To think breakfast club should offer more than item?

[Ellieboolou27]

DD 4 has started reception, I booked her in breakfast club.

They offer either toast (with jam/marmalade) orcereal.
The cereal is multi grain shapes, weetabix, cookie crisp, chocolate boulders, Frosties.
I'm not too impressed by choices of cereal but hey ho, however my dd asked for toast and cereal and they said it's either / or!

Now, I'm not a fuss pot helicopter mum by any means, however I was a bit miffed as it seems quite poor.

My mum runs a breakfast and after school club, she's been doing it for 18 years and she agreed with me that this was poor offerings.

So, would I BU to take it up with the school? They are a "healthy eating" accredited school btw.
My mums clubs offer, fruit, yoghurt, cereal and toast, cereals such as porridge, fruit n fibre, etc, kids also get 2 or 3 choices.

Ours have
Cereal
Toast
Fruit
And juice

You can have all 4 of you want to

OP - you are definitely not being unreasonable.
As most PPs have said, the cereal choice is poor, but anyhow, your daugther should be able to select as much as she wants (within reason).

It's been a few years since we've used breakfast club, but there was always toast, crumpets, cereal, porridge and fruit as standard, with 'special' items on Fridays such as beans on toast and croissants.

I'd bring it up with the school for sure.

And for all those saying "cereal or toast" is plenty - firstly - it's not! and secondly, the portion sizes are tiny... our breakfast club used the small round Ikea bowls (similar size to a bowl of olives) so even if your child tells you they've had 3 bowls of shreddies, it probably equates to a single bowl at home.

My 4yr old and 6yr old charges would be starving after breakfast club if only cereal or toast was offered! The 6yr old quite often has porridge with raisins then 2 pieces of toast with jam and the 4yr old will have bowl of shreddies/bran flakes followed by piece of toast and jam. They are both 'bg healthy' eater's and not at all over weight (6yr old is skinny) A typical tea for 6yr old-adult portion of pasta bologna see, corner yoghurt then 8 crackers with cream cheese, then hour later before bed either bowl of weetabix/porridge or yoghurt!
I would suggest talking to school about not only the amount of food on offer but also about the selection on offer-the kids don't need sugary cereals in the morning and they should offer fruit-imo

Lynda - your points are very valid, a lot of schools don't get subsidy and that has to be considered...at my DCs school many children used the club; they moved opening time from 8:00 to 7:30 because it was so needed.

I still think better can be done to offer choice and substance, even on a budget; no need, for example, at OPs club to have so many rubbish cereals - better to have 2 or 3 'good' ones than 5 varied. Plus apples are cheap, wholegrain toast is similar price to white, etc. and peanut butter or marmite (from, eg, Aldi) are comparable price to jams).

birds actually my dd's last childminder was £5 per hour and included a breakfast of more than ONE slice of toast.
user your a bit off track with the "issue", and yes, I am actually in a good position to know how other breakfast and after school clubs run, due to my mum having run one for the last 18 years, still running them as well. Maybe read my thread properly......?

I can't believe people think it's greedy for a 4 year old to want more than a bowl of cereal to start the day! I would still be hungry after a bowl of cereal in the morning.

bbcessex yes the bowls are just like ikea olive bowls! I was trying to explain how small they actually are, however you e done a better job than me.
Dd is not one to gorge just because food is there, she's good a self regulation regarding hunger she certainly didn't get it from me the school have emailed me saying they will get back to me within 10 working days regarding my issues. Will update with the eventual outcome.

Ellieboolou - it's great that they have a breakfast club, but they do also need to provide the right service too.
Good luck.. hope you get a good outcome.. you don't want to have to give her a packed breakfast to take as well

all this food is making me think it must be lunchtime.... !!!

OP, until recently I worked at an after school club. It was a relatively new business, and we were all just finding our feet. The children really enjoyed cereal as a snack, and we had a variety of kinds on offer, including some sugary ones. We came under fire from parents for the sugar ones, which is fair enough. Before you could say 'snap, crackle, pop, we had changed them all to healthy ones. So I would have a word. You can get perfectly good 'value' bran flakes, weetabix etc, which is a fraction of the cost of the branded, sweet cereals. So there really is no excuse. I would have a word. Chances are the teachers might too, as they will be the ones seeing the effect of the sugar in the classroom!

Urgh I've just got a new job and was thinking I might send mine to breakfast club. This is not fillng me with confidence!

Most cereals are pretty shit anyway, aren't they? Low in energy, high in sugar, don't fill anyone up. Mine aren't allowed any unless they've eaten something proper.

I would definitely expect them to be allowed more than just cereal or toast. Even a piece of fruit or a yoghurt?

