Daycare snacks

[Guest guest]

Ok, I've deleted too many posts, so I don't recall who else was having the

problem of alternative snacks at daycare. We just got the menu for this month,

and the Lorna Doones and vanilla pudding are off. They have substituted

tortillas with melted cheese. I'm not sure if that is an improvement or not,

but at least there is protein. Of course, it would not work if the child is

vegan. They've added trail mix, which is corn chex, raisins and sunflower

seeds. There is still Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, lots of goldfish crackers,

etc.

 

How is it going for you? For Jamie, our 15 month old son, we are sending in

alterntative snacks each day and so far it has worked well. We just write up

his menu for the day, post it, and they follow it. I just got a copy of the

menu yesterday, so I have to go through it and figure out what works and does

not work for our daughter.

 

Karen

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I'm new to the group and am having problems with daycare food as

well. I am happy at this point that they aren't giving my 14 month

old brownies. Her daycare also serves lots of trail mix, cookies,

crackers, cheeses, and the like for snack. I have sent in tapioca

pudding for her so she's not getting chocolate. I keep fig newmans

there for her instead of cookies. But I don't understand why they

think that cookies, cake, and brownies are good for growing kids.

They tell me they are following FDA guidelines. OK, technically a

brownies fits that (sugar, flour, eggs, protien). But lets face it,

there isn't any nutritional value in a brownie (no vitamin C, A, B,

or iron).

 

What sorts of snacks have others sent to daycares? For awhile they

were good about only giving her fruit at snack, but not anymore.

 

Also, how did you get them to serve vegetarian meals to your kids? I

am in OH, and here after 18 months she will be in a toddler room.

This means I will be limited in bringing meals in for her (there's no

frig or microwave in the toddler rooms). I really don't want to start

her on peanut butter yet, and I don't want her to have grilled cheese

everyday. Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Joann

 

 

, Karen Detling <kdetling@c...> wrote:

> Ok, I've deleted too many posts, so I don't recall who else was

having the problem of alternative snacks at daycare. We just got the

menu for this month, and the Lorna Doones and vanilla pudding are

off. They have substituted tortillas with melted cheese. I'm not

sure if that is an improvement or not, but at least there is

protein. Of course, it would not work if the child is vegan.

They've added trail mix, which is corn chex, raisins and sunflower

seeds. There is still Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, lots of goldfish

crackers, etc.

>

> How is it going for you? For Jamie, our 15 month old son, we are

sending in alterntative snacks each day and so far it has worked

well. We just write up his menu for the day, post it, and they

follow it. I just got a copy of the menu yesterday, so I have to go

through it and figure out what works and does not work for our

daughter.

>

> Karen

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Joann - I am the one who posted originally about the daycare snacks. I hate to

tell you this, but it is a tough and frustrating road. Unfortunately, part of

the problem is money. If your daycare is getting reimbursed through some FDA or

other government program for the money it spends on food, then it must follow

certain guidelines. When we spoke with our daycare, they told us that according

to those guidelines, Lorna Doone cookies and Ritz crackers are enriched bread

products; pudding is dairy. Apparently there is an actual list of acceptable

foods. If big brother visits and finds that the children are not eating these

foods, they can stop the reimbursements. The other problem is that the whole

sale places at which the daycares buy their food do not sell the healthy stuff.

 

Although some teachers apparently agreed about the snacks others did not. We

have seen their diets and can understand why they would think that cookies, etc.

are just fine. Most of their food is fried, they drink huge amounts of soda,

etc. There is a harvets festival coming up and one of the parents in my

daughter's room asked that there be no candy, as she does not permit her son to

have any. The teacher responded, that if the children got upset she was going

to tell them that there was no candy because this mother wouldn't let them have

it. Obviously she found it completely acceptable and had no thought of the

health consequences.

 

Anyway, for my daughter we get the menu each month and mark what we don't want

and send an alternative. It has only been mildly successful. Most of the time

she comes home with the alternative snack still in her lunch box. Not sure if

they forget to give it to her or she won't eat it. This month I sent the menu

off with my husband who has no idea what became of it. (He is not as concerned

about the nutrition, so he sees the alternative snacks as a nuisance.) My son

is only 17 months, so we have a lot more control there and so far it has worked

just fine. Every day we write up his menu and post it for the teachers to see.

 

Good luck.

