Losing Kids For Disliking School Food

[Ariana]

I used to serve the organic this and that because that is what we eat for the most part but I was just throwing it in the garbage. I am not getting paid enough to throw good food in the garbage! Every parent said "we never allow junk food and my kid eats very healthy". TOTAL BOOHOCKEY! Every one of those kids never ate what I served, yet were very healthy looking (meaning heavy weights with some being overweight in my opinion). Now I serve the same rotating crap over and over. Almost everything has cheese in it or on it. Muffins, pancakes all that crap. The thing is, the parents still think its fine as long as the kids eats so we are both happy!

I would continually ask the parents for food ideas and would hear crickets. Why? Because all they served them was crap and they didn't want to admit it. One mom said her kids favourite was stuffed pepper. I made it and he looked at it like he was looking at an alian head.

[Mom2Two]

Daycare: Do you have a fall-back? I have a few that are hard to please, and that is after changing up my menu to accommodate their tastes!!!! After a while I give up and go with a fall-back. I have one girl that pretty much only eats cheerios and milk while she's here. She does like some fruit and vegies so I give her those when I know she's going to be here (she's very part-time). I think right now the only protein she eats is scrambled eggs, but I don't stress about it. She's a big, healthy girl.

I recently read an article that said that Americans are way more overweight than they used to be but at the same time, they think that they are LESS overweight. Our idea of what overweight means has changed (scientist's idea hasn't changed, just public perception). So yeah, it's not your fault.

Personally, I rarely serve cooked food, and it's pretty much separate foods, such as diced vegies, diced fruit, and the proteins are beans, ham, or cheese usually. The grains are either sandwich bread (cheese or ham sandwich) or cheerios.

AND we keep chickens. That's one way to reeeally stop worrying about waste if you are into that sort of thing.

[LysesKids]

Daycare: Do you have a fall-back? I have a few that are hard to please, and that is after changing up my menu to accommodate their tastes!!!! After a while I give up and go with a fall-back. I have one girl that pretty much only eats cheerios and milk while she's here. She does like some fruit and vegies so I give her those when I know she's going to be here (she's very part-time). I think right now the only protein she eats is scrambled eggs, but I don't stress about it. She's a big, healthy girl.

I recently read an article that said that Americans are way more overweight than they used to be but at the same time, they think that they are LESS overweight. Our idea of what overweight means has changed (scientist's idea hasn't changed, just public perception). So yeah, it's not your fault.

Personally, I rarely serve cooked food, and it's pretty much separate foods, such as diced vegies, diced fruit, and the proteins are beans, ham, or cheese usually. The grains are either sandwich bread (cheese or ham sandwich) or cheerios.

AND we keep chickens. That's one way to reeeally stop worrying about waste if you are into that sort of thing.

See I always cook lunches... I start kids when they are babies & they eat pretty much what I fix from the get go; that said we don't do a lot of bread/pasta @ lunch, but more rice, barley & quinoa, plus it's a lot of vegetarian menus. Spaghetti sees my stove once every few weeks if that, Mac & cheese never due to 2 kids dairy issues

Snacks have been everything from Leftover soup to "Dutch babies" to homemade Almond milk yogurt with fruit

[Micha]

WOW I'm impressed and jealous of your menu!!!! Our menu needs some work. I came to this forum to get some ideas to suggest to our director/owner. She is very concerned with cost and want the food to be nutritional as well. Now we are having issues for sure.

[dmrpu]

I had a daycare mom who stopped at the gas station on her way to my house everyday. She would buy her son an orange soda and peanut butter cups. She considered that his breakfast. She basically said oranges are good for you and so is peanut butter.

[m.kids1301]

There have been so many kids I've cared for that don't eat or only eat junk. I've made my menu as healthy as I can for kids; as long as the majority of the kids like it, I keep with those things. If they don't eat I let the parents know.

I even made a form for them to sign along with all their other paperwork. It's my "Picky Partakers" form! happyfaceI want them to let me know what they'd like me to do if their child won't eat anything. I've never had a child pulled just because of the food.

