avoiding milk at school...

[kellijean]

I am new to this and have recently instructed my 3 girls (elementary age) to not drink milk at the school cafeteria. I am going slowly with them as far as cutting out milk, etcetera. Already, though, one of my girls has begun to draw negative attention from her teacher with regards to cutting out milk. I dont want any negative attention from school officials, etcetera, etcetera. How do I go about this as inconspicuously as possible?

[rawviveyourself]

A few years ago my daughter (who just doesn't like milk) wanted to have oj instead of milk with her school lunch. Well, you would have thought I asked for something outrageous by what followed.....the school demanded a letter from the doctor saying she was lactose intolerant before they would "allow" her to substitute milk with oj. I wrote a letter the first year this came up and that was fine, but the following year they said the letter had to be from a medical doctor. We ended up having her bring her own lunch.

[kellijean]

I believe you. I told my girls to substitute the oj for the milk. I told them why (I am pretty up front with my girls about health issues) because I had just finished reading The China Study and they were okay with that. But it dawned on me that we may run into trouble in the future with this kind of stuff. I think that if everyone could just picture their child "nursing" from a cow, the "logic" behind drinking milk would be resolved. :)

[Crazy Healer Lady]

Rawviveyourself, that's horrible!! I would have been so angry!! What you feed your child is your business. Granted, I understand they have to watch out for neglect and poor parenting, but this crosses the line. Milk at lunch! Sheesh!

[juliebove]

That's crazy! What about kids with a milk allergy?

[iamacranberry]

Ironic that they'd ask you to bring a letter from a medical doctor...when most of them take just one or two classes in nutrition, if that.

[HolyGuacamole]

I have horror stories I could tell you, like the time they forced my child in second grade to not only finish a box of milk but to eat a HOT DOG. I didn't have time to make her lunch that morning and so gave her money to buy lunch, never for a moment thinking she would be forced to eat meat and milk.
Eventually, when I was able, I just homeschooled instead.

My only advice to you is to pack their lunches, that way you have total control over what they eat.

[Bananna]

One thing you could do, if you can't get away with just telling them she has a milk sensitivity and you end up needing a doctor's note, or you just want to preempt anything with one...they are easy to get.

Tell your doctor she has issues with milk such as constipation and crankiness and you just want to get her allergy tested. Then, you will get referred to an allergist. The allergist will test her for a milk allergy which will be negative...but then, he/she will likely give you a whole schpeel about how many people have problems with milk even though they aren't anaphylactically allergic (break out in hives, etc), and that if you notice that everytime you give her milk, she has these problems -constipation, etc, then just avoid giving her milk.
At that point, you could tell him your situation with the school and ask for an 'exemption from milk drinking' note, lol...it's all stupid semantics, but that's the way beauracracy's work, right?

...I know all this, because I went through this with an allergist. You might not even need to go to one, if your doctor is reasonable. Loads of people have all kinds of problems with dairy that is acknowledged by western medicine, that is Not tested or verified...just the patient's word.

Plus, you're Allowed to be Vegan...there is no law against that. You could also print off some ADA statement or something that says it's perfectly acceptable, and that you are ensuring she gets her calcium elsewhere in her diet, just as if she Did have lactose intolerance.

Such a joke!...HolyGuac -loved homeschooling when I did it too, for reasons like this, lol.

[michigan roman]

thanx for the ' nursing from a cow ' quote , very appropriate/true :cool:

" we exist on raw plant foods and water like humans are meant to , end of conversation "

thats what ide teach my children to reply to all the egotistical ignorant modern day citizens of earth voicing their opinions on what proper human cell fuel is from their , caused by improper diet , weak / soft / bodies :mad:
they are listening to washed up lost leaders and going extinct with them , dont let your kids follow them . get p.o.ed about it because just by looking at the physical state of modern people you can tell the diets wrong , how can anyone argue against you on that . THEY CANT , THUSLY YOU / YOUR DIETARY PHILOSOPHY ARE ON SOLID GROUND TO FIGHT FROM .

and your already giving kids a good foundation to stand on with 'china study'
which greatly helps , to that ide look to add more dietary outlooks of your choice to teach them at home in effort to make their dietary foundation unshakeable . im not read on the modern day writers , but my fave old timer is norman walkers simple and clear book ' raw fruit and vegi juices ' , theres some awesome chapters in there from which i got on an unshakeable raw food base . walkers words were like lightning bolts from deep out on the universe coarsing down onto earth and blowing up candy/pop factories :eek::p i gave at least 20 of those books to family/friends

bottom line is dont be on the defensive , be p.o.ed and on the attack and call out people like the teacher whom dont know what they are talking about and enlighten them to the fact that the average american and their washed up government are unaware of how to properly fuel their cells existances .

