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Mom vs Dad
I have a child in care that drinks apple juice. Sounds ok, right? - NO. Mom says, "I want you to give half juice half water"....Dad says, "I want you to give all juice". They have both been here and argued in front of me about it all...but still never came to common grounds. I don't know what to do. Dad says he gives him straight juice at home and mom says she does half and half. Telling them to get on the same page hasn't worked. So... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! HELP?????
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I would look up info on child nutrition and find a hand out to educate Dad. Juice is really not good for children, and it should be VERY limited. I'll see if I can find you a handout.Comment
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No Juice
I don't give juice at all. It is not necessary, and does not provide even close to the nutrients and almost none of the fiber that whole fruit provides. I give milk at meals, water in between and at snacks. On rare occasion, I will give diluted juice to my own child as a treat on the weekend, but never as an every day thing. My kids are all water drinkers and I don't think I would have been successful at helping them create that habit had I let them drink juice every day.
As far as the parents are concerned, I think you need to decide what your daycare will and will not provide and how you will provide it. It's completely ridiculous for them to put you in the middle of their argument. You need to decide how you want to handle the juice thing and then you need to present that to them, not the other way around.
I have a mom who tells me her daughter needs juice every day for the calories because she is underweight. I tell her that I will be happy to feed her extra real food and whole fruit, and give her extra milk, but that we don't drink juice here as I'm not interested in giving her calories without nutrition, nor do I want to contribute to her tooth decay (they let her run around with a juice cup all the time) or her growing need to have something flavored and sweet in her mouth all the time.Comment
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We give juice here sometimes in place of actual fruit but straight juice has a lot of sugar (even when it's made from real juice) so I dilute it half and half also. I'm on the USDA food program and that's what they recommend as well. I'm having a woman from the program today at nine. I'll ask her again and see what she says but I know that the last time they recommended at least half and half. The sugars sometimes pool in the kids mouths and can cause cavities. By diluting it you lower the risk greatly. I agree that juice can be substituted completely with natural fruit but I know that not all kids eat them so I sometimes offer them watered down juice.
Just a quick note on the milk also: My pediatritian has always told me that only baby cows should drink cow's milk. I know that they advertise calcium in milk all of the time but our bodies can only take in so much a day of it anyway anyway before it rejects it and it goes to waste (literally). By serving green leafy veggies like romaine lettuce, broccoli and spinach, beans, calcium fortified orange juice, soy milk (which the children think is delicious and also has lots of potassium, fiber, calcium, Vitamin D, and vitamin A), oatmeal, and almonds and brazilian nuts (be carefull with allergies) are all great ways to get your daily dose of calcium. I've completely replaced dairy milk with soy milk at my daycare and my family uses it too. The balance of Vitamin D and Calcium in it is great since you need the vitamin D to help the absorbtion of the calcium. It takes more dairy milk than soy milk to get your daily calcium and also has more vitamin D. Dairy milk also has way more saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol (soy has none), carbs and sugar.
Milk also has no fiber or iron which soy does have and they both have the same amount of vitamin A. - Sorry here I go with my nutritional facts again
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(oh and this based on 2% milk).Comment
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Are you on the food program? If so do what that says. I am on the food program & it say 100% fruit juice.Comment
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100% fruit juice means that it cannot be fruit punch, etc. NOT that it cannot be part water. My food program monitor advises watering it down.Comment
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2-3 times a week at dinner I give my own kids 100% juice (full strength). I don't offer juice to the daycare kids. They only get milk and water here.We give juice here sometimes in place of actual fruit but straight juice has a lot of sugar (even when it's made from real juice) so I dilute it half and half also. I'm on the USDA food program and that's what they recommend as well. I'm having a woman from the program today at nine. I'll ask her again and see what she says but I know that the last time they recommended at least half and half. The sugars sometimes pool in the kids mouths and can cause cavities. By diluting it you lower the risk greatly. I agree that juice can be substituted completely with natural fruit but I know that not all kids eat them so I sometimes offer them watered down juice.
Just a quick note on the milk also: My pediatritian has always told me that only baby cows should drink cow's milk. I know that they advertise calcium in milk all of the time but our bodies can only take in so much a day of it anyway anyway before it rejects it and it goes to waste (literally). By serving green leafy veggies like romaine lettuce, broccoli and spinach, beans, calcium fortified orange juice, soy milk (which the children think is delicious and also has lots of potassium, fiber, calcium, Vitamin D, and vitamin A), oatmeal, and almonds and brazilian nuts (be carefull with allergies) are all great ways to get your daily dose of calcium. I've completely replaced dairy milk with soy milk at my daycare and my family uses it too. The balance of Vitamin D and Calcium in it is great since you need the vitamin D to help the absorbtion of the calcium. It takes more dairy milk than soy milk to get your daily calcium and also has more vitamin D. Dairy milk also has way more saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol (soy has none), carbs and sugar.
Milk also has no fiber or iron which soy does have and they both have the same amount of vitamin A. - Sorry here I go with my nutritional facts again.
(oh and this based on 2% milk).
MarinaVanessa - I am totally with you on the cow's milk thing! Human milk is for human babies and cow's milk is for baby cows! You have a fabulous pediatrician if he/she told you that! Most wouldn't dare. I give the daycare kids cow's milk because that's what the food program requires and that's what their parents give them but my own kids drink very little cow's milk (they get it at their grandparents or at a restaurant but not at home). At home we drink rice milk or one of the many delicious nut milks. My family gets its vitamin D from plenty of sunshine in the summer and from fish oil supplements in the winter. We get our calcuim from most of the sources that you mentioned above.Comment
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First, I think you need to decide what you are going to offer the children. If you offer juice, then everyone gets the same thing. If you water it down - my USDA guidelines say 100% juice - then everyone gets it watered down.
Then you need to meet with the parents and ask them to serve juice how they will at their home, but you will follow USDA, or your own rules, or whatever. This one thing, if left unchecked, will result in another parent asking for only organic fruit, or only half an hour nap.
It boils down to how you set up your program, and then having the experience in saying to a parent: This is how I need to do it here.
Good luck.Comment
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I have been doing half and half water/juice for almost 10 years! I do not let the parents decide on this but I've never had one question me either. I do mostly organic milk here and need to be pushing water more frequently. I am looking at getting one of the water dispensers this summer so I can help push it on myself and my dckids.Comment
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My food program lady said it absolutely can NOT be watered down if I want it to count towards the fruit/veggie portion of the snack/meal. My dc kids don't get a lot of juice though. I usually reserve it for breakfast where they have a bowl of cereal with milk in it, then orange juice to drink.Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.Comment
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When I was on the food program they said no watering it down if it is to count as a fruit. Serving juice was strongly discouraged though. They said kids don't need it and they really don't. That said, I give my kids 50/50 juice/water. If any of them seem to be filling up on it and neglecting their food at mealtimes, then they go on to water until they are eating agian.
But this is your business. Like some of the other providers here have already said, choose what you want to serve and serve it across the board to all of the children. I totally agree with grandmom. If you start catering to little requests like this, then it usually snowballs into more and more. This is something small and simple. I'd make a stand right here. Just choose what you think is best and then let them know how you do it at your daycare. If they don't like it, there's the door.Comment
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