My son Laken attends a wonderful daycare here in our Brooklyn neighborhood. The teachers are kind, fun, and attentive, the director is hands-on, creative, and energetic. I enjoy the other parents and kids, and I’ve even stopped by the 3/4′s classroom to give a little talk about healthy vegetables.
Sometimes our plant-based, natural food diet causes a wrinkle for the school, but I have found them to be very responsive and supportive of our food choices. (I guess I should say MY food choices – L would probably love to eat ice cream all day long!)
A few weeks ago the teachers posted a sign-up sheet for us parents to get involved in a fruit salad project. Parents signed up to bring in different fruits of different colors. Great! I thought – fruit salad! What a great cooking project!
And then I realized most of the foods on the list are on the Dirty Dozen list - the most sprayed, highest pesticide-residue foods available.
Gulp.
What’s a natural-leaning mom to do? I decided to take action. I printed off 30 copies of the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 produce lists and put them in every kid’s mailbox so their parents would see which foods should be purchased organic. Then I posted one next to the sign-up sheet that parents saw as they reached the classroom.
The next issue at hand? The teachers also wanted a parent to bring in whipped cream and food coloring to top off the fruit salad! Ugh. My first thought was “why??!!!”
Why teach our kids to top off sweet fruit with sugary whipped cream, colored with man-made, possibly toxic food coloring?
Here’s my problem with artificial food colorings:
Many studies have determined a link between artificial food coloring and cancer, brain tumors, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and other behavior disorders, especially in children. It’s probably the tar and hydrocarbon derivatives as well as petrochemicals used to manufacture artificial food coloring.
I decided to take the middle road. I put my name down on the line for “whipped cream/food coloring” and rushed to the phone. I called the good people at www.naturalcandystore.com and asked them to send me their natural food coloring kit,
so I could give it to the school. Then I bought some
Soyatoo Rice Whip from www.veganessentials.com for the class to mix up with the food coloring – it’s not the healthiest thing on earth, but it’s a lot better than Cool Whip, and it’s dairy- and HFCS-free.
See…I can compromise! I thought it was better to bring in alternatives and show the other parents that there are alternative products for their families, too.
The coolest thing? The teachers loved what I brought in! Now they’re using the natural food coloring to make playdough with the kids, and the director is aware of the websites and alternative products. It’s all working out in the end.
We’ll eat extra broccoli to make up for the whipped rice-cream…
Wow, that is so awesome! Go you! I think about this stuff too, I am pregnant now (due in November) and I plan on raising my kids vegan. I am always wondering what to do when stuff like this comes up (because I am sure it will!). You handled it so well! I would’ve been furious about the whole thing!
Thank you so much for this info. My son is very sensitive to anything “fake” but LOVES cake and cookies. I am SO excited about this natural food coloring, I am going to pass this info on to all my mommy friends.
I love your compromise in this instance. What a great way to make a difference without beating people over the head with it
What a great idea! Good for you for educating the teachers about healthy alternatives. I’m taking notes for when I might be in a similar situation with my kids!
I faced many of the same problems when my daughter was in nursery school 7 years ago. Because of my daughter’s severe asthma, I had to fight for proper nutrition. My daughter would received 5 to 8 pounds of candy every year in nursery school (not including Halloween).
Many teachers didn’t believe me until I weighed it to make my point to the administration and fellow parents.
When I finally showed the school director a photo of the candy she received during the school year at parties, celebrations, cooking class, etc., she implemented mandatory nutrition classes for the teachers.
Brilliant idea, WriterGal! Luckily, the deluge of candy hasn’t been as bad at our school, but there have been a few issues around holidays. I emailed the other parents asking that we agree upon a pre-approved list of treats to share (organic raisin boxes, little oranges, etc) and got some angry responses. I was surprised! Other parents took my query as a personal attack, and the director had to get involved. I didn’t expect it to be a big deal, but I have come to understand that everything to do with food is a big deal!
Thanks for your excellent idea – love it!
Great way to deal with the situation, Alex! Thanks for sharing the resources with us.
Thanks for the info on natural food coloring. I look forward to trying it out!
I love this idea! I think it is so much better to show than to tell about alternatives. A parent who might respond that little Timmy would NEVER try that whipped topping alternative can see with his or her own eyes that Timmy loved it and might think twice before buying the same old same old next time in the store. I must say I’m not at all surprised you were attacked by the other parents, food is such a highly personal and highly charged topic and it is so easy for people to feel offended by a different view point-which is sad, we should be open to other views but we aren’t normally, it can be very threatening to be questioned.
Great compromise…….will have to check out that website. Way to go Alex!