With mum and dad working, many children eat lunch in the canteen. This is not always obvious at first. How does it work in everyone's mind?
FROM THE CHILDREN'S SIDE
It is not always easy for toddlers to adapt to eating outside the family home. Many points of reference are disrupted: the times, the dishes, the menus, the people who serve us, the noise, the friends around us, the length of the meals can disturb your child (big or small!).
The most difficult aspect can be the emotional and social lack that is very important at each meal with the parents, and which sometimes leads to the rejection of the plates. Taking meals in a community does not always allow canteen staff to adapt to the needs of each individual.
FROM THE PARENTS' SIDE
The main concern of parents when their child eats at the canteen is to know if they have eaten well and what they have eaten. Not always easy to know, when the answer is "I don't remember..." 🙂
Many of us have bad memories of the canteen, with meals that are not always very appetising. So we wonder a lot: are the meals balanced? Who is cooking? What was the menu? Did he eat well?
Nowadays, most schools publish the menus in advance on the internet, and all the nutritional information appears there. There is certainly room for improvement, but theinformation is readily available in most cases.
FROM THE SCHOOLS
The many efforts made by the facilities to provide balanced meals for the children should be highlighted.
There are inevitably areas for improvement, but local authorities have to deal with many constraints: budgetary, health, human and material resources, etc.
And yet!
Some children are delighted to be able to share their meals with their friends and to be "independent". We even see them eating certain meals at the canteen that would be refused at home, much to their parents' surprise!
The canteen allows the child to becomeindependent, to discover new flavours, to become more sociable...
Things don't always go according to plan, so be sure to tell your child what the menu is so that they can prepare for it.
Please also inform the staff if your child has to follow a special diet because of a food intolerance or allergy.
If there is good communication with your child and the school staff, then it may well be that your child will ask you to eat in the canteen, with the friends... 😉