We believe a healthy child is a happy child. Puss In Boots Early Childhood Learning Centre has a responsibility to help children to develop good food practices and approaches, by working with families and educators. All food prepared by the Service or families will endeavor to be consistent with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and provide children with 50% of the recommended dietary intake for all nutrients. Food will be served at various times throughout the day to cater for all children’s nutritional needs. Meal times reflect a relaxed and pleasant environment where educators engage in meaningful conversations with children. Educators will role model healthy eating behaviour. This assists in creating a positive and enjoyable eating environment.
Puss In Boots will encourage and support all families to continue breastfeeding their child until at least 12 months, in line with current recommendations. Our service recognises that families have the right to decide whether they will breastfeed their child while they are in care, and each family’s decision will be accepted and respected. Our service will work with families with children who are breastfed by providing a supportive environment by feeding children expressed breast milk supplied by their families and by providing suitable spaces and resources to mothers breastfeeding their babies at the childcare centre.
Educators will:
Our educators play an important role in supporting children to develop a healthy and positive attitude towards good food choices. They do this through strategies and activities such as:
Your child’s holistic health is important to us which is why we make drinking water available for every child throughout the day. We encourage families to provide water bottles clearly named so children can access water whenever they wish.
Some children may have very specific food requirements due to allergies/food intolerances, their cultural background or other family preferences. Our service will work with families to make sure individual children’s needs are met. We take special care to ensure that food allergies and special dietary needs dictated by medical conditions are catered for.
Our educators will help children understand the seriousness of allergies and the importance of knowing the signs of anaphylaxis, along with ways they can support their friends. We believe children are never too young to look out for one another and we all want to be included and made to feel part of the community.