Good food

[charlottenash]

Ok I should explain myself better:

At 4.30 all my mindees eat together. They eat a healthy homecooked meal

When mindees have gone we as a family eat the same food, but my son will have say fish fingers and rice rather than curry and rice.

What I do with my son I see as irrelevant. It is ky choice as a parent, if he went to a CM he would be living by their rules and thats tough luck. i would pick a CM that suits his lifestyle as much as possible, this family saw my menu before securing their place. I could bring my sons dinner time forward and give mindee the same food that's the only reason he was relevant in the discussion.

I feel that's unfair, my son loves family time when mindees have gone, and this is very important to us.

My mindees are happy with the healthy food except this child, so should I then allow them to eat what I class as unhealthy food, and make their parents upset or allow them to all eat different meals causing me no end of headache?

To clarify, this mindee eats similar food that I cook at home, but at his previous childminders ate fish fingers, pizza, pancakes etc. he is in the habit and feels that I'm the 'boring' one because I feed him healthy food. Mum just wants him full up so she can put him to bed when she collects.

To be honest all this discussion has done is confirmed what I already felt, all mindees will continue to eat their meal at 4.30 and meals will remain the same. I will eat what I like with my family when they have left.

[charlottenash]

I cook curry over a matter of hours, from scratch, there's no frying chicken and throwing sauce on it.

He won't even eat a chicken pie because it has gravy inside, his mum said this was his favourite food.

I am not critical of them as parents, I just feel that this was an issue they could have bought up originally either face to face, when they saw my menu or in the all about me book when I ask about specific dislikes and things their not keen on eating, if I sent my son to a CM the main issue would be food and something I would discuss in detail.

[charlottenash]

Gosh I can't believe people are implying I should change my whole families diet and other mindees diets for the sake of one child, absolutely nuts. I'm no longer going to comment, regretting opening the topic altogether!

[kellib]

Gosh I can't believe people are implying I should change my whole families diet and other mindees diets for the sake of one child, absolutely nuts. I'm no longer going to comment, regretting opening the topic altogether!

Not saying a change of diet but introducing a few different meals wouldn't do any harm, he might just be bored of pies etc by now?

[charlottenash]

We have a 4 week rotation of completely different foods.

[Amandak28]

Gosh I can't believe people are implying I should change my whole families diet and other mindees diets for the sake of one child, absolutely nuts. I'm no longer going to comment, regretting opening the topic altogether!

You asked for advise we have given it.
Obviously if the majority have suggested tweaking your menu its surely worth a try?
Why else would you ask?

And i think you have answered your own question by saying you would find someone who would meet your own sons food needs... Maybe you should be doing the same for this child.

Parents have said he doesnt like sauce so why do you continue to give foods like that?

Sorry if i have offended im just viewing my opinion. X

[FussyElmo]

I think what Charlotte is saying is that she was never told of any food issues and is finding it hard feeding him. It is hard when parents tell you they like, for example the chicken pie, and then the child refuses it.

Mmm I dont feed the mindees so im not the best one to advise but could you not in your 4 week menu let all the children choose a meal they want in the menu. You could give them a list of all the healthy foods you provide and let them pick.

[karensmart4]

I think you have to look at it from the point of.... if it were your child going to a cm and what rules were being impemented! would you be happy if they gave your child food that he doesn't like each day!!

I'm not picking on you but I think you should look at the wider picture

My son was a fussy eater and a friend of mine tried to get him to 'man up' when he wouldn't eat scouse... my son never wanted to go to their house again, he was 5yrs old and he's 26 now and still remembers it!

I would rather find things that he does like and do a healthy version.

Would just like to add.... my son did man up!!! he's now a chef in the Marines

[primula]

So glad I don't do dinners! just a light tea at 4ish, luckily kids go at 5.15 so can have dinner at home with their families.

[donna porter]

I've had a few fussy eaters in my time but my rule is 'everyone gets the same(within reason ) and if you don't eat your dinner then you don't get desert'! And everyone sits at the table until dinner time has finished. I don't make any fuss , they either eat it or they don't. It's very hard . Any 'treats' that come from home stay in the bag out of reach until after dinner. I have a mindee that sat at the table and didn't eat a thing and said that she would get nuggets and sweets when she got to granny's house!! I get many comments from mums saying 'he/she eats so much at your house'. I had a wee boy request recipes to take home to his mum! Lol I could go on all day but I'll not bore anyone lol

[bindy]

I just give the kids what they like to eat, not always unhealthy but I got so fed up with wasting food. If its OK with parents than its fine by me. I don't charge extra for food and spent so much time creating lovely meals at a great expense for it all to go in the bin! My own child eats vey healthy food so she eats her main meal with me in the evening and a sandwich at lunch. I do offer veg/fruit organic sausages, chicken, fish etc but also fish fingers, dippers, home made pizza. I normally cut new potatoes into slices with a little olive oil in the oven and call them chips! I only give fruit/ yoghurt for pudding so if they don't eat main meal don't mind giving them fruit. I figure its better than having nothing in their tummy. I feel their is only so much you can do, we are not super human!

