Healthy Party Snacks
This post is part of a five-part series on sugar and healthy eating. Check them out by clicking this link!
Our school has done a lot to promote healthy eating habits among students. Nonetheless, based on my experience there has been little communication with families about the shift to healthier eating in schools — especially around healthy party snacks for class celebrations. I think teachers can do a lot to help support this shift, but the lion’s share of the work shouldn’t fall on teachers shoulders who have enough on their plate.
This is an area where families can have a great impact. In posting on my questions about the SFUSD food policy removing excess sugar from our schools, I reached out to see what other families had to say. This is what a fellow parent shared with me:
Parents need to listen to the rules too. Our school does a pretty good job. Teachers continually send out reminders. Reminders sent out for each holiday party, and birthday celebrations must be confirmed with teacher prior too, all pretty factual around school policy, but seems to be effective.
Parents need to be partners in helping kids make healthy food choices. Nonetheless, when birthdays or other celebrations come around, this can be more than a bit challenging for busy moms and dads. It’s easy to buy snack packs at Costco or grab two dozen cupcakes at Safeway. For moms and dads who work and volunteer, it can feel daunting to think of alternatives to some of the unhealthy snacks that are readily available at our local markets. It’s also hard to think of alternatives to snack foods we ate as kids.
I was happy to see that SFUSD is making an effort to share ideas with families. A while back on the SFUSD blog the district posted a fun idea for making healthy Valentines Day treats. Along that line, I decided to scour the Internet to find a few more ideas for busy families, interested in bringing snacks that are both kid-friendly and teacher/parent approved. I plan to continue to post ideas and am thinking it would be fun to get my girls involved in the process by cooking with them. If they are involved in crafting and creating new healthy party snack recipes, they will definitely be more interested in trying them out. Check out some of the ideas I found, and share yours in the comments below!
Check out my Pinterest Board of Healthy Party Snacks for Kids
