A month ago I started serving breakfast as I figured it would make everyones life easier. Everyone jumped on board and were very excited about it-

Now the dilema-one family feeds there child before coming here (I think do to things they say to the child) but still would like them to eat here. The child literally climbs into their chair and says "I'm done" and wants down. So I'm throwing breakfast away now. I'm not even sure what I would do if the food program would show up. The gal was already perplexed as this child didn't eat lunch the last time she was here and then if they won't eat breakfast they will probably starting wondering whats the issue.

So should I keep giving them breakfast or ask the parents to stop feeding at home. I have it very strictly written in my PHB that if the child eats before arriving to please, please let me know so I don't double serve. The parents do say the child might still be hungry so let them eat!

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I have one like this; but DCM says he "picks at" dry cereal before they come to daycare. I still serve him breakfast, the minimum amount possible. If he eats it all and wants more, I add more. Don't worry yourself over whether he eats it or not; serve the minimal portion you can and get him down if he doesn't want it. Claim the meal and know you are getting reimbursed. If the food program lady asks why he doesn't eat, let her know that sometimes he eats at home and parents have requested he still get to eat at daycare. Easy peesy.

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Ezactly! And the food program doesn't require they eat it, just that it is served and offered. I do make them sit there for a bit so everyone has the opportunity to eat.

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I would have him sit, but I wouldn't worry about it. If you make eggs give him a spoonful. If he eats that he gets another, etc.

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My son goes to daycare around 815-830 and my daycare refuses to feed him breakfast! Says breakfast is done at that time! When she opens up at 715-730 I feel she needs to still feed my son! He wakes at 740-8 and won't eat at home due to just waking up! And she collects food program for him! She then says he gets hungry around 10 and won't feed him till lumch! What should I do? I am looking for a new daycare buy hard in my town of the oil boom!

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I stop serving breakfast at 8:30am sharp. There has to be a cut off somewhere!

If not......parents arrive at 8:45.......9:00........or later and expect breakfast. The food program has strict rules about meal times. Meals must be served between certain contracted times or cannot be claimed.

Daycare is not a restaurant and you cannot show up when you please for meals.

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What should you do?

You should wake up your child earlier so he has time to feel hungry. Then feed him before you send him to daycare.

Hope that helps

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When you make a meal do you leave your food out for an hour and 15 minutes? Annoyance aside it's typically not safe to leave food out that long if you're feeding something other than cold cereal and junkfood pop-tarts.

Your provider can only be reimbursed from the food program for meals she serves him. If he's there for lunch and snacks she absolutely has to include him in those numbers and deserves to.


Simple solution to your problem - get your son to eat at home by waking him up earlier, or get your son to daycare earlier by walking him up earlier.

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Agree with this!!!

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Just because your daycare provider has him enrolled in the food program DOES NOT mean she is collecting money for meal reimbursement for him. She has to clock each child in and out each day, and will only get reimbursed for the meals served while that child is there. Actually, of she were feeding your child breakfast at the time he arrives - she would NOT collect money for that meal - because it is outside her time frame.

I serve breakfast at 8:00, and if you arrive past 8:15, you need to have eaten at home. I would hope a parent would understand what a big inconvenience it woul be to get breakfast out again, supervise the child eating, and then clean them up all while supervising and caring for the other children - who have moved on something else by that time.

If you expect your child to be hungry at drop off time, I'm sure he would still be hungry 10 min before that, and could eat something (Cheerios & a banana) in the car on the way.

I think you will find very few daycares that will feed your child at an alternate time. Your best bet is to wake your child up earlier and get him to daycare in time for breakfast or let him eat in the car.

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I serve breakfast UNTIL 7:45. I start at 7:30. If your child arrives at 8:15, he wouldn't be getting breakfast here either. I have kids arrive at 6 am that are STARVING by 7:30. I CAN'T cook breakfast at 6, then again at 7:30, then again at 8:30.

I don't think you need to look for new daycare. I DO think you need to wake up your little guy up 30 minutes earlier and either ask your dcp to drop off sooner or feed him yourself and drop off at regular time. TRY to think about it from your provider's prospective. Her telling you he is hungry at 10 is an ATTEMPT to put the situation back on you (and it should be, honestly). By letting you know you need to feed your kid!

