Can someone help me understand why daycare centers participate in this program? And also why the recommendations are so out of date? Do you have any tips on finding a center that does not participate in the program and allows parents to supply their own food? I am frankly stunned by the USDA's unhealthy requirements. We would like to transition our daughter from a nanny to daycare for the socialization aspect but the USDA "nutrition" and sample menus are very concerning.

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The recommendations are current as far as I am aware.

They may not align with your personal beliefs but they are constantly being updated so I doubt they are out of date.

Families DO NOT have to participate with the USDA food program.

But it goes both ways and centers and family child care providers can choose to not enroll families that want to provide their own food and opt out of the food program.


In group care, when one child is eating something different than another, it causes an entirely new set of issues and most (not all) providers would rather not deal with that as group care itself can be difficult.

Once kids reach school age, they have the capabilities of understanding why their age mates have different lunches than they do.

Continuing to use a nanny is really the only way you can dictate your child's diet in it's entirety.

Public schools in my area are on the same USDA food program I am on so their requirements are the same as mine.

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regardless of the food program, you need to find out from the provider what kind of food they serve.

I am on the food program, but I do not serve a ton of stuff that they approve like.
To name a few:
anything fried, cookies, juice, pretzels, sugar cereals and etc.

Just because they are there and approved, does not mean we have to serve them.


I love the food program, it helps me to afford better quality food for the children.

I agree with BC, if I allowed children to bring their own meals, meal time would be one hot mess.

What one persons definition of healthy is, someone else is completely different.

Ihave asked families to bring healthy snacks for a party before and end up with popcorn and chips or jello. I don't agree that any of these are healthy choices.

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Ok, but why do they all participate? No center in my area allows outside food, so this bothers me a lot. It's awful to see young toddlers be served juice at every meal, skim milk, tortilla chips with fake queso, etc. The infants rooms at the centers I've had tours at were even worse.

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Because they get $$$$$ to do so. As a home provider I get a check each month for nearly $500 to reimburse me for the cost of my food. A center with 20+ kids is probably getting thousands each month.
Also, each state has different regulations concerning food - for instance I can only serve one juice serving a day. I do not serve it at all. Many home providers actually go above and beyond the FP rules, but I can't speak for larger centers.

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THIS........ This is a federal funded program that gives providers partial reimbursement for the meals they served, as long as they are within the FP guidelines.

There are two tiers of payments
http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2013/...ent-rates.html

Perhaps this will help answer some of your questions...

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So they can't afford food without the subsidies? Why can't I just pay more for better food or bring my own? I don't understand the "it creates problems" argument. Children won't be eating the same thing in kindergarten or older.

I didn't know the states had different requirements. The centers we toured serve juice twice a day for 12 months and up. Would a state require all infants drink formula? We nixed that center right away but it was discouraging to hear.

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Thanks for the link, but I'm not sure what you're trying to show. That's not much money. I'd gladly pay more for my child to be served better food.

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younger kids don't understand why they can't have what billy is eating. BTW BIlly brought pure junk and now all the kids want it. It's much harder to regulate lunches than let everyone bring their own.

This program is not based off of your income, everyone is eligible for it regardless of income.

Children in kinder have a much better grab on their emotions and understanding why they can't have their friends lunch.

you can't bring food from home, because the food program is paying us money. They won't pay us money for food you bring. they will only pay us money for food we purchase and again meets the guidelines.

NOT every place that is on the food program serves junk. I know that there are providers on here that are on the food program that are strictly organic or to some degree of that.

Depending on what state you are in will determine if they still see your child as an infant. here an infant is under 2, but they can't have a bottle after 12 months. they would drink whole milk.

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Why not just charge parents more for better food? Sorry if I'm harping on the poor food but the menus I saw were terrible. Pancakes for breakfast, chicken nuggets and 1% milk for lunch, and tortilla chips and juice for a snack. No breastmilk allowed past 12 months, contrary to AAP and WHO recommendations. Infants get rice cereal, formula, and non-organic baby food. My baby doesn't eat any of that and I'd planned on nursing him in my car at dropoff so I don't want him served breakfast. Why can't I pay the money the provider would be losing on his food?

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If you are on the food program for any of the children you are not allowed to charge the parents for food at all. And the program is there to help keep the costs of care lower for all parents. Many parents struggle to pay for daycare. I remember before I started daycare. When school was not in session and I had my daughter and son in daycare, I made $220 a week, when I had daycare on both kids I paid out $120 a week in daycare. If my provider had been charging me more for food, I would have never survived. I was a single mom trying to work, but the state went off of my gross income when they denied me help with daycare. YOU may be able to afford more, but many parents can't. It sounds to me like you may just need to stay with a nanny.

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1.47 might not look like a lot, until you multiply it by 80 kids EACH day.
We are talking about THOUSANDS of dollars.
I can't speak for centers, but for me that money allows me to keep tuition costs down. I don't serve juice, I serve whole milk for under 2's and 1% for 2 and up. But we only drink milk at breakfast and lunch. It's water only for snacks and throughout the day. Today for instance lunch was homemade grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli (sprinkled with some cheddar cheese) homemade applesauce (the kids and I made it this morning) and brown rice.
Snack was a hardboiled egg with fresh sliced pears and water.
You will have to look hard but day cares with healthy menus are out there.

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Because you are the exception to the rule. For many people, they compare cost of care first. If they can't afford the care, they go somewhere else. Centers and Homes need to be able to fill their spots. This is a way for the centers to be able to offset some of their costs without financially impacting parents.

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I have 14 kids in my care and get about 1300 a month.....would you pass that up to be able to feed 14 kids each month??

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Thats a choice too, you just have to find that person...

