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?

A slice of bread and ham isn’t a meal. I’d plan five simple meals for midday evenings such as a jacket potato and nice fillings or a pasta recipe. Could you batch cook some bolognaise sauce etc?

Which is why I suggested seeing a nutritionist. She needs better help than MN

"Nutritionists" are unregulated and often so full of BS that seeing one is the equivalent of asking MN for advice.

Mine is 5, year 1, picked up from school by cm and given a snack there. Then I collect him and then the baby from nursery (he gets a light tea at nursery at around 3:45 too) 5:15, home at 5:30 and we eat a meal together at 6.

Monday -thursday it's something like slow cooked bolognese, pasta bake, fajhitas, I have a list of 30 min meals

This thread is so confusing and frustrating, with 'tea' and 'dinner' used in different contexts.

The children need:

Breakfast
School lunch
Snack
Evening meal/dinner

It's unrealistic to expect a childminder to provide the evening meal, especially if the children are collected at 5.30.

It is the parents' responsibility to provide a nutritious evening meal. Cooked or cold, but unless it's summer/hot weather, the former.

Either cook something that is ready in 20-40 minutes (husband heats up his portion when he gets home), or cook later and reheat for the children the next day.

@FlowerArranger

This thread is so confusing and frustrating, with 'tea' and 'dinner' used in different contexts.

The children need:

Breakfast
School lunch
Snack
Evening meal/dinner

It's unrealistic to expect a childminder to provide the evening meal, especially if the children are collected at 5.30.

It is the parents' responsibility to provide a nutritious evening meal. Cooked or cold, but unless it's summer/hot weather, the former.

Either cook something that is ready in 20-40 minutes (husband heats up his portion when he gets home), or cook later and reheat for the children the next day.

That's it in a nutshell. I cannot understand how the OP and the children's Dad have got to having a 9 year old without figuring this out!

@Hodibiddy

I was a childminder for 24 years. I provided breakfast and lunch and children who were collecting before 6pm all had a healthy nutritious snack after school and went home for an evening meal with parents. Any children who were collected later ate an evening meal with me and my family. (One child had a bus driver for a mum and often she’d call for him as we were eating and would be invited to join us too) Collecting at 5.30 gives you ample time to make a meal in my opinion.

I completely agree with this, but then the childminder should say this from the start, not the hot/cold thing depending on what they had for the day.

I also don't understand why on Earth she can't provide an actual sandwich and not half of one if she claims to provide dinner.

These food threads never cease to amaze me with the extreme differences in how people feed their kids. You have OP’s poor children going to bed with rumbling bellies-half a sandwich and a piece of fruit to do an 8 and a 9 year old for approximately 14 hours OP really?- whether the food is cold or hot that is practically starvation! And then you have @hassletassle who proudly announces that her 3 year old eats non stop from 3.30 to bedtime. Bloody hell, what happened to common sense? If you had dogs they’d be taken off you!

@FlowerArranger

This thread is so confusing and frustrating, with 'tea' and 'dinner' used in different contexts.

The children need:

Breakfast
School lunch
Snack
Evening meal/dinner

It's unrealistic to expect a childminder to provide the evening meal, especially if the children are collected at 5.30.

It is the parents' responsibility to provide a nutritious evening meal. Cooked or cold, but unless it's summer/hot weather, the former.

Either cook something that is ready in 20-40 minutes (husband heats up his portion when he gets home), or cook later and reheat for the children the next day.

Why should it be warm unless it's summer? My kids eat everything room temperature as a preference.

@CatJumperTwat

Which is why I suggested seeing a nutritionist. She needs better help than MN

"Nutritionists" are unregulated and often so full of BS that seeing one is the equivalent of asking MN for advice.

Dietician via her GP then.

You need to give them dinner. My DS had school lunches, after school club snack and then dinner with me. We got home about 6.30pm and then I would make it. On the weekend I would try and make something to have the next day. But most days I made a dinner.

My mum gave us a hot dinner very night regardless of what we had for breakfast/lunch/snack so I have carried forward the same routine for my kids. My kids are 5/3/6 months. As I work full time and we all get home at 5/5.30 some days, I wake up at 5 to cook a full dinner so only have to heat up when we get home. We all eat together.

I work in a nursery. Our pre schoolers would get that for ‘tea’ (but a sandwich made with two slices of bread and some veg sticks too-and still some fruit or a yoghurt for after) plus a hot meal at lunch. Sometimes it’s a hot tea- scrambled egg on toast, veg pasta etc. They have their tea around 3:30/4 and pretty much all will eat at home too. They definitely need a proper meal for tea. What do they eat? Sounds like they are having what I would consider as a snack/afternoon tea.

The childminder is giving them an after school snack but they still need a proper dinner! Ex. Bowl of pasta & salad or meat/potatoes/veg, etc. A real dinner. You don't want to send your kids to bed hungry that's cruel.

I should add that by tea I mean evening meal- I am northern haha. But I know some would refer to tea as the afternoon snack ie afternoon tea and then dinner as the proper evening meal.
Basically I would say they should have breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, warm evening meal (tea/dinner/supper depending on what you call it)