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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Do You Serve Dinner?
Provider_Manda 07:01 PM 11-15-2012
Those of you who are on the food program, do you serve dinner? I have for a year now and I am getting tired! My late kids (till 6) well their last days is tomorrow, they are moving. So I have been doing a late snack at 4 and then most kids are picked up by 5:30.

I am just wondering if the parents will have an issue with it. The kids that stay late, for 2 weeks now while making this transition have not been too happy, and have even made remarks to me kind of implying that I am not feeding their kids. Trust me they are being fed, and their portions are more then that is required by the program.

I don't want to seem lazy, but most of the time they don't eat or just want something like ramen noodles or something like that. I do breakfast if someone is hungrey, lunch and the a pm snack..is that too little?
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Angelsj 07:36 PM 11-15-2012
Not quite sure I am following you, but I serve supper at 5:30. If a kid is here, they eat. Generally due to my hubby that must be at work @ 7 pm, I have no problem with kids being here, but we eat when we eat and I am not going to ignore a kid while we do so.

Fix "dinner" when you want and don't worry about the parents or the food program. If the kid is there, feed them. If not, oh well.
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Scout 07:38 PM 11-15-2012
As a parent I would feel bad IF you WERE feeding my kids & I wasn't. I dont get why parents dont want to eat dinner with their kids, no matter if its not until 7:30? Dinner time should be quality family time.
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Provider_Manda 07:40 PM 11-15-2012
Well I serve dinner at 5 just for them, I ate later in the evening. But with the kids wanting to eat snack later I see no need to make a big dinner. They are getting something in tummy's.

They are eating, its just not as late and its not a 4 course meal.
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Provider_Manda 07:42 PM 11-15-2012
Originally Posted by aprilsfool77:
As a parent I would feel bad IF you WERE feeding my kids & I wasn't. I dont get why parents dont want to eat dinner with their kids, no matter if its not until 7:30? Dinner time should be quality family time.
See that is how I feel!! I had one (the ones that are moving) not pick up the bcb he is 1 till late cause they wanted me to feed him dinner cause he won't eat for dad..But he picked up big sister and fed her ? I don't understand your child is here 9 hours, shouldn't you want to spend atleast one meal with them!
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kitykids3 08:04 PM 11-15-2012
I have kids from 7:30/7:45am til 6pm.
I do not feed dinner to the kids. I don't even usually eat 'dinner' myself.
I feed them breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 11:30 and snack at 2:30 or whenever they get up. If they have snack at 2:30 and still here at 5:30, then I'll give them another small snack to hold them over til parents pick them up.
However, they usually sleep til 3 or so, and are good until they leave.
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Sunshine74 08:55 PM 11-15-2012
We are open until 6, but do not feed dinner. They have breakfast upon arrival, lunch at 11, and snack after they wake up from nap- around 2:30. On a rare occasion, a parent will ask if we can give them something for dinner, and we will do something simple like a sandwich- but those times are few and far between.
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mom2many 10:56 PM 11-15-2012
I close at 6 pm and do not serve dinner. On a rare occasion I have fed a dck when a parent is running late, but that is not the norm. We have always eaten as a family after the dcks leave.
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dave4him 01:39 AM 11-16-2012
My own kids like to eat before one of my dck's is picked up.... and even though his Aunt says he eats like a horse at home.... its hard not to feed him something while i feed my own.
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Countrygal 04:38 AM 11-16-2012
I do and I don't. ON the food program I am only allowed to claim 2 meals and a snack. By certification standards for my state I have to feed them every 3 hours at the least. So..... That translates to a minimum of 4 meals. I find that if I serve a large supper-snack later in the afternoon I make up a little bit of the money I lose by having to feed them four meals and only being able to claim 3. But I only serve it when they are here late - 4:00 or later. At the price of food, I need to cut corners wherever I can! So this is what my eating schedule looks like right now, but it does fluctuate with my parent's schedule, as I only keep three children at a time:

Before school breakfast: 6:30
Toddler breakfast: 8:30
Lunch 11:30
pmSnack 2:00
Supper 4:00

My parents actually don't like the supper, but it's the only way I can fit in the four meals I am required to serve and not lose a whole bunch of money on it. I feel my rates are low enough that I can't really include meals in them as well.

Supper is usually light and consists of 1/2 a sandwich, some grapes, carrot sticks and milk, or cheese and crackers with apple slices, carrot sticks and milk - something like that. I serve my big meal at noon. I am serving toddlers as well as befor/after school kids.

I'd love to hear how other people make the required number of meals/snacks without running the bank dry. Would love some other suggestions!
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NeedaVaca 04:41 AM 11-16-2012
My family eats after dck's leave but they get a snack after nap. There is a ton of research proving the importance of family dinners with your children. If you have parents that get upset that you no longer serve dinner maybe print off some of those articles for them to read?
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countrymom 04:44 AM 11-16-2012
I stopped doing the dinner thing. Because I agree that dinner should be a family thing. Also, I barely have enough to feed my kids yet alone another kid. Now I have had families ask me to feed them dinner because they have to go somewhere so I dont mind.
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MamaBearCanada 05:14 AM 11-16-2012
Morning snack 9.30
Lunch 12.30
PM snack 3.30

If they are hungry when my own kids are eating breakfast I'll give them some toast or cereal. My first drop off is 7.45am. If you are only covered for a certain amount of meals could you explain to parents that the choice is you increase rates or they send food to cover the other meals or snacks?
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Country Kids 07:09 AM 11-16-2012
Originally Posted by Countrygal:
I do and I don't. ON the food program I am only allowed to claim 2 meals and a snack. By certification standards for my state I have to feed them every 3 hours at the least. So..... That translates to a minimum of 4 meals. I find that if I serve a large supper-snack later in the afternoon I make up a little bit of the money I lose by having to feed them four meals and only being able to claim 3. But I only serve it when they are here late - 4:00 or later. At the price of food, I need to cut corners wherever I can! So this is what my eating schedule looks like right now, but it does fluctuate with my parent's schedule, as I only keep three children at a time:

Before school breakfast: 6:30
Toddler breakfast: 8:30
Lunch 11:30
pmSnack 2:00
Supper 4:00

My parents actually don't like the supper, but it's the only way I can fit in the four meals I am required to serve and not lose a whole bunch of money on it. I feel my rates are low enough that I can't really include meals in them as well.