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I feel the need to help you be more aware of the idea that your DC provider runs a business which provides a service. She is a business owner and people sign up as clients if they wish to use her DC services. You as the parent have the obligation and responsibility of finding a DC that best suits your needs. You must inquire about issues that are important to you (in this case breakfast) and decide whether or not the policies and the way that DC provider conducts her business is a good fit for you or not. If not, then you continue your search. If you decide to become a client then it is your legal and moral obligation to follow her rules and policies.

That being said, your DC provider has a cut-off time that is earlier than the time that your child arrives which I'm assuming is 8am. I am also assuming that breakfast begins at around 7:30am. There a couple of options, some that you and others here have already mentioned such as:

a) You can find another DC provider
b) You can look into getting a nanny instead. Nanny's will follow any schedule that you want and are better for families that need more personalized childcare (not to mention one on one focused attention on your child)
c) Put your child to bed earlier so that you can wake him up earlier and feed him breakfast at home
d) Discuss availability with your DC provider and change your childs drop-off time to earlier then put your child to bed earlier so that you can wake him earlier and drop him off at daycare when breakfast starts
e) Discuss the option of preparing a breakfast (one that follows the food program guidelines and which will be easy and quick for your DC provider to serve) and if she agrees then provide his breakfast each day. Respect her decision if she decides against this option (I for one do not allow this in my DC)

I really don't mean any of this in a flippant or scoffy way. I really don't think that you are looking at this through your providers eyes. It is group care and she needs to do what works best for her and the children in the DC as a group ... as a whole. Preparing , serving and cleaning up is time consuming so we choose to serve meals and snack only during certain time windows so that we can move on and focus on other responsibilities. If one child is eating and another child or the rest of the group has moved on to the rest of the day then the provider's attention is now split making her job of supervising them more difficult.

Also here's another way to think about it. Let's say her cut-off time for breakfast is 8am and your child arrives at 8:15 every morning so your mentality might be that your child arrives only 15 minutes late to breakfast each day right? Not exactly. This is a common way of thinking about it but there are a couple of issues with this logic.

1) 8am is the breakfast cut-off meaning that's when it's over. If breakfast starts at 7:30am then really your child is 45 minutes lates to breakfast. If it starts at 7:45am your child is 30 minutes late to breakfast. See what I mean?
2) If it is just a small amount of time that your child is arriving after breakfast ends then arriving earlier when breakfast starts shouldn't be a problem whatsoever.

Like others have stated before ... your DC provider only gets a small remibursement (not enough to cover the costs of the entire meal) for the children that are present at the time that the meal is served. We are required by the food program to decide on our meal start and end times and any food that is served other than in that scope is not reibursable. So your provider can't claim the meal that your child has missed if he is not present nor can she get reimbursed for serving him a meal during non-scheduled meal times (that's how my USDA food program works).

There should however be a snack between breakfast and lunch which she would serve (and can claim) the children. If this snack is not enough to supress his appetite then you need to decide on one of the 5 options that I suggested above. She is telling you that he is hungry at a certain time due to having missed breakfast not so that she can taunt or make you feel bad, she is trying to tell you (I'm assuming here) that he NEEDS to have breakfast. As the parent it your responsibility to make the necessary changes to ensure that your child is not hungry as you have so adamentally stated. It is not the child care providers duty or responsibility to change the way that she conducts her normal business day for the needs of one child. Do you know what I mean?

Overall if you are not open to waking your child up earlier to feed him breakfast or to drop him off at DC earlier then I do think that you are doing the right thing by searching for other arrangements however I must emphasize that you make sure that the next child care provider has a breakfast time that meets your needs. Make the child care provider aware of the child's arrival time so that she can let you know up front whether or not that drop-off time works with her breakfast schedule.

Good luck, I hope at least that if anything you have found perspective (and are not a troll).

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Removed - didn't realize that original post was outdated

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We're daycares, not resteraunts and we most definitely do not cater to the whims of every parent! YOU need to wake your son up earlier and feed him at home or be at daycare by the time breakfast is served. Simple.
I cannot think of a single daycare, home or center that doesn't have a cut-off time for breakfast... if you don't make it, too bad! I think you will have a difficult time finding a daycare who will feed your child whenever you feel like showing up. Good luck.

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