Lets begin with saying that I make 90% of my meals from scratch, not just for the daycare kids, but for our family as well; I keep the consumption of processed food at a bare minimum. At every meal there are veggies, fruit, meats, breads.

Once in a while we bake cookies, or brownies, or have ice cream in the summer, but is not a fundamental part of the menu, and it is mostly for "special days".

Today for lunch we had baked potatoes, bread, and grilled pork. Everything was freshly made.
While eating, this five years old came up saying that her Dad always ask her what she had for lunch, but today he will be happy, because she didn't have junk food to eat

This particular family follows a particular diet at home, called Paleo. For what I have learned on the internet this philosophy of eating includes foods that humans were eating before the arrival of agriculture. So basically, lots of meat, fruits, very little vegetables, and no breads, pasta and so on...

I do respect whatever eating habits someone has, but I sure didn't appreciate this assumption...


These are being great parents for the past year, but what should I do? Say something or just let it go?

I recently downsized my daycare to only 3 kids.. I would love to send an info email about my menu, but I'm not sure what to say, or if it is the right thing to do...

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Wouldn't it be nice if instead of asking the five year old, Dad would ask you what they had for lunch? Then you could have that conversation! I would probably say something like "Dad, do you have any concerns about our menu? Junior tells me you're not always happy when he tells you what we ate." and go from there.

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That's really interesting that Dad would have thought your meals were junk food. Could dck be fibbing about what they are eating?

Also, could you send home a menu every week? I send one home every Monday.

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I have the same issue here. I have a dcg who is about 16 months old. Her mom is a fitness fanatic, eats mostly fruits and veggies and protein (limits carbs, processed food, etc). DCM is also super petite and pretty, and is clearly very proud of that.

I am heavy right now, but it is due to medication and not diet. My children and husband are both still long and thin, and very healthy and active. I serve good, healthy food, and follow the food program guidelines for every meal (even though I am not on the food program).

When dcg started eating at my house, dcm looked at me, very seriously, and said, "I am just concerned that she eats only healthy food. I would hate for her to learn bad eating habits at such a young age." She then sort of gave me a "you know, like you?" sort of look.

I looked her dead in the face and said, "I am not a naturally fat person, and I did not eat my way to this weight. It is fluid retention from medication. If you are not comfortable in the food I provide, please feel free to send me in an alternative for dcg each day."

She sputtered and never brought it up again - but I know she wants to!

I would probably address it with the family, but don't make apologies! If they want a specific eating plan, then they need to communicate that with you. It soundsl ike you are dong everything right ~

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I got myself into a situation where I've planned all my menus around a child with a food sensitivity in order to serve all kids the same meal. Well, that is not fair to the other kids. Now I give him rice cakes or corn tortillas instead of bread. Gluten free Bread is very expensive and the ingredients horrify me. Are you on the food program? I am but at times I'm considering disenrolling him and having parents supply his food.

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One of the first rules of child care.......

NEVER EVER take anything said by a child at face value.

DCG could have had a convo about junk food with dad ONE TIME and she remembers that conversation and simply made a comment about it.

In reality, it may have absolutely NOTHING to do with you.



If you really want your daycare families to be aware of what you serve why not post a weekly or monthly menu?

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I love the weekly menu idea! I send home a daily activity log so my parents see what foods the DCK's eat each day but if you wanted to just do weekly menu that would work just as well for this issue.

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If the Dad cares that much, he should address it with you and not by snarky little comments to his daughter. I would leave it all alone. Again, if Dad cares that much, he can approach you directly.

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I wouldn't read too much into it either. We eat about 80% Paleo but I think what most health food-minded parents care about above all else is the amount of processed foods. I always ask what my kids had to eat on playdates etc, so I can sort of balance it out with other more cleansing food.

I do talk a lot to my kids about "junk food" so I know they bring those buzz words around with them. Kids don't know how to be socially appropriate like (some) adults do. I have two DCKs who are vegetarians, and the lecture they give me on eating meat is hilarious!

Don't take it personally. If they truly had an issue, I am sure they'd take it up with you.

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Thanks for the replies, I do have a menu posted on the bulletin board each week, but these parents never sees it because they drop off/pick up without even coming inside the house. She's ready to go 10 minutes before they get here, and they rush away to pick up the oldest one from after-school program before they close 15 minutes later.

I think I'm going to send them the menu attached to an email, and ask them to talk to me if they have questions, or provide her own lunch if the menu is not what they expect... geez...