Supper is usually light and consists of 1/2 a sandwich, some grapes, carrot sticks and milk, or cheese and crackers with apple slices, carrot sticks and milk - something like that. I serve my big meal at noon. I am serving toddlers as well as befor/after school kids.

I'd love to hear how other people make the required number of meals/snacks without running the bank dry. Would love some other suggestions!
Do you kids actually eat every time you feed them. I had to cut out morning snack becaus they wouldn't eat it or if they did they wouldn't eat lunch. I was throwing away SO much food. Now I throw away nothing!!! They eat it up like they are starving.

Also, how do you serve a snack at 2;00? My kids are still sleeping during that. I'm so glad I don't have to have a schedule like that. We would just do everything in the kitchen because thats where you would always be preparing food.
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itlw8 07:09 AM 11-16-2012
breakfast 8:30
lunch 11:30
snack 3:00

I close at 5:30 most are gone by 5

most families eat together or should if they eat at 5 then they won't eat a famiy dinner
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SilverSabre25 10:28 AM 11-16-2012
I just changed my meal times--I'll be doing lunch around 11/11:15 and then outside until bus time @12:10, then back home for naps at 12:30....snack will be at 3:45/4 as usual and will be substantial, including all the components of dinner, but i'll still call it snack.
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Lyss 11:02 AM 11-16-2012
I don't do dinner but I do have one DCK that is here til 6:15-6:30ish a 3 days a week (everyone else is gone by 530) so he does occasionally eat dinner with us if I have it made. His mom would prefer I feed him but I don't always because he's not usually hungry (we have snack @4-4:30) and I feel like I'm just wasting the food. He'll sit with us at the table and always gets food but rarely eats it so I've stopped going out of my way to have dinner ready before 6:45ish (DH gets home at 6-615ish so it's not unusual for us to eat that late even when DCB isn't here).

DCM gets a bit passive aggressive ("I guess he'll just starve tonight as I won't be able to make dinner til 8pm," they only live 10mins away) sometimes but I just tell her she's welcome to bring something from home that I'll give him in the evenings and remind her that he gets offered a snack @ 6 (which he also he never eats). She always declines to bring something as she knows he doesn't eat it. When she changed to this shift I made it clear I wouldn't be doing dinner, if I did it was a courtesy not a requirement and not all the time.
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Countrygal 11:06 AM 11-16-2012
Originally Posted by Country Kids:
Do you kids actually eat every time you feed them. I had to cut out morning snack becaus they wouldn't eat it or if they did they wouldn't eat lunch. I was throwing away SO much food. Now I throw away nothing!!! They eat it up like they are starving.

Also, how do you serve a snack at 2;00? My kids are still sleeping during that. I'm so glad I don't have to have a schedule like that. We would just do everything in the kitchen because thats where you would always be preparing food.


The every three hours thing really stinks. No, they don't eat it all. If I serve morning snack, noone eats lunch. I have kids there 12 hour days, so they have to be fed four times. Of course, they also spend at least 4 of those 12 hours sleeping (morning and nap). It is one of my bigger gripes.

As to serving snack at 2 - I have all older kids (Youngest is 3) and they take a pretty short nap (1 1/2 - 2 hours) and we don't lay down until 2. Snack is JUST before it.

I'm just curious - what does licensing say about meals?

When my kids came at 6:30 and left at 4:30 everything worked much better......
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MrsSteinel'sHouse 11:11 AM 11-16-2012
After reading some stuff on here and talking to my food program I now serve "dinner" aka afternoon snack at lets say 4 but sometimes it is 3:30 I do breakfast if they arrive before 9 and count that as am snack. Lunch is at 11ish. I aim for 11 but it has been closer to 11:30 lately. They nap from 12 ish until 3. By the time they are all up, diapered etc we have afternoon snack "dinner" for the food program. I have one little guy who is here some days until 6:30 so he gets "real dinner" around 5:45. He has a 40 minute drive home so I don't want him starving!
breakfast "am snack" is usually cereal, banana and milk.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:16 AM 11-16-2012
I have some children here until 6:00 (they pay to stay late) and I do not serve dinner.
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Unregistered 02:13 PM 11-16-2012
WI center here too.

Breakfast 8:00
a.m. snack 10:00
Lunch 12:00
p.m. snack 3:00

Used to serve dinner...no more. I'm not reimbursed for the a.m. snack....that's okay. I like to give an a.m. snack. Never have problems with kids not eating tho.
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MrsSteinel'sHouse 04:39 AM 11-17-2012
Just looked at my reimbursment info. There is about a one hundred dollar difference for me (mwf 3 kids, t,th 6 kids) changing my meal plan from Breakfast, lunch, pm snack to am snack, lunch, dinner and the only thing I changed in what I feed is adding a vegie to pm snack to make it dinner because I had always fed then protien, grain and fruit anyway. Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there. (oh I didn't have one single parent say oh no, don't feed my kidlet a vegie! and no one has said that it has effected their dinner at home)
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Tags:dinner, feeding times, food
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