My son is in the fifth grade this year. The school's cafeteria is small, so they scatter the times kids go out for recess and to lunch. As the oldest kids in the school, my son's class doesn't hit the cafeteria until 1:00. Considering he catches the bus at 7:30, that's a long span of time before lunch.

His teacher has a scheduled snack time at 10:30 to help tide the kids over until lunch. She sent home a note regarding snack time for the kids. She recommended a list of healthy snack options which was great. But what was more impressive was this: she's banned candy from her classroom.

I thought it was wonderful. The kids will still be allowed to have candy on special occasions such as Valentine's Day. But on a day to day basis, my son's teacher is promoting good nutrition that will give them the energy they need.

Thankfully, my son enjoys a wide variety of healthful snacks. While he likes treat foods as much as anyone else, he's perfectly content to bring a nutritious snack to school. His favorites include carrots, apples, yogurt, sunflower seeds, almonds, sliced cucumber, and bananas.

I was searching for some other, more creative, healthful snack ideas and came across this article. In the article, a mother writes about how her daughter stood firm on wanting to bring treats like cupcakes because that's what the other kids were doing. (Unlike my son's candy-banned classroom, her daughter's classroom requires pre-packaged foods for sanitary reasons. That's a serious bummer.)

Children are so influenced by their peers. This morning my son happily took his reusable container full of broccoli for a snack. But if he was the sole veggie eater amidst a classroom of cookies, cupcakes, and candy, I'm quite sure he'd be a bit upset.

While the majority of a child's nutrition habits are developed at home, I think teachers can create a classroom environment that helps influence healthy eating habits as well. My son's teacher took a good step in that direction when she set up the candy ban.