when I was working as a registered child minder I asked the children’s parents to send a packed lunch for their offspring: This was mainly because I often struggled with what to feed my own children let alone several others! Plus the parents would know what their children liked to eat.

I stored the lunch boxes in a cool area of my kitchen until lunch time and took anything that needed to be in the fridge , such as yoghurts out of the boxes.

On the odd occasion if I was asked to supply the food for a particular child, I would do and charge the parent accordingly.

I tried to give healthy food and always supplied fresh fruit for the children’s snack time at the child minder’s drop-in that I used to run. I put the cost of the refreshments as an expense when doing my accounts here

You would think that by sending a packed lunch the children would be given food that they liked (as their parent knew them better than me), but I did learn that one little boy didn’t like cucumber but his mother still put it in his sandwiches everyday!

I was also alarmed to find some dairy foods significantly out of date too ( which I didn’t give the child, but replaced from my own cupboard).

During the summer we frequently ate our lunch in the form of a picnic in the garden or park.

I sometimes gave the children an ice cream from my freezer or purchased from an ice cream van if we were out ( which the parents paid for as it was added to the bill- this was discussed at the first interview with parents here.

My child minding network co-orinator insisted that we all had a fridge thermotor to ensure that our fridge’s were set at the cprrect temperature and were working effiently.

Any child minders who were providing food had to gain a food hygiene certificate ( just before I was forced to give up my career due to ill health, every child minder was expected to work towards gaining this qualification)’

As many early years settings will provide food for the children, nurseries especially, should child minders also do the same?

Please share any thoughts and experiences with me.

As always questions and comments are welcome.

Until next time.

Karen

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