Meals and Snacks
The State of Nebraska requires all child care facilities to serve nutritionally balanced meals. Lighthouse Preschool is also a part of Midwest Childcare Association food program. The food program allows in home childcare providers to receive reimbursement for the meals served each day. An evaluator from Midwest comes to Lighthouse Preschool 4 times a year to insure that healthy meals are provided.
A nutritionally balanced breakfast, lunch and snack will be served each day. Daily or weekly menus are available upon request. If you have any favorite recipes or ideas that we could add to our menu it would be greatly appreciated. Good nutrition is essential, so all children are encouraged to taste each food item. At no time will children at any age be forced to eat or be denied food as a form a punishment.
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Family Style Dining
We believe that meal time is not just a time where children get the nutrition that they need but it is also a learning experience. Children eat at tables and chairs that are sized for their age. Depending on the child’s age, the children will help in setting the table for meal times. This helps children to learn how to count in a meaningful way and work on one to one correspondence. Each table contains a bowl of each food and a pitcher of milk.
Children are encouraged to use child sized serving utensils to place the food they would like onto their plates. This is a wonderful experience for children to learn self help skills along with good manners. Children pass the bowls of food around the table taking the food they would like to try. Children are offered and encouraged to try many types of food but they are not made to take all types of food on the table. Before the beginning of any meal the children will say a simple prayer such as “Dear God, Thank you for this food. Amen”
