Rate increases

[Wonderwiper]

I think it would be fine to send out a message saying something along the lines of trying to keep fees down and keeping organic seasonally or when not cost prohibitive. Keeping as clean and green as you can!!!!

[Lee-Bee]

The big cook is a huge task for sure but I do not want to cook an additional meal daily on top of my family's dinner. Maybe because I cook everything from scratch its not like I ever just throw something in the oven from the freezer or a can so I just don't want to be bothered cooking more often than I need too. I am English so roasts and stews are also a regular meal item in my house too. I do a roast every cycle as its cheap to make it go a long way and that is the one meal that I usually have even more of so gets frozen for my meals too. I make curries, goulash and gumbo regularly as they are very popular once the kids pallets adapt. I think its great the approach you take with the veggies so the kids get exposed to all sorts of things. regular veg in our house are collards, swiss chard and spinach. I have a child with dairy allergies so I never cook with cheese now which sucks so I add collards into everything, and I mean everything, so they get more than enough daily calcium....they are actually a far superior source than dairy anyway. I bake loaves in bulk too and once cooled I slice and wrap individually in plastic wrap and just pull out what I need daily. My loaves are jam packed with whole grains, dietary fibre and fruit and veg. Having an egg allergy in the house also restricts my meals. Oh my goodness I can't believe the rapid increase of allergies and intolerances....did you know that allergies start in the gut? That is why it is SO important that we put good food into these precious children's bodies otherwise its going to keep getting worse.

I will look into collards. My 14 month old daughter is still dairy intolerant. When I use cheese I just divide up the meal for the daycare kids and then leave the dairy off ours but we pretty much do without dairy in the main meals for the most part. I still breastfeed to ensure she is meeting the protein/fats requirements. She is young enough that I can easily give her a different milk and yogurt than the others so the other kids get their dairy intake.

[bright sparks]

I will look into collards. My 14 month old daughter is still dairy intolerant. When I use cheese I just divide up the meal for the daycare kids and then leave the dairy off ours but we pretty much do without dairy in the main meals for the most part. I still breastfeed to ensure she is meeting the protein/fats requirements. She is young enough that I can easily give her a different milk and yogurt than the others so the other kids get their dairy intake.

Collards are super tasty and have more benefits than dairy not just calcium and all without the bad stuff.

[bright sparks]

I think it would be fine to send out a message saying something along the lines of trying to keep fees down and keeping organic seasonally or when not cost prohibitive. Keeping as clean and green as you can!!!!

Great....love the wording!!

[mickyc]

bright sparks - first of all I want to say I think it is great you feed your family and daycare kids all organic. I just wouldn't be doing it if it was costing me a pile of money.

The thing is those of us that don't aren't bad providers or bad people. Yes I do serve a lot of processed foods but there are a lot of fresh items as well (fruit/vegies). I am trying to change my ways but growing up my diet consisted of macaroni and ground beef most days. I myself have never tried a variety of different foods and would be considered a picky eater by most. I don't cook something I wouldn't myself eat and I don't even know what to do with majority of it (and if I try it usually turns into a disaster - just ask my husband lol). I am trying and thanks to pinterest have lots of ideas to choose from.

Good luck with cutting back on your expenses. Like I also suggested before this all turned into an organic food issue what about cutting back on crafts etc.

[bright sparks]

bright sparks - first of all I want to say I think it is great you feed your family and daycare kids all organic. I just wouldn't be doing it if it was costing me a pile of money.

The thing is those of us that don't aren't bad providers or bad people. Yes I do serve a lot of processed foods but there are a lot of fresh items as well (fruit/vegies). I am trying to change my ways but growing up my diet consisted of macaroni and ground beef most days. I myself have never tried a variety of different foods and would be considered a picky eater by most. I don't cook something I wouldn't myself eat and I don't even know what to do with majority of it (and if I try it usually turns into a disaster - just ask my husband lol). I am trying and thanks to pinterest have lots of ideas to choose from.

Good luck with cutting back on your expenses. Like I also suggested before this all turned into an organic food issue what about cutting back on crafts etc.

