I was really impressed with Oteha Valley Principal Megan Bowden and her decision to ban birthday cake at her school in order to bring it into compliance with national healthy eating guidelines established in New Zealand which will be enforced in June of this year. It must have been an obvious but difficult decision. When I was young, there weren't as many treats in the classrooms and I don't remember that many children who struggled with obesity. The peak year for me for eating junk in school was fourth grade, and all that meant was that once a month, an assigned parent brought in cupcakes, meant to cover all birthdays for that month. My birthday is in July, so I never had much in the way of a four star celebration or cake. When I was 10, I was thrilled to have a strawberry flavored cake, complete with strawberry-flavored red fleck of apples in the cake batter. Being a simple chocolate or vanilla cake man, my father hated it.

The other thing that was different for me was that there were no vending machines in elementary schools, no snack times (I remember being hungry), and absolutely no candy. In a study published in Pediatrics, Gary Foster and colleagues found that, using the following tools--school self-assessment, nutrition education, nutrition policy, social marketing, and parent outreach--it was possible to affect the number of children who became obese (7.5 % in the intervention schools vs. 14.9 % in the schools where no intervention was in place). Which school would you want your child to go to?

With Tad, I don't think I brought anything in for his kindergarten class, but after that, I have to confess that brought a succession of heavily frosted cakes into the classroom. Tad loved them. He loved the little toys on the cake and he loved the two or three day binge of cake eating that followed when we brought the cake home. MIndful of my own problem with managing my weight, I'd suggest taking the remnants to Skip's work (also known as caloric redistribution), but Tad refused. I remember rebelling one year, when Tad was in fourth grade, I held my sensible nutrition ground and brought in fresh fruit, which was considerably more expensive than a sheet cake from the store. One of the more popular boys, looked at Tad and said, I don't eat this. Tad didn't care too much.

I noticed that even though the other mothers were health conscious, they were also bringing in doughnuts or cake, sometimes even cake and ice cream. Ice cream cakes. We're kind of a different family as it is, so I worried about having Tad stand out from the crowd. Last year, I took cookies in for his birthday. Let them eat sugar, but not as much.

In the United States, and in Alaska, a lot of this is based on a culture of sharing. We couldn't quite manage to have a birthday party at the local roller rink for Tad, but we did want to share with others. But, over all, availability of junk foods and junk drinks has increased, putting our children at risk not only for obesity, but for future illnesses associated with obesity-hypertension, hyperlipedemia and diabetes-as well as bathing their teeth in a constant stream of sugar, setting them up for cavities. We don't have dental insurance and I've spent the last six years begging Tad to brush after every meal or snack or drink (that isn't water).

So, Principal Megan Bowden, my warm winter hat goes off to you.