I was at my kid’s holiday party earlier today and can’t stop thinking about this bulletin board that was outside the cafeteria in the main hallway. Does anyone else find this inappropriate for a school, let alone for elementary schoolers? I feel like it’s perpetuating diet culture and calorie counting (and isn’t even funny) but am I overreacting? This is a public charter school in Georgia.
100% not appropriate! Body image issues start early (sometimes 2nd or 3rd grade). Probably a well meaning support staff trying to make adult humor relevant to kids. I would bring it up to admin just as an FYI not a full crash out.
I have a kindergartener with seemingly disordered eating habits and a preoccupation with her looks. It breaks my heart! I never thought about that until puberty.
My mom has been a fad dieter my entire life. In elementary school I remember my friends and I calling ourselves fat and "dieting," aka not eating lunch at school. That shit can metamorphosize quick. Children are just silly putty of what they see. Having that up in a school is actively messing with kids heads and needs to come down.
Does she have access to social media?
I don’t think so, but she is very focused on certain boys
She may be copying what she sees in TV shows about high school, or from an older sister if she has one. I behaved like that when I was very young and it was because I had undiagnosed autism. I was copying the people from tv in an attempt to mask better. At least for me the behavior improved as I got more data from interacting with real life kids my age and based my mask off of them instead.
My mom started Atkins when I was in 1st grade, and put me on it as well. I'd bet it's the parents or an older sibling/family member
Her mom is super skinny. I can’t know whether it’s on purpose or just naturally how she is or if she has an illness.
My mom was very open about her diet and commented on my body as well and it affected me a lot when I was in middle school. I have OCD and I think the combo of my OCD and her comments led to disordered eating for me. I used to go the entire day quite often eating only carrots.
My friend’s 5 year old who isn’t even in school yet said her legs were chubby. It’s happening so much earlier than we can imagine! It’s terrible
It's especially dangerous in the social media era. A kid might engage with some content about weight loss and then be flooded with a deluge fit-fluencer content and ads.
That 5th grader with a phone absorbs all of that messaging and passes it on to friends, younger siblings, and the kindergartner who rides the same bus.
There's a similar problem happening with manosphere, sexist, or racist content filtering down to younger kids.
I always encourage parents of kindergartners to start having conversations about these tricky topics. Even if they are "too young", they are being exposed via ads and older kids.
I already knew I wouldn’t give phones till 16 or so. But knowing 5 year olds have body image issues without them, makes me realize even more why smart phones should be delayed as long as possible!
It's also difficult when your kid is 12 and all of their friends have a phone, and everyone in their social groups uses phones as their primary means of communication and socialization. Being the only kid in class without a phone can mean being socially excluded.
That's one reason why Australia's recent social media ban for all under-16s is so important to watch. It's difficult to withhold a phone when it's become so central to kids' socialization, but if none of the kids have social media, they'll be forced to socialize via other means, and that kid who doesn't have a phone won't be left out of all of the youth social circles.
This! I first realized that I was heavier than some of my friends when a girl I knew who was overweight mentioned being a certain weight and I realized I was closer to her than to our other friends. We were like 9 and I never stopped thinking about my body and how fat I was once I started. It kills me because looking back I was literally the EXACT average weight for my ENTIRE childhood but I just thought I was fat and was always trying to lose weight (not realizing it wasn't working because I didn't have excess weight to lose). I even tricked myself into thinking I was shorter than I was to explain how I was fat, to the point that I discovered what height I really am recently! As an adult!!! We should fight to give the kids a few extra years of not worrying about this crap. If they're really overweight to a concerning degree then they're already hearing about it at home or in the doctor's office, they don't need a board about it in the lunchroom.
Lol!
This would be cringey but bearable in the staff room. In the cafeteria of an elementary school, it’s unacceptable.
Not even in a staff room.
One woman I worked with was bulemic and several others were losing weight for essential health reasons. I had a binge eating disorder I was in therapy dealing with.
No judgement to anyone who wants to ignore calories and just have fun- but it’s just complicated for many people for many reasons.
