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Creches/nutrition/where to complain

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  • 20-07-2012 11:49am
    #1
    aob1979
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭


    Hi There

    My Wife and i are becoming increasingly frustrated with our Creche in relation to meal times.Our son is almost 3 now and is becoming almost segregated at meal times due to the poor meals being provided.We have told the Manager on numerous occassions that our son is not allowed any junk, such as chips,waffles hotdogs etc etc but they persist in providing these daily to children. Our son is obviously in the minority here as the majority of kids are actually enjoying this and parents mustn't mind.He is left with little alternative and we have been told that he is becoming upset about this during meal times.Their reaction to this is to let him have the pizzas,hotdogs etc which is totally wrong.His class are still getting baby bowls and i can't imagine him eating this as he refuses it at home when we test him.We have our son in Creche full-time as we both work.We expect with the money we pay,responsibilty to his nutrition but we are not getting this.Kids should be learning about food and nutrition at an early age.it's down to poor routine and laziness that he is being served gruell and fastfoods and its just not good enough.I would like to make a complaint and take this further but i have no idea where to begin.Please can you put me in the right direction to get this investigated


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    #2
    January
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,862 ✭✭✭✭January


    I'd complain but I wouldn't think you'd get any remedy. Unfortunately, these seem like suitable meals to serve children to some people. What I would do is research other creches in the area and move him asap once you find one that does serve proper meals.


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    #3
    How Strange
    Registered Users Posts: 6,339 ✭✭✭How Strange


    I agree with January. Definitely complain to the hse although they regularly inspect crèches so they must be aware of the menus.

    Look around at other crèches and ask them what they serve for breakfast, snacks and lunch.

    Our crèche doesn't have a kitchen so a catering company provide the lunches and it's things like chicken pie, shepherds pie, chicken curry, even veggie dishes. Everything is cooked from scratch with no salt. My son regularly stinks of garlic which I think is a good thing and if his nappies are anything to go by his diet is very varied indeed. I know how lucky we are with our creche because I couldn't tolerate my son being fed crap, processes food.


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    #4
    Hannibal Smith
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    What line of creche is it? Is it a franchise type place or an individual one? I'm wondering who you can complain to? I definitely would take it further. How did they explain meal times to you before you signed up? Have you spoken to any of the other parents about it? Maybe they feel the same way as you and collectively you can raise the issue with the creche.

    It's not good enough to feed what I would class as junk food to kids in a creche. No way would I accept that your child has to eat separately because you want him to eat well.

    Our creche has a kitchen and a chef, everything is cooked fresh every day, we get a full break down of everything we get. There are kids whi have different dietary requirements, but they're not segregated. And I sure wouldn't call what you're talking about a dietary requirement, its just good sense. If anyone was to hand my kid a hot dog I'd smack them! Lol


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    #5
    Moonbeam
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    If you are not happy then change crèche but complain to the manager 1st and the chain/bored of management aswell.


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    #6
    0ctober
    Registered Users Posts: 329 ✭✭0ctober


    In this day and age there's no excuse for a creche feeding children junk like that. This document may be of help to you:

    http://www.dohc.ie/publications/preschool_guidelines.html

    However as far as I know creches and preschools aren't compelled to follow these guidelines. You could draw their attention to these guidelines, or to the quote on page 5 of the document:

    "A person carrying on a preschool service shall ensure that suitable, sufficient, nutritious and varied food is available for a pre-school child attending the service on a full time basis" Article 26 (1) of the Child Care Regulations 1996

    There are also some contacts at the end of the document which might be useful such as contact details for the local preschool inspection teams.

    Would sending in meals and snacks from home be an option? Also maybe try and see what other parents think, maybe some of them are as unhappy as you are with the situation, I know I would be! :mad: That way if you do approach the management it may add more strength to your arguement if there were a few of you complaining.


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