How do I know whether my child is eating enough in childcare?

We recently conducted a survey of our families and it was a gold mine of wonderful questions and ideas! One of the questions asked was how families can find out if their child is eating enough food whilst they are in care, which is an excellent question.

At the outset, it's important to note that we take food very seriously at Futuro. Our Managing Director, Gavin, is a passionate foodie which explains why our centres have been kitted out with some pretty impressive commercial equipment and why he still personally interviews all of our Chefs! We have a generous food budget and employ trained chefs, who are supported by part-time kitchen hands and our Executive Chef, Amy Stevens. Amy has the benefit not only of a career working in commercial kitchens and hospitality, but also of serving food to her own children - which is probably the best qualification going around!

Mealtimes are an opportunity to bring people together, and this is the same for our children. We strive to make mealtimes a relaxed and social environment where children are encouraged to explore new foods at their own pace. In our experience, we have found that children are more likely to try new foods in a long daycare setting than they would be at home due to the role modelling of their peers.

Read on to learn more about food and meal-times at Futuro...

Daily meal plans and nutrition

Our centres follow menus designed by our Executive Chef on a 4 weekly rotating basis. We ensure that meals on the menu include a variety of proteins, carbohydrates, healthy fats and fresh fruits and vegetables, in accordance with the requirements set out in the Australian Dietary guidelines. Adherence to relevant guidelines means that food served from our kitchens is also much lower in salt and sugar than we would be used to consuming at home.

The meals cooked for our children are also served in bigger portions to our team free of charge as one of our team benefits. This means that we not only get useful feedback on the menu from our children, but from our staff as well!

Allergies and dietary preferences

We aren't going to lie - managing allergies and dietary preferences in our centres requires a foolproof system and careful management. On average, about 33% of the children enrolled in our services have dietary preferences and/or food allergies and we are very mindful of the serious implications of serving the wrong food to a child. In one of our services, the majority of children don't eat beef or pork which means that lamb often features on the menu so that we can still meet the relevant dietary guidelines of providing red meat at least 6 times in a two week period. However, we are careful to minimise the extent to which lamb-based meals are repeated across our rotating menu.

Portion sizes and time to eat

The portions provided to children, and the type of food served, varies by age group. Regardless of what portion is served, no one will ever be leaving the table hungry - which means that second and third helpings are always available to children. Where possible, we do encourage children to eat ALL of the food offered to them rather than allowing them to eat only plain rice or carrots and ignoring green vegetables or their protein.

If you've ever had a 'slow eater' you know that not everyone eats at the same pace (although we have noticed that children with older siblings tend to eat more quickly than those without - might have something to do with the faster eater getting second helpings first!). So we also ensure that meal times are not rushed and that children don't feel pressured to finish their meal, or incentivised to finish their meal more quickly than they otherwise would because they want to engage in whatever activity is next on the agenda.

Supervision and support

We provide updates on meals in our parent app, Owna. However please rest assured that regardless of what is logged on Owna our team monitors childrens' eating habits and will discuss any concerns or queries with the child's parents. Just like adults, childrens' appetites can vary day by day, but if we observe a child consistently eating less than expected, we will organise a time to chat with that child's parents.

Have some recipes to share?

We would absolutely love it if you could share with us your child's favourite recipe from home! Please feel free to email your suggestions and ideas to our Executive Chef, Amy Stevens at amy.stevens@futuro.nsw.edu.au