Eating disorder dietitian here. Hellllll no. This is so totally not okay.
Exactly lol. This can do irreparable harm.
You would have to be the weakest individual on earth if this causes "irreparable harm." This is an echo chamber of lunatics, jfc.
Yeah, seven year olds are really known for how strong they are and for never being influenced by messaging around them.
I'm not a teacher, but the center image offends me as a Peanuts fan. Woodstock should NOT have readable words, just marks to represent chirping!
Snoopy doesn't talk either! He should have word bubbles, not speech ones. Not a teacher either, but as a lifelong Snoopy fan I was also ticked off.
...and I have an eating disorder, so this really got me. XD there's no way this is acceptable
And the construction of Woodstock's joke is wrong. The "I never even met her" trope requires an initial word ending with the -er sound, to rhyme with "her" at the end. "Calories" makes no sense in this context. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I+Hardly+Know+Her
I think they were trying to reference Mariah Carey “I don’t know her”. Whole thing is a huge fail.
Yeah that’s not what they’re referencing
This is also an excellent point!!!
Yeah, no. When I was in middle school I had a coach try and motivate the class by asking us if we wanted flat stomachs for summer break. These sorts of things only escalate and the best way to treat body image issues and eating disorders is prevention, definitely complain. Especially right outside the cafeteria? Absolutely not.
So fucked up especially when kids are going through puberty and already awkward and uncomfortable with their bodies. And they have no control over how it changes during this time
Yeah and this kind of thing is only going to exacerbate pre-existing issues. I know if this was hanging outside my elementary school cafeteria my bullies would never have let me forget it :/
No. That is adult humor. This does not belong in a school, especially an elementary school. They should be learning about nutrition not calories.
It’s not even good adult humor. This is the worst bulletin board I’ve ever seen.
Calories is part of nutrition
It is, but elementary school age shouldn’t be thinking about diets (in the traditional “calorie cutting” sense). Sure, some kids might have genuine health issues, but that’s between them, their parents, and their doctors.
If a school wanted to have a genuine conversation about nutrition, then it requires a lot more nuance than can fit on a 3-panel comic.
As a teacher in recovery from an eating disorder, who can trace back my disordered eating habits to 4th grade (when I went on my first diet): FUCK NO. This has absolutely NO place in an elementary school.
I don’t like this…this school must be stuck in the 90’s or something. When I was growing up teachers were always talking about their diets and not wanting to gain weight anytime we had a class party. I remember one teacher saying she was just going to smell the donuts deeply cause she heard that’s as satisfying as eating one.
Yeah, I went to Catholic school and I remember the religion teacher talking to the class about what we might give up for Lent. She was like, “You could give up chocolate. Who knows, you might even lose some weight!” I was in like 5th grade. I’m sure she was being facetious but she was not being mindful that she was talking to awkward tweens, not her peers.
I went to Catholic school and a friend's mom (who was very religious) had a picture of a swimsuit model without a head on her fridge. Because getting swimsuit ready was her lenten goal.
Like it makes zero sense to me now. Lent was supposed to be about sacrifice and acknowledging people who have less, to remind us to be charitable. And yet it was frequently used by women to diet.
Yikes! 😳
Big yikes. Hate this.
My elementary school aged child has an eating disorder. I would raise hell. This is so inappropriate.
This is absolutely disgusting.
I’m a teacher, but I did my grad research on eating disorder prevention in schools. This looks like an example of exactly what NOT to do. Introducing children to calories, moralization, and dieting can only do harm. I would be calling the superintendent if I was in your shoes. Someone needs some trauma and nutrition informed education.
Yes! As a teacher I generally don't like to sweat the small stuff, but this is something I would fully cause a problem over.
This seems like Boomer Humor to me— very dated, and something you would have seen in a Cathy cartoon in the 90’s. It’s not funny, and a potentially harmful message.
Yes! Cathy was the first thing I thought. She was ALWAYS obsessed with her weight. Ack!
My hope is my kids don’t learn what a calorie is for many years. This is not appropriate.
Teach 'em it's a unit of energy.