Maybe the girl is speaking by what she hears at home, but is not the first time that her super-fit, super-healthy Mom tried to indoctrinating me about this unique diets, so I don't know at this point...

I downsized the daycare to a few selected kids because I was burned out between this, full time school and military husband being gone all the times...but I guess it never ends - lol

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In my state, we are required to post a weekly menu. I hang mine near the entrance so even if the parents just drop the kids in the door and run, they can still look at the menu quick if they choose to.

As the others have said, I wouldn't worry what a child had to say about it. Just start posting the menus so all parents have an opportunity to see what they are being fed.

You could also send out periodic emails or newsletters that include a menu or 'healthy' activities that you are doing. I send out a monthly email to all my parents stating our learning focus, new learned skills, field trip reminders, etc.

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If they think veggies are unhealthy then you will never please them. just let it go and remember Atkins died from his high protein diet.

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And, no, I'm not on the food program anymore, but I still keep the same principles... when I decided to downsize I decided to downsize the amount of paperwork as well..

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Just wanted to chime in paleo includes LOTS of veggies. The big things are nothing processed, no sugars, grains/gluten, corn, dairy, soy. Mostly veggies, meat, and fruit

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That's what I thought too.... I thought it was elimination of processed foods and grains. Here is the list shared with me when I asked someone who follows the diet what they can and can't eat.

Eat:

Grass-produced meats
Fish/seafood
Fresh fruits and veggies
Eggs
Nuts and seeds
Healthful oils (Olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado, coconut)


Don’t eat:

Cereal grains
Legumes (including peanuts)
Dairy
Refined sugar
Potatoes
Processed foods
Salt
Refined vegetable oils

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I'd just print the menu off and send it home every week on Monday. If there are any questions they'll be sure to ask since they aren't actually fully coming inside to see your menu.

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Yep, we're Paleo/Primal too and we eat tons of veggies and fruit.

Anything processed is out tho including fresh baked bread because of the processed flour. Pasta is processed and so are grains. Grains are out for other reasons too that I won't go into.

Anyway I second what one of the other posters said, you can't take what a kid says at face value ever. If you're concerned talk directly to the parents about it.

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I would not take what the child said as what really happened. I know that these kids tell their parents the weirdest things. I have had one parent purposely say to me that she needed to remember to check the menu because whenever she asked the 4 y/o what we had for lunch the answer was either chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese. I can assure you that was not what was on the menu every day LOL!!

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I wouldn't worry too much. If they have an issue, they'll probably ask. I use to send home menus, until I continually found them in the cubbies scrunched up or laying around the yard. Then I would post it on the board at the door. No one looked-ever. I stopped a few months back, and still no one has noticed. If they ask, I tell them. I had a dck who everyday said we had hamburger and carrots. That's it. Everyday. Finally dcm was like wth???? I said, nope, this is what we had this week and went thru the menu with her. I then informed her that dck said at home all they have is juice and chips. She stuttered and stammered and said I don't even buy that stuff-yep don't believe everything you hear from a 2 yr old.

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They probably refer to anything no Paleo as "junk". So it's probably not that the parents assume anything, or assume you feed fish sticks and frozen pizza and canned spaghetti and pop tarts...but that they talk a lot about what is Paleo and what isn't and the little girl has absorbed the information (makes sense, mine knows an awful lot about which products are gluten free and which aren't), and knows nonPaleo food simply as "junk".

You could bring it up to the parents, or just ignore it because I bet I'm right. (I'm guilty of calling a lot of processed food "junk" that would probably offend some people").

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Dr. Atkins actually died from a head injury after he fell while outside. (Sorry, don't mean anything by this - totally agree with the rest!)


I definitely agree with letting it go. YOU know that your food is healthy. If DCD is that concerned about it, he'll bring it up with you.

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This is great info. I just wanted to add to this by saying that to those who follow a paleo lifestyle, these "don't eat" foods ARE junk food. Maybe that's what he means? I follow a few paleo parenting blogs and podcasts and I've heard/seen that they teach their children that these foods are junk... equally as junky as soda and candy.

Edited: duh, I should have read through all the replies first. I pretty much just repeated what a few others said. Oops!

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My thoughts exactly. I remember my son had a period where he was telling everyone all we ever ate was oatmeal. Which, while I love serving oatmeal, I also do lots of yogurt and granola mixes, banana pancakes, etc. Don't let it get to you. If you want to send an email about meals, just say that you will be posting weekly/monthly menus and if any parent has suggestions, please notify you in advance and feel free to send alternatives with the child.

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