Hello, I work for a grant funded day care facility and we have a three-year-old child that does not like to seat at the table during meal times. The child will run away from the table and will not eat any meals at school. We have tried to talk to the parents and they state that they feed the child at home and we should not try to make the child eat at school. However, we are mandated to serve the children meals. What should we do?

alkalineangel

you serve them a meal...if he doesnt eat, he doesnt eat...there is no mandate to make the child consume the food, just to serve it. chances are, the child is a picky eater (as some are at this age) or maybe just isnt fond of the food there. I would not be concerned unless the child seems malnurished, but I have always been told, that a child will eat when its hungry.

Treeny

How old is the child? i hope he is not punished! So what if he dont want to eatIf the parents say he will eat at home and they are not concerned then just give him the meal and maybe he will take a few bites maybe not. If he feels forced he will less likely eat.
If he gets up and dont want to eat it cant he I would not force the issue.
If you ignore it and act like its ok maybe he will come to the table and eat.
My daughter went through a stage at 4 when she would eat nothing but mac n cheese.
The doctor said its common she wont starve and she will start eating more and she did.

macksmom

I used to work at a daycare so I know your concern. I understand your frustration that the child won't eat, but like the others have said and especially since you have talked to the parents, I wouldn't force the issue, and if the child doesn't eat oh well.

But I bet you are frustrated that the child will "run away from the table". From working at a daycare, our eating area was in a different area than the play area. So if a child was not a the table you couldn't watch them because you are busy feeding the other children. If that is the case where you work as well, I would set a chair off to the side in the room where the other children are eating. Tell the child that it is lunchtime, and if they choose not to sit at the table and have lunch then they have to at least sit in the room, maybe with a book. But I wouldn't allow the child to play. It teaches the other children that refusing to eat may result in being able to play. The child should know lunch time is just that...time for lunch...not play.

Treeny

This is why I never put my kids in daycare! And I know i will get some grief for saying it,
but geez the poor baby cant be over 4 yrs old right?