Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else frustrated that our daycares are feeding our kids such poor food? I prepare lunch, but our daycare provides snacks and they are all full of sugar and sodium, highly processed and full of fake colors and ingredients. I understand price concerns, but I'm sure there are better options that are affordable, tasty and still healthy. Has anyone talked to their daycare administrators about making healthy changes to the food offerings? Do you think they are interested in making changes? I wish they'd realize what a great opportunity they are wasting by not talking about and feeding our kids healthier food.

You get what you pay for, as sad as that sounds.

I am very happy for you PP, but I personally don't want to deal with parents who are simply not educated about health benefits of eating healthy. And "that kind of stuff" important to me, i am indicating that everyone should do it.

Anonymous wrote:I think there is a difference between providing all organic and varied foods and providing decent healthy food. My DC was just offered nachos or corn chips at school for snack. I just don't think these are appropriate. There are plenty of other snacks that are in that same price range give or take $0.25 that are healthier.

I am the provider who spends far less than the $10-12 per day per child for meals. While i do not do organic, we have changed over to eliminating some items that were allowable an changing over to more/most wheat products. etc. I have fed my kids like this for many years and never had a complaint from any parents I had in care. All kids I have cared for that I still am in touch with from 10+ years ago are none worse for the wear.

As long as what you are serving them is healthy and nutritious it doesnt have to be organic. And to the provider who mentioned the eye rolling parents, I would probably be right there rolling my eyes. Those are most likely parents who feed their kids healthy but not organic and dont worry about that kind of stuff.

I think there is a difference between providing all organic and varied foods and providing decent healthy food. My DC was just offered nachos or corn chips at school for snack. I just don't think these are appropriate. There are plenty of other snacks that are in that same price range give or take $0.25 that are healthier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in home provider and cost per child for hot breakfast, lunch, and two snacks is $10-$12 per day with fresh fruits and veggies. (My monthly fee is less then $1700).

Where the heck do you shop???? I am an in home provider and my meals cost nowhere near that per child. And I make healthy foods here, hot meals made from scratch, etc. Following the USDA guidelines.

I shop in Giant and Costco and I am in Bethesda. Organic meat, milk and etc. cost a lot. But it is important to me and my parents and most important our kids benefiting from that and they are growing up with healthy habits and healthy bodies. However, I have to say that some parents when I mention that I don't use processes, fried food, they are rolling the eyes. I prefer not to deal with them.

Anonymous wrote:I am in home provider and cost per child for hot breakfast, lunch, and two snacks is $10-$12 per day with fresh fruits and veggies. (My monthly fee is less then $1700).

Where the heck do you shop???? I am an in home provider and my meals cost nowhere near that per child. And I make healthy foods here, hot meals made from scratch, etc. Following the USDA guidelines.

Anonymous wrote:I bring my kid snacks and supplement the cold cereal breakfast every morning.
It's really sad in the AM I give pancakes, oatmeal, bagel and cream cheese..etc.. And some of the other 1 year olds come stand around.
Don't know why their parents don't care or notice this as a problem
And before people start complaining they are too busy I have a very important job and I am single with NO help from the other parent.

THAT is the reason why as a daycare provider, I supply all meals and ask that nobody brings in outside food. Because the other children see stuff brought in and want it, and it breaks my heart when I see this happening. Not the kids fault.

You ask why the parents dont care or notice? Maybe because not everyone has an issue with what their child is being fed.

And wow on your important job and single etc. I hate people who use those excuses. Really

Anonymous wrote:Everyone has different food preferences and nutritional needs. At our preschool, they only serve milk or water with meals, but several parents send in juice boxes because their children are too picky and won't meet daily caloric needs.

Our former center used Good Food Company for daily meals. I was in the directors office and saw that the cost per child per day was about $3.00 for two snacks and lunch. Any lunch I would pack for my kid with fresh fruits and veggies would cost twice that.

For $3 I can buy one yogurt and one apple, how about lunch? It sounds like jail not a daycare center.

I am in home provider and cost per child for hot breakfast, lunch, and two snacks is $10-$12 per day with fresh fruits and veggies. (My monthly fee is less then $1700).

Everyone has different food preferences and nutritional needs. At our preschool, they only serve milk or water with meals, but several parents send in juice boxes because their children are too picky and won't meet daily caloric needs.

Our former center used Good Food Company for daily meals. I was in the directors office and saw that the cost per child per day was about $3.00 for two snacks and lunch. Any lunch I would pack for my kid with fresh fruits and veggies would cost twice that.

I just saw that Child Time just launched a new "Grow Fit" initiative (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/learning-care-group-makes-nationwide-pledge-to-grow-fit-174914601.html) to make changes to food, physical activity and screen time in their centers. Anyone with kids there seeing any difference??

In my days as a director, I was always shocked by what qualified as an appropriate snack. We had to always serve "2 of 4", which meant some combination of dairy, grain, fruit/vegetable, and protein. There are guidelines in regards to nutrition but the person who mentioned nilla wafers is on the money--that's a typical "grain" that meets the guidelines, is easy and cheap to buy in bulk, and kids don't complain about eating. Add a cup of juice and you are meeting the standards. Oh, and that juice can't be a blend (like cranberry cocktail) but can be 100% apple juice and doesn't have to be watered.

It is harder to be thoughtful about healthy snacks but it's not a huge hassle. For my 4s, a typical afternoon snack was string cheese and apple slices (we bought them in bulk presliced to keep things easy) or mini whole wheat pitas with cream cheese. There were always kids who brought their own and we never policed their food, although we did let parents know when their kids requested what we served.

Basically, we want good healthy food but don't want to pay any extra. We don't want to cook because we are tired, but we want kids to eat healthy. As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. It all should start from family first.

And as to the cookies on the playground post:
most child care licensing agencies require children to be seated while eating or drinking, whether indoors or outdoors, to avoid choking.

Child cares are encouraged to follow the "Let's Move" objectives. The main goals can be found here:
http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/content/hkhf/home/startearly/thegoal.html
The remainder of the website has fact sheets and other useful information.

Child cares who have qualifying children must also follow CACFP regulations in order to receive reimbursements for their lunches. Most centers are also required to have someone trained in these regulations:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/regulations.htm

The problems with providing healthy snacks and lunches?
Some centers do not have full kitchens, only kitchenettes, and cannot realistically make their own food.
Catering is often expensive.


Back to "Let's Move." Child care providers can subscribe to newsletters that will help them in meal/snack planning. The following are tips I received in a recent email blast:

This fall, try offering these wholesome snack options in place of traditionally less-nutritious snacks:



· INSTEAD OF fruit drinks or other sugary beverages TRY frozen cubes of 100% fruit juice in cups of water

· INSTEAD OF cookies TRY graham crackers dipped in unsweetened applesauce

· INSTEAD OF sugary cereal TRY mixing different shapes of whole-grain cereals, such as oat O’s, bran squares, and corn flakes

· INSTEAD OF potato chips TRY baked vegetable chips

· INSTEAD OF crackers TRY whole-grain crackers with apple butter or fruit

· INSTEAD OF cheese puffs TRY thinly sliced vegetables and low-fat ranch dip

· INSTEAD OF cupcakes TRY zucchini or carrot mini-muffins

· INSTEAD OF ice cream TRY yogurt and fruit parfait

· INSTEAD OF gummy fruit snacks TRY fresh fruit, cut in small pieces


We'd already been following all of those anyhow, but they really are simple to try.