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| | I just want to say "THANK YOU!" to AKcassie for the tip on the alternative snacks. My children have attended VBS the last several years (just as soon as they were old enough). And they love it! We all look forward to it, myself included, as I have also helped in various areas with all the kids. However, I cannot say that I have been pleased with all of the snacks given. Each year I mark that my children do not have any allergies just hoping that the snacks will not be too full of sugar. This year our church listed the snacks for each day for the parents to review. I am not impressed with the quality of the snacks. Yes, my children like sweets, BUT in our house it is usually meant as a treat. NOT a daily 'snack'. Yes, the children will be running, playing, dancing, etc. and need energy but a sugar rush isn't what they need. We try to eat sensibly, get to bed early, etc, however, each year by the 3rd or 4th day my kids (especially the younger ones) are nearly at their breaking point. 'Healthy snacks' doesn't have to mean boring or no fun, contrary to what Missy and Pastor Joe may think. This year my children and I went through the list of daily snacks, read Daniel 1, and made our own list of snacks that we will prepare each night before. And can you believe it, we don't have one vegetable listed! Once I looked up Cassie's tip it gave me some ideas how we can make our snacks go with the themes for each day. Although, my 8 yr old still wants to do the original snacks we came up with...and she's the one with the sweet tooth! But she's been learning that 'tasty' isn't synonymous with sugar. I just don't understand how someone could think a large sugar cookie w/frosting, M&M's and candy orange slices isn't much sugar. ?? Yes, John the Baptist ate honey (we have harvested honey the last couple of years - great stuff!) but frosting, candy and soda don't compare to what God designed via bees. I realize VBS is supposed to be fun. But aren't we also sending our children there to learn? Yes, they are to be learning about Christ, but isn't He also interested in ALL aspects of our lives? Isn't it possible to teach them that living Christlike can be fun and rewarding even when we are doing something responsible? And just for the record, my kids have permission to eat a few M&M's. They just aren't going to have a whole plateful (even a small one) full of nothing even remotely healthy. Don't call good things bad, and bad things good. I wasn't pleased with the snacks but reading the various comments trying to praise them and boo-hoo a healthy snack, I was incensed. |
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| | We don't do the snacks as a rotation. Instead, everyone comes together at about 10a.m for snack time. We sing our grace together and then eat our snack. Different members of our congregation donate snacks each day. This offers an opportunity for many persons who may not be involved in ministry in any other way to get involved. When possible we do something that can be tied in with the lesson, but basically we just try to have something that the children will eat and not waste. We also try to alternate sweets with other things. The most popular items are: cupcakes, sandwiches, cookies, chip & dip and fruit. |
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Last Login: 7/23/2008 10:15:38 AM
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| Learning begins at home. Children who eat (are taught) a "healthy" diet at home will eat veggies and other stuff. The ones who won't, usually eat junk at home (are allowed to eat it). So why do we get so uptight over 5 snacks? Studies show that sugar does NOT make kids bounce off the walls, contrary to popular belief (and many parents who use it as an excuse for lack of discipline-another thing that should be taught at home). One cookie per day is certainly not going to cause a child to go into melt down, unless they are diabetic. We taught our kids to eat whatever was put in front of them (just as we were taught). Nothing is more frustrating than to have a child say "I don't like that," and they do not know if they do or not. Oh yeah manners, that has to be taught at home too. I agree with whomever said we cannot teach them to eat healthy in 15 hours (and it is not the job of the church anyway). You cannot please everyone. We serve whatever we feel fits in with our theme (both in VBS and Sunday school). Parents can send a snack if they think ours won't work, but the only time this has happened was when a child had Celiac problems. Public schools are not bastians of healthy food either, and lunch boxes for many children are full of junk. God bless all of you who work so hard to make your VBS fun and exciting. Most kids will not remember the snacks in 10 years, but they will remember having fun, and VBS leaders who made an impact on their lives.
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Last Login: 8/25/2008 8:46:40 PM
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| | Back to cupcakes...if you made cupcakes for day 5 (Faith on Fire cupcakes.) Would you just dip the cupcake in the cool whip, add M&M's and use your leftover orange slices from Monday for the fire? I like a snack with a little more substacne than just cool whip and M&M's. Who would eat the fruit? |
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Last Login: 7/20/2008 9:21:54 PM
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| | Something else to keep in mind for children that are in our care...there are a lot of children nowadays with peanut allergies. We also have kids who are Type 1 Diabetic. Now, working with these children, they don't necessarily do the right thing (take something overly sweet when their blood sugar will skyrocket, etc.). As adults, we are responsible for taking care of all children in our care. We have our VBS as an outreach ministry where we have a ton of kids who do not attend our church. If they have a friend eating a sugary snack but they have to eat something more healthy (without peanuts or sugar), the child will see that it's not really fair, even if this is something that they deal with on a daily basis. We need to be sensitive to the whole, even if it's just for a few kids. In fact, we have also included this for the snacks offered for Sunday School and completely overhauled what is being served to cover all of these things (we have a completely peanut-free zone, including items that may be manufactured in plants that also manufacture peanut products). I don't know about you, but as a director, I don't want to be taking a kid to the emergency room from an allergic reaction to something that I as an adult had complete control over. The kid will only remember going to the emergency room and which will take away from their experience of learning about Jesus. Something to think about. Peace, Marlene Kane Director of Children's Ministries St. Paul UMC |
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