 

Karen

-

postfem

Thursday, October 17, 2002 2:11 PM

Re: Daycare snacks

 

 

I'm new to the group and am having problems with daycare food as

well. I am happy at this point that they aren't giving my 14 month

old brownies. Her daycare also serves lots of trail mix, cookies,

crackers, cheeses, and the like for snack. I have sent in tapioca

pudding for her so she's not getting chocolate. I keep fig newmans

there for her instead of cookies. But I don't understand why they

think that cookies, cake, and brownies are good for growing kids.

They tell me they are following FDA guidelines. OK, technically a

brownies fits that (sugar, flour, eggs, protien). But lets face it,

there isn't any nutritional value in a brownie (no vitamin C, A, B,

or iron).

 

What sorts of snacks have others sent to daycares? For awhile they

were good about only giving her fruit at snack, but not anymore.

 

Also, how did you get them to serve vegetarian meals to your kids? I

am in OH, and here after 18 months she will be in a toddler room.

This means I will be limited in bringing meals in for her (there's no

frig or microwave in the toddler rooms). I really don't want to start

her on peanut butter yet, and I don't want her to have grilled cheese

everyday. Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Joann

 

 

, Karen Detling <kdetling@c...> wrote:

> Ok, I've deleted too many posts, so I don't recall who else was

having the problem of alternative snacks at daycare. We just got the

menu for this month, and the Lorna Doones and vanilla pudding are

off. They have substituted tortillas with melted cheese. I'm not

sure if that is an improvement or not, but at least there is

protein. Of course, it would not work if the child is vegan.

They've added trail mix, which is corn chex, raisins and sunflower

seeds. There is still Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, lots of goldfish

crackers, etc.

>

> How is it going for you? For Jamie, our 15 month old son, we are

sending in alterntative snacks each day and so far it has worked

well. We just write up his menu for the day, post it, and they

follow it. I just got a copy of the menu yesterday, so I have to go

through it and figure out what works and does not work for our

daughter.

>

> Karen

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

After I responded, I thought of something else. I don't mean to be a downer,

and I guess this is mostly a venting of my frustrations. What I have realized

is that as unhappy as I might be about the daycare food, it probably will only

get worse.

 

We are looking at pre-k programs for our daughter. They are all part of

pre-k-12 private schools. The ones we have looked at have all been on the

liberal end of things, stress diversity, peaceful resolution, independence, etc.

I guess I assumed that schools that did these sorts of things would also be

concerned with good nutrition. Well, I was wrong.

 

We toured one and they told us how they do a lot of baking with the children.

That's great - teaches following instructions, math, etc. However, it was clear

that what they baked were cookies and that sort of thing; we could smell

chocolate chip cookies baking. As we walked through all the rooms and kitchens,

I saw mostly junk food sitting around. In one of the math classes the children

were using M & M's to count and then they could eat them. In some rooms where

they were learning the letter " P " they made pizzas with pepperoni.

 

Now, we eat our share of these things, so I am not saying that a chocolate chip

cookie can never pass my children's lips. However, I like to be able to control

what they eat and how much. To me, it is an occasional thing, and I don't want

them having this sort of thing every day. We toured another school and the

teacher also said they baked with the children, but she added, " we make healthy

things. " I didn't dare to ask what that was, but the fact that the word healthy

was mentioned made tears well up in my eyes and it was all I could do not to hug

the woman.

 

Karen

 

-

postfem

Thursday, October 17, 2002 2:11 PM

Re: Daycare snacks

 

 

I'm new to the group and am having problems with daycare food as

well. I am happy at this point that they aren't giving my 14 month

old brownies. Her daycare also serves lots of trail mix, cookies,

crackers, cheeses, and the like for snack. I have sent in tapioca

pudding for her so she's not getting chocolate. I keep fig newmans

there for her instead of cookies. But I don't understand why they

think that cookies, cake, and brownies are good for growing kids.

They tell me they are following FDA guidelines. OK, technically a

brownies fits that (sugar, flour, eggs, protien). But lets face it,

there isn't any nutritional value in a brownie (no vitamin C, A, B,

or iron).

 

What sorts of snacks have others sent to daycares? For awhile they

were good about only giving her fruit at snack, but not anymore.

 

Also, how did you get them to serve vegetarian meals to your kids? I

am in OH, and here after 18 months she will be in a toddler room.

This means I will be limited in bringing meals in for her (there's no

frig or microwave in the toddler rooms). I really don't want to start

her on peanut butter yet, and I don't want her to have grilled cheese

everyday. Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Joann

 

 

, Karen Detling <kdetling@c...> wrote:

> Ok, I've deleted too many posts, so I don't recall who else was

having the problem of alternative snacks at daycare. We just got the

menu for this month, and the Lorna Doones and vanilla pudding are

off. They have substituted tortillas with melted cheese. I'm not

sure if that is an improvement or not, but at least there is

protein. Of course, it would not work if the child is vegan.

