Originally Posted by nannyde:
I think we need to get back to the idea that kids need to eat breakfast at home. It's amazing to me that we have completely lost sight of the idea that kids should eat with their family in the morning before they go out into the world.
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I would disagree nannyde. For most of the parents I see it's because they have to have their children in care early and want to let their children sleep long enough. Transportation time, wake up and dressing time means that people like me would have to wake our children up by 6 am to get them to have breakfast at home. Which easily means working parents need to be up by 5am. Considering many don't quit the housework until 10 pm, that's not a lot of mommy time for most parents.
My kids really need their sleep. If bedtime is too late, or if nap time is skipped we have disasterous endings. So for many people like me, eating a good breakfast at daycare is a must. I provide for my kids (though I'm totally not a granola bar fan, I think they're just sugar) above and beyond what the daycare provides. For example if the daycare has cereal, I'll send in strawberries and bananas to top it off.
I think mommy guilt makes many of us want to let our kids sleep in as long as they can.
I know I like my kids to sleep at daycare, which bumps bedtime back a few hours for my 4 year old which makes mornings really tiring for children. Waking my kids up at 6 am to have a family sit down breakfast wouldn't help anyone out in our home. Mornings would become a frustrating screaming match between my kids and I for sure as we desperately try to get out the door in time to make it for drop off and my own work start time.
I do really think an enforced end to breakfast is necessary though. Random late drop offs, that the rest of the class has to revolve around disrupts everyones schedules. I'm perfectly happy to accept late drop offs as long as parents call in advance to let us know, but many don't, and the late arrivals get later and later in the summer especially. This the whole classroom misses out for a few stragglers.
I guess I'll clarify, I've been watching this board for a few days and am really excited to find a care providers forum, but haven't yet registered mainly because I'm not very creative when it comes to screen names. I'll register AFTER I've figured out what to call myself.
