Menu Planning for Child Care

Why plan a menu? Especially if you are in a home care situation? 

Money & Time

Food is usually the greatest single expense a home provider incurs, and it is usually only below salaries for most centers, unless they have a VERY nice building.

Sample Menu:

A similar menu format is available in a Word form-fill document for you to use in planning.

What a menu provides: 

1. The ability to buy in bulk when items are on sale and in season Half price meat sales, buying stuffing and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, freezing apples when they are .69/pound in the fall, all can help drop food costs by up to 50%. If the applesauce on sale at half off expires in 6 months, then you know how many you will use up within that time frame because you have a menu that tells you. You only purchase what you need.
2. Reduced waste Without a menu, often items are purchased and forgotten in the back of cabinets or fridges and left to expire or rot. With a menu, only food that will actually be used needs to be purchased.
3. The ability to prep ahead, make ahead and/or freeze to reduce time Standing around staring in a pantry or fridge is time wasted. Knowing what is going to be served, a provider can properly allocate the necessary time and steps to the process, utilize a crock pot to reduce hands-on time, and prep for meals when it is convenient, rather than at the last minute.
4. Assurance that the children are getting the best nutrition Feeding on the fly can lead to using what is on hand, rather than what is actually needed to provide the best nutrition. Knowing what will be served throughout the day will lead to a more well-rounded diet for the children.
5. The ability for families to plan around the menu They can know they won't be repeating something already served to the child, or if the menu has something the child doesn't eat well for the day, then they will know to provide a more nutritious dinner rather than McDonald's.
6. Addressing food allergies If parents are required to supply alternative foods for their allergic child, then a menu is an important tool for all parties involved to be able to make the process seamless. A parent  of a lactose intolerant child can see that yogurt is being served, and send a soy product that day. The parent of a child with an egg allergy can see that mini quiche are being served and send an egg substitute. There isn't the need to back-stock special items that could potentially go to waste.
7. Organization  There are many different methods of organization. One way is to have 5 tubs representing each day of care, and placing all the necessary non-perishables into it at the beginning of the week with recipes slipped into card holders on the front. Another is to have an organized pantry with rotating food storage. Whatever your system, it only works well if you have a plan and know what your needs are and will be.
8. More sophisticated palates Children can learn to like nearly any food they are exposed to a minimum of 10-12 times before the age of 2, outside of inherited physical restrictions that can occur, such as with cilantro or broccoli. Without a menu, most people have a fairly limited number of dishes they regularly serve. Unfortunately, this is NOT to the benefit of children. Without exposure to a variety of foods, children are denied the ability to LEARN to like a wide variety of tastes and textures. Limiting their food explorations can lead to many nutrition-related problems later in life.We all know of adults who won't touch a vegetable if their life depends upon it, and unfortunately, sometimes it DOES.
9. Cooking with the children Food experiences are the only [safe] complete 5-senses experience. The learning capability with cooking is amazing. Math, science, language, literacy, fine and gross motor skills, following directions, taking turns, other social skills...the list goes on. Knowing what will be served when, allows for providers to plan ahead to allow children to participate in their food experiences by measuring, mixing, and manipulating as appropriate.
10. Planning for a garden The best cost is FREE, or relatively so. Knowing what you regularly serve, you can choose to plant some of those fruits and vegetables with the children and serve them fresh and organic when in season. Gardening teaches them so many skills and concepts! If you have the gumption and space to do so, growing more and freezing fruits and vegetables can provide nearly year-round cost savings.

You can NOT serve 

home canned products in child care! 

However, you can serve frozen.

Pitting cherries harvested that morning
from the backyard to make individual cherry crisps
- a great fine motor activity.

Creating a good menu can be VERY time intensive, so you only want to do it once, and then tweak it as needed.