I do have 1 parent that brings her child her food because she does refuse to eat anything! She's my nephew's daughter and she's 9, but she's only here when school is out...whew!

I do try to encourage a bite. Another thing I refuse to do is to only give a child the 1 thing they'll eat lots of. Like if we have mac & cheese, green beans and pineapple, and a child has snarfed all the mac & cheese and says, "MORE!" I tell the child you have more on your plate. If they keep insisting I say we aren't just having mac & cheese today. When you are done with your green beans and pineapple and if you are still hungry I will give you more. I don't want to encourage eating too much of a more fattening type of food, and I have had lots of kids go ahead and eat the other foods and they get some of the more nutritious foods in them, and they get used to the taste. No child has to clean their plate, but if they haven't touched some of the foods on their plate, they certainly don't need more food!

If you are on the food program you can't serve the kids junk and I hope the parent of those kids knows that. I can't imagine who she'd take them to that would just serve them whatever they want! :confused:

[Play Care]

I do try to encourage a bite. Another thing I refuse to do is to only give a child the 1 thing they'll eat lots of. Like if we have mac & cheese, green beans and pineapple, and a child has snarfed all the mac & cheese and says, "MORE!" I tell the child you have more on your plate. If they keep insisting I say we aren't just having mac & cheese today. When you are done with your green beans and pineapple and if you are still hungry I will give you more. I don't want to encourage eating too much of a more fattening type of food, and I have had lots of kids go ahead and eat the other foods and they get some of the more nutritious foods in them, and they get used to the taste.
If you are on the food program you can't serve the kids junk and I hope the parent of those kids knows that. I can't imagine who she'd take them to that would just serve them whatever they want! :confused:

While I don't disagree with this, my FP does not allow us to withhold certain foods until they eat other things. I would probably get a "ding" and have to attend a re-training session if I told a child they had to eat their veggies before getting a second helping of something else. Both my FP and state regs say we have to have enough for each child to have two servings.
I would check with your FP rules before going this route.

[childcaremom]

Op: I feel like you do.

I may be the odd one out but I refuse to change my meals/foods offered. Families are well aware of what I serve before they sign up. Meal time is not a battle for me at all. I identify what we are eating, encourage them to try a bite but that is as far as I go. If they don't eat, they don't eat and will eat at the next meal. Or not. I have had some that will wait until they get home to eat.

If it was ever affecting our day here, I would be sending home, as well, or having a chat with the parents. If they ended up leaving, I would look at this as a sign of not being a good fit and move on.

[daycarediva]

This is my menu.
In most regards I have great clients and kids, but all are crappy eaters. I got so tired of throwing food away - and because hungry kids are crabby kids - so I made it easy for me. And if it were one or two kids/families over 12 years I would probably be more inclined to fight the good fight, but it's been most of them.

I have one infant now who is doing BLW, and I have high hopes for her. She's already eating salmon, shrimp, black beans, Swiss cheese, hard boiled egg, quinoa, melon and much more! happyface
It's pretty much the only parents I've ever had who actually walk the walk, rather than just claiming they do

That's awesome about your infant! we did BMW with my kids (before I knew it had a name..ha) and they area pretty good eaters (autistic ds aside, GRRR but he goes hungry often bc I won't cater to him)

I don't see anything wrong with serving what they will eat, and I plan to do the same. My kids eat cheerios and bananas regulary for breakfast, but my current dck's would snub it. A plain banana? What about peanut butter, or rolled in granola, can you make it into a ghost again. Eg. today we are having breakfast banana splits.

organic granola, plain greek yogurt, sliced organic bananas, diced strawberries, sprinkles (natural food dyes only!) and homemade whipped cream. The prep time on that. !!!!!! I also CANNOT prep meals with kids here at all because they all need 100% of my attention, so it's all on my before they arrive.