[AliceK]

I think you are right to continue doing as you are. You are providing healthy balanced home cooked food and for the sake of 1 fussy eater I don't think you should change. My DD is extremely fussy (admittedly due to medical issues / past phobias) and I know that if she were at a childminders unless they were giving her pizza or cheesy pasta she wouldn't eat it. So as a parent I would accept this and feed her when I got her home. It's not such a huge issue for a responsible parent really is it!
I have a mindee who I've had for almost 3 years now. She recently went through a phase of not eating her tea and when mum / dad picked her up she would say she wanted to have dinner with them at home and they'd agree with her. So after wasting loads of food on her I told mum that I would be stopping cooking for her as she was obviously eating at home instead of eating my food and that I would instead give her a snack at tea time. Suddenly mum's attitude changed towards her DD not eating and mum came on board with me and we have just turned a corner and mindee will now usually eat her tea or at least make a good effort with it.
I ask at the beginning when I'm doing the All About Me form if a child has any "genuine" dislikes re food and I will take these into account when I do meal planning but other than that I'm not a café and they all get what I cook.

xxxxx

[jackie 7]

I cook healthy food that most oc the children will eat. I make sure that if a child doesn't eat much at lunch I do more at tea. We all do the best we can and in our own way. We don't always like the responses we get but this is the wonderful thing about this forum. We get honest replies. By looking at the replies we can all review our practices and see if we can adapt the way we do things.

[candy cat]

I don't do meals every night for mindees.... all my parents send food in and it works fine......2 x a week one mum asked if I would cook a fisher finger/nugget meal as mindee is fussy too....Mum sends it in and I cook it and now all the children like this, one even paid an extra hour so her lo could join in :0) I was actually told by a nutritionist that there is nothing wrong with fish fingers new potatoes and peas......it is actually a good meal for children. If it's becoming a battle then if I was you I would ask mum to give a list of what he does like and plan meals that all the children like adapting to being healthy/ balanced.....We have family favourites (balanced meals)that I use weekly/fortnightly because it is nice to see them enjoy the food. My daughter is fussy and would not eat the sauce in meatballs and spaghetti, so she has plain spaghetti, meatballs (cooked in sauce) and cheese and broccolli as her favourite veg. Yes we should promote and encourage healthy eating, but not much good if it goes in the bin. ;0)

[Lilylulu]

maybe do a subtle healthy eating menu - home made chicken nuggets, fish, homemade veggie burgers etc. Get the little ones involved in cooking too - all helps to widen the range of foods they eat. Good luck, sounds like you are doing a great job, we have had the odd one fetch a pack up - crisps, an apple (that looked like it was a month old as a token healthy item) and then topped up with cake and chocolate. We persuaded the parents to take advantage of our healthy lunches instead xx

[Buttonsjan]

I do a bit of both really, the ch have the same family meal, but I try to adapt it where possible. Eg putting a bit of curry powder in, taking their chicken out, then adding more for us. Like others if a child hasn't eaten well at lunch I try to offer a favourite meal later.

[Tazmin68]

It can be difficult my oldest son has autism and i have a mindee who is also on spectrum both have sensory issues with food so i do two options and add veg and sauces for others

[nikki thomson]

This is a hard one, can see both sides tbh, my children eat fairly healthily but they don't do sauces unless its a tomato based or cheese/pasta type sauce but then they won't have meat in it, I remember very well as a child having to eat meals I didn't like (I have no idea what that's all about), you have to adapt as a cm and a parent. I don't eat fish at all and if someone put fish in front of me and told me I had to eat it I would be there a very long time, even the smell makes me feel sick eww.
Things like fish fingers and chicken nuggets don't have to be unhealthy, I'm very fussy with what food I buy, I don't buy cheap, so fish fingers are always cod fillet, chicken nuggets are always the fresh 100% breast meat ones and we make our own pizza, served with some home made sweet potato wedges and fresh veg or salad.
The point is it doesn't have to be a home made stew or shepards pie to be healthy, get creative, there's lots of children's cooking books out there get one and get lo to choose some appetising food he likes and can help you prepare sometimes. X

[kellyskidz!]

As my mum says there's far too many fussy eaters nowadays and look at the troubles it's causing. I'm sorry but when we were kids we got a meal put in front of us and if we didn't eat it, that was it. We didn't have any 'phobias' of food because my mum didn't pander to us!
In this instance I agree with Charlotte and I get how frustrating it must be for her to cook healthy balanced nutritious meals and have a child refuse to eat it. It's not poison, or not even that he doesn't like the meals, because she has a 4 weekly meal rota so he can't hate everything.
Also the money side of, it can be so disheartening to cook a meal then have it pushed away without it even being tasted!
Serve fruit through the day so theres something there and if he doesn't eat his meals, no pudding
Same applies if mum provides meals with a dessert, if he doesn't eat that, no dessert either and tell mum this
I think he needs some of my mums treatment lol, eat it or leave it!
As she always says 'there's children starving out there and you're refusing a perfectly good meal'
God, I'm turning into her lol!!

[munch149]

Try apple and chicken balls

Grated apple, stock cube, onion, chicken(blended) all mixed together. Make balls dip in each and roll in breadcrumbs. Shallow fry. The kids love them, slightly healthier and I love them myself too.