If you don't have kids, you might not know about a certain super-popular snack item called Flamin' Hot Cheetos. (In which case, I envy your innocence.) Flamin' Hot Cheetos are making headlines right now because schools are trying to ban the junk food (one serving contains 26 grams of fat and 25 percent of the recommended daily amount of salt). In addition to being outrageously unhealthy, some experts think these things are so tasty they're practically addictive.
I've never tried them, so I can't speak to their allegedly addictive taste, but I have known about Flamin' Hot Cheetos since last year when my daughter, then a fifth grader, started begging me to buy them.
I was introduced to the snack during a grocery shopping expedition. Suddenly my daughter was squealing, pointing to a display of blindingly-bright bags. "Flamin' Hot Cheetos!!!" she shrieked. "Flamin' WHAT Cheetos??" I asked. Then the pleading and persuading began: Flamin' Hot Cheetos were sooo good, everybody was always eating them at lunch, they're sooooo spicy oh my god it's like your tongue is burning so bad but they're really really good and pleeeeease?
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So Cheetos covered with even brighter than usual red-orange powder to appear in the form of red-orange fingerprints stamped all over the house?
I said no. We moved on. After a couple of weeks, I stopped hearing about Flamin' Hot Cheetos and started hearing about which flavor of Warheads Extreme Sour was the most extremely sour of all. Flamin' Hot Who?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not pro-Flamin' Hot Cheetos in schools (or even in existence), but is banning them really worth the trouble? I mean, I think we can all agree there are way scarier things than spicy cheese puffs in our schools today. Wouldn't kids be better served by schools focusing on real dangers? Or hey, I don't know, their EDUCATION?
Do you think Flamin' Hot Cheetos should be banned in schools?
Image via bingbing/Flickr
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Comments 25
I think all junk food should be banned in schools.
It is none of the school's business what I choose to send in my children's lunches. Period. They do, in fact, have MUCH larger things to worry about.
I heard from another article that the janitors were complaining because the orange powder gets over everything. Personally,I don't think its any of the schools business. While I don't believe schools should sell junk food I don't think the school has the right to tell the children what they can't bring. Funny how all the sudden the schools care more about what the kids are eating than learning. I didn't have a problem with Michelle Obama picking this for what she did as first lady but it makes me wonder if she could have brought change to academics in school. She hasn't fixed anything but she definitely has made it easier to shed light on these issues. It would be nice if we could shed some light on what's wrong with our educational system.