Should services provide food for families on days when children call in sick?

A recent social media post posed a question which has those in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector talking – should services provide meals for children who are off sick, that parents can come and collect? 

 

This parent asked others in the group if it was socially acceptable to phone her child’s long day care service and request all of the meals her child would have missed for that day, to save time from preparing food, and allowing her to focus more on the needs of her child while ill.

 

She wrote: “Hi mums, I’m wondering if it’s okay to ask the childcare centre if I can pick up food when my children are sick and can’t attend childcare, as we are still paying the fee and we just live nearby. It would save us time to prepare food.”

 

Responses to the post varied, with some families agreeing that by paying the fee for the day when the child was absent, they were entitled to collect food, while others believed that the request was unreasonable. 

 

For those services who are interested in supporting families in this way, some considerations may include: 

• Food safety, storage and handling 
• Ethical considerations: will the child have sufficient food without providing this service? Are the days when this child is in care the days when they eat in a balanced and nutritious way? 
• Does the parent have support? In situations where a parent is on their own with a sick child, will providing food prevent that parent from needing to go to the shops, and alleviate some of the pressure they are feeling? 

 

One educator responded saying “I would absolutely love to be able to support any of my parents in this way. I’m actually feeling awful that I didn’t think of offering this a few times when it would’ve really helped someone.” 

 

So, what do you think? Is this something your service might offer?