Cereal for tea at Nursery 👎🏼or👍🏽

[Ellbell84]

Does anyone think that cereal served for tea at Nursery is an acceptable meal? It’s served twice a week at the 16.30 tea and is either 2 weetabix or porridge.

I would think that meal is early dinner, so no. Are there other bits served with it?

What do they serve for tea on the other days? I don't think it's meant to be an early dinner, the main meal is usually lunchtime.

It's not ideal, but nursery "tea" is usually a light meal that needs to be prepped in advance before the cook leaves, and put together and served quickly by childcare staff while they are also in ratio with the children.
Most nurseries don't served a cooked meal at 4 unless they have a cook in full time which is fairly unusual.

I think the fact that they tell you in advance it is what they serve means it fine. You either go to a different nursery or collect your child earlier on those days. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would say it’s fine if they are having a proper meal at lunch time.

I would be ok with that, I sometimes give my children cereal/porridge/toast as a supper if they are hungry.

It’s fine providing it’s not simply a repeat of what they are offering for breakfast.

If it is then that’s taking the Michael I think.

Hmm our nursery did yoghurt and muesli every now and then tbh I preferred that to spaghetti hoops day.

I would feel a bit weird about weetabix too

They have sandwiches and wraps the other days with cucumber, tomato etc. They don’t offer breakfast either. He always has a proper meal at home after Nursery but considering they are supposed to offer a varied, nutritional meal plan, porridge and weetabix with nothing else seems pretty lazy to me!

Wheatabix and porridge are good cereals and will come with milk. Fine for an afternoon snack I think.

No it’s not morning. Can’t they do toast with a topping or small sandwiches and fruit and yogurts.

IME many parents don’t want their children to have much more than a snack, because they enjoy all the benefits of an evening family meal. Having a "proper" meal at nursery will upset their appetite.

If you really need them to have a proper meal at nursery, you need to get enough parent safe together to make it worthwhile, and put the suggestion to the manager. Expect to pay for it, though. As well as the cost of the food, electricity, etc. they will have to pay a cook/chef to extend their working day by quite a few extras hours each week, and they are within their rights to mark-up these extra costs so as to return a profit on the service.