Would You Say Something About The Lunch They Pack?

[Unregistered]

Parents need to provide lunches, as I do not provide lunches in my daycare. I have a family that has been packing either a sugary muffin or pb&j on white bread as their main entree for their 24 month old twins since they started with me 7 months ago. For example, their lunch today was a large store-bought muffin, a cereal bar with frosting (16g of sugar), canned pears and chocolate milk. This is a very typical lunch for them.. lots of sugar, no veggies and hardly any protein.

I can also say that they have NEVER had normal poop!! They are always constipated and only poop pellets. I feel so bad for them! They have also been very moody for the last month, which I'm wondering if it has something to do with their diet.

They are a super nice family so I hate to ruffle any feathers by finally saying something. But it just pains me to feed them that! Wwyd?

[happymom]

I don't think you should say anything.

Perhaps post something on your bulletin board about toddler nutrition and the food groups. If you want to choose what the kids are eating in your care, I suggest you change your rates so that food is included in tuition prices.

[hwichlaz]

Yep, either provide the food or MYOB.

[finsup]

I would start a "healthy food" unit and get families invovled. It's late in the season here to do a garden, but maybe in the spring time? Just something that gives them some "suggestions" on good food choices. But other then that, nope. I would hope they would make good food choices but they can really feed them what they want. This is however the reason I switched to providing food. I wanted to know kids were at least eating healthy when they were here.

[KiwiKids]

I feel that if I ask for packed lunches ( which I switched to recently ) then I can't really comment on what is in them but I have called parents on not sending enough food.

[MarinaVanessa]

That's one of the reasons why I provide meals myself and don't allow outside food at all (other than if maybe a child has complicated severe allergies or something). This way I control what they eat and can make sure that they have balanced meals.

[Ariana]

A daycare family was called in for a conference with the school about their lunches. I had seen the lunches as I provided before and after school care for the little girl. Nonfat, aspertame yogurt, chocolate cookies, juice etc. The kids was coming off the bus exhausted every day. Meanwhile mom was a power lifter and training for a bodybuilding competition

I wish I knew what they said at the conference but mom stepped up her game and started giving much healthier lunches. I think it is a GREAT idea to send home something about healthy lunches or post something online about it for all the parents. Talk especially about sugar. I would also seriously consider providing lunches for the kids. This is a main reason I provide lunches. I would also take any opportunity to bring it up. "Johnny is constipated"..."well perhaps more fruit for his lunch might help" that sort of thing.

[catinthebox]

to piggy off happymom i think you can have a bulletin board including nutrition, if you want change the tuition fee to include food or maybe encourage the kids BY having them eat fruits and them telling the parents that their kids enjoy the fruits.

[LovetheSun]

Is it affecting their mood? If yes, I would say that we don't allow high sugared treat in the lunch box.

Maybe send a two weeks notice to all the families, but is kind of risky because if you didn't mention anything during enrollment they might feel judged.

[LovetheSun]

And I wanted to add that is difficult when it comes to food because so many families do not realize you shouldn't feed your children what you would eat yourself! Most grow ups would not have a muffin/frosted cereal bar/chocolate milk and can fruits for lunch ::

If you do decide to say something, i would send it to all families and say is a change of policy (maybe be specific and mention what is not allowed).

[rosieteddy]

when I was caring for children and this came up I printed the llist from the food program.You could get the government guidelines of the internet.I sent a notice to all parents reminding them of healthy guidelines.I blamed my licensing .I often gave ideas for healthy choices and a checklist of what was not allowed.You can not control everything but some ideas might be helpful.Just don't signal out anyone .I always felt it was part of my job to teach nutrition .

[Cat Herder]

I would if I had a concern for the child, but my clients would expect that. I don't cater to parental political defiance on my time. I am a caretaker of small children who trust me.

I am the same caretaker that serves cupcakes and cheetos at parties. I have served fried chicken and waffles with maple syrup, too. All things in moderation. Balanced diets and treats with common sense. Life is short, this is not the hill to die on. ::

Interesting read:https://schoolnutrition.org/uploaded...erceptions.pdf

[Snowmom]

Disclaimer: this is not something I do (I provide food), so my opinion is coming from a different experience than those that do require home lunches.

If it is an everyday occurrence and affects the children, then yes, I would address it.

I would come up with a flyer and require all families to initial and return it.
It would have the required food program components, because this is a reasonable requirement to follow.
The flyer would say something like...
Going forward, all children's lunches are required to include:
1. One protein (give examples like meats, hard boiled egg, cheese, etc).
2. One grain, which should be wheat or whole grain (don't make it as complicated as the food program is).
3. One fruit PLUS one vegetable OR two vegetables.
4. unflavored milk

I would include examples or pictures to give ideas, maybe even a handout with recipes or links to follow "100 days of real food" school lunches (since she's so great at putting together ideas).

[Snowmom]

I wanted to add, I don't think I'd get too picky after that if I saw at least an attempt to add in healthy options.

[ColorfulSunburst]

you chose not to provide food as a service, so keep your thoughts private in this matter. As mentioned earlier, you can post nutrition informational material on your boards or if you regularly communicate with all parents via email it can be added as an attachment covering the value of food, exercise, and other general information tips and resources for parents. Keep it very general and do not target the offending parent.