Aspects of a good menu:

1. Rotates automatically every 4-5 weeks to provide the best cost and time savings This allows for bulk purchases because you can determine almost EXACTLY the quantities you will use in a specific time frame and the parents do not have to wait on a monthly menu to be handed out to make their own plans.
2. Serves perishable items within an appropriate time frame For instance, if purchasing avacados at Sam's Club, you'll need to use them up within a relatively short period of time or freeze them. Serving them as a fruit at one meal and again a few days later at snack as quacamole with chips, ensures you get the cost savings without waste. This is especially true for smaller groups.
3. Doesn't duplicate quickly While it would be nice to cook up an oven full of chicken and serve it three days in a row in different ways, it is better to freeze the cooked meat and spread it out across the menu.
4. Includes a variety of flavors, textures, colors, and ethnic dishes Foods served should reflect the cultures of the children in care and the community at large. 
5. Meets or exceeds USDA guidelines A menu rich in superfoods, vitamin A & C and low in transfats and processed foods not only is good for the children, but it is a good marketing aspect for your program as well. Most parents are looking for quality care, and that includes a quality menu. The children in our care deserve foods that are multi-grain or whole grain, have good oils & fats, and are high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Food is either good for you or bad for you. It either fuels the body, or takes resources away from the body in order to process it as waste. As providers, we need to ensure that what we are placing into the newly formed bodies of our charges are only good things.

Child Care Providers and Children's Health

Child care providers' impact on the health of the children in their care can reach much farther than one might expect upon casual review.

Yes, they are mandated to serve nutritious meals, observe sanitation procedures, minimize health and safety risks and do their best to instill healthy habits to the children in their care.

Beyond that, most child care providers attempt to exceed minimum requirements. For instance, they serve meals that exceed the USDA standards, knowing that they are often a child's only source of a well-balanced nutritious meal. They know that parents may either not be able to afford to feed their children as well, or may regularly zip through a fast food joint on the way home.

Our facilities and homes are safe havens for the children in care, with safety paramount and positive guidance in place. Experience and training help to counter the frustration and unrealistic expectations the children may find elsewhere.

But it goes beyond that.

Many states now require providers to be trained in the signs and symptoms of illness. Being with children constantly, providers learn to read children's behavior and to notice the sometimes subtle signs that something is simply WRONG. Experience, too, develops a database of information from which they can draw upon to understand when something is off with a child in their care.

Families are often rushing through the day with chores, dining, bathing and routines with little time during the week to simply passively observe their children. They also are not seeing their children in relationship to other children of a similar age. Even if a parent believes there may be an issue with their child, they often do not want to confront it. Few things in life are scarier than facing that your child might not be perfect, let alone seriously ill. 

Child care providers are in the position of providing exclusive attention to children for extended hours. They have the capacity to objectively observe a child for potential health related issues.

One afternoon I had the television on, which I never do, due to tracking severe weather that had arrived in the area. I wasn't paying it much attention. Oprah was on discussing a child's disease, so it did garner a few glances at the 9" screen in the far corner. She was talking to the "ladybug" girl who had brown spots all over her body. They began to talk about how a few “café au lait” spots were just considered birth marks, but if a child had 5 it was concerning and over 6 such marks, irregular in shape, and larger than a dime, then it was a sign of neurofibromatosis. Usually they show up by around the age of 3.

My attention was caught and I raced over to watch the last of the segment. They continued to talk about how the disease truly begins to develop at puberty and that the severity could be mild to the point that a person may not even know they have it, to extreme deformity or even death.

My heart started racing. The instant the segment finished, I grabbed up a little boy in my care who was about to turn 3, and raced to the changing pad where I stripped him down. I counted. Four were readily apparent around his diaper area. They had been getting larger, so it had caught my attention, because I didn't think a birthmark would grow like that in size. I found one more under his arm where I normally wouldn't be looking. I looked over his body closely. Two more faint areas indicated potential ones. My heart dropped and tears came to my eyes. He didn't REALLY have 6...yet.

How do you bring something like this, a potentially devastating disease, to parents?

I waited. Two weeks later, the other two spots were now vividly apparent. I had researched as much as possible. I brought it up to the parents carefully and respectfully and gave them the information I felt they needed. They were devastated, but they made an appointment with his pediatrician the next day, who confirmed that it did indicate a diagnosis. The doctor hadn't thought twice about the spots at his previous appointment, even though the four were present then. She just wasn't familiar with the disease and the indicators.

