Are Birthday Cakes a Risky Business?

To have or not to have, that is the question.

Birthday cakes in early care centres can be a surprisingly emotional topic, both in arguing for them and against them.

For this month’s research-based post I am highlighting some points from recent research that looked at the place of birthday cakes in 4 early care centres in England.*

Our risk averse society

It is fairly clear that over the past few decades Western-type societies have become increasingly risk-averse. That is, we want to control as many ‘danger’ factors as possible:

• playground equipment
• field trips (and the mountains of paper work required)
• constant supervision in all situations
• helmets for biking and skateboarding
• pool fencing
• sunscreen
• shopping cart warnings
• childproofing the house
• food

There are perfectly good reasons for this greater awareness on safety. For eg, according to previous US statistics children falling from shopping carts was one of the leading causes of head injuries in children. And there are thousands of injuries every year from bouncy houses and inflatable slides. No wonder we’re concerned… unnecessary accidents are very difficult to come to terms with.

Health Promotion

I would argue that the majority of early childcare centres place a high importance on promoting positive choices for a healthy life in their children. This is important because:

1. Children take many meals while in childcare.
2. Early health is important to later health.
3. Young children are receptive to learning about being healthy and in following taught behaviours.
4. Research has shown that healthy eating prior to primary school affects growth, development and academic achievement later on.
5. For these reasons and more many childcare centres do not allow, or severely restrict unhealthy foods, including birthday cakes.

Why do we even celebrate with cake?

This infographic has nothing to do with the research paper. But in checking out this question for myself I found the basic history interesting so compiled a timeline. I hope you find it interesting, too!

What is the problem with cake?

• Too many calories and hardly any nutrition (although there are healthier options)
• Some kids would have fancy cakes while others might not have any.
• Most teachers considered infrequent cake OK, but often there were many birthdays in a short time frame
• Concerns over possible allergic reactions therefore store-bought cakes are preferred to home-made
• Concerns were raised (in 1 centre in the study) about working-class homes
  • fear of low hygiene levels
  • their habit of bringing in cakes that were too creamy, covered in nuts and candy (although no instructions had been given to parents regarding this issue)
  • cakes too close to the expiry date (probably an economic necessity to buy cakes on special)
• Cakes don’t further the learning objectives in the classroom
• Some teachers were stressed due to personal weight issues.
• Not all cultures celebrate with cake (although most teachers did not realise this).
• A school culture that encourages birthday cakes can be frustrating to some parents
  • their children eat only healthy foods at home but are regularly given ‘junk’ at school
  • their offer to make a healthy cake is rejected because only store-bought cakes are allowed
  • they can’t object or they’ll be branded as a bit of a crackpot and their own children might be resentful
  • the home celebration is more important and the school event undermines this
  • birthday cake holds no meaning in their culture yet they feel pressured to comply
  • the cost, particularly if extra party foods are expected or gifts for the children
• One centre had no problem with cake and ensured that every child had a birthday cake even if not provided by the parent – they would take the birthday child to the cake shop to choose their own.

What about the socio-cultural significance of food?

Researcher Deborah Albon raises the point that we’re so caught up in risk management that we sometimes forget that a birthday cake is more than just a cake. From the point of anthropology she argues that:

• foods are symbolic
• tastes for particular foods are socially controlled (yes, as an Australian I do like vegemite)
• what we eat is culturally based and influenced by class, ethnicity and gender
• while mealtimes provide a rhythm to the day, birthdays are part of a personal calendar
• food is a major source of socialising
• food rituals allow children to develop a sense of shared history
• food forms part of a child’s identity
• birthday cakes (at least in England) are central to birthday celebrations

Birthday Cake Play

The researcher found that many children, girls in particular, enjoyed playing around a birthday cake theme. For eg, when given play dough, instead of doing the alphabet activity given by the teacher, they used it to make birthday cakes instead.

In the centre with mostly non-English speaking children, this was helpful in making friends and they loved to hear their name sung during the Happy Birthday song. Even children from non-birthday-cake backgrounds, after sitting back for a while, joined in the play and used it to make connections with others. So being able to celebrate with real cake gave the children a shared experience to then explore in play and conversation.

A personal problem with cake: My daughters love cake but my son doesn’t like it at all. He never has. While writing this post I asked him if he ever eats it, and he said only when his friends won’t stop nagging him to eat some. Is my son the only kid in the world that has no interest in cake? He’s 12 now and for his last birthday I made him a ‘cake’ out of ham and cheese sandwiches. He LOVED it! So even though we don’t have a real cake for him, the tradition of having that central food with candles and singing was fulfilled and in a unique way that seemed to make it even more enjoyable. It was certainly funnier…

How can we manage this cake issue?

There is no doubt that some parents and children will be upset no matter which course you choose but whether you allow or disallow cake I’d suggest the following:

1. Make sure your centre has a clearly defined policy and a rationale to back up that policy.
2. Make sure that policy is well-thought out and takes into account the cultural and food expectations of the surrounding communities. Policy should not be hijacked by one or two staff or parents who are highly opinionated!
3. Make sure all staff are aware of the policy and understand the reasons behind it so that even if they don’t agree with it they can work within the policy without causing friction.
4. Communicate the policy clearly and positively with parents on admission and at least once a year after that. It’s embarrassing for parents and children when they are unaware of expectations and accidentally cross them. For eg, taking the time to bake a healthy cake only to be told none are allowed, or NOT bringing in a cake when all the kids in the class are expecting it.
5. If you DO allow cake write some guidelines for parents such as:
   1. no nuts (other common problem foods are cow’s milk, chicken eggs, soybeans, wheat, fish and shellfish)
   2. avoid cakes with cream filling
   3. whether home-made cakes are allowed
   4. ask them not to bring in extra candy, biscuits, crisps etc
   5. whether gifts for other children are allowed and examples of what might be included so parents don’t get too excessive
6. If you DON’T allow cake:
   1. make sure families understand why
   2. explain how birthdays are celebrated at school
   3. create new traditions for the children to look forward to and enjoy that don’t involve unhealthy foods
   4. some centres in the study had banned cakes and used ‘pretend’ ones so that children could blow out the candles and sing Happy Birthday
   5. others celebrate birthdays during assemblies or circle time

A Birthday Cake Freebie

Download these sweet Birthday Number Match Cards so your little ones can practice matching equal numbers with tally marks, ten frames and digits. They can also be used to count sequentially from 1-10 or from 10-1. Or even to find all the odd or even numbers.

I’d like to finish this post with a quote from the researcher: don’t underestimate the cultural significance of a birthday cake to a child (and their mum)!

*Deborah Albon. (2015). Nutritionally ’empty’ but full of meanings: The socio-cultural significance of birthday cakes in four early childhood settings. Journal of Early Childhood Research. Vol 13 (1), 79-92. DOI: 10.1177/1476718X14538599

Click this link to see my other research-based posts to date.

Do you allow cake in your centre? If yes, do you place any limitations? If no, how do your kids celebrate?