To expect my children not to be given cereal and jam on toast for tea at (£15) after school club?

[Mallowmarshmallow]

My children have come home this week saying the above was all that was on offer at the after school club they attend.

AIBU for suggesting to them that this is not an appropriate tea for children. 'A light tea' is apparently offered during the session.

Does anyone know of any government guidance for healthy eating in childcare settings? I can only find early years guidance in my searches.

For full information, the after school club is local to, but not run by, the school the children attend. It is the only local option available which works with their school.

🤪. You can't bloody win!
Feeding your child is entry level parenting though... Poor kids.

We just don't do lunches. Full stop. Holiday club is packed lunches, anything else is a nightmare

Mind you we did have a kid sent with a giant tub of nuts for lunch...

@StatisticallyChallenged

We just don't do lunches. Full stop. Holiday club is packed lunches, anything else is a nightmare

Mind you we did have a kid sent with a giant tub of nuts for lunch...

We only do them because a lovely local business gives us funding for it.

What we do now is ask parents to send the main sandwich/wrap and we provide the rest from a list.

[quote Brazilianut]@MrsArchchancellorRidcully wow how are they managing that where are you based in the country?[/quote]
I'm in north east wales. They don't provide food at breakfast club so use the money given to them by the welsh government to subside costs to all children. It costs £2.50 for the first hour after school and then 50p per 15 mins (or part of) so if DS goes 3.10 to 5 it costs me £4.50.

I wouldn't want my child to have a stew or baked potato after school. All they get at home is a biscuit and a bit of fruit.

You can’t win with food. Many MN posters would be going wild if their precious darlings were given fruit (gasp! The sugar!).

I think if toast is such a big deal, it might be necessary to just lo9a free your children yourself, as clearly nobody can be trusted

*look after your children

@beepbeepbonk

I wouldn't want my child to have a stew or baked potato after school. All they get at home is a biscuit and a bit of fruit.

No, why would you? It's introducing another full meal into the day. They've had school lunch, they'll have dinner when they go home. Who'd need stew in the interim? Unless some people want the kid's main evening meal to be provided by the asc, which would be ridiculous?

I thought after school clubs just offered snacks (given kids are old enough to wait to eat at home), and toast and cereal and fruit seem to be standard. Ours seems to have a good range of these. £5/hour for childcare seems reasonable.

A lot of clubs have struggled financially due to lockdown and/or may have limits on hot meal facilities due to Covid. So if there’s a change, this may be why.

@beepbeepbonk

I wouldn't want my child to have a stew or baked potato after school. All they get at home is a biscuit and a bit of fruit.

Stew or baked potato is lunch or dinner, not tea.

The jam on toast sounds fine for tea, just enough to fill a gap before the evening meal.

I work in OOSC and we offer (on rotating days and weeks, so all children have varied ‘snacks’) a sandwich with crisps, ham / chicken or cheese. Wraps with the same filling. Crackers and cheese, crumpets or toast. All are served with cucumber and peppers.
We used to offer hot ‘snacks’ but since the pandemic we just couldn't provide the space and facilities (and extra staff) to prepare, accommodate the children with enough space and clean away after, so perhaps thaf is what your club os doing.
I work for a club the is run separately to the school but within it. Hppe that helps x

I pay £9.50 per child for my son and daughter to go to after school club. They get something like soup & bread, beans on toast, potato waffle & beans and tomato pasta. They always get 2nds if they ask for it. Cereal and toast is what my children get at breakfast club where I pay £4 per child. I’d be annoyed to find they were getting that when paying so much!

In my experience this is standard.
It didn’t bother me when my children were that age, since I was keen that my children ate a proper evening meal when they got home. Anything much more at after school club would ruin appetites?
Or do you think this should be the time of their main meal?

Perhaps it’s because of the current situation not the normal meals served 🤔

I would assume you're paying more because there is a longer period of childcare involved? How long is after school club?

I think that’s perfectly reasonable.
A light tea, ie a snack to keep them going until they get home. It’s not meant to be instead of their dinner.

I think YABU Op. I think toast and jam is absolutely fine for a light 'high tea'. It's similar to what our after school club provides and I'd give my kids similar when they get home from school on days I collect them.

I personally wouldn't want them eating too much as they wouldn't eat dinner properly when they got home.

Wonder if they are just using the same stuff as breakfast club.

Also £15 to have professional childcare for 2.5hrs and a snack is reasonable

@Butwasitherdriveway

Wonder if they are just using the same stuff as breakfast club.

I imagine they may be, but guess they have to make cost savings bywhere they can as the profit margin when paying staff and overheads is very slim.

This might make me sound mean but I don't quite get people who expect other people to look after their kids and then complain about it.

Something like cheese on toast or even cheese spread on toast would be a lot better as a snack.

Sounds about right I pay £8 4 2 hours and my daughter gets a few biscuits

Ours used to provide a sandwich and fruit. It was just something until they got home.

I’d rather my dd be offered jam on toast or cereal instead they’ve offered pasta with ketchup on top? Ketchup roll? Needless to say the eating at after school club has now stopped and my dd waits for dinner!! I didn’t say anything as in my mind the money I pay covers wages paid to staff, I pack an extra snack in my DD’s lunch box which she saves to eat in after school club if she’s hungry.