I'll help you cross the street- for a Loonie...

It is a new year, a month or so into it actually, and I have felt like I have been in a whirl wind. Our Christmas Vacation was spent on wheels, traveling from one family to the next. It was a lovely quick holiday. There was family drama. Of course there was family drama. I think everyone has it in some form during the holidays . You take relatives you haven't seen in a while, add a litle alcohol and Voila, a classic recipe for Family Drama. Only this year, It wasn't my side of the family.Wahoo!
The family drama was quickly dealt with and then school drama hit. There is no possible way that we could start the year back at school without some of that.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health have put out new Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools. As of January 1,2008, these new guidelines are being enforced. So what does that mean for our school, with an active Parent Advisory Committee? It meant jumping through hoops to find ways of making our hot lunch program "fit"or the program would grind to a halt. It is a major fund raiser, and we certainly couldn't afford to have it stop. Seriously folks, where else would you pay $4 for a simple hot dog and juice box? Okay, we only do the hot dog thing once in a while, just because to even find the number of volunteers required can be a feat in of itself, Nevermind cooking hundreds of hotdogs.
We regularly have vendors do the meal prep for us. So, pizza, lasagna, and sub sandwiches are often on the menu. But it was quite a bit of work for the volunteer parents to convince the vendors to change their ingredients to comply with the new regulations:Some pizza's with vegitables, some sub sandwiches made with lean meats such as turkey and chicken, if served with a whole grain food, and met sodium requirements. Some vendors dropped out, and new vendors were found and so on. Then there were numerous mettings where parents questioned the value of the food for their dollar. Were they willing to pay $4 for a tuna wrap, that their kid probably wouldn't eat anyway?I know I wasn't about to pay $4 for something I could easily make at home for a couple of bucks.
In the spirit of these new regulations of healthy eathing and Healthy schools, some of the teachers jumped on board.Gem's teacher decided to encourage the children to bring more fruit and veggies for healthy snacks, by keeping a daily tally of wrist bands on the child's arm. They received a band for every fruit or veggie serving that they ate. It wasn't good enough that they brought it to school, they had to actually eat it. It grew to the point where Gem, was wanting to bring just fruit and veggies to school - forget the sandwich. Then I noticed that she was coming home with candy.
She was being rewarded with candy for good behavior. The teacher had found the one loophole in the guidelines. It wasn't against the guidelines if the candy was given to them. Between the bracelet rewards, and the candy I was becoming confused. So I decided with another parent to have a chat one afternoon with the teacher.
She explained that the bracelets were a form of helping the children keep track of how many servings of fruits and veggies that they have during the day. In conjunction with the new guidelines, she was wanting to encourage healthy eating. It was not to imply that sandwiches, did not have their place on the nutritional scale. So then I asked about the behavior being rewarded with candy.
It seemed that she was having a difficult time motivating the children daily,to quickly unpack their books and settle down to begin their day.Then again after lunch. So she decided to put all of their names in a bucket at the beginning of the week. At the end of the week, if their name was in the bucket , it went in a draw for a big chocolate bar. But she was still doling out candy daily for those who were good.
The teacher then phoned me the next morning with a follow up call, and asked "Do you not want Gem to have any candy?"
"Oh, yes," I thought "Make me the bad parent and ostrasize my child in front of the other kids!" That would throw Gem in some sort of therapy later on in life, for sure.
"No," I replied, "That's not it. I don't want her being given a candy every time she helps another child, or sits quietly waiting for instruction, or puts up her chair, or erases the black board for you, so that by the end of the day, she is coming home with two or three candies."
"Oh," The teacher was quiet for a moment. " I think that is partially my fault. I tend to keep very close track of how many candies the kids get - for those who are always asking, it's easy. But I tend to loose track of those who are always quiet."
No Kidding?
So she decided at the end of the week, all the children who still had their name in the bucket received a small candy, and participated in the draw. After all candy is an amazing motivator. I realize that a little candy, or even sweets in moderation, probably never hurt anyone. I am not against my kids having candy, after all, even I have a sweet tooth.
But what I want to know is, when did, quickly becoming organized and ready for school, stop being something you did simply because you were told? When did the consequences of not doing it become nil? When did the act of being prepared, being well behaved, and kindness towards others become bribe worthy?