to be a bit [shock] at what dd's playgroup feed the children for snacks?

[earlyriser]

angel delight, jelly, spaghetti hoops, hot dogs etc. Not much in the way of fruit or veg, lots in the way of sugar, artificial sweetners and colourings. Is there not some healthy eating policy for pre school groups? or am i being too fussy?

My dd's playgroup which has nursery provision has good snacks. I would be pissed off at any childcare provision providing that shite.

Ours has yoghurt and a school bar on Mondays.
Crackers and cheese and grapes on a Tuesday blah blah blah.

I'd move mine if that's what they think healthy food is.

I wouldn't mind biscuits or cake etc but angel delight and spagetti hoops?? yuck

I*'d be talking about OFSTED. Nobody should be made to eat shit just because that's what people want to serve.

I'd take in whatever you want for her.
If they can't cater for her themselves, they can't dictate to you what to provide.
They sound a bit disorganised and old fashioned.

AS part of the EYFS I htink they have ot be promoting Healthy Lifestyles, aslo as part of Every Child Matters.

Part of this would be to have ( and enforce) a healthy food policy.

We were advised not to offer sweet biscuits any more, only savoury and fruit and veg.

The world is going mad. It seems to be all or nothing. In my school cereal barres are judged unhealthy (far too sweet!!) and therefore banned (already ranted quite violently about it on previous thread)and in your DD's nursery they are no fruit in sight. This to me is proof that it should indeed be left to parents to decide how to feed their children sensibly rather than let teachers decide for them.

A few years ago, in DD1's nursery, parents were invited to bring something for the class and ther was always a variety of fruit biscuits and home made goodies. those where the days. I am sure your flapjacks would have worked a treat earlyriser.

god what awful snacks

we have all kinds of fruit, cuccumer, prezels (occassionally)bread sticks etc

you are right, Pooty, it is quite old fashioned, and money is an issue (although they are given an allowance for snacks- 40p a head i think.) I'm going to get other mums onside then suggest some healthy alternatives/ offer to bake for all the children if i have to! Thanks for not making me feel like fussy middle class mum!!

Not snacks but my nursery, ofsted registered, couldn't cope with my DD's vegetarian and fish diet. They were giving her Quorn adult ready meals (minted fake lamb chops, peppered chicken breast), tinned vegetables and on one occasion that I repeat to everyone, a potato waffle with packet creamy sauce over it and peas. For lunch.She was 14 months at the time.

Having kicked up a fuss things improved but I was the only one to complain and now have a very weirdy beardy reputation there. Tread carefully I guess, get some facts on the reasons places like Surestart offer what they do and be prepared to be the hippy troublemaker for all time. It's not so bad here on the dark side....

Exactly tippychick! I'm already the token freaky eater. We live in an area where even vegetarianism is seen as odd. I already feel like a troublemaker for making a fuss over dd having milk one day. oh well may as well continue my crusade over to the 'dark side'!

DD has goats products at hometoo but I can't be arsed making then do that.
Be warned also of the smug "gotcha" looks you'll get if you then ever mention giving your child chocolate, crisps, cake etc. I think to some people a veggie diet is still seen as all over crankery. Piffle.

Earlyriser, I've been in your position. I handled it really badly at first because I had become so upset that I "ranted" at the poor chair. I ended up having to apologise on bended knee (after avoiding her in town for 18 months!)

But I won in the end - a weekly delivery of fruit from the greengrocer plus hot buttered toast. YUM!

What worked was that the chair started her eldest at school and saw how unacceptable the pre-school food would be in the school. I'd argued (rantily) that they ought to have standards no lower than school. I think that emphasising that they are an educational setting preparing the children for all aspects of school is a good angle, because then you don't have to give any opinion on whether the school strictness is a good or bad thing.

If you look on the Organix website, you'll see that pre-school snacks are currently unregulated and that Organix is pushing hard on a campaign to bring the food into line with school regulations. So, again, you should be able to take the tactful approach of "oh look, these regulations will be foisted on us soon anyway so we may as well be ahead of the game".

GOOD LUCK. Do let me know how you get on

what bizarre snacks... hot dog is lunch surely, if you would choose to give your child a hot dog

DDs pre school snack is:

milk with

carrot sticks

banana

apple

cherry tomatos

pears

buttered toast or crumpets

etc...

so am a bit at your list !

