Discussion Board

I know this is a widespread problem, but I'm reaching the boiling point on this issue.

I've got a 6 year old and a 9 year old, both vegan, both being taught how to respect the environment, animals, eachother, etc., but we are constantly being contradicted by the school they attend!

Here are a few examples of some of the things the school has done that have gone "against the grain" with our teachings:

- pizza days, twice a month. Pepperoni and cheese pizza.
- movie days, which they show the kids movies that I don't approve of.
- Milkshake days....
- They push the kids to sell chocolate!!
- Hotdog days
- For parent days or special events, the food offered are pop, coffee, cookies and pastries.
- BBQ day... only meat is served.
- My 6 year old was taken to a farm and learned how animals serve us... they were told that animals are only here for us to provide food.
- My 6 year old was given an activity book, sponsored by the Pork Board, which explains how much pork benefits humans and how happy pigs were to be part of our food chain... he was totally confused!
- My 9 year old received poor marks on the "food groups" because she couldn't identify certain cuts of meat.
- Free milk days.

How can we as parents possibly win in this type of situation? Schools are teaching kids how to make poor dietary choices while we are trying to instill some level of responsibility in what our kids eat.

We've spoken to the teachers, principal and I've even wrote a letter to our school board trustee about some of the problems I've seen in these "junk food days", but they seem to fall on deaf ears.

Who else has had similar experiences?

I can see how frustrated you are about this.

I was just about to suggest writing a letter but see you've done that. When government is involved there is just so much red tape to make changes.

Maybe an easier route would be, instead of asking the dangerous and offensive material and foods to be removed, request the addition of healthier foods to be included. You probably have to band together with other concerned parents.

One of the ways to completely avoid this is to homeschool your children. Which is what I've done for my kids from the beginning. I have my first high school graduate this year, so I've been doing this for 12 years now. I think homeschooling the early years is the best time, that way if they ever do go back to public school they have a foundation.

Yes, healthier foods has been suggested and I even had plans to get my local organic foods supplier help with the process, but it was turned down due to lack of support...

I wish that homeschooling was an option for us. My wife doesn't have the patience to teach and I work during the day. We do our best to teach lessons above and beyond what the schools teach by taking them to museums, the science center, watching education programs, going through biology books, etc.

It's just so disappointing that kids pick up good or bad habits from an early age and the school seems to be doing everything they can to make sure that kids grow up sick and obese!

Homeschooling is a challenge, don't I know it. This last year we went with a virtual academy, called K12, they send you everything you need and it's funded so nothing comes out of your pocket unless you want to do a field trip or something. It's been a lifesaver for me. They operate schools in most states, you may want to have your wife take a look to see if it's something she would be interested in. That way you have most of the control.


This caught my eye, you wrote:



I was raised in a kosher home and when we were learning the 4 food groups in Kindergarten I never knew what the weird pink thing was. Later found out it was ham.

They should have them identify all the fruits and veggies, bet your kids will be on top with that one!

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm in Ontario, Canada, so programs here might be different from what they are in the US.

I don't remember how exactly the quiz for the food groups went (it was last year), but there were pictures of foods that the child had to identify and my daughter couldn't identify either lamb chops or pork chops - I don't even know what those look like!! LOL For fruits and veggies, she definitely did well

To add another disturbing piece to all this, my daughters class will be milking cows on a class trip (which she will NOT be attending).

My wife is gathering information so we can start home schooling next year.

Rather than teaching kids to exploit animals, perhaps they can promote helmets for bike safety, which is a huge concern in my area - we have laws that are not enforced and every kid I see is racing their bikes with no protection.

Can't you send them w/ lunches from home? Perhaps you addressed this and I missed it. I sure never ate school lunches--nasty! My mom packed us lunches until 8th grade or so, when we started packing our own (following same guidelines). They weren't McD healthy, but they were a heckuva lot better than what was being served at school!

