They offer something kind of like a light dinner at Brent in the Springboard afercare program. I have three kids, and one of them never eats it. The other two eat it maybe every other day. They are all famished when they get in my car. I give them a snack in the car, and they eat dinner when they get home.

So much food gets thrown away. I would say half or more of the kids don't eat it. I wish there would be options, or the kids could make their own sandwiches (which I know would be a logistical and public health nightmare). It would be great if there was a big bowl of fruit and the kids could just take some fruit if they didn't want the sandwich - one of my kids hates cheese.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stokes does. I think its a great option. I believe you can take it home and its a guaranteed healthy meal. I would happily pay for that!

A grilled cheese sandwich and a small cup of grapes is not dinner in my opinion.

It's more like a snack and not dinner at stokes.

For some children, a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of grapes is a whole lot more than what they're offered at home for dinner.

Now if they offered the grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of Campbell's tomato soup to dip it in, that would be a meal . . . . Mmmh. I'd have that every night.

Why do people respond if they aren't going to answer the question. It's not your job to tell OP how to raise the child. Answer the question or go on about your day. It's not a far fall off your hill.

OP here. My daughter is in school 8:30 - 5:00/5:30, and even if dinner was offered, we'd still all sit down and do some sort of dinner when we got home. I was more curious about the logistics of dinner being offered at aftercare. I hear it mentioned from time to time, and I may get flamed for this as well, but as convenient as it might seem, I can't imagine not sharing any mealtimes with my kids all week long.

I'm a teacher and I'm going to get flamed for this but....unless there are extenuating circumstances or poverty issues , we feel it's better for the kids to have at least one meal with their families. (And a Nutrigrain bar in the car to daycare doesn't count.) It is hard for the majority of kids to be in a large group setting for 10+ hours and they need a break from the crowd and some down time. I understand that if you work a late shift, maybe a dinner at home is impossible but try to at least sit down to breakfast together.

Again, I'm not talking about parents who can't afford healthy meals - we should help them - but in our upper-income area it can be sad and a little annoying when parents leave their kids with us from 7 to 6:30 and then complain that we've only given them two meals and two snacks. They are your kids...carve out some time!

Anonymous wrote:14:12 can you share your DCPS? I think that actually sounds great - my daughter is often ravenous at 5:30 when I pick her up, having eaten a pretty insubstantial snack around 4:00, and would love if her "snack" was a little more hearty and could hold her over until family dinner-time. I was wondering if this was what was meant by "dinner".

Jesus Christmas, are you incapable of packing her something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stokes does. I think its a great option. I believe you can take it home and its a guaranteed healthy meal. I would happily pay for that!

A grilled cheese sandwich and a small cup of grapes is not dinner in my opinion.

It's more like a snack and not dinner at stokes.

For some children, a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of grapes is a whole lot more than what they're offered at home for dinner.