I am super simple about my menu. It's a 2 week rotation. My parents feed their kids mainly junk so even though it's simple it seems crazy healthy to them and it's stuff kiddos will eat even though they are used to junk! It's so easy to plan ahead of time, I always have stuff on hand ready to go, and it's not crazy expensive. It takes me about 10 mins to prepare/serve a meal which is also a huge bonus!

Breakfast:
Always has a fruit serving and milk- every other day is a different cereal and then in between days are English muffin, toast, bagel, oatmeal, etc.

Snacks:
Easy stuff like wheat Crackers w/ apples. Yogurt & peaches. String Cheese & applesauce, etc.

Lunch:
Always has a fruit, veggie, & Milk serving
Mondays- Sandwich (ham or turkey, the good stuff not crap filled lunch meat)
Tuesdays- HM Spaghetti or HM Mac & Cheese
Wednesday- Sandwich (tuna or grilled cheese)
Thursday- Quesadilla (Cheese or cheese & beef)
Friday- Pizza Muffins (English muffin with HM sauce & cheese) or all beef hot dogs with buns

Will be doing the same. I also plan to drop the FP. I get the tax deductions, so at this point, it's one less hassle. If my crew won't eat any vegetables, the parents don't care, I won't have to serve them.

I know that seems sad, but the food thing- over it!

[Cat Herder]

One parent told me that I was the only one causing stress with the food in their child's life.

This stuck out to me.

Is it possible that what they said is true? Is it possible that they are really not worried with the amount of food their child consumes while in your care because their child is well nourished, healthy and growing well?

* Pediatricians and child development books tell parents that children will eat less or more during certain growth phases and not to obsess about quantities as long as they are healthy and growing well. The parents may honestly have full confidence in what you are serving and have no concerns other than your reports that their child is not eating enough to suit you.

Is it possible that the "just make a hotdog" statement is more about quelling your concern about quantity eaten than about the parent giving in to the child's wishes?

Just my take. :hug:

[Blackcat31]

If you are on the food program you can't serve the kids junk and I hope the parent of those kids knows that. I can't imagine who she'd take them to that would just serve them whatever they want! :confused:

I am on the food program and I have to disagree with that statement. (bolded). Alot of what is credible on the food program is junk. It is heavy in carbs, light in protein and focuses entirely too much on too many fatty foods.

I am sure a lot of it IS healthy in comparison to what some kids do eat but I don't view the food program credible options/requirements as automatically healthy. A lot of tweaking is required.

While I don't disagree with this, my FP does not allow us to withhold certain foods until they eat other things. I would probably get a "ding" and have to attend a re-training session if I told a child they had to eat their veggies before getting a second helping of something else. Both my FP and state regs say we have to have enough for each child to have two servings.
I would check with your FP rules before going this route.

I don't think denying a child seconds is with holding food according to the food program.

The FP does not dictate that we MUST serve second helpings of anything so as long as all the components of the meal are on the plate/available to the child I see nothing wrong or against the regulations by saying no to more of anything.

I don't serve seconds for anything until ALL of the firsts are gone. If they choose not to eat anything from the first round or just one or two things, that is fine but there is no seconds of anything until everything from firsts is gone.

[Sumshine]

Will be doing the same. I also plan to drop the FP. I get the tax deductions, so at this point, it's one less hassle. If my crew won't eat any vegetables, the parents don't care, I won't have to serve them.

I know that seems sad, but the food thing- over it!

