Nutrition for children (around the world)

 Nutrition in Childcare

Most children spend a considerable amount of time in child care centers. these childcare settings may have an influence on their diet, weight, and food security, and are potentially important contexts for interventions to address nutritional health. As a person who was growing up in Thailand, I am very impressed with the funded programs from US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for childcare to provide appropriate nutrition as young children needed. I will compare nutrition for young children in the USA and among other countries.

Nutrition in The US childcare

Most of the childcare in the US join the federal program called the child and adult care food program (CACFP) is a federal program that provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children and adults who are enrolled for care at participating child care centers, daycare homes, and adult day care centers. CACFP also provides reimbursements for meals served to children and youth participating in afterschool care programs, children residing in emergency shelters, and adults over the age of 60 or living with a disability and enrolled in daycare facilities. CACFP contributes to the wellness, healthy growth, and development of young children and adults in the United States.

This CACFP program is a very impressive program as it sets up a standard food pattern for each age group of young children to consume food and beverage.  In my childcare, we provide breakfast, lunch, snacks, and late snacks throughout each day. Our program always ensures to provide appropriate nutrition for all children including the children with any food allergies.  However, the CACFP program still limits the children that have food preferences such as their religious beliefs or tolerance. Overall, I believe that the US food program can be one of the best programs that provide excellent nutrition for children. 

Have you been wondered what children around the world eat?

I have seen a post from photographer Gregg Segal who traveled the world to document children and the food they eat in a week. Partly inspired by the increasing problems of childhood obesity, he tracked traditional regional diets as yet unaffected by globalization, and ironically, found that the healthiest diets were often eaten by the least well off. Daily Bread: What Kids Around the World Eat is published by powerHouse Books.

Meissa Ndiaye, 11, Dakar, Senegal, 2017: Ndiaye shares a single room with his dad, mum, and brother in the heart of Parcelles Assainies, which means ‘sanitized plots’. A treeless, sandy suburb of Dakar, Parcelles Assainies was developed in the 1970s to house the poor overflowing from the city. Ndiaye, a devout Muslim and student at Quran School, loves sweet foods, such as a porridge, and goat meat, although in the week he kept a diary of his meals, he ate very little meat.

Kawakanih Yawalapiti, 9, Upper Xingu region of Mato Grosso, Brazil, 2018: Kawakanih lives with her tribe, the Yawalapiti, in Xingu national park, a preserve in the Amazon basin of Brazil. The Yawalapiti collect seeds to preserve species unique to their ecosystem, which lies between the rain forest and savannah. Kawakanih’s diet is simple, consisting mainly of fish, cassava, porridge, fruit, and nuts. “It takes five minutes to catch dinner,” says Kawakanih. “When you’re hungry, you just go to the river with your net.”

Nur Zahra Alya Nabila Binti Mustakim, 7, Kajang, Malaysia, 2017: Nur’s parents work in the hospitality industry and have a three-bedroom townhouse in Taman Sinaran, Balakong, a busy neighborhood in the state of Kajang, south of Kuala Lumpur. About 90% of Nur’s meals are homemade; she loves her mother’s cooking, especially her nasi lemak, a blend of rice, boiled eggs, cucumber, anchovies, peanuts and sambal (hot sauce) cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaves.

Rosalie Durand, 10, Nice, France, 2017: since her parents split up, Rosalie has lived part-time with her mum and part-time with her dad, which allows her to see both the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps. She has a healthy diet, which includes lots of fresh fish, such as sardines, thanks in part to her father, a restaurateur, who has taught her to make crepes, salads, and lentils with sausage, her favorite dish.

Yusuf Abdullah Al Muhairi, 9, Mirdif, Dubai, UAE, 2018: Yusuf’s mum went to Dubai from Ireland to work as a pastry chef and chocolatier. She married an Emerati man and they had one son before separating. Yusuf loves his mum’s cooking, although he makes scrambled eggs and toast. Lying in bed at night, he thinks back to summer in Ireland, fishing with his granddad and building a birdhouse.

Greta Moeller, 7, Hamburg, Germany, 2017: Greta lives with her mother and younger sister in Hamburg, but spends quite a bit of time with her grandparents, too. On the path to her grandparents’ home is a great big chestnut tree and, in autumn, Greta searches in the foliage for chestnuts with her little sister. Greta’s favorite food is fish sticks with mashed potatoes and applesauce. She can’t stand rice pudding.

Isiah Dedrick, 16, Long Beach, California, 2016: Isaiah was raised by his mother and grandmother, who does most of the cooking. One day, Isaiah would like to have enough space to have his own garden. His favorite food is orange chicken and fried rice and he loves the smell of apples sautéed with cinnamon. His mum doesn’t permit him to drink soda and, after the photoshoot, Isaiah decided to eliminate snacks from his diet.

As I mentioned that the CACFP program still limits the children that have food preferences. The CACFP program should have a wider food selection for the childcare program to support tall he children and the families. 

After I have learned and seen the diversity of food that children eat around the world. I would encourage and promote my program to have a variety of food at least one day a week to be international food to encourage children in my care to explore the different types of food around the world.