to add : im 50 , and recently ive been seeing alot of my childhood friends at parties / reunions / weddings / funerals . and when you dont see people for 30 years then see them this age what came to my mind upon seeing the aging on their bodies is what their my teeth are made of / their hair made of / their bones made of . and i know its cookies / cake / pop / chips / cereal / bread / candy / etc , and it makes me VIVIDLY AWARE that if we'd all aten ' RAW PLANT FOODS AND WATER ' we'd be WAYYYYYYYYYYY less aged . with bright white hard teeth instead of cracking discolored teeth made of kool aid and snickers bars . if we were eating dark greens and seeds we'd be about half as aged , and look like 30 year olds . so what im saying is my parents didnt know better , and spent half their checks each week buying what they thought were the best foods on earth for their kids to make them healthy like the tv ran by the washed up government told them = PEPSI / CHIPS AHOY / SUGAR POPS / MILKYWAYS / DORITOS / DONUTS / ETC . now at 50 im seeing the results and it aint good . so get mad about it and defend your kids from eating wrong as the school and tv are telling them to do .

[Bananna]

That is absolutely the truth of it all, and we all know it. The problem is that you are dealing with people who have the authority to Take Your Children Away. ...not the teachers themselves, obviously, but it starts there with a simple referral to Children's Protective Services.

Depending on the social worker you get, they would consider depriving children of a 'balanced diet' that follows Food Guide recommendations as Neglect...complete grounds for taking your child. A Lot of social workers are very inflexible with respect to dietary choices, schooling choices, etc.

You want to try and reason with these people and go on a crusade in a world where we are a bunch of airy-fairy fringe weirdos? I mean its fine to be fringe, unless you're a parent. Then the rules change a bit.

Better to be careful and low-key I think...and not take such gambles...especially if they can barely stand just wanting your kid to be dairy-free!

[Eva]

I think that if everyone could just picture their child "nursing" from a cow, the "logic" behind drinking milk would be resolved. :)
That is really funny but so true!!

[rawstrength]

You could have your kids bring water or green smoothies in a container, then they could just not take the milk. That way, you wouldn't have to bother with replacing the milk with orange juice.
Congrats on taking a great first step towards improving the health of your kids!

[iamacranberry]

Agreed...taking the lunch is probably considerably less conspicuous, and questions are less likely to be raised by school officials.

[klomasius]

O.M.G. :eek:

Holyguacamole. I would have turned into a hurricane of 'you do not want to mess with me' if that had happened to my son! And I'm normally so easy going.

I would be contacting anyone and everyone who made school regulations and probably brought it to the media's attention. And not to mention taking my son out of the wretched school!

I doubt anything like that would happen here in Australia. We don't (thank everything in existence!) have a culture of canteen junk and powerful food lobbyists infiltrating our school as happens in many US ones.

I'm so sorry you and your child had to go through that. And I thought the time a new chef at our son's child care centre accidentally fed our son jelly (jello) with gelatine in it was bad (they were SO apologetic, I knew it was an accident though). He got sick. :(

I'm so amazed that milk is still considered this health panacea and that schools force it upon children!

Keep up the resistance people!

Sorry, end rant. This sort of stuff makes me see all kinds of red.

[HolyGuacamole]

Yeah, it was not pretty. :(

[cherrypie]

wow, all the troubles you are running into at your school. at my childrens schools they are very open for all kinds of different diets, but maybe that has to do that we are living in a very ethnically diverse neighbour hood so the school is used to "funny" eating behaviours. I actually pack green smoothies in their snack boxes and did not get any funny reply yet. Maybe it helped that I expressed my outrage at the beginning of the school year that they sell frozen orange juice bars that are basically high fructose corn syrup with orange flavour and colour.:D So I guess we are very lucky in my area.

[KaitAnne]

Good grief, I cannot believe that. What's gonna happen when my kids are in school?! That's outrageous!!

[Traceyraw]

I had the same issue with my daughter. I told the school she is highly allergic and will have to go to the ER if she has any this is the only way the paid attention. Scare them It worked for me.

[KaitAnne]

My daughter starts kindergarten next fall and I'll prolly hafta deal with this same issue. I'll tell them that milk makes her sick..
It's not a lie either. She's not allergic or lactose intolerant, but I think dairy caused problems for her whenever she got a cold. Every night if she had a cold, she'd wake up coughing, gagging and throwing up. Highly traumatic for all. I suspect it had something to do with dairy and mucus/plegm, whatever..since cutting out milk, the problem has stopped. Not to mention that when her diet is as it should be (high raw) she doesn't get sick often anymore.