They've added trail mix, which is corn chex, raisins and sunflower

seeds. There is still Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, lots of goldfish

crackers, etc.

>

> How is it going for you? For Jamie, our 15 month old son, we are

sending in alterntative snacks each day and so far it has worked

well. We just write up his menu for the day, post it, and they

follow it. I just got a copy of the menu yesterday, so I have to go

through it and figure out what works and does not work for our

daughter.

>

> Karen

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Joann - me again. As for snack/lunch ideas, my guys love hummus and guacamole.

After the infant room there is no refrigerator either (well, there is one, but

it's small so no room for all the lunches) so we use the freezer packs to keep

things cold.

 

Karen

-

postfem

Thursday, October 17, 2002 2:11 PM

Re: Daycare snacks

 

 

I'm new to the group and am having problems with daycare food as

well. I am happy at this point that they aren't giving my 14 month

old brownies. Her daycare also serves lots of trail mix, cookies,

crackers, cheeses, and the like for snack. I have sent in tapioca

pudding for her so she's not getting chocolate. I keep fig newmans

there for her instead of cookies. But I don't understand why they

think that cookies, cake, and brownies are good for growing kids.

They tell me they are following FDA guidelines. OK, technically a

brownies fits that (sugar, flour, eggs, protien). But lets face it,

there isn't any nutritional value in a brownie (no vitamin C, A, B,

or iron).

 

What sorts of snacks have others sent to daycares? For awhile they

were good about only giving her fruit at snack, but not anymore.

 

Also, how did you get them to serve vegetarian meals to your kids? I

am in OH, and here after 18 months she will be in a toddler room.

This means I will be limited in bringing meals in for her (there's no

frig or microwave in the toddler rooms). I really don't want to start

her on peanut butter yet, and I don't want her to have grilled cheese

everyday. Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Joann

 

 

, Karen Detling <kdetling@c...> wrote:

> Ok, I've deleted too many posts, so I don't recall who else was

having the problem of alternative snacks at daycare. We just got the

menu for this month, and the Lorna Doones and vanilla pudding are

off. They have substituted tortillas with melted cheese. I'm not

sure if that is an improvement or not, but at least there is

protein. Of course, it would not work if the child is vegan.

They've added trail mix, which is corn chex, raisins and sunflower

seeds. There is still Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, lots of goldfish

crackers, etc.

>

> How is it going for you? For Jamie, our 15 month old son, we are

sending in alterntative snacks each day and so far it has worked

well. We just write up his menu for the day, post it, and they

follow it. I just got a copy of the menu yesterday, so I have to go

through it and figure out what works and does not work for our

daughter.

>

> Karen

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Okay, let me shed a little light on the daycare thing. I would really suggest

that you continue to send your childs meals in. Here is why I say that. As a

culinary student you must complete an internship in order to do a practicum

(written 20 page paper on work ethics and management). I decided to complete my

internship at my sons daycare (he was in their pre-k program by then). The

woman incharge of meals (she's been there for about 20 years) is a great person

BUT I saw things that should not have happened. She was never trained in

culinary arts, but of course she had to take seminars on nutrition. Their are

always children with special needs diets that attend daycare ie. no pork, no

eggs, no peanutbutter etc. Those that were personal preference were not as

important as those with allergies. Anyway, one day the meal plan included baked

beans, earlier when she received her product order she didn't check it and

signed for a few things she shouldn't have. Of course she had to use them and

of course the beans weren't just beans in tomato sauce they were pork and beans.

There were many students on her list for no pork because of religious reasons.

Do you think she served them the beans? You guessed it of course she did. I

couldn't believe it. Her reply was a little pork won't hurt them. I grew up

eating it and I have to use these things up. That was the day that never made

me happy I didn't rely on other people to watch what they served to my child. I

always sent my son's meals to school always memicing what the students were

eating. From soup to " hotdogs " to " chiknuggets " . Only thing they asked was

that his meals be in containers that were microwave safe and ready to be put on

a plate. She even sent his leftovers home so that I could see what he was or

was not eating.

So if you aren't sure how veg friendly your lunchroom is keep sending in meals.

By the way meals are always prepared in the kitchen and then taken to the

classroom by the teachers. The lunchroom will store and heat your child's meals

if you ask.

Sonya

 

 

 

 

 

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