I have never been big into cooking myself. Not my cup of tea. I personally live off a light breakfast of toast, yogurt, or nothing, a lean cuisine for lunch, and whatever DH cooks for dinner ! I only cook once or twice a week and those meals are typically some 3 ingredient crockpot dish or simple pasta! My son eats whatever you put in front of him junk or not. I am on a FP and I flipped through their meal suggestions/templates and picked what I felt was easiest and what the kiddos would eat and so far it's worked well. I don't care for the FP. I have no issues being in compliance with them but I'm in the tier that gets less money and my December check was only 82$. I have thought about dropping it so I don't have to sit on my computer every night and type in the meals. Its a pain IMO and I was scolded because I was just typing it in in the morning with our first meal and apparently that is not acceptable nor is typing it in the next day and needs to be done after the last meal/snack and before midnight. I can't do it on my phone so not convenient at all. I also don't like the "training" I have had to do so far. They have to come during my hours which most people would think is convenient but for me it really isn't because I have a very active/structured program and the only time it works for them to come and "train" is during nap time which is still a pain because I have 2 non nappers who are under 5 so my attention is still needing to be focused on them. The training was a bunch of weird useless items and books they gave me and then she spent the rest of the hour going over how I won't get paid if I do this or that. My menu is inexpensive enough I'd be fine without the check and I'd like to have the flexibility of serving a snack or lunch early/later depending on how the day is going and not have to worry they will show up and get upset with me for not doing it at my schedule times or worry about forgetting to let then know I'm closed for a vacation day or sickness. I just worry thay since everyone else around me who provides are on programs I'd be "frowned upon" by potential future parents because I'm not apart of it even if I'm staying in their guidelines and serving decent food to their kiddos!

[daycare]

This stuck out to me.

Is it possible that what they said is true? Is it possible that they are really not worried with the amount of food their child consumes while in your care because their child is well nourished, healthy and growing well?

* Pediatricians and child development books tell parents that children will eat less or more during certain growth phases and not to obsess about quantities as long as they are healthy and growing well. The parents may honestly have full confidence in what you are serving and have no concerns other than your reports that their child is not eating enough to suit you.

Is it possible that the "just make a hotdog" statement is more about quelling your concern about quantity eaten than about the parent giving in to the child's wishes?

Just my take. :hug:

The reason why some of these kids left really wasn't because of the food it was because their lack of food created major behavioral issues.

I never stress a child about food I know that they are not starving I know when they go home they will eat. I think the hotdog comment came up because the child did not eat anything as usual, ALL DAY and I had to call the parent to come pick up the child for undesirable behavior.

Of course the parent question what the child eat today and I said they did not eat anything and so the parents said what did you ask him what they wanted to eat and I said they wanted a hotdog and we were having spaghetti today .

So basically the mom told me if I would have just given the hotdog the behavior problems would not have been created on my behalf according to her and the child's behavior would have been desirable and she wouldn't have had to come pick him up. According to the mother it was all my fault her child had the behavior he did .

One thing that I have realized over the last day is that all four of these children have in common is that they all have nannies or grandma caretakers when they are not with me. A few of the kids were the type that they made all the rules they control the parents so maybe this was a good thing that they left and I dodged a bullet.

I have had parents tell me it is easier just to give in and not parent and let them do what they want then it is to tell them no????

Lesson learned on my part one the next time a parent says that !!!

[Blackcat31]

I have never been big into cooking myself. Not my cup of tea. I personally live off a light breakfast of toast, yogurt, or nothing, a lean cuisine for lunch, and whatever DH cooks for dinner ! I only cook once or twice a week and those meals are typically some 3 ingredient crockpot dish or simple pasta! My son eats whatever you put in front of him junk or not. I am on a FP and I flipped through their meal suggestions/templates and picked what I felt was easiest and what the kiddos would eat and so far it's worked well. I don't care for the FP. I have no issues being in compliance with them but I'm in the tier that gets less money and my December check was only 82$. I have thought about dropping it so I don't have to sit on my computer every night and type in the meals. Its a pain IMO and I was scolded because I was just typing it in in the morning with our first meal and apparently that is not acceptable nor is typing it in the next day and needs to be done after the last meal/snack and before midnight. I can't do it on my phone so not convenient at all. I also don't like the "training" I have had to do so far. They have to come during my hours which most people would think is convenient but for me it really isn't because I have a very active/structured program and the only time it works for them to come and "train" is during nap time which is still a pain because I have 2 non nappers who are under 5 so my attention is still needing to be focused on them. The training was a bunch of weird useless items and books they gave me and then she spent the rest of the hour going over how I won't get paid if I do this or that. My menu is inexpensive enough I'd be fine without the check and I'd like to have the flexibility of serving a snack or lunch early/later depending on how the day is going and not have to worry they will show up and get upset with me for not doing it at my schedule times or worry about forgetting to let then know I'm closed for a vacation day or sickness. I just worry thay since everyone else around me who provides are on programs I'd be "frowned upon" by potential future parents because I'm not apart of it even if I'm staying in their guidelines and serving decent food to their kiddos!

