Non-Food Rewards
Food is commonly used to reward students for good behavior and academic performance. It's an easy, inexpensive and powerful tool to bring about immediate short-term behavior change. Yet, using food as reward has many negative consequences that go far beyond the short-term benefits of good behavior or performance. WCPSS Adopted a new Student Wellness Policy in June of 2017. One of the core parts of the new policy states "Food will not be used in the schools as a reward or punishment." Complying with the WCPSS policy opens the school up for grants and opportunities to improve the school. This page has been designed to help provide information and resources to comply with the new policy.
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Research
Research clearly demonstrates that healthy kids learn better. To provide the best possible learning environment for
children, schools must provide an environment that supports healthy behaviors. Students need to receive
consistent, reliable health information and ample opportunity to use it. Finding alternatives to food rewards is an
important part of providing a healthy school environment.
“Rewarding children with unhealthy foods in school undermines our efforts to teach them about good nutrition. It’s like teaching children
a lesson on the importance of not smoking, and then handing out ashtrays and lighters to the kids who did the best job listening.”
Marlene Schwartz, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University
Children’s Eating Habits are Poor: Currently, 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are overweight and 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese. Between 1980 and 2004, obesity tripled among children and adolescents. Children ages 2 to 18 consume almost 40 percent of their calories from solid fats and added sugars. Their diets do not include enough fruits and vegetables (particularly dark green and orange vegetables and legumes), whole grains or calcium-rich foods, and are too high in sodium, saturated fat and added sugars. Poor eating habits that contribute to health problems tend to be established early in life, and unhealthy habits are usually maintained as children age. Obese children have increased risk for diseases in adulthood, such as diabetes and heart disease, and they often become obese adults.
children, schools must provide an environment that supports healthy behaviors. Students need to receive
consistent, reliable health information and ample opportunity to use it. Finding alternatives to food rewards is an
important part of providing a healthy school environment.
“Rewarding children with unhealthy foods in school undermines our efforts to teach them about good nutrition. It’s like teaching children
a lesson on the importance of not smoking, and then handing out ashtrays and lighters to the kids who did the best job listening.”
Marlene Schwartz, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University
Children’s Eating Habits are Poor: Currently, 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are overweight and 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese. Between 1980 and 2004, obesity tripled among children and adolescents. Children ages 2 to 18 consume almost 40 percent of their calories from solid fats and added sugars. Their diets do not include enough fruits and vegetables (particularly dark green and orange vegetables and legumes), whole grains or calcium-rich foods, and are too high in sodium, saturated fat and added sugars. Poor eating habits that contribute to health problems tend to be established early in life, and unhealthy habits are usually maintained as children age. Obese children have increased risk for diseases in adulthood, such as diabetes and heart disease, and they often become obese adults.
Consequences of Using Food Rewards
- Compromises Classroom Learning: Schools are designed to teach and model appropriate behaviors and skills to children. Nutrition principles taught in the classroom are meaningless if they are contradicted by rewarding children with candy and other sweets. It’s like saying, “You need to eat healthy foods to feel and do your best, but when you behave or perform your best, you will be rewarded with unhealthy food.” Classroom learning about nutrition remains strictly theoretical if schools regularly model unhealthy behaviors.
- Contributes to Poor Health: Foods commonly used as rewards, like candy and cookies, can contribute to health problems for children, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cavities. Food rewards provide unneeded calories and displace healthier food choices.
- Encourages Overconsumption of Unhealthy Foods: Foods used as rewards are typically high in fat, added sugars and sodium with little nutritional value. Decreasing the availability of these foods is one strategy schools can use to address the current childhood obesity epidemic.
- Contributes to Poor Eating Habits: Rewarding with food can interfere with children learning to eat in response to hunger and satiety cues. This teaches kids to eat when they are not hungry as a reward to themselves, and may contribute to the development of disordered eating.
- Increases Preference for Sweets: Food preferences for both sweet and non-sweet foods increase significantly when foods are presented as rewards.
This can teach children to prefer unhealthy foods.
Ideas For Alternative to Food Rewards
Schools can help promote a healthy learning environment by using nonfood rewards. The ideas below are just a beginning and can be modified for different ages. Be creative and don’t forget the simple motivation of recognizing students for good work or behavior.
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