CHICAGO, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The age-old tradition of bringing cupcakes to school for holiday parties is becoming the latest casualty of the drive for better nutrition in schools.
In the Chicago area and across the country, schools are banning the attractive, delicious dietary nightmares in favor of veggies, dried fruit, or cheese and crackers, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.
The new scrutiny of holiday treats has resulted, in part, from a federal law passed last year that required all school districts to craft nutrition and physical fitness plans for their students, the newspaper said. Many schools acted to ban soda and junk food from their buildings, and now that philosophy is being extended to the tiny frosted snowflakes and sprinkled cupcakes generations of parents have sent to school for birthdays and winter holiday parties.
Schools argue the surge in childhood obesity and serious allergies justifies the sacrifice, but some parents are not so sure.
"Around Christmastime, let's make it special and relax the rules a bit," Angela Ackmann, parent of a first-grader at Coleman Elementary School in Elgin, Ill., told the Tribune.
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