Within a week they had appointments with several specialists. While there was nothing to be done, there is no treatment or cure, they were able to determine base line readings to go from. He still gets regular evaluations, but it's just a waiting game now until puberty to determine the severity of his case. I will continue to keep in touch with them.

A year later, I had a toddler with vision problems. His mother's first place to turn for information, was me. What did I see? What did I think? What did I recommend? She looked to me for information, direction, objectiveness she was incapable of obtaining, and a shoulder to cry upon.

I was reminded of this as new information came across today that there is a new recommendation that children get a vision test done at one year now, rather than the three year mark as previously recommended. Often, parents do not even have a vision test performed at three, even though it, too, can detect neurofibromatosis, along with "lazy eye," the most common vision problem in young children, and a host of other problems at a stage when they may be more easily corrected.

That little guy went on to have three eye surgeries before kindergarten and still struggles with vision issues. He arrived in my care at four months old and stayed for over five years. His mother and I have remained good friends and it is heart wrenching to see such a bright, exuberant child deal with a disability. 

Child CARE Providers 

In my years of care I have dealt with multiple child health issues, including potentially life-threatening ones, and it is never easy or simple. But care providers at the core are just that...CARE providers, to the children, parents, and families of those whose lives we are touching. 

I have had parents show up intoxicated and notified them that I WOULD call the police if they took the child from the premises. I have refused to allow a grandparent to leave with a child because they forgot the carseat. Those actions are fairly clear cut and governed by regulations and law. It pays to be informed, to question, to be concerned, to stick your nose in whenever you feel it is in the best interest of the child within legal guidelines. If you aren't sure, then there are plenty of resources for you to tap into.

Beyond regulations and law, however, are a host of other health issues that we often face. A child seems to never have their teeth brushed, they arrive dirty and unkempt, they eat as if starving when in care, they have a suspicious rash, or tic, or trouble paying attention. At what point do you bring it up to the parent? That line is so individual, and few situations allow it to be defined. Experience, information, and a heartfelt concern are all that can help a provider make the decision to proceed, and it is never easy.

Many providers are completely uncomfortable with any type of confrontation. Ways to get around addressing issues and concerns directly are to provide information to ALL parents through: 

• Company Facebook or blog posts
• Parent newsletters
• Information handouts
• Holding informational meetings

While you may be addressing the concern to one or more specific parents, if it is good information and pertinent to all children, then dissemination to all is appropriate. If the message isn't received through general means, then a more direct approach may be necessary. 

This is just my experience. There are hundreds of providers, just in our city, with vastly more than I have obtained.

I would love to hear yours.

_______________________________

Here are some wonderful slideshow presentations from WebMD

Common Childhood Skin Problems [and their associated diseases]

Identifying Bugs and Their Bites
   
11 Common Causes of Skin Rashes 

A Visual Guide to Birthmarks

Simple and Inexpensive Manipulative

Manipulatives and toys don't have to be expensive. Often, the simpler the better, and even more often, the most inexpensive items can be the ones that thoroughly enchant children and provide them with endless hours of imaginative play. The best example...and empty cardboard box, of any size, but especially one large enough to for a child to get into.

I had noticed on Pinterest a mom took toilet paper tubes, cut them in half, and had her toddler place wiffle balls on top of them. So when I saw a bag of smaller wiffle balls on 70% clearance in Target's dollar section, I went ahead and grabbed them for .90. These looked to be just the right size to fit into an egg carton. They were. Actually, the little ones had to work at getting them in and out, and began to use some logic/reasoning skills when they realized they could dig their little finger into the holes for leverage. Excellent for teaching 1-1 correspondence even though they aren't aware that they are learning that while doing it.

But then I thought of the next older child in our group, and thought I'd do similar to an Easter activity I have where I placed colored dots in the bottom of the egg carton and the children matched the plastic eggs to the color dots. Coloring the balls was overwhelming, so I decided to just add a circle of color with my Sharpies to up the difficulty.