I do think they try and have things that the children can help prepare -although I can only imagine the mess of a 3 year old in charge of whisking up angel delight . but the more i read your responses the more i realise that i am right in thinking that it is just crap food. Their argument has also been that in the past when they try new things the children won't eat it and there is a lot of waste, i think that the point is not just to FEED the children, but to give them a taste of new foods, no one will starve if they don't eat their snack, but they will learn good/bad eating habits!

Just an update for those that asked! I did mention the fact that there seemed to be no fruit on the menu, but was told that fruit and/or veg was provided at each snack time (but if the choice is jelly or apple...what would your child choose?). I did leave it at that, but then last friday i asked dd what she had for snack ' 6chips6 ' she said. I was it was morning snack ffs, who eats chips at 10.30am? granted they were oven chips but still...
meant i couldn't have them for dinner as planned .
so where do i go from here?

Hmmm
Sounds very suspicious

DS has a carton of milk and then a rolling rota of snacks which we pay a £1 a week for
recent things have been
Crumpets with butter and marmite for those that like it!
Apple and banana slices
toast
crackers and cheese
teddy bear crisps (allowed 3 each!!) with carrot sticks
biscuits
fairy cakes

IMO this is a good mix of healthy snacks with the odd "treat" item thrown in - works for me and DS!!

I don't mind a treat, but to me chips for morning snack really does send out the wrong message, fine for the odd meal at home. lol, must i give them 'Jamie's school dinners' for xmas?!

ds's preschool nursery give them a wide variety of 'snack'

Cheese, biscuit and apple
Toast, banana
Cereal and fruit
Noodles
Tomato soup
Rice pudding
Cake and fruit

These are some that he has told me about anyway- when he told me about the rice pudding I asked if he ate his (I know he hates it) and he said, 'No, I just got to scrape it into the bin!'

Just another example for you.... My dds playgroup has a snack bar - they all line up with a plate and can help themselves to a variety of stuff - different bits of fruit, breadsticks, raisins, carrot sticks etc DD loves it - highlight of her session!! All food is provided by parents on a rota - so one week I might provide bananas then 3/4 weeks later raisins and so on - works really well for us and less hassle for staff. Am at your playgroup!! May as well give them fruitshoots, greggs sausage rolls and happy meals...

My DS's nursery have for snacks :-

Bread and Butter or another topping i.e jam/cheese spread/ marmite.

Fruit,
Cheese,
Biscuits or crackers,

It changes daily but most of it i am happy with.

...I often read threads with this sort of subject matter and think the opinions expressed are precious and prissy.

Not this one!

...what ever happened to 'milk and fruit time'??

When doing mandatory 'duties' at pre-school when the urchins were of that age I was always allotted the task of fruit chopping (though I was sure they didn't really trust me with the sharp knife)...

...I don't think 'jelly and hoops time' has the same ring.

YANBU Plus!

by the tone of this thread you would think they were offering the children drugs or something. The human race has been around a long time and survived on all sorts of food .

it is a bit weird..... [hmn]
are you sure thet weten't using the hoops, jelly and angel delight in a sensory tactile game etc? they would all feel weird.....

my dd's nursery used to let them play with plain flour in highchairswhen they were younger - very messy! but lots of fun as they pushed it about everywhere!

Spaghetti hoops is an odd thing to feed pre-schoolers as a snack. Surely it would be less bother to spread a few sandwiches or crack open a pack of breadsticks? They don't really eat much at that age, do they?

Some topical food for thought is contained here

www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/21/school-meals

and

www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C5871E40-570B-41EC-9FCA-6D022FDB5F20/0/nippersnutrition.pdf.

I don't understand why chips are not OK at 10.30 but OK at lunchtime

well because when dd got home she was too full to eat the soup i'd made for her. I'd rather she ate lentil soup with lots of veg than chips. Chips with a meal is fine, instead of a meal is not.
Also cauliflower, she goes there 3 days out of 5 so it isn't just an occasional unhealthy snack, and for some children it is 5 times a week.
I also think playgroup is about learning new things (including foods) and should be less about filling them up and more about experimenting with different (healthy) foods.