Frustrated with snacks at otherwise wonderful arlington preschool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I also hate the cheap, processed junk served to children.

It isn’t real food.

It is real food and it tastes really good. Just admit it. You eat it after your kid goes to bed.

OP here. Maybe you do but I certainly dont. I never grew up eating junk. I enjoy a good cake or delicious ice cream on occasion made from good quality ingredients. But it’s not something I eat all the time. Love chocolate as well. However the stuff I listed is poor quality and just junk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What school is your child going to? Mine go to Children's Montessori house. The meals are served by the good food company. Snacks consist of fresh fruit, a carb and a protein. Sometimes they will serve crackers or what not but most of the snack is healthy. Here is their lunch menu for last year: https://www.montessoriofarlington.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lunch-calendar-Feb-Sep-19.pdf

Everything they eat for lunch is whole grain. There is fresh fruit and they serve greens. Its not perfect but I've been satisfied with what they serve. Perhaps talk to the director and see if other parents are the same. People who think that what you listed is healthy are deluded and probably love feeding their kids crap.

The lunch menu looks delicious! Snacks are not that bad since there is whole fruit as well So good food is possible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general you have two options if you want fresh foods:

1. Go with a center big enough to have a licensed, trained kitchen person full time.

2. Go with a reputable in-home daycare with a provider that makes an effort to feed fresh fruit and vegetables . Note that really reputable in homes with a good meal program are probably going to cost you close to what a center costs.

My friend's child goes to an in home daycare. They get foods like quinoa, kale, etc. Provider is very into organic cooking.

Another friend sends her child to an in home daycare run by an East Asian family. The food is homemade traditional Asian food, and the meats and veggies and rice are prepared from scratch. When they have "American" food like pizza it's a treat like for a birthday party.

You cannot compare a child care situation with 2-6 kids vs. 200.

Why not? Many school districts are able to serve healthier food for less.

Not around here. MCPS food is horrific. All processed, frozen and reheated.

FOCPS food used to be horrific. Now they’ve revamped the menu in our school and added a salad bar. My girls love it and it’s really getting them to try all these vegetables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general you have two options if you want fresh foods:

1. Go with a center big enough to have a licensed, trained kitchen person full time.

2. Go with a reputable in-home daycare with a provider that makes an effort to feed fresh fruit and vegetables . Note that really reputable in homes with a good meal program are probably going to cost you close to what a center costs.

My friend's child goes to an in home daycare. They get foods like quinoa, kale, etc. Provider is very into organic cooking.

Another friend sends her child to an in home daycare run by an East Asian family. The food is homemade traditional Asian food, and the meats and veggies and rice are prepared from scratch. When they have "American" food like pizza it's a treat like for a birthday party.

You cannot compare a child care situation with 2-6 kids vs. 200.

Why not? Many school districts are able to serve healthier food for less.

Not around here. MCPS food is horrific. All processed, frozen and reheated.

FOCPS food used to be horrific. Now they’ve revamped the menu in our school and added a salad bar. My girls love it and it’s really getting them to try all these vegetables.

Meant to say FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's fine and what kids eat. I prefer healthy eating but its snacks. They need easy, cheap, quick to serve. Why don't you offer to donate snacks you prefer?

It’s only what kids eat if that’s what you serve them! If you serve them the healthy stuff, they will eat the healthy stuff! Peer pressure does amazing things.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you at LAA? I don’t understand why they don’t use Good Food catering company like everyone else. Parents rave about LAA but the things that count as a vegetable on their lunch menu (corn, Lima beans, iceberg lettuce) leave a bit to be desired. I didn’t even look at the snacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it sounds like daycare, not preschool. Preschools families take turns bringing in snacks and they only have the one snack.

What they are serving is normal. They would have to charge a lot more tuition to cover serving organic berries and cheese cube---more expensive to purchase and you have to pay someone to prepare them. 90% of families find those snacks perfectly healthy and acceptable.

Omg just SHUT UP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a daycare, not a preschool. Preschool doesn’t happen in the summer and isn’t full-time. This is totally normal for daycare.

It’s a full year full day preschool. They don’t take anyone under two.

LOL. Honey, if it goes all summer it's daycare. What do you wish they would serve that would have the same price and convenience of what they serve now?

Not OP. What’s the difference? My DD goes to a full day preschool with a summer program that we enroll her in. Minimum age is 3. They follow a Montessori curriculum. Just because it operates throughout the year doesn’t mean it’s not a preschool. OP good snacks are possible. Our school caters from the good food company which provides the snacks as well. No saltines (yuck) , pretzels or anything you described. Perhaps suggest using them?

Well, if its existence is designed to cover the workday its a daycare.
But the main difference here is that a preschool usually have families bring in snacks and here the daycare is providing multiple snacks per day.

Lady. Every single preschool thread devolves into this argument because of you stupid self conscious SAHMs who are trying to feel better about not having jobs. Just shut up. Why don’t you just get it that preschool comes in many different forms. You are insufferable. Just SHUT UP if you are not going to answer the question. You have been reported to the site mod. I hope he deletes your posts and bans you.

[Anonymous]

This is LAA, but you do know they do serve fruit, apples, pita and hummus, celery, carrots, cucumbers too right? For some reason you left those off your list.

