Guest guest Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 I just assumed I could pack his lunch to control what he eats, but they discourage that. The director said right now they only have 1 vegetarian, and he eats the cafeteria meals with the meat taken out. She said she knows that's not a good balanced meal, and they will be acommadating if I tell her things to add to the menu. She seems accomadating, but I don't know that someone else won't just serve him like the other kids. How have you handled this? (my son turned 4 this February, and he tells people what he doesn't eat, but some things I think he might not know, he young!) Thanks, Danielle www.angelfire.com/fl/VegetariansHome/Danielle.html Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Danielle, it sounds that the director at least will listen to you. I would handing out sample menus to her and whoever is in the kitchen. You can also, take a short period of time with all the kids together and explain the new menus to them. I wouldn't be surprised if you had kids with questions and a new choice on what they want to eat! Good Luck, Tracy > I just assumed I could pack his lunch to control what he eats, but they > discourage that. The director said right now they only have 1 vegetarian, > and he eats the cafeteria meals with the meat taken out. She said she > knows that's not a good balanced meal, and they will be acommadating if I > tell her things to add to the menu. She seems accomadating, but I don't > know that someone else won't just serve him like the other kids. How have > you handled this? > (my son turned 4 this February, and he tells people what he doesn't eat, > but some things I think he might not know, he young!) > Thanks, Danielle > www.angelfire.com/fl/VegetariansHome/Danielle.html > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 I cannot believe that you can't pack his own lunch!! At our preschool, for the kids that stay for lunch (my kids only do the morning and come home at 11:45), they ALWAYS bring their own lunch! How odd. I'd definitely fight this. Is there someone else above the director that you can talk to? Wow - I'm getting furious and it's not even me!!!!! Good luck and keep us posted!! Lynne Danielle [daniellej0] Saturday, March 29, 2003 8:53 AM My son is starting preschool I just assumed I could pack his lunch to control what he eats, but they discourage that. The director said right now they only have 1 vegetarian, and he eats the cafeteria meals with the meat taken out. She said she knows that's not a good balanced meal, and they will be acommadating if I tell her things to add to the menu. She seems accomadating, but I don't know that someone else won't just serve him like the other kids. How have you handled this? (my son turned 4 this February, and he tells people what he doesn't eat, but some things I think he might not know, he young!) Thanks, Danielle www.angelfire.com/fl/VegetariansHome/Danielle.html Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 When you say they " discourage " you from bringing your own food, do you mean " discourage " or " forbid? " My daughter's daycare thought it was against the licensing rules, so I went online and looked at the rules and calledthe department that does the licensing and found out that it was " discouraged, " but quite legal within certain limits. I bring her lunch now, and get no flak. Herteachers know what she can and can't eat and they call me if there are any questions. If she wants (and since I do not receive a price break for providingher food) she eats the " sides " that the other kids have, like canned fruit, orcanned vegetables or crackers or whatever. (Bleah...) If there is any hesitation, or concern about nutrition, just be armed with facts.There is simply no comparison between a homemade veg meal and a meal of mini corndogsand tater tots and everyone knows it. Good luck, Carol, 3-year-veteran of having a veg kid in daycare/preschool Mom to Lucia, 3.5, that big healthy-looking kid who doesn't eat meat or drink milk. > I just assumed I could pack his lunch to control what he eats, but they > discourage that. & nbsp; The director said right now they only have 1 > vegetarian, and he eats the cafeteria meals with the meat taken > out. & nbsp; She said she knows that's not a good balanced meal, and they > will be acommadating if I tell her things to add to the menu. & nbsp; She > seems accomadating, but I don't know that someone else won't just serve > him like the other kids. & nbsp; How have you handled this? & nbsp; (my > son turned 4 this February, and he tells people what he doesn't eat, > but some things I think he might not know, he young!) Thanks, Danielle > www.angelfire.com/fl/VegetariansHome/Danielle.html > > > > > > Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 > Danielle <daniellej0 > My son is starting preschool > > I just assumed I could pack his lunch to control what he eats, but they > discourage that. The director said right now they only have 1 vegetarian, and > he eats the cafeteria meals with the meat taken out. She said she knows > that's not a good balanced meal, and they will be acommadating if I tell her > things to add to the menu. She seems accomadating, but I don't know that > someone else won't just serve him like the other kids. How have you handled > this? > (my son turned 4 this February, and he tells people what he doesn't eat, but > some things I think he might not know, he young!) > Thanks, Danielle > www.angelfire.com/fl/VegetariansHome/Danielle.html Danielle, Our sons are about the same age (ds turns 4 in June) and he just started daycare. Here's what we have going on. First, I told the school from the get-go a flat-out lie. Actually, two: I said he had severe reactions to vaccinations (1), and so (2) we're on a strict no-animal product diet. Well, we are on a strict no-animal diet, but not because of any vaccine reaction. It's a bit late for you to tell your ds' school such a bald-faced lie, but for us it works in that the teachers are *scared* *to* *death* to give ds anything that might be off-limits. Second - and here's what you may be able to do - I wrote a list of off-limits items, and I provide, as much as possible, similar-looking things for the animal ingredients they're eating. Veggie burgers, soy dogs, soyyogurt, homemade nutritional yeast based multi-purpose " cheeze " sauce, bread (incl. buns), rice milk boxes, veggie " crumbles " for ground beef, etc. They provide pasta and tomato sauce, fruit, veggies, and that's about it. So I make it easy for them, and they can feed him something that looks more or less like what the other kids eat. This was important to the director because, although my ds doesn't mind eating different foods, she felt the other kids would mind that he's eating different foods. I pay more money to do this. I have to buy the food and bring it to them, plus pay the standard daycare costs. For the other parents, the food is included. But it's worth it - and to not have to cook 2 meals a day, I'd pay even more!! LOL It's not perfect. Sometimes I don't have a match for what they're eating (I just found out that veganessentials has cinnamon rolls, which I suppose can match the school's honey buns, but what to do on fishsticks day?....) or I haven't brought them supplies (when he's out of rice milk boxes, he gets water). They sometimes tell me when he's low/out of some food, but not always. I checked the supplies the other day, and the veggie burgers that must be kept frozen were in the fridge, probably ever since I brought them over a week before. For Valentine's Day, they were having a party so I signed up to bring a chocolate cake. I bought one at Whole Foods for $13 (far too much to spend on other people's kids, but for my son to be able to participate in the party, I forked it over). I brought it to the school the night before, when I picked up ds. I put it in the firdge and wrote " vegan chocolate cake for pre-k class " on top of the box. When I came to pick him up, I happily asked him if he had the chocolate cake. No. Why not? Turns out, no one had found the cake (don't ask me why not, a cake box in the fridge, sitting right in front) for my son's party, so all he got was a bit of his soy ice cream while other kids had cupcakes, cookies, ice cream and juice (I think the teachers are scared to even give him juice, although they give him fruit - they're sweet, but not really clear on the vegan issue!)..... I was pissed. So I go to get the cake, and it was gone! So *someone* had found it and consumed it, but not my son. Next time, I'll make sure there's no mistake that it's his cake or whatever. Anyway, so there's our arrangement. Good luck. ~Doh --------- " There is *never* a good reason not to be as loving as you can possibly be. " ~Rob Brezny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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