Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/this-is-bread-a-journey-to-decolonizing-our-snack-time/5027248/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
“The snack table is open” is called across the classroom to the delight of busy children who leap up from play and head to wash hands in preparation for snack time.
We have had many iterations of snacks and snack time routines over the years. We left the routine of everyone eating snack at a prescribed time to a more open format many years ago as it aligned with our belief that children are competent to know when they are hungry and ready to stop playing and eat. We similarly evaluated our food offerings and long ago opted to do our best to shop local and organic products and be mindful of the nutritional value of what we were serving. It’s been a fruit and veggie strong menu and also a predictable menu with a two-week rotation which streamlined our grocery order and offered predictability to parents.
In other words, we thought we were doing pretty well in snack time department in our 12 child care programs. We had a check mark next to the care routine of snack time.
Until an educator asked a question that stopped us in our tracks and decisively ...