Help form those that DON"T serve food

[bright sparks]

I provide all my daycare kids with food for the day and cater to food issues. Currently I have dairy and egg allergy children. I did want to comment on the last two posts though after reading through this thread.

ceECE....I have worked in many large day cares that provide food and I found that children are very fussy and don't eat the provided day care lunch. Then they're grumpy because they're hungry.

and

5LM...I don't mind doing the cooking for dc but I think parents supplying it is a good choice too. Especially these days with children and food allergies and children who are picky eaters.

Have you ever thought that maybe the kids are fussy eaters because of the caregivers...mainly parents, who cater to their wants versus their needs?? The children would not be picky eaters if they never had a choice. At a daycare centre in all likelihood the child is given a set amount of time to eat like the rest of the group and when time is up, time is up. I'd hazard a guess that when desert was passed around they would get that even if they had not eaten the main course. Picky eaters should be dealt with by teaching them to eat a varied diet and that they are not in a restaurant with options, and if mum and dad pack the same old food day in and day out, of the probable 4 or 5 items they will eat, they are probably part of the problem. Fussy eaters are usually a product of a parent giving in to a child in a power struggle where they allow the child to be in charge. Having the children eat all the same meal actually teaches them much better behaviour and healthier habits when it comes to doing as they are told, and developing a much more varied and likely healthier diet. I do know one of my daycare parents uses a back up provider and sends food their because the dcp serves nuggets and hot dogs where as I serve zero processed foods so in that case, if a dcparent and a dcproviders eating habits do not match up but you love everything else about them, then I could see this as a good option.