Wow, Anne. I'm just catching up on this thread. The things that stick out to me are: complete disregard by the preschool of Amelia's feelings, complete failure to follow through on a plan that was put in place for you to provide an alternate snack for her, total lack of respect for the children's nutritious wellbeing, and no plan on the school's part to remedy this. Totally unacceptable. I know Millie likes it there, but she'd like any preschool where there are kids her age to play with and where she'd be learning new things. Is it possible to address this with a letter to parents, the email to the preschool you had outlined, a letter from your doctor, and then a new hunt for another preschool? I just couldn't keep my girls somewhere where safety was at stake and their feelings were not being looked out for in special circumstances.
As for what happens in our preschool: every parent provides a single serving of fresh fruit or veggies each morning they drop their child off. The staff cut it all up, put it on a plate, and it is the 'sharing snack' of the morning. They are encouraged to try some of everything, so I often send stuff I know they're reluctant to eat a home (kiwi, peppers, mangoes, tomatoes) so that they at least get some there! There is only one morning snack (two is nuts by the way, like they're filling time!), then lunch and afternoon snack which are solely provided by the parents. If you include garbage snacks, like fruit-roll-ups or candy, they are not offered to your child and will get sent home in the lunch bag with a note encouraging better choices (nicely worded, but the point gets across, thankfully I've never gotten one, but I work very hard at providing nutritious choices). If you send baked goods from home (I make nutritious muffins) that's fine after they've eaten all their fruits and veggies. All parents are reminded in the monthly newsletter to please provide at least two more servings of fruits or veggies for the day's meals as part of Canada's Food Guide recommendations. Some parents need to be told this stuff. I don't take offence to it because nutrition is #1 on my priority list.
As far as allergies go, there is a child there with anaphylactic peanut allergy, so no peanuts or products containing peanuts are allowed. Period. You'd think a chocolate allergy would be easier to get around, since most kids shouldn't be eating chocolate on a daily basis anyways!!!
Hugs to you and Millie. This sucks!
