When I was raising my daughter and was forced by CPS to take her to preschool they bitched about her not being toilet trained - she wasn't ready and didn't even try at home - they really got on my case about her lunches.
I was just on welfare and lived with my abusive mother who was charging me the maximum amount of rent for my old bedroom and also charged me for food of hers I ate, expected me to be her maid, pay for the electricity, phone and more. I was lucky if I could send her to the preschool with a "good lunch" according to them. They had a "NO PEANUTS" policy, so that meant 90% of the meals my mother suggested were out - peanut butter, peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey....
So that means I had to send her there with more adult type sandwhiches - which I couldn't afford. If I spent the money on them, I wouldn't haven't the money to pay for other luxuries like rent. But I had to. And if I sent her there with food from last night's dinner, it wasn't deamed appropriate. No matter what I sent her with, she rarely ate it and was "not hungry" or "picked at food" or "ate food from the community kitchen." She was barely there at preschool for 6 hrs and as soon as I got her home, she would force her way into my shirt for nummies.
It pissed me off because on the days just before check issue when we were eating barely more than mac and cheese, they expected her to have a "good meal" of a meat, a veggie, a juice/milk and an apple. And if I didn't, I'd get a nasty call from my social worker about how I was neglectful and worse.
Just pissed me off. Here I was caught between a rock (my mother) and a hard place (the system) and if I didn't obey both at the same time, I got in shit.
And then if the meals were "inadequate" I'd get reports from them that she shared food with other kids and with the workers often giving her stuff she hadn't had at home. Just made me feel wonderful, if you know what I mean.
I did send her inadvertantly there with peanut butter one time and boy did I get heck. My mother had made the meal for once and DD did eat it all, but when the workers realized what it was, I had to come RIGHT THEN and pick my daughter up. After all, I had sent my child there with the No No food and I was therefore in the wrong. Nevermind what they fed her. And if I dared to include chips or popcorn (stuff she loved) I also got a nasty call from my social worker. I even tried the "lunchables" and got a call from the social worker. Nothing I fed my daughter was right. The amount, the type, the nutrition value... Nothing.
I should have just pulled her and told my social worker off. My daughter had proven allergies (to my mind) but of course the social worker's file said it was all in my head even though by then I had been begging doctors to have my daughter allergy tested from the time she was 6 months old! What I sent her with, no matter how "Inadequate" wasn't stuff she was allergic to - or at least I wasn't allergic to. The stuff they gave her to eat, lord only knows what it was. More than once I got called to come and get her early and take her to a doctor _right_ now because she had diahreah and a fever after they had fed her _something_ from their community kitchen.
Any wonder why I don't want to send my son to preschool?
I was just on welfare and lived with my abusive mother who was charging me the maximum amount of rent for my old bedroom and also charged me for food of hers I ate, expected me to be her maid, pay for the electricity, phone and more. I was lucky if I could send her to the preschool with a "good lunch" according to them. They had a "NO PEANUTS" policy, so that meant 90% of the meals my mother suggested were out - peanut butter, peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey....
So that means I had to send her there with more adult type sandwhiches - which I couldn't afford. If I spent the money on them, I wouldn't haven't the money to pay for other luxuries like rent. But I had to. And if I sent her there with food from last night's dinner, it wasn't deamed appropriate. No matter what I sent her with, she rarely ate it and was "not hungry" or "picked at food" or "ate food from the community kitchen." She was barely there at preschool for 6 hrs and as soon as I got her home, she would force her way into my shirt for nummies.
It pissed me off because on the days just before check issue when we were eating barely more than mac and cheese, they expected her to have a "good meal" of a meat, a veggie, a juice/milk and an apple. And if I didn't, I'd get a nasty call from my social worker about how I was neglectful and worse.
Just pissed me off. Here I was caught between a rock (my mother) and a hard place (the system) and if I didn't obey both at the same time, I got in shit.
And then if the meals were "inadequate" I'd get reports from them that she shared food with other kids and with the workers often giving her stuff she hadn't had at home. Just made me feel wonderful, if you know what I mean.
I did send her inadvertantly there with peanut butter one time and boy did I get heck. My mother had made the meal for once and DD did eat it all, but when the workers realized what it was, I had to come RIGHT THEN and pick my daughter up. After all, I had sent my child there with the No No food and I was therefore in the wrong. Nevermind what they fed her. And if I dared to include chips or popcorn (stuff she loved) I also got a nasty call from my social worker. I even tried the "lunchables" and got a call from the social worker. Nothing I fed my daughter was right. The amount, the type, the nutrition value... Nothing.
I should have just pulled her and told my social worker off. My daughter had proven allergies (to my mind) but of course the social worker's file said it was all in my head even though by then I had been begging doctors to have my daughter allergy tested from the time she was 6 months old! What I sent her with, no matter how "Inadequate" wasn't stuff she was allergic to - or at least I wasn't allergic to. The stuff they gave her to eat, lord only knows what it was. More than once I got called to come and get her early and take her to a doctor _right_ now because she had diahreah and a fever after they had fed her _something_ from their community kitchen.
Any wonder why I don't want to send my son to preschool?
That's totally unforgiveable!
: I worked in daycare before I had children and saw so many horrible things that would just *kill* me as a mother...one little boy was to drink organic milk..."Well, that milk goes bad too fast, just give him regular" 
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