[Anonymous]

LAA is not $2k/month. Not sure what preschool OP is talking about.

[Anonymous]

If it’s LAA, the director for defensive because, in my experience, she gets defensive. It’s helpful if you say the school you’re talking about because we might have experience there. LAA is a wonderful school but the director does get defensive (in my experience) if she feels like she’s being challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it’s LAA, the director for defensive because, in my experience, she gets defensive. It’s helpful if you say the school you’re talking about because we might have experience there. LAA is a wonderful school but the director does get defensive (in my experience) if she feels like she’s being challenged.

I agree. I’m an LAA parent and the director can be a little defensive when someone disagrees with her. The staff have hinted this too. That being said the school is well run, communication is excellent and the teachers are top notch. I agree that the snacks aren’t that great and I wish they would eliminate the take home snack. But in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor issue. It’s so difficult to find a trustworthy care provider and I’ve heard some scary stories. OP not sure if you are talking about LAA, but believe me we have it good. Kindergarten is a lot worse and since kids are in school for 13 whole years including kindergarten maybe it would be best to focus your efforts on improving the food offered in APS. My understanding is that it is is much better than before but there is a lot of room for improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s LAA, the director for defensive because, in my experience, she gets defensive. It’s helpful if you say the school you’re talking about because we might have experience there. LAA is a wonderful school but the director does get defensive (in my experience) if she feels like she’s being challenged.

I agree. I’m an LAA parent and the director can be a little defensive when someone disagrees with her. The staff have hinted this too. That being said the school is well run, communication is excellent and the teachers are top notch. I agree that the snacks aren’t that great and I wish they would eliminate the take home snack. But in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor issue. It’s so difficult to find a trustworthy care provider and I’ve heard some scary stories. OP not sure if you are talking about LAA, but believe me we have it good. Kindergarten is a lot worse and since kids are in school for 13 whole years including kindergarten maybe it would be best to focus your efforts on improving the food offered in APS. My understanding is that it is is much better than before but there is a lot of room for improvement.

The take home snack probably cannot be eliminated because the school has to, under VA licensing requirements, provide a snack or meal every X number of hours as long as they are open (even if most of the kids have gone home). I think it's every 3 hours. So if they have lunch at noon and their afternoon snack at 3, and they are technically open for pickup until 6:30, then they are required to have another snack...so the easiest thing for them to do is just have some sort of simple, non perishable take home snack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s LAA, the director for defensive because, in my experience, she gets defensive. It’s helpful if you say the school you’re talking about because we might have experience there. LAA is a wonderful school but the director does get defensive (in my experience) if she feels like she’s being challenged.

I agree. I’m an LAA parent and the director can be a little defensive when someone disagrees with her. The staff have hinted this too. That being said the school is well run, communication is excellent and the teachers are top notch. I agree that the snacks aren’t that great and I wish they would eliminate the take home snack. But in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor issue. It’s so difficult to find a trustworthy care provider and I’ve heard some scary stories. OP not sure if you are talking about LAA, but believe me we have it good. Kindergarten is a lot worse and since kids are in school for 13 whole years including kindergarten maybe it would be best to focus your efforts on improving the food offered in APS. My understanding is that it is is much better than before but there is a lot of room for improvement.

The take home snack probably cannot be eliminated because the school has to, under VA licensing requirements, provide a snack or meal every X number of hours as long as they are open (even if most of the kids have gone home). I think it's every 3 hours. So if they have lunch at noon and their afternoon snack at 3, and they are technically open for pickup until 6:30, then they are required to have another snack...so the easiest thing for them to do is just have some sort of simple, non perishable take home snack.

Yep, the rule is food needs to be offered every 3 hours they're operating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s LAA, the director for defensive because, in my experience, she gets defensive. It’s helpful if you say the school you’re talking about because we might have experience there. LAA is a wonderful school but the director does get defensive (in my experience) if she feels like she’s being challenged.

I agree. I’m an LAA parent and the director can be a little defensive when someone disagrees with her. The staff have hinted this too. That being said the school is well run, communication is excellent and the teachers are top notch. I agree that the snacks aren’t that great and I wish they would eliminate the take home snack. But in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor issue. It’s so difficult to find a trustworthy care provider and I’ve heard some scary stories. OP not sure if you are talking about LAA, but believe me we have it good. Kindergarten is a lot worse and since kids are in school for 13 whole years including kindergarten maybe it would be best to focus your efforts on improving the food offered in APS. My understanding is that it is is much better than before but there is a lot of room for improvement.

The take home snack probably cannot be eliminated because the school has to, under VA licensing requirements, provide a snack or meal every X number of hours as long as they are open (even if most of the kids have gone home). I think it's every 3 hours. So if they have lunch at noon and their afternoon snack at 3, and they are technically open for pickup until 6:30, then they are required to have another snack...so the easiest thing for them to do is just have some sort of simple, non perishable take home snack.

Makes sense. Thank you. My daughter loves the snack and it’s somewhat of a ritual for her and for everyone in the class so I would feel bad saying no to it. It does affect dinner though (probably cuz we live less than 10 minutes away) and I do wish it was healthier and lower in sugar. But like I said in the grand scheme of things it’s a good school and I’m not going to pull my daughter out because I don’t like the snacks. Can’t have everything and this school is close to perfect (for my family at least).