Comments on: Courteney Cox-Arquette: Breaking All The (Kindergarten) Rules!

By: mike

mike — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:14:34 +0000

I found this researching nut allergies.
About the college girl who touched the door, what in the world was she thinking touching that door handle without gloves? Why was she not wearing a fine particulate surgical mask?
That is what those with the most extreme allergies need to do, just as those with with very severe environmental allergies and compromised immune systems do.
The allergic is responsible for taking the precautions rather than inconveniencing others.

By: dolly

dolly — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:40:55 +0000

Peanuts can kill, and all of you who want to argue the rights of the other children to eat peanutbutter are ignorant and selfish. All the schools should ban peanuts and related products. I feel outraged when I read these ignorant comments. How hard is it to pack something else than peanutbutter. Knowing that it could kill another child, you still insist on bringing peanutbutter into the school. I call that irresponsible parenting

By: JSHAW

JSHAW — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:59:02 +0000

And BTW – my son had a severe citrus allergy – if it touched him he immediately broke out in a blistery rash – including the inside of his mouth, face, tongue etc. We taught him to protect himself – which included washing himself immediately – hands, face, whatever got touched, and putting medication on – and that was since he was 3.Did we ask the schools to stop having students have citrus – no – we put the responsibility on our son’s shoulders – which is where it should be – that’s REAL life.If it had been a DEADLY allergy we sure as heck wouldn’t have trusted anyone to really follow that guideline – that would be putting a child’s life dependent on a 5 yr old – and what type of guilt would that child grow up with if he/she had snuck a peanut bar onto the playground and had caused another child’s death?

By: JSHAW

JSHAW — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:48:16 +0000

I’m sorry but I don’t think any school has the right to ban any foods period. If your child has an allergy that severe it is up to you the parent to protect your child – not the rest of the world. Do you put bubble wrap on that child when you go out? Does your child experience any social settings? Do you expect EVERYONE to listen to your guidelines? You are living a pretty naive and entitled life if you think EVERYONE follows those rules.Instead you should be teaching your child how to survive within NORMAL society.Do you actually believe every child doesn’t sneak a cookie, a granola bar, candy, whatever, that may have peanuts in them? Do you actually think this will be forever banned from your child’s social/school settings? You need to TEACH YOUR child how to protect themselves without depending on the kindness of others so far to have to commit to protecting your child too.

By: Di

Di — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:09:21 +0000

RULES! OMG!! I hate them… they come up with the most ridiculous ideas… the other day I went to pick up my daughter from school and the principal came to me to tell me that my daughter is not allowed to wear skirts anymore because they are too short.. come on.. she is 7 and the skirt has the little shorts attached underneath… her skirts are not short.. her legs are just too long…

By: Beverley

Beverley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:49:50 +0000

Sometimes, rules just need to evolve over time as life changes. When I started high school in 1987 you were allowed to smoke cigarettes outside on campus. Fast forward to 2009 and can you imagine any school allowing that. When I was in elementary school in 1983 or 84, I was the new kid and was beaten up in the hallway on a weekly basis. Nowadays, there is a zero tolerance policy for that and the aggressor would be suspended or expelled. In the 80s and 90s, there were almost no kids with severe allergies, so they didn’t need rules at school to exclude peanut products. It’s 2009 and tons of kids have these allergies.

Thankfully we no longer allow smoking at school, violence against other students, and ban potentially deadly peanuts from schools where kids who even inhale a tiny amount of it can DIE. Will anyone DIE from not getting to have peanut butter at school? NO! But nowadays, there are kids who WILL DIE with even the slightest exposure to it. Too bad if it’s an inconvenience. Better an inconvenience than someone die. Your kid can eat peanut butter when they get home. If that’s all they eat, they won’t die if they don’t get it till 3:30 at home. I can’t believe anyone is whining about not being able to give their kid a POTENTIALLY DEADLY PRODUCT AT SCHOOL! HOW SELFISH OF YOU! Thankfully, neither of my kids have this allergy, but I would never complain about it if someone else could possible DIE. Feed your kid something else. And if that’s all they eat, then let them have it at 3:30 at home. Wah, Wah, Wah, they’re too hungry at 3:30. But at least they’re alive.

