Can i pack these lunch for my 2 year old daycare?
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Anonymous
| He is partially spoon fed by me & partially self fed with hands or utensils. He eats white rice, stir fried noodle, meat with sauce, spaghetti with tomato sauce, pan fried dumpling, and other food that are in sauce. I really don't want to pack chicken nugget, jelly sandwich, or other processed finger lunch because I have a picky eater kid that eats those for years. Can I pack those wet, oily and messy food that I list above to daycare? He does not wear bib, will that be super messy on clothing and daycare floor? Is thermo the best container to keep those food in? They will microwave, so I am not sure if it matters. |
Anonymous
| I think these are good questions for the daycare itself. I will say we send things that DD needs help eating, like rice, sometimes and it's fine. Another idea is salads - you can do salads with pasta or potatoes, veggies and a protein like chickpeas or chicken, rather than a sandwich. |
Anonymous
| Ask the daycare. As a side not there are lots of foods between what you mentioned initially and chicken nuggets. It doesn’t have to be one of the other. Also, if the daycare wants the kids to wear a bib your kid will wear a bib. He will also learn to feed himself. |
Anonymous
| Probably ok for daycare but agree with the PP to ask them. We sent all manner of foods- sometimes messy things like noodles or rice and sometimes (GASP) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they were fine with it. Once our kid hit preschool the preschool asked that the foods be things they could generally eat themselves although they would still help if needed. |
Anonymous
| Why are you still spoon feeding your 2 year old? |
Anonymous
| At my daycare by the 2s room they want them to feed themselves mostly. I'd focus on self feeding friendly foods and steer away from things with lots of sauce or are messy to eat. |
Anonymous
| Talk to the daycare, but I generally went with things he could eat on his own without a big mess. |
Anonymous
| Our daycare serves rice and noodles with lunch, so I don't think it would be a huge issue. I agree with PP, focus on having 2yo practicing with a spoon or fork, so teacher doesn't have to feed them. And make sure they have an extra shirt packed if they get too messy. |
Anonymous
|
Honestly, ask the program, but as a director of a childcare program I would encourage you to send a spoon in and not worry - perhaps you put a bit less sauce on the pasta, but the pan fried dumplings, etc?
Those are fine - just don't be worried that he will hold those with his hands and bite into them. We have a 2 year old who eats REALLY LONG NOODLES with her hands. Eventually she'll eat with a spoon and fork, but not yet. And that's fine, no problem! The really hard foodto send is SOUP - that's really hard for them to eat at this point so I'd stay clear of that. You do NOT need to adapt your cultural foods to the "kid food" that others do - if that's what he eats, that's what he eats. Heat it up in the morning, put it in a thermos with a wide mouth, and it will be the right temperature when it's opened at lunch, and he can eat it out of the wide mouthed thermos. And if you send yogurt, know that your child will use a spoon to eat it. So, start working on having your child feed himself completely at home - he'll use his hands more, but give him a small child sized spoon and fork and he'll start to learn to use it. Or child-sized (with the clip on the end) chopsticks - we have several children who bring those in sometimes. |
Anonymous
| We were told no rice if kid makes a mess / it doesn’t sweep or vacuum or wipe off easily. Sauces, etc were no problem. |
Anonymous
Agree! A 2 year old should feed herself. |
Anonymous
+2 your two-year-old should absolutely not be spoonfed. - daycare worker |
Anonymous
|
and a child at 2 years old who is still spoon fed at home is going to learn to self-feed at childcare - whether that's using a spoon or hands -
in our culture we have children doing it by themselves by 2 years old - and in a preschool/childcare we simply cannot spoon feed all the children - there are too many. |
Anonymous
| Daycare will let you know if it's a problem. I wouldn't ask if you might not like the answer. |