What meals should be included?

[GreatBallsOfFluff]

Hi everybody,

I was just wondering what meals you wuold give to a 5yo DD who was with you 7.30am - 5.50pm? Providing of course you said your price included meals? Lunch obviously but would you do breakfast and tea?

Thanks

I would probably do 'second breakfast' after the school run if the child had come having had breakfast at home(porridge/toast/whatever) as it's a bit too long to wait til snack time at 10:30

I would offer tea, but not cooked (assuming cooked lunch)

This will probably only happen in the school holidays?

But parents provide meals in my setting, I provide snacks only so am talking outta me arse really

I only provide snacks and parents supply meals or a healthy packed lunch. At the moment I haven't got anyone for dinner as they all go home before 5.30.
I like packed lunches as we can go on adhoc picnics and it saves me having to think about feeding other children, I have enough of my own!!

I would provide breakfast, lunch and snacks for those times. Tea would not be included for a 5.30 pick up as my eldest doesn't come out of school until 5pm and dinner is done when she gets home, dished up for around 6pm. I would give an extra snack around 4pm though to keep little one going until dinner and we always have a decent lunch.

If it was me, I would provide the following (timings approx):

7.45am - breakfast
10.20am - snack
12am - lunch
3.15pm - snack
5pm - dinner

All these are included in my fee but not all have breakfast/dinner as may have at home (I have 7.30am starters who don't need breakfast and 5/6pm finishers who don't require dinner)

Tbh, it doesn't really matter what WE do as all childminders are different with different routines. This sort of this should be communicated very clearly before a child starts. If you have an NCMA contract, there is a section near the top for this on page 3, this shows which meals will be provided.

Thank you everyone. I suppose it's just that when first discussed she said that her price included meals, but then when I asked if she would be giving breakfast there was not a finite agreement as I mentioned that it would mean a very early start for DD as she's not the fastest eater, and it was sort of left at that although I did take a box of cereal in for her the first day just in case (although I found out that her DD also had this cereal that day and the next day . She did say that tea wouldn't be done as her DD didn't have tea until about 5.30 so timings would clash.

I was just interested in what other people did.

Many thanks

8:00am - breakfast
10.30am - snack
12am - lunch
3.15pm - snack
5pm - dinner

No breakfast.
Morning snack whenever the children are peckish.
Lunch.
Afternoon snack if anyone is flagging.
No dinner, because I have children leaving approx every half hour from 4pm onwards and most of my families choose to have a family dinner at home with the child.

Our routine is:

Breakfast 8-9am
Snack 10.30am
Lunch 12.30am
Afternoon snack 3.30pm
Tea 5pm

Some of the later arrivals like to demand 2nd breakfasts, so that's why breakfast hour is so long :-)

I think it depends on what other children the CM has tbh but she should've mentioned that when signing the contract. If you're not happy with what's being provided it's best to just mention it as maybe she's either forgotten or knows full well she's slacking and is just trying to get away with it!

I have an odd lunchtime routine because the first mindee I took on sleeps best at around 12:15 so lunch is 11:30 here which is ridiculous really but everyone fits around that. Breakfast is whenever someone wants it, definitely it'd be offered if they were coming at 07:30 and I would expect the parents to give dinner when they got home if the session ended at 17:30 but if they were used to an earlier tea then I'd try to accomodate it but I'm a bit of a slave to the parents I have to admit!

Thanks everybody for your input.

At the moment, my DD is her only mindee as she has only just started up. After the first couple of days, she did start to give my DD breakfast that I hadn't provided so I'm hoping that she will start to give breakfast without me having to bring it.

As I say she did say that she wouldn't do tea as her DD is used to eating at 5.30pm so it'd be a rush which is fine. I was just wondering what other people did. Thanks all you've been really helpful

I wish I didn't provide dinner as I hate this, it's the worst part of the day, but difficult when you've provided for the last 5 yrs!! lol

If she's new to childminding, I'm sure a gentle word about breakfast would be fine, she might just need it pointing out

I give

breakfast 7.00 -8.00
snack 10.00
lunch 12.00
under 5's get a peice of fruit when they awake about 2.00
Snack 3.30 when we get back from school.

Only give dinner to a child who is staying overnight,as I have no children of my own at home, so DH and I dont eat till around 7.00.