Then I thought of the preschoolers who are working on 11-20 at the moment, and hated to waste that 18 hole carton for them...so I added 1-18 to the balls and the carton for them to number match and work on number order and left-right convention.

So this very simple, inexpensive, throw-together game, now serves every age from infant to preschooler. It has three levels of difficulty built into it. Suprisingly, even though it's been a free-choice activity for everyone for a week now, all of them are still using it regularly.

It is also serving the purpose of teaching the littlest ones not to throw inside. Because if they do throw the balls, then it gets put away.

Miss N 18m & Miss H 13m

I will add that I had several different types of egg cartons to choose from, and this type was the best one for being able to easily have the balls available and contained in the lid, Dutch Farms brand. Other ones had a  lot more inserts in the lid that made it inconvenient. I just turn it upside down to open and the balls are on the lid. For the older children, I make sure to mix the balls up well before giving to them so they aren't perfectly pre-aligned.

KCSL elearning program

Greetings! I hope that you are having a great start to 2013.

I'm sending some information regarding the Kansas Children's Service League's eLearning program which provides online training opportunities for Kansas child care professionals licensed or seeking a license through KDHE.

Online classes are scheduled for early childhood professionals needing inservice hours, CEU credits, or college credits. Below are the available classes for January and February (currently enrollments are open for January through June classes).

We started a round of classes today, but take enrollments through Day 3 (which is Friday, January 11th).

January 2013 Classes Available:

·         Child Abuse and Neglect: Recognizing, Responding and Reporting (January 9 – 22): 2 week, 10 hour course

·         Strengthening Families by Understanding Risk and Protective Factors (January 9 – 22): 2 week, 10 hour course

·         Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome (January 9 – 22): 2 week, 5 hour course

·         Family Child Care Business Practices (January 9 – 29): 3 week, 15 hour course

February 2013 Classes Available:

·         Child Abuse and Neglect: Recognizing, Responding and Reporting (February 6 – 26): 3 week, 15 hour course

·         Learning and Teaching Through Multiple Intelligences (February 6 – 26): 3 week, 15 hour course

·         Cultural Competency for Working with Children and Families (February 6 – 26): 3 week, 15 hour course

·         Childhood Obesity and Good Nutrition (February 6 – 26): 3 week, 15 hour course

·         Caring for Children with Special Needs (February 6 – 26): 3 week, 15 hour course

The Child Abuse courses offered each month include information on abusive head trauma and shaken baby syndrome and meet the licensing requirements per KDHE. For detailed schedules, course descriptions, costs, or other questions, please visit our website at http://elearning.kcsl.org.

Please note that it is strongly recommended that participants do not enroll in more than two courses in a single month.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Yes... we meet Kansas state licensing training requirements for child care professionals. All of our instructor-led courses are approved for KDHE child care licensing hours.

Yes... we meet CEU needs. All of our courses are approved for early childhood.

There's something for everyone! eLearning has eleven different course topics that provide training and information in all eight CDA and Core Competency Topic areas.

How it works:

·         eLearning courses are offered in an online environment for child care professionals in the state of Kansas. These online courses provide KDHE approved in-service hours for licensed home or center based child care providers and early care and education professionals, as well as optional CEU or college credit.

·         You choose when and where you participate in a class - it's entirely up to your own schedule. Your course has a schedule, but there are no scheduled times that you must attend a "live" class. Instead, coursework and discussions all take place at your convenience through the online environment, during the period of time the course is offered.

·         All eLearning courses are instructor-led. That means that you'll have someone communicating with you regularly about the course topic, leading the discussions, and be available should you have any questions. You won't be left to "figure it out" on your own. Not only will you have interaction from your instructor, but you'll also experience "conversations" from your peers in the class through the discussion boards.

The KCSL eLearning program has been offering online courses for ten years. We've now entered our 11th year, and are looking forward to adding more courses, "meeting" new professionals through our trainings, and continuing to provide a high-quality, instructor-led training system that benefits Kansas professionals in the field of early childhood.

Sincerely,

Rachelle Hernandez

Rachelle Hernandez

Kansas Children's Service League

eLearning Program Coordinator

rhernandez@kcsl.org