What do you consider "junk" ??? (food)

[mlc1982]

I know our goal as day home providers is to serve healthy, wholesome meals to these kids. But, does anybody ever serve any 'junk' and what exactly do you consider 'junk?'

[horsegirl]

My thoughts on "junk' or high sugar or fat food, is that everybody eats these as treats but I like to see the children in my daycare eat the healthy food first. The tuna, egg, peanut butter sandwich, the pasta, the left over stew, etc and the fruit, vegetables and yogurt are allowed before any treats. The young overweight girl I looked after years ago came with jam sandwiches, marshmallows, chocolate cookies, chocolate milk, cakes, and candies for lunch I am not too concerned with eating junk food if there isn't an imbalance leaning towards the goodies or treats.
My own boys have grown up with occassional treats and now that they are teen agers they prefer wholesome food to fat or sugary food. I can only hope that they carry on with these eating habits as they grow older.

[Play and Learn]

Agree totally with horsegirl. Pretty much anything that is canned is junk. Anything in those middle isles in the grocery store is junk. I try sooooo hard not to go in those middle isles, but it's just so tempting!

[mom-in-alberta]

I definitely think (and I tell parents this) that I fall into the "middle" between all whole-food/organic/raw from-scratch and everything-from-a-can-or-frozen-box. We eat a lot of fresh fruit, frozen or fresh veggies and I don't often serve white bread but opt for whole wheat/grain. Each meal has a protein, a veg/fruit and a carb of some sort. Snacks include 2 food groups minimum. We limit deep fried foods, I do most things in the oven.
That said, we do have treats sometimes. I know that a granola bar or Nutri-Grain bar is not necessarily "health" food. But we do eat them sometimes. And we have been known to have cupcakes for birthdays, or cookies once in a while for afternoon snack. Maybe once a week or two we have something for lunch like alphabet noodles from a can or hot dogs with boxed mac'n'cheese. I don't give a lot of juice, maybe once a day if that. I do milk at meals and snacks and water in between.
I think we could do better, but I also know that we could be doing worse.

[sunnydays]

The treats that I serve are homemade, so homemade cookies, cupcakes for birthdays, homemade pudding etc. I do this type of treat maybe about once a week and the rest of the time I limit packaged foods to things like whoel grain crackers or cereals. Other than that it is homemade meals and fruits and veggies. I avoid canned foods mostly, although I do use canned salmon sometimes and canned chick peas etc. I avoid the packaged snack foods as I don't think they are healthy and they tend to add up at the cash register as well. If I want to serve granola bars, I make them myself. They are healthier and cheaper. Kids love fruit...it is the perfect snack item. I don't consider myself fanatical, but I just don't see the need to give kids junk so early in life and get them hooked on it so young. None of my kids seem to mind as they eat well

[mlc1982]

I definitely think (and I tell parents this) that I fall into the "middle" between all whole-food/organic/raw from-scratch and everything-from-a-can-or-frozen-box. We eat a lot of fresh fruit, frozen or fresh veggies and I don't often serve white bread but opt for whole wheat/grain. Each meal has a protein, a veg/fruit and a carb of some sort. Snacks include 2 food groups minimum. We limit deep fried foods, I do most things in the oven.
That said, we do have treats sometimes. I know that a granola bar or Nutri-Grain bar is not necessarily "health" food. But we do eat them sometimes. And we have been known to have cupcakes for birthdays, or cookies once in a while for afternoon snack. Maybe once a week or two we have something for lunch like alphabet noodles from a can or hot dogs with boxed mac'n'cheese. I don't give a lot of juice, maybe once a day if that. I do milk at meals and snacks and water in between.
I think we could do better, but I also know that we could be doing worse.

This is pretty much exactly how I run things around here. I just don't get why some people are so against pre-packaged foods. Everything in moderation, right?!

On another note, while some people are so against it, it's funny how some people are so NOT against it! I had a dck who got treated with a chocolate bar every time she was picked up. Or another one tells me about all the happy meal toys she has. I often wonder why I put so much pressure on myself to serve healthy, wholesome meals when clearly parents don't do the same for their kids when they are at home.

[playfelt]

I have always been middle of the road too because the effort/cost to do more than the parents do just isn't there. I also think starting young to teach the children moderation goes a lot further than denial. If you eat your wholesome lunch than a homemade oatmeal cookie isn't going to make you a fat slob. People tend to forget that and go straight to denial. Now eating 6 cookies well.... Sometimes we have left over chicken from supper and sometimes we have prepackaged chicken nuggets. But with both meals we have noodles, vegetables (I used frozen packages) and some kind of fruit - yes sometimes it is fruit cocktail packed in juice from a can and sometimes it is a sliced apple - again all in moderation.

Age makes a difference too. Using a can of fruit packed in juice is easier for the very young to eat since the fruit has been cooked and softened than eating the whole fruit. Applesauce in a jar is fast and a consistent texture for infants.

[Judy Trickett]

Junk : anything canned, processed to crap, has added preservatives, fillers, or "fake" foods (think cheese slices or CheeseWhiz)

I don't serve ANY junk here. The junkiest thing we eat are pretzels when we have a party for something. Once in a very GREAT while (like, twice a year) I will take them to Tim Horton's.

I really believe that nutrition is paramount to growth and development as well as behaviour. Besides, I wouldn't want to eat most of those so-called "kid-friendly" foods so I am not gonna offload that crap onto children.

[Spixie33]

I ate a lot of junk when I was pregnant. Who had time to cook? I would make Hamburger helper, chicken nuggets from a box, pasta from a package where you just add butter and milk. I didn't care what the package really said.
My son ended up with a soy allergy from the time he was 14 months old.
So I had to go back and read all the boxes and packages and see what was safe for him to eat. It made me re-evaluate everything and realize how much food is fake or not real. Like Chicken Noodle soup from a can has SOY in the chicken instead of real chicken but who would think it? It looks like chicken noodle soup.
Now I read packages and if it is something I don't recognize or sounds like it is full or corn syrup solids or fillers of Yellow #14 then it is not going in the grocery cart.
I cook most stuff from scratch. Usually I cook the night before and then serve it the next day to the dck. So Lasagna is not from a package - i make it, stews, goulash, spaghetti and even mac and cheese. I make grilled cheese using real bricks of cheese and whole wheat bread -never cheese slices. I won't even serve pudding because the ingredients sound sketchy.
Every 3-4 weeks I end up needing a shortcut day for whatever reason like if I didn't get home until late the night before or whatever and then I will open a can of soup or a box of KD with a vegetable on the side and parents know that it could happen once in a blue moon but it is certainly not a regular thing.
I know i have kids where they eat KD several times a week and the parents tell me that but I still try to feed the dck what I feed my own kids. The rule is - if I wouldn't want my kids to eat it then I won't serve it to someone else

[horsegirl]

Seems like everyone is on the same page. I have a problem with the parents that give "treats" when they pick up their child from daycare. Is it not a treat to see Mom or Dad? Is it not a treat that they had a wonderful fun filled day at the daycare and now they are going to their much loved home?? The treats are not fruit, vegetables, pretzels or anything healthy, but candy!! I often think that parents assume that their child is not happy here and this is the bribe for coming. (Even though many cry when they have to go home and leave me and their other friends.)
Or do parents feel guilty for having to send their little ones to daycare?
This has confused me for 15 years.