I actually responded to the comment about crafting. Due to my group being so nuts whenever I craft I only craft for themed holidays...I'm sure this will change shortly as they stop screaming constantly but even then I wont save any money as I have enough craft supplies stock piled to last me a good 5 years or more. I do sensory buckets and treasure baskets which I have had for years and don't cost anything and as I have a variety of them they are rotated and varied enough that I don't need to buy more stuff for them.

[Fun&care]

bright sparks - first of all I want to say I think it is great you feed your family and daycare kids all organic. I just wouldn't be doing it if it was costing me a pile of money.

The thing is those of us that don't aren't bad providers or bad people..

Of course you are not bad ppl but as a childcare providers it is our job to provide adequate nutrition. I find it frustrating because there is SO much info nowadays and so many recipes you can find online that there are just no excuses. As childcare providers we are held ( or should be) to a higher standard because we are SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING and serving healthy food just seems so basic to me as far as childcare goes...no matter what the parents are doing at home because I'm not sure why this is ever an acceptable excuse for anything anyways. I'm frustrated because too many times I've had interviews with parents who have nightmare stories of providers who serve a lot of junk and you can tell these parents are weary of choosing home daycare for this reason so it does affect all of us in the end by giving home daycares a bad name. We all know how easily the public can lump us together. Phew vent over

[JennJubie]

Of course you are not bad ppl but as a childcare providers it is our job to provide adequate nutrition. I find it frustrating because there is SO much info nowadays and so many recipes you can find online that there are just no excuses. As childcare providers we are held ( or should be) to a higher standard because we are SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING and serving healthy food just seems so basic to me as far as childcare goes...no matter what the parents are doing at home because I'm not sure why this is ever an acceptable excuse for anything anyways. I'm frustrated because too many times I've had interviews with parents who have nightmare stories of providers who serve a lot of junk and you can tell these parents are weary of choosing home daycare for this reason so it does affect all of us in the end by giving home daycares a bad name. We all know how easily the public can lump us together. Phew vent over

I agree. With planning it's not hard to feed the kids healthy meals at all. I don't have a set menu schedule right now, but I keep a white board by the door so that at drop off and pick up they can see what we are eating that day. The parents that I have care very much what their children are eating.

[mickyc]

The thing is - what you consider healthy and others consider healthy can be two different things. Today for example we had strawberries for morning snack. For lunch today we had perogies/sour cream with a tray of carrots/broccoli/celery with ranch to dip on the side. I make sure all kids have vegies. I have a bag of mini rice cakes for afternoon snack. It isn't like I feed them KD daily but I see nothing wrong with having KD on occasion (usually once a month).

[AmandaKDT]

I hear ya. We have crap occasionally and love to eat out too and honestly I think that is fine as long as it isn't the bulk of a persons diet. I take issue with the kids eating processed foods while in my care because I don't believe it is what's best for them and goes against my principles of what childcare is about. We do have an occasional ice cream sandwich in the summer and pizza too but I try to think outside the box and make healthy versions too. Eating organic also guarantees non gmo which is where you will find that organic foods are much more nutritionally dense than conventional. There are certain foods that I buy organic not just for the spraying but also the gmo aspect. For example, almost 100% of corn produced in Canada is GMO. It is near dammed impossible to find organic corn in this country. I can totally back this info up if people wish. Research GMO's and it will scare your pants off. I'm not denying that they have for sure helped in hunger crisis' around the world but now we are dealing with the disastrous aftermath. It is a fascinating topic. Also the difference between the benefits of organic fruit and veg and then meat and grains is different. Organic meat is a big deal although chicken is not as big a deal because of the strict laws surrounding antibiotics and poultry in Ontario. All chicken in Ontario is ABF.

I am going to do a newsletter up as someone else suggested and am going to eliminate organic from my daycare. I am going to only buy conventional fruit and veg from the clean list and I'm gonna get over myself....still going to be a healthy minimally processed meal plan for the kiddos and at the same time reduce my expenses a little. Doesn't change my opinion on Organics but seems like the most logical place to start adjusting my business practices to put myself first.

Very much off topic but I made a "pizza" the other day using spaghetti squash as the crust. It was actually really delicious!! Just google "spaghetti squash pizza crust". It doesn't feel like you are missing out on anything to eat this instead of regular pizza.