PTA hands out smarties to raise money for fitness.....

[lingle]

We have a great PTA committee. I'm not on it but go to the meetings and do my bit in school.

It's been agreed that we'll concentrate our funds towards improving school sports and fitness facilities for the near future.

Last year, one fundraiser involved acquiring 80 giant tubes of smarties, handing them out to a child in each family and asking the children to fill the empty boxes with 20p pieces.

I know you've got to strike a balance when it comes to sweets but for me having smarties forced on the children in this way isn't right. It's also a bit of a contradiction to raise money for fitness by force-feeding them smarties.

We do other things that involve sweets/cakes, in particular we have bun-bakes. But I figure that, with a bun-bake, there are at least some children who are learning to cook with their parents. So I feel that there's a benefit that makes it a good thing - or at least not bad.

I wonder whether it's still legal for schools to hand out sweets. I thought the rules were pretty strict now.

Anyway, I would appreciate advice on raising this tactfully. Or honest views if you all think I should say nothing. I've had experience of raising a similar issue tactlessly at the pre-school (where the only snacks the children got were biscuits). After ranting at the poor chair for a good five minutes, I was so ashamed that I avoided her for 18 months before finally plucking up the courage to apologise......beetroot red, I was... dont' want to repeat that at school!

[Kbear]

Don't think Smarties are being forced on the child, children like Smarties!

If you don't want your child to eat them, put them in the bin and fill the box with money and give them an apple. It's not poison, it's a few sweets and I think people can be a bit precious about giving their children sweets.

If you ban them totally they will crave them more. Everything in moderation I think.

[Kbear]

and LOL at "forcefeeding them Smarties".

sorry

[Iota]

we did that smartie thing a few yrs ago at ds2's nursery.

Nobody complained

[ssd]

"forced on the children"

what a laugh, they probably disappeard in 5 minutes

[Yorkiegirl]

Message withdrawn

[FAQ]

Don't think you should say anything, sorry but it's a pack of Smarties. Doesn't matter (IMO) if its for raising money for fitness.

It's not a poison, and I think if we don't teach our children that just about any food is ok in moderation we're really doing them a disservice.

We're doing a Smarties fund-raising thing at church atm, and tbh my biggest issue with it is that it's Nestle

[SorenLorensen]

We did this at my pre-school (I was on the committee) and we had complaints. So the next time we offered boxes of raisins as an alternative...no-one took them! You can't win!

[Iota]

now that is funny SL

[TheFallenMadonna]

If you have a better idea for raising the money, then you should go to a meeting and suggest it. New ideas always welcome IME. Otherwise, yes, it's one tube of smarties...

[Hulababy]

Don't think it is illegal for schools to hand out sweets - DD's school do every so often, or biscuits, etc.

To be fair it is only one tube of sweets - and I can't imagine any child being forced to eat them.

Sweets, IMO, are perfectly fine as part of a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. That is the line we should be priming our children with - not that foods are banned/not healthy/not good.

But, if you don's want to give your child sweets - then empty the tube out, throw them away and just fill the tube.

[TooTicky]

I'd be annoyed if my dcs were given giant tubes of smarties.

[FAQ]

"But, if you don's want to give your child sweets - then empty the tube out, throw them away"

or empty them into your stomach and then fill the tube

[TooTicky]

Once the children have seen the smarties though, they will want them.

[DoodleCantona2U]

LOL @ FAQ - that's what I was thinking!

[Hulababy]

I can imagine some parents may not like the nestle link - but again that is something the parents can address with children, and I can't imagine anyone is forced to take part - or could chose to fill a different tube if required.

And we are the parents - if as a parent you don't want the child to have them - you say no. Or split the tube (as a large one) and give them in smaller portions over time.

Or, as FAQ says - eat them yourselves!

[WigWamBam]

It's a tube of Smarties.

It's not cyanide, it's not arsenic, it's not even Fruit Shoot, for heaven's sake.

It gives the children some small reward for raising what will actually be a considerable amount of money for the school.

Healthy eating and fitness is important. But so is having a balanced attitude to food, and by making sweets into some kind of demon food, you don't do your children any good in the long run. Everything in moderation.

Good for your PTA for doing something good for the school.

[TooTicky]

I don't ban sweets but I do ration them and if a large quantity of sweets enter the house then dcs, my ds2 (6) in particular, will ask endlessly for them and it is such a relief when they are GONE.

And there are people who prefer their children to have no sweets - this is not actually child cruelty

[MadamePlatypus]

I am against it. I have a soft spot for smarties, but there must be alot of smarties in a giant tube. Are the children/family expected to eke out their smarties over a ew weeks? I suspect not. I wouldn't have a problem with the school handing out normal sized tubes of smarties (if its still possible to buy them), but I suppose you wouldn't raise much money then.

Its also a bit of an odd way to raise money - why not just ask each family for a cheque? What if the family can't afford to fill the giant tube?

I do think that things like giant size tubes of sweets and kingsize Marsbars contribute to childhood obesity - is it 1 in 6 reception children that are overweight?

[MadamePlatypus]

ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioB8qkXWlI4FQEnWtdjyJSQyRwFg

link to obesity story above - schools need to take this problem seriously.

[FAQ]

are you sure it's the giant tubes???

It's usually the smaller tubes which are used as the 20p pieces fit perfectly

[TheFallenMadonna]

Ah. Didn't see it was a giant tube. That's actually quite a lot of 20p coins .

[Hulababy]

Childhood obesity is not, IMO, caused by children having the odd sweets or chocolate - it is caused by not having a healthy lifestyle and diet, and not enough exercise. A healthy lifestyle CAN involve sweets with no problems.

[WigWamBam]

Whenever I've seen twenty pences collected in Smartie tubes, they are the standard sized ones - 20p coins fit beautifully into the width of the tube. Perhaps the OP is exaggerating for dramatic effect.

I can't imagine the school asking for larger sized tubes to be filled; it would cost a fortune to fill them, and take forever. The PTA will be looking at rather quicker ways to raise money than waiting for months to fill giant sized tubes.

[FAQ]

[TheFallenMadonna]

I would be cross if I was expected to fill a giant smarties tube with 20p coins, quite aprt from the sweet issue...