When I was a kid, Valentine's Day was a great excuse to overdose on sugar, chocolate, and red dye #40. School parties featured cupcakes and punch and candy hearts while my parents usually had some kind of treat for us at home. It was second only to Halloween in terms of the deliciousness level, not to mention the sugar high.
How times have changed. Last night, for my daughter's preschool party, I made not cookies, not cupcakes, but plain, lightly salted popcorn. Other choices on the sign up sheet included red apples, snap peas, strawberries, and bagels.
All perfectly wonderful and tasty food, but party food? Come on now.
My daughter's school has a "healthy lunch policy" that carries over into celebrations. Anything sent to school has to be free of added sugars, artificial sweeteners, and food dyes. And it seems more schools are going this way. One, in Georgia, calls itself the first sugar-free public elementary school in the country.
I know, and fully support, all the good reasons to do this – not least of which is not creating the association between "celebration" and "junk food." And heaven knows I would not want to be the teacher that has to handle 25 energetic preschoolers after they've been all amped up on sugar. Dealing with the one I have when she gets to have, say, a brownie can make me wish for a child-safe tranquilizer dart. We try to stay away from processed and junky food at home.
And soon enough, she'll know the small thrill of a pink-frosted heart-shaped cookie.
Photo: NoSugarAddedShop.com
