School feeding 0-3 years
Feeding is a daily activity that takes place every day. As this is an activity that is present so many times in our lives, adults tend not to give it the importance it really has, seeing these moments as a process of ingesting food for survival or necessity, losing the pleasure of eating, relating to others or learning (Ritscher, 2010).
At these moments, different things always happen, because as Rabotti (2020) mentions that relationships, words, games or feelings, among others are intertwined. For this, it is important to pay special attention, even to the smallest details, and to accompany the children in these acts to promote their autonomy and personal development. For it, a series of criteria will be defined below which, from our point of view, will define this act in a kindergarten (0-3 years).
First, it is essential that children’s schools for 0-3 years have their own kitchen. In this way, children will be able to eat freshly made and homemade food and not food provided by a caterer because it is pre-cooked food. In addition, kitchens can be used as a kind of “laboratory” where they can interact with the food. In this way, lunchtime will be a moment to long awaited and with which they will enjoy (Ritscher, 2010). Besides, the kindergarten has to provide quality food, that is, it must promote and encourage healthy eating.
On the other hand, attention should also be paid to the atmosphere surrounding this activity, avoiding and removing all types of noise conflicts, unpleasant moments, televisions or toys, among others, because this can lead to children being distracted and they don’t want to eat.
Another important aspect to have in mind is the furniture and cutlery. These should be adjusted to the size of the children in order to not hinder the process of eating.
Finally, it is advisable to organise the children in shifts (depending on the number of children) so that the teacher can give the necessary time to this event, as well as establish a bond of trust with each of the children through interaction between them. In this way, lunchtime will become a learning space where children will have the opportunity to develop and promote their autonomy, communication and relationships with their teacher and their schoolmates (Sensat, 2019).
On the other hand, the activities of daily life at school are quite different from reality, being much faster and more stressful (Ritscher, 2010). Besides, adults have this act internalized, so they don’t tend to capture the processes and successes of children. Therefore, it is important to plan intentionally what we want to happen (Blasi, 2003).
In the same way, it is important that meals time resemble the children’s subjective time. Therefore, the moments related to feeding have to be flexible, adapting and adjusting to the individual rhythms of each child (Fabrés, 2006). Besides, meal time shouldn’t be longer than necessary because some children can’t sit in a chair for a long time, others need little time to eat, while others need more time to carry out this act (Thió, 2011).
Therefore, the teacher has to take care of their behavior and he has to adapt to the needs of each child at lunchtime. Patience and empathy are attitudes you have to have. It is important that during the meal, the teacher interacts with the child, explaining at all times what is being done. Besides, it is essential that if any pact is made with the child, it is fulfilled because the child may feel cheated (Thió, 2011). In the same way, the teacher doesn’t have to focus only on whether the child has eaten everything, he has to focus more on how the child is eating in order to know what are your achievements and difficulties for helping you (Ritscher, 2010). Finally, it is important to let the children experiment, let them decide how to eat, as well as serve their own food. Therefore, it is necessary to let them free because in this way, the memento of the meal will be fun, entertaining and attractive (Thió, 2011).
References
Blasi, M. (2003). La vida cotidiana de 0 a 6 años. Aula de Infantil, 11. 5-10.
Fabrés, M. (2020). En el día a día nada es banal, nada es rutina. Revista In-fan-cia, 100, 14-17.
Ritscher, P. (2010). Comer con todo detalle. Infancia: Educar de 0 a 6 años. 119, 25-27.
Sensat, R. (2019). Una mirada a las rutinas cotidianas. Infancia en Europa hoy. Infancia, 1.
Thió, C. (2011). La comida más allá de la nutrición: autonomía, autoestima, responsabilidad. Aula de Infantil, 59, 44-45.
Authorship
Raquel Gómez Ruiz y María Cristina Ocejo Arce, 2020.