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I see vending machines that serve candy or almonds it's up to you to choice which one you want.....

Daycares/centers are just the same...there are ones that serve the candy and ones that serve the almonds.

sounds like your looking for almonds, just not finding it.

If that is not the type of programs offered in your area, maybe you can just stick with a nanny or put an ad out stating that you are looking for an organic/healthy menu provider. ask to see the menu.

I don't agree with a lot of the junk that the FP approves, but I am still on it and would not have it any other way.

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Bingo!! You CAN pay more to have what you want! It's called a nanny!! They serve only what you provide!

Like another poster said, those who struggle to afford the tuition alone are more than happy to accept our meals, even if it's unhealthy to "some" people. I serve organic fruits & veggies, local dairy products, whole grains and home made foods along with some not as healthy options. Today the kids had chicken nuggets (because it's Friday and we have FUN on Friday!) but they were baked not fried, "all natural" and no hormones or whatever. Served with fresh grapes and strawberries and some wheat crackers. I always try and serve a balanced meal to my daycare kids but I do have to be mindful of food costs. I get between $500-750 for meals but that doesn't go very far when we're talking about 10 meals and 5 snacks a week times 5-8 kids... So some people serve 80 meals a week and 40+ snacks a week. Broken down its pennies on the dollar for what we often spend PLUS we don't get paid until after so we're fronting the food costs.

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I didn't realize you couldn't charge parents for food if you were on the program. That's odd.

The menus the local centers have are very different than what you all say you provide. I have zero issues with grilled chicken, broccoli, and brown rice. And hormone free chicken? Sign me up! Sadly, the menus we saw at the centers we toured tended toward pizza, chicken nuggets, graham crackers, juice, and chips. Definitely not organic and we have big concerns with the antibiotics and hormones used in meat. I know we can't protect forever, but we can now.

We are in a small town in the south. I guess that has a lot to do with it. Maybe we're looking for something that just doesn't exist here. But if we're looking for it, surely other parents are...or maybe not.

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There is a solution keep the nanny and put in a morning preschool 3 days a week. Then meals are at home and your child is there for the important part of the day.

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I agree with preschool, or looking at home providers instead of centers.

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I understand your concerns regarding the food programs standards and what they consider healthy. While I do think it is possible to follow the food program and serve a healthy menu, unfortunately I have seen many who serve crap. In fairness though, I have seen providers serve crap and not participate in the food program and of course there are numerous parents who would also just pack crap. The idea of children being envious over another's lunch option is valid, however, an addition issue I see with patents all packing their kids food is the times they forget and the hassle to the provider of having to set up numerous meals. That being said I know providers who still have their parents pack their kids meals for the day.

Because I am a firm believer in healthy, organic food I have decided to make my menu around those guidelines and simply charge a higher rate.I find the food program to be a huge hassle for me, I disagree with many of their standards and I have chosen to simply deduct my food costs instead. Many of the moms in my area are like you and truly do not approve of the food program guidelines and want to pay more for healthy food.

There are providers out there who do not participate, as well as ones who allow food from home. If I were you I would look into home providers that offer what you desire or stick with a nanny.

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Ok I have to speak on this again. I am restarting my daycare and am not on the food program right now. I am deciding if I should get on it or not. If I had parents like you as my first parents, who were willing to pay more for me to exceed the requirements of the food program, I would not get on it. I would simply say if you want to pay for the foods you wish be served, I would skip the food program.

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In WI licensed programs have to follow the same guidelines for meals as the food program: grain, fruit or veg & milk for breakfast, same thing plus protein and a 2nd fruit or veg for lunch, and 2 different components for snack.

For me, since I have to follow the guidelines anyway, it makes sense to join the food program and receive money for something I'd have to do anyway.

It's also a marketing point for parents - they know their children won't be eating nothing but Mac & Cheese every day, or Kool aid instead of milk, etc.

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Not odd, keeps people honest. Otherwise what keeps me from taking money for the government that is supposed to help me feed your child and money from you for the same thing? That would be theft of government funds and although I would love to say "nobody would ever do that" we all know differently.

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In Massachusetts our licensing regulations say that we can not charge parents for food, period, and we have to offer a certain amount of meals/snacks to children according to how many hours they are in care. That's even if you do not participate in a food program.

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Same here!

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That's awful. You'd be paying for their food if they weren't in daycare so what's the difference?

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Just want to chime in to agree with others that the food program is not what's to blame here, it's the way that those specific centers have chosen to implement it.
As seen in this post, there are plenty of day cares participating in the food program and not serving juice twice/day, among other things. It appears that you just haven't found the right one yet.
I also want to mention that most of the people posting about their awesome menus are home day care providers, which it appears the OP has not yet looked in to, if I'm reading correctly.

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I totally agree. I am almost 100% organic, homemade, whole grain, everything fresh, minimally processed, juice is a RARE treat and is 100% fruit and organic, etc.

I don't get reimbursed much (about $200/m for 6 kids) and that doesn't cover a week's worth of food. I would have to raise rates significantly to cover it, and most of my parents simply don't value nutrition enough/can't afford it.

you're the minority in that camp. Most parents are unable/unwilling to make that sacrifice.

I serve homemade whole wheat pancakes, with fresh organic fruit spread instead of syrup. The provider down the road serves frozen processed ones. We are reimbursed the same. Frustrating, but food is one of the reasons I am full with a waiting list.

The usda made these minimum standards because sadly, most parents don't know/ask/care WHAT the kid is being fed. Kudos to you for being proactive. Look into local home daycares/group daycares or small centers. Find someone that allows you to pack or one who has a menu you can live with. Best of luck to you!

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