ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -One Illinois teacher is going viral on social media on a topic when it comes celebrating a student's birthday in school with cupcakes.
An Illinois schoolteacher named Ann Brackemyer went viral on social media platform TikTok arguing parents to not use cupcakes to celebrate their child's birthday in school.
"I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but please don’t bring cupcakes," said Brackemyer in the video. "These make a ginormous mess, and the kids honestly don’t eat them that great."
The video led to a discussion among Total Information A.M. hosts Debbie Monterrey, Tom Ackerman and Megan Lynch and producer Frank Ladd about their opinions on the topic.
Ladd says that he and some parents recently just met with his child's kindergarten teacher and one of the topics that was discussed was how to celebrate birthdays.
"(The teacher) did recommend the pre-packaged snacks, she recommended treats for birthdays," said Ladd. "I think she is aware of the mess as well and she was a teacher for years and years. She understands that as you peel that paper off, they're going to fall off onto the floor."
"Some of those floors are carpeted and I can picture the poor custodian at the end of the day having to come in and clean up the crumbs from 18 five-year-olds."
Lynch discussed her thoughts on the topic and pointed out that many kids could have food allergies in schools and the topic can create some tension between parents and teachers.
"I just encourage teachers to set some firm rules at the very beginning," said Lynch. "If this was my teacher, I would totally follow her rules."
Ackerman offered a solution to the topic, suggesting that teachers, if possible, could move the celebrations outside or give out the cupcakes in the cafeteria.
"There's a joy in unwrapping a cupcake. There's nothing wrong. Let the kids enjoy their cupcakes," said Ackerman. "Why would anyone serve cupcakes in a carpeted classroom? Let's use some sense here."
"Don't take the joy of cupcakes away from these cute kids. If you insist on doing cupcakes, let's pre-arrange this thing. Let's know what is coming."