[oceanluv]

if you notice that everytime you give her milk, she has these problems -constipation, etc, then just avoid giving her milk.

I suggest you tell them your children get diarrhea from milk. they won't want to deal with that, lol.

[Coolexplosion]

Just try trying to get children out of vaccines in America. They don't call it "gunpoint medicine" for nothing...

[iamacranberry]

Yet another reason to homeschool!

[ladytmarie]

Hi all,

I am still waaaaaaaaaaaay away from beginning any type of raw food journey, but I just wanted to chime in with a little reminder. I'm a teacher (which is why I'm so outraged that teachers would FORCE a child to eat/drink anything. That's just asking for a lawsuite ESPECIALLY if you don't know ANYTHING about the child's dietary routine. It would be different if you had a note from the parents or something like "can you just try to encourage soandso to eat all of their lunch?" But the teacher didn't. That's just wrong. But I digress...) and at my school if the child buys school lunch, they HAVE to get the milk along with it. So you might need to tell your child that they will have to TAKE the milk, but I don't think they can be forced to DRINK the milk. They can't even turn the unopened cartons back into the cafeteria at my school because "once it goes out, it cannot go back in". So the unconsumed milk just goes to waste really. Anyway, just wanted to say that about them having to get a certain amount of food (I think at my school it's one main course/meat/meat alternative, 1 fruit, one vegetable or somethin like that) and they have to get the milk too.

[Thick]

If you don't have a pediatrician who is cool and informed, call a midwife in your area and ask which pediatricians she recommends. They are very likely to understand not only your need for a note, but be open to a raw food diet as well.

[myssi]

Hi all - just wanted to pop in my 2 cents. After providing a doctor's note to exempt him from milk drinking at the beginning of the year and allow 100% juice (still processed, but IMO better than milk), at parent-teacher conferences, my 8 year old son showed me his locker which had a stock pile of juice boxes in it. He said he hasn't been drinking them and wasn't sure what to do with them because they were all expired - "use by" dates from over 3 months back!

Packing lunches is best! I've actually pulled him out of school since then and we're now homeschooling, with resistance and insulting inquiries from his teacher, matters that are legally no longer none of her business!

Again just my opinion, but at least here (in a well off, snobby suburb), the "system" isn't designed for people to actually think for themselves. Creativity is snuffed out and conforming to arbitrary rules is brainwashed into our children.

[Platypus Girl]

My son who has severe allergies, got a case of gastro last week and i was advised by the nurse who i rang, to get him checked out at the hospital for dehydration cos he was vomiting so much and had diarrhoea...
of course he was ok. i looked at his diet myself, and noticed just before the gastro he started asking for formulated special allergy treated milk powder for severe allergy babies about four times in the day. so he was consuming about 500ml of this powder milk formula a day, which i thought was a bit much. i thought at the time still, that it was a good substitute as the doctor said it was speciially for high allergy babies like him.
anyway, i read up and researched about raw food, and decided to immediately cut his powder formula drink, figuring it was completely processed and unnatural food. then his cough adn phlegm actually lifted!!!
now he voraciously eats raw veggies, it's so cute!!!

HOWEVER!!!! at the hospital, the doctor there gave him gastrolyte with ORANGE DIET CORDIAL!!!! they said they always give it to kids as it tastes nicer than the saltier taste of the gastrolyte (rehydration drink with eletrolytes - salts)!!!!!! DUMB, huh????? when i said, "well, you should have told me you added that....you know he has severe allergies adn intolerances, and so now he's ahving preservatives, colours, and artificial sweeteners???!?!?! he's reacting to that! i was wondering why he was starting to scratch his reddening cheeks!"
and this was after she grilled me why he isn't immunised. She said she just wanted to know....!!!!! every doctor i've met thinks they're justified in asking me to give an indepth lecture and explanantion why i'm not immunising my son...((((((
i still can't get over the stupidity of that young female doctor at the emergency department, giving my son ORANGE DIET CORDIAL mixed into his medicine, without telling me!!! Plus a tablet and when i asked about what it was, what were sideefects, etc, she got angry that i 'challenged' or 'questioned' what she prescribed!!!! but i'm his mother, and i'm responsible for him........talk about medical RAPE!!!:mad:

[Platypus Girl]

well, ok...so the term "medical rape" might sound a bit drastic!!!.....lol....:p but it just sometimes feels like that when you get stuff enforced on you or your kiddies, even when you yourself made a conscientious decision about something....guess it just means finding where you can safely practice and live what you believe. it means i've become reluctant to go to doctors at all, and rather see if i get better unless i get really bad asthma of course, i go in for help! and now i'll think twice about going into emergency dept for anything if he is sick, that's all. or maybe there are alternative doctors? who knows.....