That’s what I did. My 4 year old read the nutrition label and asked what calories are. I explained that they are energy and now she assumes that anything with more calories is automatically better/healthier because it gives us more energy.
"a calorie is a unit of energy. we run on calories like cars run on gas. we get calories from food. its important to eat enough food so we have enough calories to power our bodies" is an age-appropriate and positive way to talk about calories. it is important for kids to understand what gives them energy and what a calorie is, because they're bound to hear the word used eventually. this bulletin board definitely has no place in a school.
Had to have been put up by someone very old and out of touch
That’s super weird. Whose idea was that?
I’m a teacher and this would never fly where I work, but I can definitely see where some of the older staff would just think it’s cute and funny w/o immediately seeing the issue.
I’d definitely say something if I were you.
If I were a parent there I would be very unhappy about this
Thankfully you're not
Why because you like diet culture in schools?
Ick
Encouraging disordered eating in kids. Fucking gross.
In an elementary school? Most young kids wouldn’t even understand this, let alone think it’s funny. And for those kids who DO understand it, it’s completely inappropriate messaging. It’s absolutely baffling to me that this ended up on the wall in the first place.
Wildly inappropriate.
Absolutely not. This contributes to eating disorders, which literally kill people. I’m not a complainer, but if this went up at the elementary school where I work I’d say something. And Snoopy is my favorite. They did him so dirty with this.
I grew up in the midst of 90s diet culture and I’m still unlearning all the bad shit that was normalized. This is gross and inappropriate.
I would have taken it down, for real
I would be right next to you with the trash can
I would be right beside you and I don't go there!
Who on earth…
Hate, hate, double hate, LOATHE ENTIRELY.
Not appropriate and very harmful. Especially considering how many kids struggle with body image issues.
It’s horrendously inappropriate and irresponsible. Just no.
What the fuck. This is some seriously sad dieting propaganda no child should be exposed too
That is WILD!!! Could they not find an old Cathy comic?! "AAK!" I would talk to admin.
Kids absolutely DO NOT need to be moralizing about food or learning diet culture. I don't think you're overreacting in the slightest.
physically confusing. December calories keep you warm on top of powering activity. they count extra..
That's a brilliant way to ruin a child's relationship with food. Not sure if that was their aim, but how has admin allowed this to stay up? That's just so incredibly toxic! Also, as a teacher who literally takes a metre stick to her bulletin boards to ensure everything is centred, the text on here has me cheesed, fam. #ThanksIHateIt
Yes! Puts ideas in their head that weren't there before. So sad.
Stupidity on display - at a school😖🙄
Fatass here, and yeah I don't like this. I could see it being a little something taped up in the faculty room or other teacher-only space for giggles, but a whole-ass bulletin board for the kids to see? Nope.
This is an outrage! Since when does Snoopy speak? /s
Someone was raised with body shaming so they think this is cute and funny and relatable. They're wrong, of course.
Sony just paid $427 million for the rights to Peanuts. I'm pretty sure this bulletin board display is not considered fair use of that intellectual property. Sony could send a cease and desist letter to this school for trampling on their intellectual property with bad boomer humor that encourages eating disorders.
Yeah no- as someone who had disordered eating habits from a young age, this poster absolutely would’ve made things worse. We don’t need to shove diet culture in kids’ faces any more than it already is!
This just doesn't have a place in a school. I am someone who diets and calorie counts (even in December). But to be honest, the headache and hassle of my 6 year old kids wanting me to explain what it means to the kids, because they want to know absolutely EVERYTHING. Then you have to take into account which parents will want their kids understanding this, which parents don't.
It's an absolute minefield, do teachers not work hard enough without adding this onto us??
The 1st 2 panels withOUT the speech bubble "calories, never met her" would have been fine. This is so unnecessary
When I was in elementary school, I already started developing disordered eating habits. This is completely inappropriate.
I had my students make some no bake cookies yesterday for the last day of break (I wasn’t going to pull out a book on the last day!!) and I didn’t eat any of the cookies they made, but I made a point of communicating that it wasn’t because of calories or anything. How we communicate about food really matters.
