthday cupcakes and an occasional bake sale is fine.....I just dont think junk should be sold daily as it was when I was growing up.

Maybe it's just my state but schools around here don't have bake sales or even allow home baked goods at class parties. The health department put a stop to it before my kids started school and they're grown adults now.
Of course students are going to complain when their sugar and grease supply is cut off, I just haven't figured out how so called caring parents can be upset about it...of course it's political so who cares whats best for their child.

If you sent your kids to school with chocolate chip cookies you made, what would the school do, confiscate them? You find nothing wrong with a school dictating what YOUR children can and cannot have to eat?

Thats the point though-- I personally dont think junk food should be SOLD in school as parents then have NO control over what their child is eating. I personally don't think an occasional cupcake or bakesale is an issue but I do NOT think junk should be sold on a daily basis.

They're kids, they can eat anything. When I was a kid I used to eat anything I wanted and never gained weight. Kids need to eat, they're growing and their bodies need plenty of intake...maybe parents and school teachers should worry about making them get out and play. This makes me think of the old saying: "someone takes a shi* and we all need to wear a diaper". The whole BMI thing is a fraud meant for govt control of our food supply and our behavior, if we were to look at kids in MA I bet we would not be able to come to the same conclusion that one third are overweight or obese. But when some junk science is introduced, suddenly we have a crisis.

Kids can eat anything? I'm sure you ate anything and never gained weight but obviously that's not the case for many kids and why there is an outcry on what to do with our unhealthy kids. Sure kids need to eat but should they be eating junk food all the time? I agree it should be the parents to be in charge and stop putting the responsibility on the government, but what you are implying is there is no problem with kids eating junk and what that means to their health and how they will eat later on.

This is completely ridiculous. If kids could eat "anything" then why are many of them gaining weight? Sure, as a kid I ate a lot of food I can't eat now and I was never overweight, but my parents watched everything I ate and anything unhealthy was served in moderation. Not all kids can eat McDonald's and cupcakes everyday and not gain weight otherwise we *wouldn't have* fatass kids running around.

Clearly you have never had any eating issues...lucky you. Well i have....severe eating issues that began in my childhhod and continue till this day. My parents tried to help me....they gave me healthy foods and therapy..but it was way to easy to get a hold of junk food at school.....I remember is 5th grade often spending my lunch money on ice cream and cake or whatever other crap they sold....it was way to easy to eat crap and my parents never knew it. I strongly feel that having this stuff availble for sale on a daily basis in school is not acceptable.

So the bake sales are an every day occurrence? That's the problem with your thinking, you're overgeneralizing and treating everyone the same. The only thing that is not acceptable is the fact that you want to impose your views on others because of your experiences. That makes you a bit of a fascist (as in wanting total control). You were fat so now everyone must suffer? You can share your story and work on educating people about eating habits, but how many other kids had access to the same food you had and were not fat? So really your choices you want to blame on others and the fact that others placed food within your reach and you could not control yourself. I could eat anything and I would also play all day long, and that'w what kids should do on a daily basis. My kids eat just about anything (including fruits and vegetables) but they play like crazy and barely gain enough weight to keep up with their growth. Sorry about your experience, but please don't impose on us because of YOUR bad decisions.

No, and as I stated at multiple places throughout this post, I have NO problem with a bake sale or occasional treat at school! I have a problem with the cafeterias selling ice cream, cake and chips to whomever wants it and having vending machines available for purchase of candy and soda...things which in my opinions, should not be available in a school, at least, not on a daily basis and not in unmonitored amounts. This has nothing to do with my experience...this has to do with future generations and teaching them that eating total crap on a daily basis is bad for their bodies. How are we supposed to teach that if it is constantly available? Schools are for learning...plain and simple. EVERYTHING a child does in school is setting them up for their future...and that includes whether they are given a healthy variety of foods to purchase for meals and snacks or if they are given cake, candy, chips and soda as many schools have. Sorry you don't like it, but my opinion makes perfect sense to me....and I am glad that the schools around me are already working towards these goals. :-)

These foods have been available in schools since I can remember. How come not all kids are fat? You would think that all kids are fat based on your statements, but the truth is that is not the case. There are always some who will get fat, just like there are always some who will fail school, there are always some that will be drug addicts. Just because you want to feel better about yourself and think you can create an utopia tells me that you would much rather take away freedom of choice than allow others to be responsible for their actions. This is not the America we want to live in, you my friend are the true definition of an authoritarian fascist.

Actually, obesity among american children is a massive epidemic. Not all kids are fat because everyone is different. But many are overweight and many are obese. The weight of the average child is much higher than they used to be. It is becoming a huge issue and is only getting worse, not better. I am not trying to "feel better about myself.:" This has nothing to do with me. This has to do with helping future generations learn to eat healthy and not have junk available on a daily basis so that America actually has a future. Because at the rate we are going, the average age of death in America is going to get lower and lower and the quality of life for children will be less and less.

That I agree with but a school taking something away from a child and sending ti back home with a note...there would me MAJOR problems if that were my child coming home with something I sent them to school to eat.