[rockstar135]

Yet another reason to homeschool!

Agreed.

I find it unbelievable that one has to lie to keep their child from consuming milk.

It should be sufficient to say: "My child is vegan. Therefore he/she does not consume milk."

What further commentary would be necessary?

[adiebabe]

LOL! Oh here we go... :rolleyes:

I had just finished the page on milk (and substitutes) on my website when my seven year old brought home a paper for some sort of milk program at school where you pre-purchase the amount you want for the month for your child. He can have chocolate milk from time to time (not my preference but I'm also not his only parent and daddy and the grandfolks just aren't 'gettin' it' !), So I wrote a note to his teacher stating that milk is NOT good for you and that I had the research to prove it, than I asked if he would be allowed almond milk (depending on children's allergies of course) and stated that if not, I would happily find an alternative to that (and the milk). No problems, no issues.

Unless you're dealing with some completely unreasonable people at your child's school, I think the idea that you cannot say no to milk for your child for fear of someone calling a social worker is completely bizzare. I seriously hope people are being alarmist when they say things like that!

Have you approached the school teacher and discussed the issue?

[jacsam]

I would just send home lunches.....I found it cost more to give my children home lunches....but that's okay.

[Coolexplosion]

This thread alone is another seemingly obvious reason that kids in school don't know anything they should.

Everyone who is raw/smart homeschools their kids. Translation: Those smart kids never see the school system so, the only kids left are from SAD-happy parents who are on 3 or more medications and believe the American medical system is better than any organized religion.

It's sad the former type of people aren't the only ones voting, then we'd have politicians that actually worked for the people. Scary, I know.

[cherrypie]

sorry coolexplosion- I do disagree with you.

I am on a high raw diet, my family is going more and more down my path and we do not homeschool, in fact me and my husband are very much against homeschooling but we do not dam parents who want to do it- for us it is just not an option. Oh and I am totally against any organized religion, actually religion at all for myself - unless it is wore shipping mother earth. I keep it with John Lennon "Imagine there is world without religion..." . But you know what -I am not imposing my views on my children- we talk to them about god and his connection to all world religions and let them make their own choice.

So being raw does not go hand in hand with homeschooling and being religious. it is about an obligation to ourselfs, our children and to make this world a better place but not necessarely in the name of god. And one is not necessarely a better parent if you homeschool and pilgrim to church,synagoge or mosque every week. LOVE is something human that we all carry in us without relying on a greater being above us.

I am very happy with my children's school and a strong supporter of a public school system- which by the way we support by paying taxes. And as a parent involved with volunteering at school and being a member of the PTA I make sure that I as a parent address my concerns, needs and applause at the right place.

[debilana]

I am smart, raw, and educated, and I do not homeschool either. My child knows quite a bit about nutrition and she is not stupid.

Tossing families and kids into smart/dumb/homeschool/public school catagories does a world of harm to all children.

Also I do not belong to an "organized" religion, however, I am chock full of morals, ethics, and values. I know quite a few families just like mine as well. Please do not label people so broadly.

I have been packing lunches for my 11 year old since she started school. It is the ultimate threat to make her buy school lunch =) She never drinks milk...but remember, we are dealing with years of brainwashing by a huge corporate power. It takes time and patience to wittle away at these beliefs people have.

[cherrypie]

thanks debilana- for putting it into a more eloquent way :)

[Coolexplosion]

And people on this site, for the most part, are the exception and not the rule.

[Bananna]

Translation: Those smart kids never see the school system so, the only kids left are from SAD-happy parents who are on 3 or more medications and believe the American medical system is better than any organized religion.

As a former homeschooler who now sends her kids to school, I Know there are all types in both sectors. A lot of people homeschool there kids, because their kids have learning challenges that aren't being met well in the system. A lot of homeschooling parents aren't smart. A lot of kids in public schools are Very smart indeed!

But I have heard a similiar argument against putting kids in private schools....that it robs public schools of diverse natural talent. Lack of diversity can perpetuate the status quo.

I guess I am actually against lying and saying your kid is sick...better to challenge the status quo and make a scene and cause change.