That poster deserves to be ripped of the wall. Leave your eating disorder at home, please
Can I step to the side and dislike the unlicensed use of Snoopy?
It's 100% for the teachers and staff but really really dumb and not thought through.
This is a hard no. I would not want that in any school, let alone an elementary school. Not appropriate at all.
This is such a gross message which causes unhealthy attitudes about food:
Why not seek the best quality, most flavourful desserts, eat a very small amount slowly and enjoy every bite as your birthright, then proceed with rest of the day eating healthy foods. Imagine French people feeling shame for eating Bûche de Noël? No way. And it’s so rich, a small bite is enough.
Wow. Absolutely not ok. As a fourth grade teacher, many of these kids already have body issues. There is no way that’s ok for them to be seeing or reading.
You’re not wrong! This is most definitely not appropriate for a school setting.
Elementary school?!? Yeah absolutely not. 100% inappropriate and I would definitely say somthing to the school board
Ew!
My jaw dropped. This is not appropriate for children at all.
Wtf! Shouldn’t even be posted somewhere for adults!!
As an elementary PE teacher I am completely appalled by this.
This is horrible. As a regular person it just doesn't make sense for the things you said. As a health teacher it goes against the things we teach.
Oh, what?! Please make the complaint!!!!
That seems more like something you'd see in a sorority house.
This is gross
Genuinely wtf
extremely inappropriate.
I don't usually recommend parents complain buy this is SO unacceptable. Absolutely out of touch. I'd reach out to admin
And like what of food insecure children????
i had an ed as a child. this WILL affect them. they'll see this and probably ask their parents about calories. this is even weird for a staff room. why is this in a school at all?
oh my god. Why is this allowed
Immediate no.
Compleeeetely inappropriate to have this around minors. Gross.
Oh hellll no
Of all the Charlie Brown things they could have made a display about, they chose this? At a school? No.
I’ll join the chorus of people who hate this. I’m a type 1 diabetic, and I already hate dealing with the food that gets thrust upon me this time of year. If I had to walk by this every day, I would not be pleased.
Do kids even know this comic anymore? Or younger teachers for that matter. Either way, it's some f'ing gross messaging for everyone.
There’s a sign in my exercise studio that says “Christmas calories don’t count” and I think it’s kind of weird and out-of-touch. In a school with children? Absolutely not.
oof.
Oh, the way I would throw the absolute biggest fit in the universe.
What the actual fuck? Make waves.
Ewww
My biggest gripe is that Snoopy isn't supposed to talk.
I love Snoopy but that's very inappropriate for anywhere.
Ewww.
Holy shit completely inappropriate
If the kids get it, it’s inappropriate. If the kids don’t get it it isn’t appropriate
This is gross and not funny.
Oh absolutely not
Oh wow, I hate this. I struggled with disorder eating in my late teens and early 20s and this is how it starts. As a parent, I’d honestly be livid.
Even in the staff lounge, this would be inappropriate.
A school I worked at did a "Biggest Loser" competition amongst staff one year (following the new year, when a lot of people decide that they want to lose weight as a new year resolution), and the staff members would weigh in at school before the kids arrived. Participation wasn't mandatory, of course, but it did give me pause about the administrators who organized the whole thing.
oh hell no. this needs to come down. you're not overreacting at all.
Please complain to the principal. That should be removed ASAP. Who thought this was appropriate for kids??
Disgusting
Gross
Being a big kid I always had the word "calories" thrown around me... This type of stuff snowballed into an aggressive ED where standing up made me pass out.
disgusting
What adult saw this comic and thought, "the kids will think this is hilarious!"? People are so bizarre with what they think is appropriate for children. This was probably the same lady at the grocery store who asks my 4 year old if she has a boyfriend.
Definitely not appropriate for elementary school, and just very weird to put in any type of school.
Not only is it inappropriate, kids wouldn’t even find that funny!
Yuck. This is so inappropriate in any school setting.
Absolutely not. I feel like there’s a better way to convey it’s okay to enjoy yourself this time of year.
Ew what
There is an age appropriate way to talk about calories. This isn’t it. This is a great way to speed run giving kids eating disorders. In no world is this ok.
