By choosing a preschool or daycare center that does not provide lunch to your child, you gain the benefit of having far greater control over what goes into your little one's mouth during the day. A healthy meal will still be enticing if you liven up the lunchbox with a wide variety of munchies that appeal to all the senses.
Know the Rules
Before you pack anything, determine what rules the preschool has in place to protect the health of all the children in their care. "No Nut" policies, which include peanut butter and hazelnut spreads, are common in childcare settings to prevent unintended exposure to allergens. Some schools also request that parents save sweet treats for home, and you may need to ask how they define "treats."
Keep Cold Foods Cold
Lukewarm yogurt or potato salad is not only unappealing but may also be downright unhealthy. Many day cares do not give access to refrigerators after a child outgrows formula and breast milk, so keeping your child's lunch cold becomes a critical consideration. Researchers led by Fawaz D. Almansour at the University of Texas at Austin found that more than 90 percent of lunches sent to preschools were kept at unsafe temperatures. According to Almansour, "The simple addition of one extra icepack could have prevented many of the perishable items in lunches from reaching the danger zone."
Keep Foods Simple
Registered dietitian Shirley Peterson advises parents to send items in packages that little hands can open without assistance. Preschoolers and kindergarteners are looking for ways to demonstrate their independence, so transfer food from hard-to-open packages to a thermos or zip-close bag to give your child's self-esteem a healthy boost as he serves himself. And what better way to simplify packaging than to send along a banana with the stem clipped for easy peeling?
Offer Contrast and Variety
A good way to encourage healthy eating in young children is to offer lots of variety. Keep your child guessing by mixing up the color, texture, flavors and shapes of the foods you pack. Build a sandwich on pumpernickel or rye bread instead of wheat, or fill a pita with seafood salad instead of deli meat. Is peanut butter off limits? Try cream cheese and cucumber for something different.
Use Fun Themes
Silly themes can be a means of broadening your spectrum of lunchtime offerings. Teach shapes by cutting a sandwich into a triangle and enclosing bags of sliced kiwi rounds and rectangular wheat crackers. If your son likes cowboys, pack a small serving of mild chili and cornbread and add some slices of "the sheriff's star fruit." Your daughter might even be enticed to try a salad that is garnished with radish roses or edible flowers, such as pansies, which you can find with the fresh herbs in your local produce section.
Prepare Small Serving Sizes
Offer variety, but keep each serving size appropriate for your child's age. Too much food in the lunchbox will either go to waste or encourage overeating --- remember that your child still has a much smaller stomach than you do! For a 4- to 5-year-old, one serving of grains equates to one slice of bread or tortilla (think half a sandwich, not a whole) or half a cup of cooked pasta or six crackers. Servings for a 2- to 3-year-old should be half that size.
Choose Fats Wisely
You may be concerned about your child's fat consumption, but speak to your pediatrician before cutting back too much in this area. Skim milk is an easy way to reduce fat intake for a kindergartner, but the typical 3-year-old should still be drinking 2 percent milk. The American Heart Association recommends that preschoolers take in about a third of their calories from fat -- ideally, monounsaturated fats from such sources as fish, nuts and vegetable oils.
References
- "Pediatrics"; Temperature of Foods Sent by Parents of Preschool-aged Children; Fawaz D. Almansour, et al.; August 2011
- University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources; The Lunch Box: Appealing Lunches for Preschool Children; Shirley Peterson; 2009
- American Heart Association: Dietary Recommendations for Healthy Children
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