<p>When the kids were little, we’d bring their teachers a home made pineapple upside down cake at Christmas. Husband’s mom always did that and we wanted to keep up the tradition. But husband’s brother, who teaches at a junior high, said he would never consider eating homemade food from a student and anything a student/parent brings is pitched.</p>
<p>I was thinking of giving homemade chocolate chip cookies (plus a gift card) to the teacher and GCs who do rec letters [see other thread] but I don’t want to waste the time if they’re going to be pitched.</p>
<p>Do you eat homemade stuff that students bring in?</p>
<p>I am not a teacher, but my mother was a teacher. She would never eat it. I have seen lots of teachers eating homebaked foods brought to school (when there were parent groups, bake sales, school plays/concerts, etc.). I also was in a meeting with our principal and a child brought in a huge piece of birthday cake. It looked delicious. The principal thanked the child for it, and as soon as the child left the room she threw it in the garbage. She told me that if she ate all of the goodies brought to her she would be bigger than a house!</p>
<p>My SIL says that often she will put the baked goods in the lounge. She said cookies are more likely to be eaten then cakes. She said she knows one Mom who will bring larger sized chocolate chip cookies(think the type they sell at the coffee house) and have them individually bagged tied with a cute ribbon. Those got eaten.</p>
<p>Seems like teachers/GCs are far less likely to eat homemade food now than they were yrs ago. It may be because towns/schools are getting bigger and teachers don’t always live in the same town they teach in, so they don’t necessarily know their students’ families anymore and thus have no idea what the household/kitchen conditions may be like. However, it’s the thought that counts and if you want to give cookies, you should and it’s up to them to eat or not. If you don’t want to go through the effort and have your gift tossed, you could always get a cookie tray from a grocery store or bakery to be put in the college counseling office or teachers lounge - maybe leave the ingredients sticker on so it’s clear that it’s store bought.</p>
<p>My daughter made pecan pies for her guidance counselor and 3 favorite teachers. They were gone in about 15 minutes. She said it was like the other teachers had “food radar.” They showed up at the door with forks. One teacher did manage to squirrel away one slice for her husband. She was very close to all of these teachers though.</p>
<p>My MIL was a school nurse for many years, and she did not have to bake at all for the holidays!! We would end up eating most of what she brought home, even if she didn’t have her dietary restrictions she probably would not have eaten anything, but we sure did!</p>
<p>I plan to do the same with cookies & I love the big cookie idea, but if you want to rethink the baking, a nice jar of jam or tin of mints w/a bow is an alternative…</p>
<p>It depends, I think. I made some pumpkin banana nut breads one year and gave them to all of the teachers at an elementary school. I am pretty sure they were eaten by the recipients from the comments I got and the notes. I had heard that when kids get to high school there is more of a reluctance to eat home made goodies because high school kids sometimes do some mean spirited pranks including dosing the food. </p>
<p>I did give S’s teachers some homemade Christmas goodies last year; the ones who did his recs, and I am pretty sure they were eaten due to the specificity of the remarks. But this is a small private school, the teachers know the kids very well, knows my boys who have gone there well, knows me, and I gave the goodies personally to the teachers.</p>
<p>My mom teaches 3rd grade, and she would bring all of the goodies home, where I would take care of them. So, I always thought it was a good idea.</p>
<p>Doctors office here, and we get homemade cakes, pies, bread, cookies, etc, especially at the holidays. And I am afraid to say that we consume just about all of it. On occasion there is something for one of us to take home to the family. More often, it never makes it home. In 24 years, I have never been sick from something prepared for me at home. I recall a birthday when I somehow ended up with 3 store-bought layer cakes with tons of that super sugery sweet frosting. Those I gave away. But the homemade pineapple upside down cakes, gone in the first hour. Banana bread, gone with the first pot of coffee.</p>
<p>I once heard a middle school teacher say that he wouldn’t eat anything his kids brought in. Made me sad. My kids’ teachers know me really well, though, so I’m sure they’d eat whatever my sons or I brought them. In fact, I’ve had requests in the past!</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I think teachers would be more inclined to consume edible gifts from the type of parent on CC; you all are typically somewhat involved at school and with your kids, and because of that presence the teachers feel that they know you, even if you’re not actually friends outside of school. There’s a difference between a mom/dad bringing in a gift or sending it with their child with a nice note versus a kid randomly showing up with food as a holiday present. While the kid who happened to bake on the weekend and wanted to share some holiday goodies may have the best intentions, if the teachers don’t feel that they know him/her all that well and have never even met their family, there may be more reluctance to consume due to food safety concerns, possible pranks etc.</p>
<p>My son likes to cook, and he has enjoyed cooking for several of his classes at school (paella and flan for Spanish class), pie for math class (pi day). Everyone helped eat - students, teachers, staff. Yes, a very small school, so that probably makes a difference.</p>
<p>Very small high school here. The teachers love to get food from the students, and have told them so. Sometimes it is the teachers who bring stuff to share with the kids.</p>
<p>My mum is a retired teacher and she used to bring home the homemade goodies her kids brought for her at Christmas. I loved it - the dining room table would be covered in mince pies, mini plum puddings, shortbread, truffles, fudge, all sorts of great stuff! My mum taught 5-6 year olds though, so the stuff was probably baked by parents not students - it’s unlikely that kids that young would be baking at all, let alone making nasty homemade stuff for the teacher!</p>
<p>What a lot of different opinions! Thanks! I’m pretty sure that the pineapple upside down cakes were eaten…Husband was often the room parent, so the teachers knew we weren’t going to put drugs in them or anything. Husband’s teacher brother works at a school where he never meets quite a few of the parents…it’s probably smart that he doesn’t eat the stuff.</p>
<p>I’m going to be honest…it depends on where the food comes from. I work with young students and do home visits as part of my job. I’ve been in some homes where I wouldn’t eat packaged food, much less something that was cooked in the home. There are other homes that are cleaner than my own. </p>
<p>If I really don’t know where the food came from…I don’t eat it. Sorry, I just don’t. If the home is a particularly dirty one, I don’t eat the food (if I’ve been there and I’ve seen that). If it’s a pretty clean place, I will eat the food.</p>
<p>Many families give me homemade cookies or cakes…I’m gracious about accepting them but many just land on the teacher’s room table where others can decide whether or not to eat them. Our faculty room policy is that food only stays on the table for one day (if it lasts that long)…then it’s tossed.</p>
<p>I do NOT expect any gifts at all from my students. </p>
<p>Now…re: gifts for writing letters of recommendation…(I know…not really the topic…but related). Kids wrote thank you notes to these teachers…no gifts. Both kids DID give gifts to two teachers each who really were long term teachers and who really made a long term contribution to their success in high school. In both cases, these were gift cards to restaurants, but they were not given until the day before high school graduation…oh…along with a nice thank you note.</p>
<p>I confess - when I saw the title of the thread I was not concerned about calories consummed but the safety of the food and if it was sabatoged, either intentionally or accidentally.</p>
<p>I work for a public school and we occassionally get homemade goodies in our office - I would not eat any food unless I knew the origins.</p>
<p>I have several friends that I would not eat their homemade goodies! Have you ever seen people who let their cats jump on the counters while they are cooking?? Eek! How about buying some really nice baked goods at an upscale bakery? I would trust that much more…</p>
<p>And what about the days of bringing in baked goods for a child’s birthday? In Minnesota, we were told that it had to be store-bought for safety reasons. When we moved to Texas, we were told “Everyone enjoys home-made much more than store-bought!”</p>