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The child comes home crying
This initiative is certainly most laudable, but it sometimes happens that certain establishments are too radical in their approach. And then demonstrate a somewhat extreme policy when it comes to raising awareness among young children against bad eating habits. Because we must still keep in mind that a small child of four years old, for example, is not always aware of the issues and that a slightly less strict educational approach is always recommended in these cases.
And in fact, in some cases, parents have protested because some teachers have been a little too zealous in instilling the principles and basics of healthy eating in their children. And that’s exactly what happened at this school in Durham in the Ontario region of Canada. A teacher did not hesitate to throw a child’s food in front of an entire class.
The mother gets angry
Enough to make Elaina Daoust, the stunned young Canadian mother, come off her hinges when she saw her four-year-old son come home in tears. The latter, who attends the Durham Catholic School District, had his snack taken away at snack time. His teacher didn't take gloves and simply threw his four hours in the trash. His snack consisted of a slice of fresh, homemade banana cake. Under the pretext that it contained chocolate chips. Instead, his mistress asked him to eat grapes instead. This is all he will eat as a snack that day.
It's easy to understand why the mother would be furious that her child's favorite snack ended up in the trash that day. And above all because her child felt humiliated by the teacher’s gesture in front of the whole class. As Elaina pointed out: “He came home with a list of food alternatives written on a board, telling me that his teacher had discussed healthier choices with him. She also sent me a note. It made me angry.”
The Chocolate Chip Banana Bread of Discord
“It’s not like I gave him chips or a chocolate bar,” continued the outraged mother, confiding in the Toronto Star. It is certain that she was far from suspecting that that morning while lovingly preparing her cherub's favorite breakfast, that it would suddenly be snatched from her son's hands and end up in the trash. As if this unfortunate slice of banana cake and its few chocolate chips constituted the most unhealthy snack in the world and the most saturated in fat!
However, within this same Canadian school, several similar cases have been reported. This is how nearly 30 parents declared that their children had had food deemed unhealthy confiscated, such as fruit juices, cereal bars, or even bottles of chocolate milk. Teachers at the establishment are a little too zealous for parents' tastes, the school in question wants to be reassuring and conciliatory because according to the Durham Catholic District School Board, lessons on healthy eating are part of the school program. As James MacKinnon, teaching and learning advisor to the school board, points out: "There is nowhere in our policy or procedures that allows our staff to take food away from a student." 'error…
Can a teacher judge what a child eats?
This incident brings back to the fore the old controversy on the question relating to the distribution of educational roles between parents and educational establishments. Is a teacher able to judge what a child can or cannot eat? Isn’t this decision more up to the parents?
In conclusion, parents are the only decision-makers on the nutritional value of a food. And as Luigia Ayotte, member of the Durham school board, explains: “We understand that there have been some problems with certain foods brought back by children, but food preferences and choices are solely the responsibility of parents. , unless they represent an allergic danger to the child.” Enough to set the record straight and everyone agrees, the delicious slices of banana cake with homemade chocolate chips still have a bright future ahead of them and will not give way in the schoolchildren's lunch box !
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