Need help convincing daycare to stop with Junk food

[marispel]

I really like my DS daycare, however the snacks that they provide are junk food IMO. Today they are having a morning snack of Fruit Loops and Juice. Yesterday it was Blueberry Poptarts (not frosted) and juice. I've also seen - Lucky Charms (for St. Patty's day), rice crispy treats, chocolate teddy grahams.
YIKES!!!! There are around 13-16 kids in his room, so I'm sure convince is a big factor..but still YIKES!

I've expressed my concern about feeding juice to toddlers (all of them are around 18 months) as well as the pop tarts and frootloops, but I haven't done anything more about it. I did tell them NO JUICE for my DS, so he gets milk and water instead.

Can anyone give me guidance on how I should approach the daycare regarding their snacks?

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

My from the gut opinion, you shouldnt.

You are going to be hard pressed to find any large daycare serving anything better then what you mentioned. Sorry, but thats been my experience.

If you feel that strongly about what they are feeding YOUR child, bring in his food. I am not the worlds most nutrional mother, but I try. I bring in a yogurt every day for both of them, bananas, green tea, apples, and higher fiber, lower fat snacks. I also try to bulk up on the more nutirional foods at home. To me, it is what it is. I am paying someone for their services, and as long as my kids are being treated well and are HAPPY and thriving, I am not going to nitpick.

[Drummer's Wife]

Can you supply your own food? Other than that, I don't know... maybe print out a healthy menu to give them ideas? I'm sure they worry about the cost - and possibly don't know how to supply healthy, whole foods without breaking their budget. Which reminds me, maybe they don't know about being reimbursed for meals provided. You could offer that info. Reimbursemet Rates here.

[Jend1002]

I was faced with the exact same thing! My son is 18 months and from about 11 months on, they were feeding junk. I did several things and it has resulted in MAJOR changes - and I also LOVE my son's daycare. I hope these ideas help you too...

First, I made an appointment to meet with the director and explained my concerns. Rather than being accusatory, I asked if I could please bring my son's food (even though it is against the policy once they are eating solids beyond baby food). I told her that we, as a family, choose not to eat sugary snacks, artificial colors, etc. She agreed to allow me to bring snacks and she said she'd look into the food choices since I called it to her attention.

Another problem was that parents were bringing in birthday party foods for kids. I asked that my son not be given these foods. At the time, he was really too young to notice that he was not eating what the other kids had.

I also had them note that my son was not to have any fruit juices or artificial color on their food allergy sheets. We only allow him to have milk and water. This definitely helped with his sugar intake at daycare.

I spoke with a few other parents who had similar concerns - one mother is even a nutritionist. They also went to the director and now the menu is completely different! They have no junk at all and parents can only bring in fruit, yogurt, etc. for birthdays. It was amazing how quickly the entire menu changed!

I hope that you can bring about some change. There is no reason for children at that age to be eating such artificial food. I am by no means a militant food person. We definitely have sweets - but it does not need to be an everyday thing!

[tzs]

i taught in a 2 year old room where we served meals and snacks.
in my opinion i would just tell them what your kid can't have. nobody takes it personally. we had a whole list of kids with dietary needs and restrictions. some were allergies, some were preferences.

you have to know though that if you don't want your child to have something that you should provide alternatives that they can keep on hand. it was really no big deal for us to run and get the soy yogurt for the "no dairy kid" or grab the apple wedges for the "no sugars" kid. and we would let them know when their supplies were low. (we also had 12-13 kids in a room)

you should be aware that the repercussions are that your child will not be having what the others are eating and could cause some jealousy and it has to be a blanket statement. like, if we had a kid with a "no..." then it was "no" ALL the time, no exceptions. like, a kid with a "no sugar" instruction was not going to get cake if it was somebody's birthday, for example. or a "no dairy" was not going to get ice cream for a holiday, even if the "no dairy" was just a preference and not a true allergy. we just have to follow instructions to the max, yk?

so it's really a cost/benefit decision on your part on how far you want to go and i would base it on how often how bad the snacks really are and how much of a priority it is for you. like, if they are getting a sugary snack every so often or for a special occasion then maybe just limit the juice like you're doing. or if it really is junky snacks all the time then maybe you do want to do the "snacks from home" thing.

also how far you want to officially limit it in my opinion would depend on the staff. for example, if the parents in my room had any concern they would know that i also was very consciencious about diet. i personally would water down juice, make sure kids were eating other things on their plate before they got more of stuff like cheese, pizza, bread, etc... i would halve muffins in lieu of more fruit etc... on the other hand it wasn't really on the radar for my co-teacher.

hope that helps

[moms angels]

Sounds like the Centre staff need to attend a few nutrition classes. I would bring along a few nutrition facts sheets to give to the director and suggest that maybe the staff could read them (in a nice way).

Do you know if there's a licensing requirement that states Centres need to serve healthy snacks, cause I would be looking into that as well.

[calebsmommy25]

Originally Posted by Jend1002

I was faced with the exact same thing! My son is 18 months and from about 11 months on, they were feeding junk. I did several things and it has resulted in MAJOR changes - and I also LOVE my son's daycare. I hope these ideas help you too...

First, I made an appointment to meet with the director and explained my concerns. Rather than being accusatory, I asked if I could please bring my son's food (even though it is against the policy once they are eating solids beyond baby food). I told her that we, as a family, choose not to eat sugary snacks, artificial colors, etc. She agreed to allow me to bring snacks and she said she'd look into the food choices since I called it to her attention.

Another problem was that parents were bringing in birthday party foods for kids. I asked that my son not be given these foods. At the time, he was really too young to notice that he was not eating what the other kids had.

I also had them note that my son was not to have any fruit juices or artificial color on their food allergy sheets. We only allow him to have milk and water. This definitely helped with his sugar intake at daycare.

I spoke with a few other parents who had similar concerns - one mother is even a nutritionist. They also went to the director and now the menu is completely different! They have no junk at all and parents can only bring in fruit, yogurt, etc. for birthdays. It was amazing how quickly the entire menu changed!

I hope that you can bring about some change. There is no reason for children at that age to be eating such artificial food. I am by no means a militant food person. We definitely have sweets - but it does not need to be an everyday thing!

Wow! How awesome that you and a few other parents brought about such change in the daycare! That is wonderful!!!

OP: Maybe find some other parents to 'join forces' with to approach the director? Bring up your concerns, and make sure you can offer great alternatives for them to possibly purchase for the children. Many don't realize there are *healthier* options (that are just as affordable, or not too much more money) of some packaged items to grab and go, ya know?