KICKED OUT OF THE KITCHEN - HOMEMADE BAKING BAN HITS A NERVE
Posted by Erin Mantz at 9/24/2007 1:07 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
A new school rule at my son's elementary school that would have once given me a sigh of relief now makes me sad: No more home-baked goods can come to school.
Due to the rise in and awareness of children with food allergies, the school decided this rule will make eating safer for everyone. This prohibition shatters my image of the perfect mom, baking homemade cupcakes for her kid's school birthday celebration. It also gets me out of having to do it.
The thing is, when I worked full-time when Max was two, I worried i'd never be that kind of in-the-kitchen mom making stuff from scratch. Not like a stay-at-home mom during the day and not even as a working mom pulling out recipes late at night. I wasn't a cook, I hated cooking, and I figured why make it when i can buy it? Max wasn't in school yet (he was in daycare), though, so the issue wasn't real. Now, he's in first grade, and i'm working part-time and home-part time, and when the school year began earlier this month I was ready to try to be that baking mom. I would have done it, but then the rule came out: kids can't bring in home-baked goodies to class parties. Too many allergies.
Too bad, because i'll never know if I could have done it and put my heart into it. I will still schlep to Giant to pick cupcakes with chocolate or vanilla frosting. I won't be online at midnight searching for a simple recipe or emailing my mom for convection-cooking advice. I won't be able to fulfill that vision of mom making things from scratch.
I shouldn't care, because my son could care less if I make it or buy it. As long as it's not yellow cake (he hates that), to him, i'm still his best mom!
Due to the rise in and awareness of children with food allergies, the school decided this rule will make eating safer for everyone. This prohibition shatters my image of the perfect mom, baking homemade cupcakes for her kid's school birthday celebration. It also gets me out of having to do it.
The thing is, when I worked full-time when Max was two, I worried i'd never be that kind of in-the-kitchen mom making stuff from scratch. Not like a stay-at-home mom during the day and not even as a working mom pulling out recipes late at night. I wasn't a cook, I hated cooking, and I figured why make it when i can buy it? Max wasn't in school yet (he was in daycare), though, so the issue wasn't real. Now, he's in first grade, and i'm working part-time and home-part time, and when the school year began earlier this month I was ready to try to be that baking mom. I would have done it, but then the rule came out: kids can't bring in home-baked goodies to class parties. Too many allergies.
Too bad, because i'll never know if I could have done it and put my heart into it. I will still schlep to Giant to pick cupcakes with chocolate or vanilla frosting. I won't be online at midnight searching for a simple recipe or emailing my mom for convection-cooking advice. I won't be able to fulfill that vision of mom making things from scratch.
I shouldn't care, because my son could care less if I make it or buy it. As long as it's not yellow cake (he hates that), to him, i'm still his best mom!
I think this is a ridiculous policy! So instead of having fresh home baked treats, the kids should eat packaged cupcakes, full of preservatives and hydrogenated oils? Just curious: are any of the parents fighting this policy, or is just being accepted? I can see the point that being able to read a label would help with allergies, but the parents should be able to bear this in mind when they bake, if reminders are sent home. Or how about providing processed food for the kids with allergies? When my son had food intolerances, I found some very good packaged treats for him. This policy seems extreme to me!
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