Yes, inappropriate. Also copyright infringement.
But hey- let’s ban smome more books, ‘k ?
Yes, inappropriate. Also copyright infringement.
But hey- let’s ban some more books, ‘k ?
Yes, inappropriate. Also copyright infringement.
But hey- let’s ban some more books, ‘k ?
Yes, inappropriate. Also copyright infringement.
But hey- let’s ban some more books, ‘k ?
Yes I agree. Not funny or fun. Also snoopy very poorly drawn. This is adult “humor meant for adults. It should be moved to staff room.
Omg this is terrible
Apart from the inappropriate message to children, it looks like it's a bootlegged Peanuts cartoon, so I'd be concerned about copyright.
Thoughts, yeah lighten up grinch. Teacher for 32 years. Admin said we could not put up "Christmas" decorations. I have a tree lighted and decorated, shiny ornaments, snoopy Santas etc. I can express celebrations of my religion. Students and other teachers can put up their own holiday decorations in my room also. Sue me. 😁🎄🎊 I know you are thinking about nutrition, fitness, etc. Relax, have a cookie 🍪
I would never want to see this in an elementary school!
I teach 3rd and every year I do a Polar Express day on the last day of school before winter break. We do an escape room and then watch the movie. At the hot chocolate part, I serve them hot cocoa. Yesterday, I had one of my little girls (who is a perfectly healthy weight, not at all overweight or anything) decline marshmallows because "she was watching her calorie intake". She's 8. It was maybe 5 marshmallows.
They already hear it at home. They don't need to see it at school, too. It really should only be discussed by a pediatrician if the child has unhealthy eating habits that need to be addressed at a medical level.
Super weird to be posted in a school
Totes inappropriate.
Find for an office or something, but makes me uncomfortable for a school
A) fuck charter schools. B) repugnant sign enforcing unhealthy food views.
Oh that’s fucked.
Very sweet posters
this is weird as hell, whose ideas was this?
The fact that we now shame people for not wanting to be fat is insane.
Absolutely inappropriate! Whoever made this needs to be written up
I think it’s hysterical AND also inappropriate, and both things can be true.
I'm a hard liner on the "public schools should be secular" position, so regardless of the messages about calories, I think it's inappropriate for school.
What about this is overly religious?
Santa costume.
people also eat sweets for new years , Christmas is not mentioned in the message, I very neutral in that regard
Do they dress in Santa costumes on New Years in your neck of the woods?
I’m also all for the separation of church and state, but I think your comment is taking it too far. Snoopy isn’t even in a full Santa costume, and Santa isn’t a religious figure (though Saint Nicholas is, so I acknowledge that’s a grey area). But it’s this kind of push back that feeds into the conservative narrative that “kids are afraid to say ‘Merry Christmas’ in schools,” and while I know that’s not true it’s a message that is resonating with enough people that we now are getting straight-up Christian messaging in some states
Not sure why dieting as a principle is categorically bad. Not sure why calorie counting would be either. The characters in the cartoon aren't even choosing to do either, but if they were they wouldn't be compelled to do so by anyone but themselves.
It's an extremely common new years resolution. Nothing bad is implied here. If you are offended you are just projecting your feelings onto a Snoopy cartoon, which in and of itself should be a wakeup call for you.
It’s not common nor appropriate for elementary-school- aged children.
The irony of the joke is that Snoopy or Woodstock would worry about dieting in the first place. It's something children, as you pointed out, can't relate to either. Unfortunately I had to explain this humor to you, so of course the joke is not funny when you're forced to dissect it.
Everyone understands the "joke," you don't understand the harm of the joke.
Yeah because there's no harm.
Characters freely choosing to diet (or not, which is the situation in the cartoon) is not harmful to anyone at all.
I'm guessing.. you are not a teacher, you don't work with kids, you're a man, you've never struggled with your body image or an eating disorder or have a loved one who has? You can't say this isn't harmful. It is.
I can say whatever I want, and I should be able to do it without you wondering what my demographics are.
