Teacher Faces Backlash After Telling Parents to Never Send Kids to School with This Popular Food

For many of us, classroom birthday celebrations are a fond elementary school memory filled with singing, clapping, and cupcakes topped with deliciously sweet frosting. Through the years, the age-old tradition of parents sending their children to school with birthday cupcakes to celebrate their big day has, for the most part, stayed the same. But now one teacher is facing backlash on TikTok for telling parents to leave the birthday cupcakes at home.

In a video, kindergarten teacher Ann Brackemeyer shared her “unpopular opinion” that while she loves celebrating her students’ birthdays, cupcakes aren’t a great choice for the classroom. “The frosting gets all over, and the kids aren’t sure what to do. It’s too much for them, and it’s just too messy,” she says. 

Brackemeyer then went on to offer plenty of alternatives that, in her opinion, are better suited to younger kids. Some of her favorite picks include frosted cookies and donuts straight from your local grocery store’s bakery, Little Debbie snacks like Cosmic Brownies, and individual ice cream cups with sprinkles. 

Despite her delicious solutions to the cupcake dilemma, TikTok users were quick to push back at the idea of ditching cupcakes in the classroom. One user commented, “Is it your birthday? Or theirs?” Another wrote, “I don’t understand how ice cream is less messy than cupcakes?”

Other commenters were quick to come to her defense, and to the defense of teachers in general. One user wrote, “Love these ideas. Wish people respected teachers more.” For another user, this video hit close to home, and they wrote, “Thank you ma’am for this video, I’m the hardworking custodian that has to clean the classrooms after the kids have dropped most of the cupcakes all over the floor.”

If the cupcake debate has made one thing clear, it’s that the handheld dessert is nothing short of timeless. The next time your child’s birthday rolls around, try making funfetti cupcakes from scratch or get adventurous making these hot chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow icing. Maybe just consider eating them at home instead of sending them to school.