Do you include treats in your child's lunch? Why/why not?

[loraxc]

DD has been in preschool or daycare of some kind since age 2, so I have packed a lot of lunches. With very rare exceptions (birthday, sometimes around Xmas) I have never included cookies or sweet treats of any kind in her lunch. I guess it just seemed inappropriate at her age, plus we do limit these items a lot (but do not totally forbid them). I also thought it might cause issues with other kids.

Now that she is about to go off to K, I find myself thinking that hey, a homemade cookie in her lunch might be nice. She seems old enough (?? not sure why I think this) and maybe I'm feeling like she needs something special to get through the long day? Also I guess I am wondering if it's time to relax the no-sugar thing a little.

So, do you include a small treat? Why or why not?

[Youngfrankenstein]

I think it's a nice finisher! I'd rather pack a homemade cookie that send "fruit snacks" as the "fruit"!

[beanma]

Our school has a healthy food as fuel policy so "treats" in lunch are a no-no.

They do approve popsicles (usu fruit juice ones) as b-day treats if the parents want to bring them in. I've brought in kettle corn popcorn before as our b-day treat (winter b-day). We have a few kids with food allergies so have to be careful about homebaked treats. Some muffins are okay, but one year there were combined allergies (from among all the kids) to nuts, wheat, eggs, and dairy, so that limits your muffin choices right there. The popsicles always seem to be a hit with most of the kids even in the winter, but my dd1 doesn't like them when it's cold. She also doesn't like dried or cooked fruit so most muffins are out for her b-day treat. (She likes chocolate chip muffins which would not be in line with the school food policy.) So we went with popcorn, but with a little sweet to make it extra special.

I do sometimes include a fruit leather made from real fruit in her lunch. Usually I send an apple, though.

[floss&ferd]

Sometimes I sent a treat, but not everyday. Really just depends on what we have to pack.

My kids go to public school so the amt of junk food in some of their classmates lunches is mind boggling. When my oldest started 1st grade, I started off sending only healthy lunches. After awhile, she really started to resent it and was very jealous of the other kids food. So I loosened up. There lunches are still mostly healthy with chips/treats thrown in at times.

The only complaint I hear now is if I start sending pb&j too often.

[loraxc]

Yes, I admit, the peer pressure aspect has occurred to me too. DD's lunches are generally very healthy and contain nothing packaged or junky at all, but I wonder if she is going to feel like "she doesn't get anything good."

[choli]

I don't like setting up the dynamic that sweet foods are "treats". I do include fuit as part of the lunch, but nobody in my house has a sweet tooth, and we very rarely eat cookies or sweetened goods of that type.

[amma_mama]

We do not include any treats as it is school policy (no chips either). The school does host b-day parties so there is cake at least once per month for all the kids (no allergies). I like the policy as there are no "envy" issues. She will be changing schools next year so I will have to re-evaluate...

[RufusBeans]

my dd is going into K and she still isn't old enough to eat her other food AND a sweet treat. I don't want her JUST to eat sugar, so no, she won't get any treats.

[vulturemom]

Sometimes I do. Sometime the treat is something like fruit salad though, My kids think that a great treat.

[loraxc]

I'm curious--are these public or private schools where sweet foods and chips are not allowed? I've never heard of that.

[Evergreen]

I voted 'yes' but my 'treats' are probably not what most people consider treats.

Like another poster stated some people substitute fruit snacks for fruit. If I include fruit snacks in the lunch it is considered a treat. I also consider things like crackers, popcorn, kid directed yogurt etc. to be the treat portion of the lunch. I am not opposed at all to sending a cookie or chips occasionally but it doesn't happen every day.

[ChetMC]

Depends on What You Mean

It depends entirely on what you mean by a treat :

homemade cookie - yes
Orea cookie - no

homemade popcorn - yes
bag of potato chips - no

100% juice drink box - yes
can of pop - no

homemade chocolate chip muffin - yes
store bought snack cake - no

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by loraxc

I'm curious--are these public or private schools where sweet foods and chips are not allowed? I've never heard of that.

Our little local public school has a health policy and sweet foods and chips are discouraged. It makes it easy to send in healthy foods and have your child consider their lunch "normal" because there aren't treat foods as part of the school lunch and *most* parents who pack a lunch stick with the policy.
I don't know if they try to enforce it.

And the school isn't super strict about the policy. One day a week they have either ice cream or a dessert as part of the school lunch. Most weeks it's ice cream, but if there is a holiday they have a holiday theme dessert (valentine's cookie on V-day, for example, but no ice cream that Friday).

Drinks are limited to milk, water, or 100% fruit juice.

[Alyantavid]

Sometimes. This week he's taking his lunch twice and I sent small rice krispy treats. Some days we make cookies or brownies, sometimes its a zucchini muffin.

Very rarely does he get total crap as any part of his lunch.

[zinemama]

No.

My kids get plenty of treats outside of school (they are the type that will horde their Halloween candy till spring), we have dessert at least once a week (more in the summer). Plus, with 30 kids in the class, there are a lot of birthday cupcakes at schoo, too. I don't see the need to send treats in their lunches. Besides, if I did, there is a higher chance that they'd eat the cookie but not the red pepper slices, you know?

I do make up batches of carrot/raisin/walnut muffins to freeze and put in their lunches, but I don't think of those as "treats."

[BCFD]

I voted yes, but here are the treats I have put in my dd's lunchbox:

1 or 2 Pocky biscuit sticks (strawberry or chocolate covered and are the size of a pencil)
1 or 2 Hello Panda biscuit cookies (they are about the size of a nickel)
1 or 2 yogurt covered pretzels
A handfull of yogurt covered raisins
About 10 chocolate chips and 10 marshmellows

We use the LaptopLunchbox system and do a lot of shopping at the local Japanese market.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by loraxc

I'm curious--are these public or private schools where sweet foods and chips are not allowed? I've never heard of that.

The private school ds went to briefly had a no soda pop or candy rule, though I saw the teachers drinking Coke in front of the kids. Annoying that they still gave the pre-k kids cookies with trans fats as a snack and looked at me like I was nuts when I asked them not to feed ds them. They also discouraged juice boxes for environmental reasons. Kids weren't supposed to bring chips as snacks but I saw older kids eating them.

[VisionaryMom]

I send fruit of some sort most days, so I don't send anything else sweet. DC ask for some things sometimes that they think are special to have. This week, for example, DS asked for a pickle in his lunch. I have no idea why, but I sent one. Both DS and DD thought that was awesome, so I guess treats don't have to be sweet!

[jjawm]

Yes. I've found that kids who don't have treats are often given them by other kids. Trading is rampant! My kids will come home with chips, because their friend didn't want them. I've found that my cookies are a hit with my boys' friends as well.

I figure, I'll give them a homemade cookie and hope that it won't be traded all the time.

[Drummer's Wife]

My kids buy their lunch, but if I sent them a sack lunch I would likely include a treat on occasion. Probably not everyday, b/c we don't usually buy packaged cookies, cakes, candy bars, etc., so if I happened to have homemade cookies available I would include one or two.