The teacher holds them until the end of the day and sends them back home with the child who brought them with a note telling the parent that homemade goodies are not allowed. Like I said maybe it's just my state that does this but it's a policy that's been in place for a couple of decades. Again I think the health department had something to do with it and to tell the truth it doesn't bother me. .
About the only place I know of that still have bake sales around here are the local churches.
When children are at school and they are eating what the school provides then I have no problem with the school dictating the menu...our school offers a really nice fruit bar with both fresh and canned fruit and I think it's great and so do the grandkids. Our schools also removed soda from the vending machines...juice or water is all that is offered now.

You know, sometimes the food is good. Sometimes, you have no idea who cooked it and how. They may have 30 cats in the kitchen, for all anybody knows! I know that my daughter always needs food for school! It can get on my nerves sometimes. I wish they would stop allowing it here. I am not against bake sales, though. I just usually don't have much to do with buying stuff unless I know who made it!

I'm the same way.
LOL My mom has mild dementia and the senior living apartments where she lives have monthly pot luck dinners...no way would I eat that food. I always think about the Christmas Vacation movie where the great grandmother brings jello with dry cat food in it...I can so see my Mom pulling something like that.

Here, and this is the truth, someone brought in something to eat, and there were roaches in it.

Maybe you should go to prison and then you would see that this whole "they're telling me what to eat" debate is over the top.

Take it up with Eisenhower. He said it. I just happen to agree with him. No one said they are telling you what to eat but they are making decisions for the public without any type of public input and people like you just go along with it and try to justify it.

Why doesn't the government want to ban or get rid of all the additives and chemicals they put in the food that makes us sick? Why are they banning bake sales but letting GMO continue to be sold in markets without labels? Why is the FDA approving cloned meat and at the same time not labeling it so we don't know what we are eating?

I agree with it because statistics say our children are becoming overweight and I don't see anything wrong with schools offering a healthier menu. I also want physical education put back on the menu but then some mother will probably say the government is physically torturing my little "overweight" angel. Can't win.

Offering and banning things are totally different. It's not what our children eat it's what is inside the food that is making them fat. Children have been eating baked goods long before now and they weren't becoming obese. The crap in our food today is whats making us obese. Do the research and you will find the truth.

http://weightoftheevidence.bl...

I don't disagree with this at all but I'll add that parents letting the television and video games be the baby sitter has done a lot of damage also.
I guess I don't see this so much as a political issue but a bad parenting issue.
I ate baked goods as a child to but those blackberries in that cobbler didn't come from the store, my Grandmother and I picked those suckers and worked hard at it to. Same for most of our veggies, hoe the garden a few times and you'll have more respect for those green beans and muscular arms to boot.

Parents are definitely part of the problem. Nutritional education is also a huge part. Good food with nutritional value is limited these days and should be a major issue when we talk about the health of Americans.

Dr. Joel D. Wallach is a good guy to look up. He's sued and defeated the FDA countless times.

*sigh*.... what will be next?, students not allowed to bring cupcakes to school? smh

They arent allowed to around here...my son is entering pre-k next year and the principle said that since it is now under the public school system, cupcakes are not allowed for birthdays....I think thats a bit silly as it is a special occasion, but I do feel that sweets and junkfood should not be available for purchase at a school..at least not on a daily basis. I dont have a problem with an occasional bake sale or birthday cupcake.....

cupcakes arent allowed for their birthday... The Hell?

Agreed....im actually kind of disappointed. This will be the only year I can bake cupcakes for my nearly 4 year old son's birthday at school Next year, he is entering the public school system and it is no longer allowed. :-/ They so allow healthier treats for birthdays...I am not sure exactly what. I think the principle mentions muffins or something.

They should do is limit it to be sold once a week... such as Fridays (like 'Casual Fridays' in the Corporate World).

When I was a kid, heck... I ate Junk Food and yet I was never fat when I was a kid and still am not fat to this day.

You are lucky- I wish I could eat junk food and not be fat, but between its addictive quality (to me) and my body being quick to gain, that doesnt work for me. :-(

That being said, I think something like a "treat friday," or something of the sorts would be fine. Have parents send in money if they want their children to get treats on those days. :-) I have no problem with something like that...I actually think its a great idea.

it's a half-baked place to live...this doesn't surprise me. Commonwealth of fools MA is

Massachusetts reflects the rush by everyone in government that ever took sociology or psychology in college. These "feel good" public health officials measure their success each year by how much variety, independent decision making, life experiences, community projects run by parents, etc, they can limit. Every wonder what Ph.D. really means? Can anyone say dictator?

Well said. I remember my sociology and psychology instructors. They were out to change the world. They defined research as reading books members of their wider group published. Two were active members of the communist party and all had little to no business or technology experience. Yet, these are the people that want to control everything.

Another hare-brained scheme from the "I-know-how-to-run-your-life better-than-you-do" crowd of do-gooders. the 'Food-Nazis' are getting as bad as the 'Eco-Nazis'.

It's more than high time for parents and Americans in general to stand up on our hind legs and proclaim "Hell, NO!! Keep your damned nose out of my and my familt's lives!"

we agree! I am shocked to no end, but I actually agree with you. They have to be careful of recess time in some areas because you have no idea what will happen near the school if someone gets to shooting. Kids can not run and play the way we could as kids.

Just another sign that the Government wants to control every aspect of your life. I'm waiting for the day that the Government takes you children at birth to make sure they are raised properly. It can't be far off when people actually think the Government should have anything at all to do with what your children are eating.