Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hey there, my son will start to go to kindergarten in two weeks. The kids have to bring their own breakfast and afternoon snacks. All kind of drinks and lunch will be offered there. Each group has it's own big fruit bowl which is filled up almost daily. So the parents where told they don't need to pack in fruits for the kids. Now I am looking for breakfast and "tea time" ideas.

Hi Mrs. Sunny! Where are you in the world? I’m in Indiana, USA, and kids here are expected to eat breakfast before they go to school. I have a kindergartener as well. She likes toast for breakfast, oatmeal or cereal with almond milk. What do you usually have?

Mrs Sunny wrote:Now I am looking for breakfast and "tea time" ideas.

I've got a girl and boy in kindergarten-preschool, and another still at home.

Our preschool-kindergarten starts 9am here and goes until 2pm.

I make my kids oatmeal-porridge every morning. They eat at home before school. Leftovers go in the refrigerator for the next day. So they eat both hot and cold oatmeal-porridge. You could pack a serving in Tupperware or other reusable container along with a spoon. Can optionally add some cut fruit, and-or sweeten with applesauce.

I like fruit snacks. Your boy can help you select fruit at the grocery, and then pick a fruit to take as his snack. More likely to have something he likes. Only problem I see is sometimes my kids forget to take the snack out of their backpacks, or gets lost somewhere at school. Cut vegetables, crackers, dried fruit and nuts are other ideas.

Mrs Sunny wrote: The kids have to bring their own breakfast and afternoon snacks.

If you send in something like oatmeal or potatoes, will someone cook it, or did they specify foods that are eaten as-is, needing no refrigeration or cooking?

If nobody is cooking and you want to send something healthy like oatmeal, try something like overnight oats (Plenty of recipes out there for this), or cut up and spiced to your child's taste chunks of already cooked potatoes. You can also make polenta strips out of stoneground cornmeal with bits of veggies cooked into it before you cool and cut it.

All kind of drinks and lunch will be offered there.

Don't count on your son finding something healthy to drink there! Fruity sugared drinks and cow's milk are something you *don't* want him to have. Send in bottled water and those little containers of non-dairy milk and make sure his teachers know he's not to have anything with dairy or added sugar.

Now I am looking for breakfast and "tea time" ideas.

In the green bar at the top of the page, on the far left you'll see a drop-down menu labeled Education. Under that you'll find the recipe section for this site. https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... l-recipes/ I'm sure you'll find some good stuff over there, especially in the Breakfasts and Desserts sections.

Also in that green bar on the far right you'll find the site's general search. Pop in "kid friendly" and a number of newsletter articles will appear featuring kid friendly recipes that Mary McDougall and her daughter Heather have developed over the years.

Wanted to add, why not box and send what your son enjoys for breakfast now? My kids don't always take changes well. He's in for a big enough change. Something familiar and routine is good. Even if you do decide to change breakfast, think about phasing it in at home first where you can enjoy it together as a family. I know our kids take many cues about what is good to eat from us and their older siblings.

I'm in Lower Saxony, Germany, and here it seems to depend in which kindergarten the kids go and which shedule the parents book.
Our kindergarten has four groups. One group is from 7 am to 5 pm - my son will go to this group. The second group is from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, third group from 8 am to 4 pm and last group from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.

During 8 to 10 the kids can decide to have their breakfast. They will have lunch at 12 - when the parents paid for it. It costs 57 € (63 $) per month. You can pack your child something for lunch but they won't cook it there. During 2 pm and 3 pm the kids make a little "tea time". I'm okay with the offered drinks there since the kids can only choose from water and unsweetend tea. Only for breakfast they can additionally choose to have milk or cacao.

Well, what does my son eat for breakfast? Can I answer without getting stoned to death by you?
He eats bread with hazelnut spread - which is forbidden in kindergarten.
He eats Milchschnitte - which is forbidden in kindergarten and from which I don't know if it's also available in the USA.
Or he eats a plain wheat roll.

With ideas I meant "How do you make your kids eat healthy things" instead of recipes.
I already ordered rotary cutters and will try to serve vegetables again in nice forms.

I'm totally afraid of this breakfast thing at kindergarten. When we were there for a open day the kids just had their breakfast. I saw what these little boys and girls brought in their boxes - little tomatos, cut carrots, apple slices, sandwiches with salad and cucumber and things like that. I knew immediately we will have a problem.

i send my kids with toast and jam sandwiches
and an apple and water bottle
as far convincing them to eat it
i tell them "we eat what we have"
seems to work fine so far
im not one to cut the crusts off bread
not usually

Mrs Sunny wrote:With ideas I meant "How do you make your kids eat healthy things" instead of recipes.

Mrs Sunny

No judgement. Parenting is a challenge.

My kids don’t eat the “most” healthy things. They favor starches and fruits. They avoid most vegetables and green vegetables, which tend toward bitterness. They will refuse most vegetables. I don’t remember exactly where I read this, but according to Dr McDougall this is normal for kids.

I also don’t worry about calorie density with kids. So bread and nut butter or jelly is ok. They need the energy to play and grow.
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl/sep/children.htm

If they just eat potatoes, bread, tortillas, beans, pasta and fruit, and sufficient calories, I am happy.

They do learn from repeated exposures, and their tastes develop as they get older. One day a week they take vegetables to school for a shared vegetable soup. It used to be only potatoes and carrots. Now my 6 year old now will take spinach or broccoli.

They also learn from their peers. If their peers are eating cucumbers and carrot snacks, they may want to try them too. Our preschool-kindergarten has an afternoon snack of something like cut vegetables (cucumbers, carrots), fruit, nuts and dried fruit. Though never wanting cucumbers at home, they now like cut cucumbers sprinkled with chili salt. (We live in Mexico.)

michaelswarm wrote:
They also learn from their peers. If their peers are eating cucumbers and carrot snacks, they may want to try them too.

That's what I am hoping for.
But I am afraid of the judgement of the pre-school teachers there anyway. When I once talked to our pediatrist she gave me a lecture parents must be a role model. Honestly, I ate not as healthy as I do now on the McDougall plan, but we always had vegetables, salads and preferred healthy options. Probably my son can name more fruits and vegetables than other kids, but he doesn't eat them. Other people don't believe this - especially when you are not lith and lissom yourself

Addition: Wasn't succesful with the rotary cutters so far. At least my husband enjoys his bread for work now in stellar or heart shaped forms.

Plain wheat roll sounds like a win. Can you pack him fruit? When my oldest started school, it took a little while to figure out what to pack (she likes veggie sushi and miso soup).

When trying to get my kids to eat healthier, I start “forgetting” to buy whatever it is. My kindergartener likes plain oats topped with almond milk and banana slices. My kids will also eat while wheat bread straight out of the bag.

Maybe if you work together with your son, explain what the rules are and what he’d eat that follows the rules, you’ll be able to come up with something he finds satisfactory.

My first daughter is 4 yrs old. She is heavily influenced by what others eat. That can come in handy, because she will sometimes want what I am eating. However, she is also heavily influenced by what her friends like. When she switched from day care to pre-school, she suddenly thought veggies were gross. I determined a while back that I would set a good example, be truthful and forthcoming about why I eat like I do, and not control her diet to much when she is at friends houses or at school. At home, she eats pretty well.
I would pack oatmeal if the kids will eat it, or breakfast sandwiches, or dry cereal. Whatever you do, you will probably get feedback from your kid soon enough.