CM Club: Pack Lunches??

[Saz73]

What do you do when mindee's turn up with total and utter rubbish in lunch box. Today it's some form of chicken snack in a packet, packet of crisps and a yoghurt with sweets on the side. I've spoken to parent before about me providing lunch for them but parent insists on pack lunches being sent. I feed my own kids a healthy lunch ....like today is tuna & jacket potoatoes (which they normally love) but today they are wanting same as mindee's ....... has anybody else had similar experiences and what do you do?

There's little you can do, its the parent's choice what to feed their own children. However I think it would be perfectly reasonable to have a list of banned items (like the schools do) of items that are treats and not meal items eg, fizzy drinks, sweets. No doubt some parents will totally ignore this though.

Some parents choose packed meals to reduce their payments to the cm. So if your pricing structure included meals as part of a daily fee they might choose to stop sending meals as it would cost them more to pack up lunches. You could try sending menus home. either every week or just on particular days like the schools do on bonfire night etc. The parent & child would then see what they're missing out on.

I have had mindies turn up with things like mouldy cheese string, out of date yoghurt. I just replaced the item & told parent what I'd had to do. I didn't charge for the items I'd given. Also had one nine year old turn up last week at 8 am with a sweet lollipop that he was still eating when we got to school at 9. Some parents!!

i htink i would explain to the parent that unless the lunchbox has healthy food in it you refuse to allow the child to eat it whilst in your care and they will be charged for the food you have to give to replace it as its unfair for the children to all have different stuff imo. i charge £2 per day and feed all children the same.

Agree with LMGs

I had similar problems. I charge a separate amount to provide meals, so all parents send lunch. I had 2 brothers (still have the younger one) and i used to despair about their meals, in fact i think i posted something similar to you. One day it was
Dairylea lunchables
Cheesestrings
Packet of quavers
Yoghurt

then another day it would be
A tin of soup
A tine of macaroni cheese
a tin of peaches
Then some days it would be organic rolls (pack of 6)
a big packet of organic cheese and a pint of milk.

Now though, since the older brother started at nursery its all home cooked things that i can re-heat like homemade soup or pasta etc.
I did try tactfully mentioning healthy eating, and indeed i have a poster up from the Scottish executive, but the mother never seemed to listen.
I always make sure they get loads of fruit for snacks

I agree with you LMG's. Think I'm going to send a letter out to all parents so at least it doesn't look like I'm picking on them (had few other probs with them recently). Going to do a menu and put on the wall to show what the other kids are eating at meal times.

Yep, I have the same problem at times - parents perhaps are often in a hurry or run out of the healthy food and put what they can in.
I check the lunch boxes before they eat, give them all plates and put the healthy things out first. Depending on how it goes I might leave the sweets or whatever in the box which gets returned - I don't say anything. If there's not enough healthy food they'll have some of what I have in the house - on my contracts I put the food provied as shared between me and the parents (excluding babies) and claim a set amount per child as expenses (as even if they bring a packed lunch I've always found they eat a lot of my food.)

...I meant provided, not provied!