Originally Posted by mommyneedsadayoff:
I completely respect your opinion and appreciate the different perspective. I have worked with children who have food insecurities and I have dealt with my own growing up. I've also dealt with a lot of kids who have plenty of access to food, but have actual fears of a food due to being forced to eat or punished for not eating. The amount of pressure that parents put on a child to eat, can be very hard for the child to handle. I think it's incredibly sad that in a country with an abundance of food , money, and accessibility to government assistance, that any child goes to bed hungry. I know food is a very sensitive issue for some people, but I guess I handle it in the same way I handle a lot of other things, related to food or any other subject. I address them and get to the root of the issue and see where I can make an impact.
We contribute to the summer food program and the snack pack program. These programs ensure access to a meal in the summer everyday, as well as snacks over the weekend during the school year and summer. We donate to the food pantry and serve weekly meals at our church. My current company works with a harvest program and donates thousands of dollars of food per month.
I like to teach my own children to be compassionate to the plight of others and to be respectful to those in need, but I dont feel limiting food to only eating is a necessary reaction to a serious issue. I have grown up, as well as used in my own daycare, items like pasta noodles, rice, dry beans, homemade Play-Doh, flour and baby oil, ect for years. They are relatively cheap household items that offer fun and creative play for children. And I don't know if it's a higher power, but we always seem to have a lot of those items sitting in the cupboard.
Making Play-Doh was a very common occurrence in our house. And I prefer to work with those items instead of plastic products and such. I also love working with dirt, water, wood, really any natural stuff. And I swear I'm not some crunchy granola type! I just like simple stuff and I really enjoyed playing with food growing up. If I ever felt it was a problem for a child in my care, I would definitely readdress the issue. But so far, it's just been fun.
But I do think the instructor in this case did not make her point very well. Certainly not as well as you made your point. Its too bad you don't teach those classes!
Thank you!
I do have to add that I compartmentalize this type of thing.
How I feel personally often differs in comparison to how I feel professionally. Meaning what I do within my program may or may not be completely different than what I would/wouldn't do with my own kids.
Originally Posted by LostMyMarbles:
I think that some people take pleasure in demeaning others for their choices . I am a believer in what works for one, may not work for all. The “know it all” attitude happens all the time, but it is never ok to make someone feel bad. If we were talking about kids acting like this , the word bully may or may not be used.
Are you referring to me as a bully/know it all or the instructor?