Yes, we always send them to school with home lunches, but the problem is the constant promotion of junk food and animal products. Hot dog days, followed by milkshake days, followed by a few weeks of selling candy, followed by a bake sale (cookies, cakes and pastries....). We asked my sons teacher not to have him paint real eggs, but work on another craft for easter... that was fine, but they sent him home with a basket full of candies! I'm just glad my son has no problem trading candies for berries

I hear you, Carroll. We homeschool, too, and love it.

I applaud you for wanting better for your children. Homeschooling takes my husband 3 hours a day. I use a program called Time4Learning 49.99 for all three kids a month. All we had to add was books to read and a writing program. We go year round 6 days a week. I work 50-75 hours a week myself but I still do the reading program with my youngest so I can be apart of there learning. It is May and I just moved each child to the next grade level. We are ahead of public school with less time invested. Since we go year round we get about 250 days a year instead of the 189 required. Best thing is I control what they learn and who influences them.

Carroll, do you live in WA?
Your comment about Running Start caught my attention because I have one daughter graduating from RS at Olympic College with a 3.8 in a few weeks (she was educated at home until going there). And my next daughter in line is starting there in the fall. Anyway, we heard the same thing at her orientation last week that RS students have a higher GPA than the rest of the students! So our homeschool "experiment" didn't wreck our kids afterall!
(And I am what you call a "relaxed" homeschooler, more play than books for those early years)
Krista

OK - I'm a teacher in a public school - in Australia. It worries me that the solution is to remove your children from the public education system. That means that for the rest of the kids nothing will ever change! You elect the government - start a parents lobby group and lobby like crazy. I can't imagine in Canada the system would be much different to Australia (but it seems to be in the US). Veganism isn't such a big issue any more (at least it's not over here). We get some of our best teaching ideas from Canada so I've always thought there was a lot of similarity in our teaching systems. Complain, complain and complain and write to the education minister about it. That's why they are there.

I have to teach the five food group stuff - but I incude the other options and beliefs that people have and that some people don't eat meat or any animal products. If someone made one of my students feel 'wrong' or attacked them for their eating choices I would be up in arms. We have Jewish kids who don't eat ham, Muslim kids who must eat Halal, etc and our school canteen (voluntary) sells cheese and meat free pizzas on pizza day, and soy milk.

It shouldn't be this hard - I'm sorry it is for your kids.

Roseanne

I have experienced a very similar situation. There are many things that happen at school and daycare that contradict our lifestyle. I actually love it. I appreciate that my son is hearing all sides and seeing all sides of situations. He is learning to make his own choices and I know one day he will make the choices on his own. He lives in this world and he has to grow up and be a man someday and I don't want him to look back and say "my parents made me (fill in the blank)." He may choose in his life to be something other than vegan. That would be unfortunate, but I will know that I taught him as much as I could and gave him the example of a healthy lifestyle to the very best of my ability. I honestly think it is better for children to understand that there are other ways to experience life, but that they know WHY we choose to do what we do. He is actually really good about saying things like "Thank you, but can I have something besides milk - I am vegan." And there are times when he has something and tells me... "Mom... I had some ice cream today." Then he gets diarreah and understands the consequence of his actions and makes a different choice the next time. Life is all about learning. I think it is important for kids to learn how to make choices. I grew up with parents that were more... "Do as I say... because I said so." They gave no why's and no choices and that wasn't the best way to go.

I believe in a strong public education system, and it makes me sad when so many of the most dedicated and involved parents -- the ones who can really change things -- take their kids out of school. Lord knows I have to unteach things my kids learn every day, and diet is the least of it. (They way children treat each other bothers me the most. I spend a lot of time counselling my extremely sensitive, unathletic son on how to deal with mean kids.) BUT it's so important for a kid to learn how to say, No, thank you, I don't eat animals, or, Don't make fun of my friend, and to be able to be proud and to stand up for who they are.

I don't know... there are of course many reasons to homeschool, but there are also many good reasons to teach your kid to be himself in the society we live in, and to work to change things.