Food at childminder's and the rest of the day

[Serena1977]

The childminder I use for after school says that children only need 1 hot meal a day so if their mindee has a school dinner, the child will get a sandwich for tea.

My children, dd in year 5, 9years old and ds in year 4, 8 years both have school dinners so at the childminder's they get a cheese or ham sandwich made with 1 slice of bread and one piece of fruit of their choice.

Both children are normal weight according to BMI on NHS website.

So today, children had wholegrain cheerios for breakfast, school dinner and the above from childminder's. I don't think this is enough food but my relationship with food is terrible and I am currently obese.

Is this enough food? They say they are hungry when at home in the evening, tonight I gave in and did them beans on toast (1 slice of bread each) at 6.30pm.

They eat like gannets at the weekend.

Can you advise please?

I agree with others, the food at childminders is an after school snack then they need their dinner when they get home. No wonder they're hungry.

As kids get older family mealtimes usually need to evolve, so sounds like it's time to start eating earlier and all together, without DH when he's not there. DC can help you plan and cook quick and nutritious meals so you're all engaged. I often use the BBC good food website to get ideas for family meals.

It's not up to the child minder to tell you how many hot meals a day your children should have. half a sandwich is a snack not a meal
It really depends on what you signed up for .Tea can mean different things to different people
Ask her what the hot meal option is and decide from there

Yes, I was wondering if there was confusion about terminology and expectations.

Are we talking about tea, the evening meal, tea the drink or 'tea' with quotation marks as some people are insisting on, which seems to be toast or crumpets or likely the sandwich and fruit falls into this category.

If they're home and able to eat by 6:30pm then I'd assume the childminder would just give a snack and it'd be up to you to cook and evening meal for them. Sounds normal to me.

Nanny0gg -- are you counting yourself amongst "those admonishing " ? Odd .I thought your post actually contained something helpful .

When i was childminding i cut down the size of the evening meals as without fail all the children went home and had an extra meal.
I slice of bread sounds tiny though

I keep seeing this over and over and it doesn't make any sense. The temperature food is served at has nothing to do with how nutritious, filling or calorific it is and I don't understand why people see the need to limit the amount of hot food they eat in case it is 'too much'.

It’s nothing to do with over feeding children- people use it as an accuse not to have to cook.

*excuse

@peridito

Nanny0gg -- are you counting yourself amongst "those admonishing " ? Odd .I thought your post actually contained something helpful .

Thank you. No. Just saying that not everyone was saying the same

Sounds like your children are starving and feel a bit sad for them to be honest. You seem to have taken it to the extreme.

I don't think you should be getting hung up on the cold/hot meal issue, a hot meal at the childminder may be just as small as the cold option.
I think the main issue is you expecting the amount of food she is providing, at say 4pm is, to be enough to last your children until breakfast the next day.
If you are paying the childminder to provide their tea, either tell her it's not enough food or see it more as a snack and give them a proper tea when they get home.
It sounds like their currently not eating enough if they're saying they're hungry in the evening.
And maybe get some help for your own issues around food so this doesn't carry on being a problem for your children

Are you paying the same as other parents for tea with the childminder? If so I would not be happy to get half a sandwich when others are getting a hot meal. That is very odd of your childminder to cook hot meals for some and not others, not to mention more work for her if she's cooking/making more than one thing.

I think you need to establish exactly what food your childminder is providing BUT in my experience childminders don't tend to provide a proper cooked dinner because children will go home and eat with their families.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. The childminder is giving them a snack to tide them over til dinner. It’s your job to provide dinner.

This!

It's enough food if it's enough food. If it was the other way around (sandwich for lunch, hot meal in the evening) no one would argue the toss here!!

Having said that if they are hungry and healthy weight ask her to give them another hot meal!!

I’d still give my children their regular hot dinner when they get home.

That isn’t enough food and of course they’ll be hungry.

The childminder is providing a light after school snack.

Op- You should clarify the hot meal or snack provided by the childminder but regardless of what she provides, your children still need another healthy meal when they get home.

It doesn’t take a long time to rustle up some pasta, jacket potatoes, omelettes, rice etc.

Regardless of hot/cold meals, even if mine eat a full dinner at 5pm, they'll have another bowl of cereal or slice of toast at 7pm.

No, that might be okay for a toddler, but definitely not at 8 & 9 & mine ate like a sparrow. WTF give kids of that age half a sandwich

I think it boils down to the fact that if your kids are hungry when they get home cos they've had a sandwich for dinner then you need to feed them. That's the most immediate issue. You get home at 5.30. my three year old hasn't even had dinner then.

I would also ask the childminder to feed them properly and if she's weird about it then just lie and say they had a sandwich at school,

The hot v cold isn’t really an issue.
But 1/2 a sandwich as a meal is tiny, and if your home by 5.30pm they must be having that at 4.30pm so will need feeding again before bed anyway as 4.30pm-7am is a long time.

As a comparison. Lunch for my 1 year old is usually 1/2 a sandwich with cheese cubes, cucumber, fruit. And then some yogurt. I doubt that will fill him up in 8 years time

They need to have dinner when they get home, OP. What they are having is nowhere near enough plus the childminder's food is way too early to be dinner, that's their snack (sorry to repeat what everyone else has said..)

If you are struggling for time, can you have something like spag bol, chicken curry, casserole packed with veggies pre made in the freezer so you can just get them out and heat them up to save you time? Just add some boiled potatoes, quick mash, rice as sides. They are such easy and nutritious meals and I think having a set family meal time to round up the day is equally as important to establish good eating habits. Sausages, fish fingers, tuna pasta, cheesy omelette, just to think of few more easy and quick options.

I would be treating the sandwich at the childminders as a snack and then making them dinner when they got home.

Mine always have supper when they get home from after-school club. Porridge or Weetabix usually.

So cereal or toast for breakfast, morning snack at school (usually fruit or cheese), hot lunch at school, "light tea" at after school club (ranges from sandwiches and veg sticks to soup or beans on toast or pasta). Supper at home.

At the weekend, lunch is usually soup or sandwiches or boiled eggs with toast, and they have a full hot meal, meat and two veg/ curry/ stew/ pasta and

And they still have supper at the weekend.