Parent's Night

Last night was our first Parent's Night at Margot's new daycare. I was pretty excited to meet the other parents, hear more about the school's philosophy, and learn *cough cough* about "ways to get involved".

But our main goal was to maybe get a word in about the food they serve there. We are, in general, really happy with the care at this new place. Every morning when we ask Margot if she wants to go to school, she enthusiastically nods yes and makes her way towards to back door to get going already. We take this as a good sign. 

But at her old daycare, we got to make her lunch, and so her diet stayed within our control. It bears mentioning that we aren't exactly super hard core about what we allow Margot to eat. She's tried all kinds of terrible-for-you treats. But her regular, every day diet is healthy, simple foods (beans, cheese, blueberries, anyone?) and up until two weeks ago, she'd tried hardly any sugary sweets at all. 

The food at her new place isn't terrible, just instituational. She has Freezey Pops regularly, and honestly we're even kind of bugged by the daily barrage of salty crackers. Or "cereal bars". The reports of her adoration of the Salsbury steak lunch the other day were kind of cute and funny. Except, yeah. My fifteen month old knows what Salsbury steak is. 

So, back at Parent's Night, wandering around and awkwardly mingling with the other parents, I was thinking about how best to approach all of this. But you know what else? I was kind of hungry. Laid out before my rumbling tummy was a platter of store-bought cookies. Score! I picked out a sugar one, always a favorite, and wandered over to sit by Adam. The topic of food came up right as I was taking my first bite. Adam was explaining that, no, we don't give her juice or really any kind of refined sugar, etc etc. Meanwhile, Margot clomped over to my lap, yanked the cookie from my hands and was more or less inhaling it. 

So yeah, that took a little of the air out of our argument. I could have just taken it from her, I suppose, but that just seemed mean. (Also, maybe "boundaries" aren't my parental strong suit?) Margot's teacher, who has been at this center, teaching this exact age child for thirty-five years, smiled at us, knowingly, dubiously, and said, "She really likes that cookie."

Which is to say, the long road just got longer. 

Comments

[Carn]

Yeah, but there's a difference between the occasional cookie and plying her with juice, frozen popcicles and salty crackers as a matter of daily course. Parents Night is a special occasion. Going to school every day isn't a SO. Point being, even if Teach was trying to make a point, it was the wrong point and time to make it.

We've done some of the same stuff with E and L. No drop of juice has ever crossed E's lips, but she has had cookies, ice cream, cake etc. at random times. And, yeah, cheese, humus and blueberries are staples in her diet. We try to never eat treats in front of her if we're expecting her to not get a bit of what we're eating (save coffee and diet soda, which a Parent Drinks), which is really hard sometimes.

I'm rambling a little, but I guess I think it's one thing to expose them to treats every so often,while making fruit a daily treat, and turning a pint of Juicy Juice into a daily expectation. Honestly, I'm glad to hear you guys do the juice thing, too, b/c I sometimes feel like a Fundamentalist tyrant about that, but it's one of the stakes we've put in the ground, right next to being nice to people and sharing your stuff.

[Jackson]

I totally agree, Carn, about regular food vs treat food. We haven't really cared if she tries crazy things here and there, but its the regularity of the stuff at daycare that bums us out. We had to write a special note for her to not receive juice there -- but they have definitely followed it. I feel like we've been lax about so very many things, but had really stuck to our intentions about her diet. It'll be an ongoing thing...

Also, do unto others as you'd have done to you. And don't drink juice :)