My opinion should also be taken seriously without a permission slip of past abuse.
Neither your nor mine own personal history is relevant here.
This is a sub for teachers dude. Your demographics matter.
That's an interesting pivot. You kept the teacher bit but failed to include that this apparently is also exclusively a place for:
Those who work with children
Women
People with a history of food trauma.
Why is it that you'd bring those things up if being a teacher is the only prerequisite? 🤔
It served no purpose in an elementary school. If the kids understand it, it sends a bad message. If they don’t understand it, then what is it there for?
If they understand it it's funny. That's the purpose.
You just have a stick so far up your ass you can't laugh at a Snoopy cartoon so you question the purpose of humor. Sad.
I remember seeing & understanding jokes like this as a kid. I found them unfunny and weird.
I got the joke. It’s not appropriate for children.
If Snoopy isn't appropriate I don't know what is. Perhaps we should lock the kids in a safe cushioned room with nothing on the walls?
Oh for heaven’s sake. You are not actually obtuse enough to think it’s about Snoopy.
You clearly have zero understanding, however, about the factors that influence eating disorders.
Well it can't possibly be about the word diet because it's being used in the most normal, mundane, and acceptable way possible.
Like I said, any opinion beyond "this is a stupid Snoopy cartoon" is purely projection coming from you, not the cartoon.
Project all you want, it doesn't make the cartoon harmful.
The word, “diet,” can absolutely be what this is about. Because it’s being used to imply a calorie reduction plan, which is inappropriate to suggest to children at this age.
It's not being used that way, and even if it was it is okay to count calories to lose weight, even in children! The key is that the person who is losing weight is accepting of it. You can't force that kind of thing on people, which is your point and a real point, just not relevant to the cartoon.
You act like Snoopy is pointing at the 4th wall saying "count your calories you fat fuck!". And I have to say this for the sake of sanity: Snoopy is not doing that (imagine that). He's instead making a joke that he's not actually going to diet.
Introducing this to young children (or older children) is extremely problematic. Dieting and calorie counting is not something that any child should be thinking about, and eating disorders are so prevalent among young people. Something like this bulletin board could be the catalyst. It can be hard to understand for some, but this is much more harmful than it looks.
A catalyst for what? To NOT diet? That's all the cartoon is.
You're projecting anything beyond that.
You're getting pretty defensive about defending this snoopy bulletin board lol. And yes I am defensive about not setting up kids for a lifetime of body image issues and eating disorders. It's something I am very passionate about.
Yes I'm "defensive" for pointing out how mundane this is, sure.
Um nope. It’s normalizing moralization and diet talk that can lead to life threatening issues with food.
Definitely not projection. There is clear research on the harm “jokes” like this can do.
Correct. This person is absolutely clueless about the severity of eating disorders and what causes them. They are trying so hard to defend themself.
Yeah... this might be cute inside the teachers' lounge, but not for outside a cafeteria with 5-11 year olds.
God forbid we post a Snoopy cartoon in school that mentions the word "diet" even in the most harmless and relevant way possible.
Do you work in a school by chance?
No.
What other irrelevant questions would you like to ask me?
Or am I simply not allowed to express opinions about Snoopy cartoons because your only argument remaining is to gate keep me?
Well this sub is called Ask Teachers, so I don't think anyone is actually asking for your opinion.
No need to ask ☺️
Weird, but I assume this was put up by someone who works in the cafeteria that might be from an older generation or not be exposed to the discourse about diet culture. They usually get paid terribly, so I wouldn’t be the one to complain about them trying to do something funny and cute for the school. I’m not sure most elementary schoolers would “get” this anyway, but it could be a good way to spark a discussion if they do.
It’s funny, and I understand what a lot of you are finding problematic about it. However, you all forget the kids can’t read these days. All they see is Snoopy and Woodstock. I agree though, it should be in the teachers lounge.
It is not healthy encouraging obesity and disturbing that the 35th is up there for a school.
Nobody is encouraging obesity...
Calories don’t count??? Go back to under the bridge, troll.
we're so fat. a little calorie counting wouldn't kill us as a country.