By: Summer

Summer — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:50:34 +0000

I must say, I’m glad my school district hasn’t done any of these things. There was always a dress code, but after looking into it for future knowledge, they haven’t banned any foods. I just don’t see how it would work. As I said above, what about the kids that eat peanut butter on toast for breakfast? Or the kid that just brings it in anyway? Maybe for a really small preschool class it makes sense, but not school or district wide.

By: CelebBabyLover

CelebBabyLover — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:12:57 +0000

brannon- But getting to have cupcakes for your birthday at school is practically a childhood right of passages. I mean, birthdays and cakes/cupcakes go together like, for example, peanut butter and jelly!

I’m just glad that when I was in school (which was all that terribly long ago, either…hence I am also amazed at how much stricter the rules have become in such a relatively short time), we were allowed to be kids, and bring birthday snacks like cupcakes for the class on our birthdays. Not only that, but we were allowed special treats for holidays (or the day closest to them, if they fell on a weekend or, in the case of Christmas, over a break from schoool). AND our teachers didn’t freak out if we ate a little of our Valentine’s Day loot at school during the Valentine’s party (naturally most of us included candy with our valentines)!

I understand the peanut thing somewhat…although I admit I would have been very upset if my Elementary School had banned nuts, as, although I usually ate the hot lunch (I was weird and actually LIKED most of the hot lunches my school served!), whenever I DID bring my own lunch, I always had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

However, some of the other rules that various schools have, such as no juice, sound absolutely ridiculios to me! I mean, what’s next? Banning flavored watter?

By: brannon

brannon — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:54:28 +0000

Wow. As a mother and a teacher I am a bit shocked by some of these statements. “Sorry your kid could die, but my kid loves peanut butter sandwiches.” Telling children – ages 5 to 10 – to get over eating by yourself, life isn’t fair, etc. RATHER than telling your own child they can’t have peanut butter in school … maybe you should be telling them “too bad, life isn’t fair — at least you can eat it when you get home!” Very scary. So much for teaching tolerance of others facing challenges. My public elementary school where I teach has some of these “ridiculous” rules such as peanut free (had a parent last year who was annoyed with the rule and sent in a peanut butter sandwich with her 2nd grader. My fifth grader sitting two rooms down from the cafeteria ended up in shock and was hospitalized for 2 days. Should he have been “controlling” himself?) We also only allow for clear water bottles – no juice – and have a dress code. As a beach town, we often have children in school who look as if they are headed to the beach, not school. this doesn ot foster an educational mindset. Also, many elementary schools have rules for the whole school – in other words, a spaghetti strap top on a 5 year old and one on a ten year old are completely different. In any case, I have to wonder how many of you annoyed by the rules have children who struggle to follow rules in school? If you want to go “back in the day” then remember a time when rules were rules and kids followed them in school. Now on the flip, my son attends an exclusive private school and the rules – though a bit stricter and better enforced – are similar. No juice, no sugar, no cupcakes, etc. I get letter after letter about the no cupcake thing and I never understand the problem – eat cupcakes at home. There are so many other alternatives for school celebrations. (I had a child today bring in a box of clementines – the kids loved it!) Do any of you who complain about this have any experience with educating 20 some children hyped up on sugar and in “party mode?” Oddly enough – yet to find kids who don’t understand the rules. We journal all the time about their opinions on such things and they always get it — why do so many adults have so much trouble? Do I agree with all the rules all the time – of course not. Do I follow them (so long as my rights, beliefs, etc. are not compromised – of course.) Cupcakes and tank tops are hardly cause for such uproar. Time and place…

By: Summer

Summer — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:30:11 +0000

I just have a few questions. First, what happens if a kid ate peanut butter for breakfast and didn’t brush their teeth and/or wash their hands? How can you monitor that? Also, even if there is a “no nut” policy, how can it be enforced at larger schools? Some of the schools in my area have thousands of students per grade. Does someone check each and every lunch and go through their personal belongings to make sure they don’t have any nuts on them? I’m honestly curious. I have an infant, so I haven’t had to deal with this stuff yet.