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What Parents Should Know About Nutrition in Long Day Care

As a parent, you also want to know what’s in the menu and what your child eats while at long day care. You want to ensure that your child constantly receives proper nutrition because this is important in his/her healthy growth and development.

Menu and nutrition in long day care

To quickly get an idea, you can view a sample of our weekly menu here at Dorset Early Learning & Kindergarten. For example, for Monday there’s a fruit and cheese platter for breakfast, chicken curry with rice for lunch and then banana and sultana muffins in the afternoon. There’s also the morning tea and afternoon tea. The goal is to meet the children’s dietary requirements while watching out for any allergies.

Each year, Nutrition Australia reviews our menus to ensure all requirements are being met. Those requirements are being updated with new priorities and additions (depending on the latest research and studies). This regular review and update of menus is important in ensuring that children always get enough nutrients to support their growth and proper development.

Aside from the meals and diet, it’s also important to pay attention to hydration. Children should have easy access to safe and drinking water all day. If drinking water is always visible and available, it’s more likely for children to stay hydrated every now and then. That’s what we do here at Dorset where children are provided with their own drink bottles (which encourage all-day hydration).

Freshly prepared and cooked meals plus constant hydration will help your child in his/her growth and learning. If that’s what happens in both your home and the early learning centre, you gain peace of mind about your child regularly getting proper nutrition. You’ll worry less about his/her health and you can better focus on your work, business or other important matters. You can also better focus on figuring out other ways how to help your child with his/her talents, abilities, fun and learning.