This is annoyingly wrong on so many levels.
Once a cupcake wasn’t something to think about. It was just what your mom brought to school for your birthday. But this year, as schools across the country begin enforcing new federally mandated “wellness policies,” many are banning the little treats. And parents are fighting back.
When the principal at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria explained to the PTA earlier this year that cupcakes were out, a furor erupted.
[…] While several school districts have outright outlawed cupcakes, candy or anything home-baked, others are just trying to limit them. Technically, Alexandria’s wellness policy bans only the use of food as a reward or punishment. Principals at some schools, such as George Mason [Elementary], took that to mean birthday cupcakes as well.
“We don’t want to say no to school celebrations, but we want to think of ways to encourage more healthy snacks,” said Becky Domokos-Bays, director of food and nutrition services for the system. “There are alternatives.”
While, practically speaking, cupcakes are problematic for a classroom treat (bulky, lots of crumbs and waste paper and frosting), banning them because they are unhealthy (one cupcake over the course of the week is unlikely to significantly impact childhood obesity) or because they are using food as a “reward” (um, yes, because all the kids will want to have birthdays then) is just grotesque double-think.
And I’ve decided that “wellness” is one of my least favorite neologisms of the last decade, smacking as it does of smug healthier-than-thou received wisdom. Feh.
Time for lunch.
(via the Obscure Store)