RE: Fruit how do you offer yours?
by: starfleur - 28-07-09 12:36
i must say ive never heard of signing such a form
a.id never sign it myself (the setting has responsibility for any child they have with them during the day including ensuring they do not choke.)
b.i really dont see how it would stand up in court, as lot of judges would see it as negligence ie the staff probably didnt take account of how the particular child normally has their fruit/food and if they can handle chunks etc and also they probably werent supervising the child closely enough,maybe even the staff were rushing the child.
also if the careers were not qualified in first aid, im sure the judge would see that as negligence on behalf of the manager( not ensuring staff are up to date on child safety requirements etc ). also, not having correct staffing ratios may also contribute in terms of stress of staff, lack of supervision etc
personally, i see a no whole fruit policy as lazy and completely unnecessary. i bet ofsted wouldnt be happy about that, as chewing is good for young children in terms of facial muscles and preparing the stomach to correctly and effectively digest food.
the manager also needs to be aware that CHILDREN CAN CHOKE ON ANYTHING!!!!not just fruit. the only way to ensure 100% that nobody chokes is to remove all things hard and small including all the childrens small toys, puree all the childrens foods, dont let them do sticking and glueing etc
how boring nursery life would be for them then!!
anyway,.....rant over......
in settings ive worked in it has depended on the child. all childen ive cared for have had sliced fruit such as apple and pear (with skins on ) from about 1.5 upwards. i have seen a 7 month old given a very soft piece of banana that was chopped in half again. the baby was confident eating and had one to one supervision, so no risk of choking.
grapes have always been chopped in half for any child aged under 5 which makes sense when you have a lot of kids in the room at the time(in this case it was the pre school room with about 25 children having teatime)
i think your manager is a bit over cautious in terms of pureeing fruit for all ages all the time, im not surprised that parents are complaining. if the child is not used to whole pieces of fruit, they may reject it at home out of fear of trying new things or even laziness.