My kids eat porridge or dippy eggs most mornings, and then maybe some fruit or a yoghurt. They'd be starving after a bowl of cereal.

Our BC is £1 per child, which I think is cheap? But even then, a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast costs pennies.

i thought breakfast was toast or cereal (or something else). It woudlnt cross my mind to have both - talk about carb overload - no wonder kids are increasingly getting bigger!

It depends on the child, DS1 who is now 9 will eat several bowls of cereal plus toast plus whatever else you offer. He's stick thin so I'm not worried about the massive amount he eats for breakfast.
DS2 on the other hand has to be force fed breakfast as he just doesn't want to eat first thing in the morning.
Our breakfast club is free and I'm pretty sure they can have toast AND cereal if they want (although probably one at a time)

When I was a child, but older than the OPs child, a normal breakfast was occasionally grapefruit then cereal. or porridge with milk; then a boiled egg, or scrambled egg on toast, egg and bacon, or kippers, or beans on toast, or sausage and egg, maybe with mushrooms and tomatoes; then toast and marmalade. This was with a cup of tea, or cocoa, or milk.

People were rarely over weight, and certainly not when they were children!

namechangedkids are probably "getting bigger" as they have cookie crisp or chocolate boulders for breakfast, only to find an hour or so later they are hungry so have something else equally as crap

As for carb overload, do you never have garlic bread with your pizza / pasta? Naan with your curry / rice? Crusty roll with your leek & potatoe soup? See, it's not the carbs it's the Quality and quantity of them.
The breakfast club cannot offer egg and avacardo on granary, so I don't think it's too much to ask for a handful of cereal to go with the one slice of toast

I don't think it's unreasonable particularly to have either or, but I think the choices particularly of cereals they offer is appalling. So it's not ok for you to send your child to school with a rice cake as a snack as that's "unhealthy" but it's fine for them to feed our children sugar loaded cereal first thing in the morning?

Depends how much cereal they have, DD at that age had a small bowl of cereal plus a slice of toast or crumpet/half a bagel or a ryvita (I know, I know!!), eating breakfast at 7am she needed more than just a bowl of cereal to last until 12.15 for lunch. The offering for your DD seems a bit tight tbh.

Toast AND cereal greedy?? Really?

Healthy eating at our school is a joke. They put on a healthy breakfast today for everyone who cycled to school. I saw my kids eat croissants and iced flapjacks. Hmmm...

My kids get three tokens which can be exchanged for an item per token - fruit juice, toast, cereal, toasting muffin, fruit. Water and milk readily available so they can get to choose what they would like. If they want three slices of toast or three bowls of cereal that's fine. We pay £2 per child. They did used to serve toasties, choc/blueberry muffins and those sweet pancakes but a new head came and made it a bit more healthy, fine by me.

I wouldn't have a curry with absolutely no veg in it and a naan. Toast and sugary cereal isn't a balanced breakfast - where's the fruit?

Fruit's full of sugar, too.

I help at breakfast club in our school. It is £1 a day. We start at 8am. School starts at 8:55.
They get juice, toast, jam, and cereals (weetabix/cornflakes/branflakes/rice crispies), and then some time to draw or play, or go on to computer club.

Most children have both, but some only want one thing. The youngest ones take a very long time just to eat the toast...there isn't time to offer much else, as it all has to be cleared away in time for school to start. But at least we know they have had SOMETHING to eat, which is more than can be said for some children who come at normal time, or later.

My own children would not eat more than this before school. Where do some of you get the time to do all these huge breakfasts?

As long as I can remember I have only ever had a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast on a weekday. Big breakfasts on special occasions!

I think it is a bit of a shame that some of you want to rubbish what is essentially cheap childcare and to parent's advantage.

Also, someone mentioned about only getting tomatoes for break time. We have no control over what fruit is delivered. Sometimes it's bananas, other days it is pears or apples, sometimes tomatoes or carrots. We have to share what comes between EYFS and KS1. Sometimes it is just enough, other times we seem to have a glut. At least they get something.

expatinscotland Fri 23-Sep-16 18:14:59
Fruit's full of sugar, too.

But an apple say, has vitamins and fibre and far less concentrated sugar than frosties. Breakfast should include some protein too, but if the children are having some milk they will get it from that.

Yeah but ops costs £4 a day. I do think the breakfast is rubbish for that.

My DD is 15m and has breakfast at nursery. She's offered either 2 slices of toast or 1 slice of toast and a bowl of cereal (weetabix, readybrek/porridge, cornflakes, rice crispies or cheerios). They can have fruit if they're still hungry afterwards. I usually choose toast and cereal for her as it seems more filling.