What Do You Keep At School?

[africanqueen99]

Do you have a box of treats/rewards/birthday snacks/etc that you keep at school?  I'm trying to think of what to send.

 

I will have a couple of Go Picnics for the nurse to use in an emergency, but the teacher would like something for the unplanned birthday party.  I was thinking of little bags of M&Ms, skittles, and tootsie pops.  Anything else that would work?

 

Our school requires all things to be labeled and get approval from the nurse so I couldn't make brownies/cupcakes/etc to wrap and send for the freezer.  We do have a dedicated gluten-free baker in town, but her cupcakes (as awesome as they are) aren't cheap and I don't think frozen cupcakes are as delicious as M&Ms!

[mamaw]

We  have  had  two kids  with  celiac from grade  school up to  now  high  school.....I  don't  truly  understand  why  but  many  teachers love to  reward  the  students  with  candy,  junk food*!*! what's  wrong  with that ?  What's  wrong  with  a  new  pencil or  a non-food  item... Kids in  grade  school  usually have  a  B-day  party  with  every kid  in  class... All good  but  at  some  point  kids  need  to know they  shouldn't  or  will not  be  rewarded for  being  good in  school....

My  rant!

We  meet  our  principle, nurse,  teacher  before  the school year  begins....We  matched  whatever  the  PTA  was  having  for  the  school party ie: Halloween,  valentines  day & so on... I  think  the important  thing  here  is  not  to make  the  celiac  child  stand  out  &  be  different. ...leaving an  opening  to be  teased  &  bullied..... Our   teachers  always  explained  to  the  class  that  the  child  who  had  a  food  intolerance Ie: celiac, peanut allergy,  corn or  whatever  that  as  a  class  they  must  be  awear of  these  things &  the  kid  who  has  the problem  can get  very ill....

So  we  always  had  cupcakes, ice  cream or  ice  cream  sandwiches  , cookies  in  the  teacher's  freezer  at  all times.  So  when a party  for  a  B-day  came  along  no one  had  to  search  for  a treat  for our  kid...the  teacher  just  went to the  freezer  & got  the  matching  gluten-free  food  for our  kid. Worked  perfectly  every time... Now  when  the PTA  put  on  a  party  for the holidays  we  asked  that  the  room  parent  who planned  the party  contact  us  with  what  they would be  doing  &  eating... We always  told them  not to worry  about  bringing our  kid  anything  we  would  match it .. This  way  we also  knew  no one  who  doesn't  understand CC  would  not  be  bringing  our  kid  any food....About  ten  minutes  before the  party  we  would  deliver  the gluten-free  food  or if  it was  something  that  wouldn't  spoil our  child  took it  on the bus  &  gave it to his  teachers  until party time....

I honestly  don't  see  why  they  would not let  you  bring  in  cupcakes  wrapped, labeled  & frozen....&  add the ingredient  list  if  need  be...

We  also  had  a  safe  box for the  teacher   !  When  for  some  reason  food  was  being  given out  then  our  child  could  go pick  from the gluten-free  box &  again have  what  the other  kids  were having...We  supplied,  chips,  pretzels,  assorted  candy, crackers,  protein  bars...

 

The  teacher  also  explained  to the other  students  how  not  to touch  anyone  else's  food  at the lunch  table, the  rule  was  keep your  hands  off  others  food...if someone wanted  to  share  with  another  student  then  that  was  okay  ....if  both  were in agreement....

 

We  also  would  make  more  gluten-free goodies  when the PTA  would  host  the party for the  other  kids to  try  .... Many  of our  kids  friends  would  ask  for more of the gluten-free  goodies!!!

So  again,  for  us  it  was  about  not  making  our  kid  stand  out   but  being  as  any other child  in the  class...

 

hth

[Juliebove]

Our school always had a lot of non-food items for rewards.  Pencils, stickers, little toys.  One dance teacher gave out fancy pieces of paper, like the ones used for scrap books.  I think my daughter liked those better than anything! 

 

As for food, the standard treat given out was Smarties.  Those were safe for most kids although perhaps not the ones with food dye issues.  They also have Dextrose.  Not sure what that might be sourced from. 

 

Let me tell you, by the time daughter got to Jr. High, she was so sick of Smarties that she didn't even want to see them.

 

Note to those who are not in the USA, your Smarties are probably not the same.  Ours are not chocolate but little tabs of chalky/sugary stuff.

 

When it was my turn to send something in, I always sent in squeeze applesauce, fruit leather or other fruit based snacks.  Not always the kid's favorites but I'm not a fan of sugar.

[lisalamitie]

I send in a package of her favorite gluten-free cookies and the teacher disburses them when they have a birthday party. My daughter is fine with that (2nd grade). I know the nurse offered her refrigerator to store things in too but she's fine with cookies.

[Cara in Boston]

Our box has a variety of treats and snacks.  Sometimes the class is having a "healthy" snack (like during testing, they hand out granola bars) so I make sure to have some snack foods available too.  Our box has m&m's, snickers, skittles, doritos, pretzels, applesauce, KIND bars, and Lara bars.  (The school is not nut-free).  We also have GoPicnic meals available if needed.

 

The last two birthday parties, the birthday kid remembered Joe and brought a pack of m&ms for him.  He loved being included and even though they were the exact same thing as the ones in his snack box, he enjoyed them more.  I love it when kids and thoughtful and kind.

 

Cara