You need to look into another agency maybe.

My training is done on-line on my time (we're given 4 weeks to complete it) and my rep is fantastic about visiting! She usually does an activity with the kids that correlates to the topic of the month. She gives the kids books, dance CD's and stickers! They look forward to her visits!

Also recording meals needs to be done daily but I've NEVER been required to record immediately after each meal/snack....just so long as it's done by end of day. It also takes me only about 10 minutes to record all meals/snacks for 14 kids so not sure why some think its so time consuming. Sometimes when I DO want to record immediately after the meal or snack, I just use the app (Kids2Go) and record with a few tap taps.

My meal times are not rigid either and overlap so lunch for example is scheduled to be served anywhere from 11:00-1:00 so I am in compliance ANY time within that time frame. I am not required to do pre-planning (although I do) but sometimes we just fly by the seat of our pants and have whatever we feel like having for snack or lunch and as long as it meets the required components and is recorded by midnight it's all good.

I used to have horrible experiences with the FP rep at a different agency and thought seriously of withdrawing but then I "shopped" around and found a different agency and OMG! My experiences are so vastly different now (SO positive!!) that I can't imagine not participating.

[Sumshine]

You need to look into another agency maybe.

My training is done on-line on my time (we're given 4 weeks to complete it) and my rep is fantastic about visiting! She usually does an activity with the kids that correlates to the topic of the month. She gives the kids books, dance CD's and stickers! They look forward to her visits!

Also recording meals needs to be done daily but I've NEVER been required to record immediately after each meal/snack....just so long as it's done by end of day. It also takes me only about 10 minutes to record all meals/snacks for 14 kids so not sure why some think its so time consuming. Sometimes when I DO want to record immediately after the meal or snack, I just use the app (Kids2Go) and record with a few tap taps.

My meal times are not rigid either and overlap so lunch for example is scheduled to be served anywhere from 11:00-1:00 so I am in compliance ANY time within that time frame. I am not required to do pre-planning (although I do) but sometimes we just fly by the seat of our pants and have whatever we feel like having for snack or lunch and as long as it meets the required components and is recorded by midnight it's all good.

I used to have horrible experiences with the FP rep at a different agency and thought seriously of withdrawing but then I "shopped" around and found a different agency and OMG! My experiences are so vastly different now (SO positive!!) that I can't imagine not participating.

I had talked to a different provider in my area who is on a different program and she says that she is able to email her rep with any questions and she has access to that app but I don't have access to that app nor did I even know it existed until the other provider brought it up. I have been trying to do my recordings all at the end of the day after our last snack. It's just a pain because I have to break out my computer and load it up to sit and click in the stuff. It doesn't take forever just an inconvenience and then I actually have to remember to do it ! I am limited to only half hour meals that's it end of story! I got scolded as well because my breakfast was fluctuating a lot because I have parents who are scheduled right at 7 but don't arrive on time ever but then expect me to feed their kids so I had to implement a breakfast cut off time to allow for 1 proper half hour meal which ticked a lot of them off but it is what it is! I have to pretty much be on time all the time for meals. Which for me typically isn't an issue I am a very structured and timely person but when you are working with tiny people they aren't as structured it can be difficult! If I decide we need to lay down early for a nap because everybody is in a "mood" I'd love to be able to see lunch a little early and not worry! I have thought about changing but I can't until October unfortunately and even when that time comes I wouldn't even know where to start I assume I just call a different FP and say I'm looking to change and go from there. I figured I would give one more "training" session a try and see how my first unannounced visit goes before throwing in the towel.