Food and Foster Care: The First 24 Hours

[@laverite1050]

I always put out a veggie/fruit crudite tray as a first course, or to eat with dinner or when kids come in the house. It's nice for them to have an assortment and choose. It is casual and easy and gives them the power of choice.

[@afosteredlife]

That’s a great idea!

[@afosteredlife]

Grace, I did this tonight and it was a total hit! 🌶 🥕 🥒 🍅 Thanks for the great tip!

[@laverite1050]

@@afosteredlife That makes me so happy to read!! I used your tip yesterday - I made a turkey and cheese sandwich (and a crudite tray and some chips) for a young man who is looking for housing. He came over for support and someone to talk to. I turned on ESPN before he walked in - he felt at ease. I wished I had the frozen cookie dough!

[@crystalhyuga5679]

I once fostered a pair of sisters who had the most polar opposite personalities. Specifically with food one would eat as much as possible, while the other would barely eat anything. Though they would both "sneak" food and hide food in their room. If you haven't already I would suggest making a video about how to react to different food habits you've seen with your kids.

[@Thesingle_momlife]

I only ate ramen noodles with Louisiana hot sauce for the longest. It’s so many ways you can make it, with vegetables, eggs, seasonings. I would have never eaten any of that in my foster hope, mainly because I was picky. When I did start eating other things I wouldn’t do it without Louisiana hot sauce. 29 now and can’t eat meat without it. Thankful that my foster family listened to me after a week of me not eating anything.

[@AndreasInGreer]

This is so helpful! Thank you!

[@myishamckinley5637]

Love your videos. Beautiful spirit and your love shines through your work. 🥰🌅🌻🙏🏽

[@afosteredlife]

Thank you so much!

[@lindamarshall3485]

About spaghetti - I cooked for a daycare for many years, and a LOT of kids do not like sauce on their spaghetti, but just like plain noodles. So offering the noodles and the sauce separately is easy and makes it nicer for them.

[@realglutenfree]

That's how my little brother always ate pasta lol. I always ate pasta with sauce but without cheese cause of the texture. And my oldest brother literally eats everything.

[@azul_aquaruiz9814]

I appreciate all inf. You share about foster families. I just started 1 year ago on this and still learning a lot. I would like you share about activities from 3 to 8 years old kids. I just make respites for now.. not sure about full foster. Thanks.

[@hawkfeather6802]

9:42 I had a babysitter say something similar once about the crust on a sandwich. The idea of taking them off myself hadn't occurred to me yet at 5.

[@genxx2724]

Ludicrous that anyone gets them started on crusts and peels are being removed.

[@itsalex8520]

Very informative. Keep it up ☺️

[@afosteredlife]

Thank you!

[@louykins]

I understand wanting to build healthy food habits however many kids in care are used to prepackaged items and/or don’t feel safe eating home-cooked meals at first. I think it’s important to have a variety of foods available even if you deem them to be unhealthy. Food has no moral value. It’s food. My foster kids are going to eat what they want to eat in the beginning. There’s plenty of time to transition to more healthy options later.

[@afosteredlife]

Good point!

[@linbron2018]

Love this amazing channel

[@afosteredlife]

Thank you so much!

[@claredavis5960]

Do the kids easily eat the darker bread? Do you have white bread as an option as well?

[@afosteredlife]

Yes to white bread options! And yes to honey wheat bread :)

[@ruthmallery5601]

Rannck dressing and cottage cheese makes yummy dip

[@sobeliever1638]

Do you keep soda in your house? We don't do soda but was wondering if I should have that on hand for our first placement.

[@afosteredlife]

For the most part, we have soda once a week - Fridays with pizza for Family Movie Night. Otherwise, no, we don’t. I would recommend implementing something like that - a part of your family routine that includes sofa as a treat but not a daily thing. In terms of the first night, it wouldn’t hurt to offer it, but I also think you could say, “we have soda on Fridays” as a way of setting expectations.

[@ggjr61]

Not every kid likes chocolate.

[@KatieJane31]

How do you handle a child who likes Takis or hot Cheetos or something unhealthy as their favorite? So far I have let them pick it out at the store for the first time we go but then didn't buy it again after that. I understand treats are good to have, but need to be a balance.

[@afosteredlife]

I'm with you! If it's one of their "comfort foods," let them get it to start, then begin to set the expectation that this is something they can have as a treat, but not all the time. Perhaps you could let snacks be some fruit and a handful of Takis (not the whole bag). Ultimately, we are walking that balance of meeting them where they're at and trying to teach some healthy food and diet habits. I also find designating a certain night of the week for different kinds of food is something the kids love and look forward to. We have Taco Bowl Tuesday (and I serve tortilla chips with the taco bowls) and every Friday, we have pizza and soda before Family Movie Night. The kids (including my 18-year-old) get so excited when they realize it's pizza and Family Movie Night! Maybe you could make Takis part of that. Or say that Saturdays can be "Junk Food Day" and they can each pick out a small bag of chips or something. Get creative and make it fun! You've got this!

[@afosteredlife]

PS We give our kids a weekly allowance, and they are free to use that for junk food : ) We make trips to Dollar Tree every now and then, where they get Takis and Sour Patch Kids!

[@kaylanek1]

You don't let them get their favorite food?

[@Kirsten_is_cursed10]

Wow, they’ve been through enough, let them eat some dang Taki’s.

[@sarah_noodle]

You could always do a small portion of Takis with a sandwich and some fruit and veggies for lunch time. I don’t see why that would be horrific.