Matt Hazell Blog

It’s been nine months and time’s flown by with Tyler and Rachel at home with me.  However, Rachel’s back to work very soon, and now Tyler’s 8 months old, she’ll soon be going to full time nursery with Luca.  Dealing with this monumental milestone is not easy for any parent, and if you’re a first timer its especially hard, but I can say from experience that it does get easier giving your little baby to someone else every day.  I remember when we introduced Luca to this new world, and how Rachel and I both felt.  But over time, we realised how good it was for him, and how in reality, you can’t do without it.  It’s one of those necessities in life, as we all need to make money and in most cases child care becomes a fact of life.

However there’s one area in particular that I take a keen interest in at the nursery, and that’s the food.  I think as a parent you’re always looking to provide the utmost for your children, and for me, food is one of the best ways to do this.  Good overall nutrition and a healthy diet will help little minds to grow and the body to develop.  I remember thinking when we started to research which nursery Luca would be going to:- Will the food be up to scratch? How will he get on eating other peoples food?  Well, I’m happy to say he took it all in his stride, and from day one he loved it.  Given my love of food, and having read lots about how bad food can be at nurseries it was important for Rachel and I to know he was going to get the right balance of food every day, and that it was cooked on site.

I read a report some time ago by a lady called Lizzie Vann (who founded Organix) and The Soil Association, whereby they exposed the truth about nursery food.  It was an absolute eye opener, and really shook me up.  Findings like some nurseries spending only 25p per child per meal on the ingredients or that 9 out of 10 nurseries that are not state-maintained had no clear nutritional standards.  And for me the worst of all, the findings reported that colourings and additives not permitted in manufactured food for young children were regularly served in nurseries as this sector has no defined governmental guidelines???  The report can be found at www.soilassociation.org

Now, for me this is even more of a reason to be cooking from scratch and making it simple for you at home.  Knowing what you’re feeding your child at home is a good thing in my book, and if you do batch cooking it’s fast, simple and real value for money.

In my next blog, I’m going to write about this subject, while providing a few simple recipes that always go down well with Luca.  For us, it’s important to know that when we’re both at work and time is short, we’ve got quick meals we can prepare for Tyler and Luca in minutes when at home.  It’s worked for us so far, and I’m hoping to share some of this with you.

Matt.

The Baby Chef

I get asked a lot about how to get the variety into the diet of young children and i've written many times about how, in my opinion, giving your child a choice at an early age helps massively as they progress through life.

However, I also think that it is down to what is being said at feeding time and your overall attitude to food.

For me 'the first bite is with the eye' and regardless as to whether I'm cooking for adults or young babies I always try to make it look good, and I think this is part of the reason Luca (our first child) eats so well.  Now I'm not saying you need to become a Michelin star chef, but by cooking from scratch and adding colour to either the puree or to the plate with a sprig of parsley, basil leaves or even tarragon, you'll be setting the scene for time to come.

Luca now, without question, eats his greens and many parents as how I get him to do this.  Well. first it is not me, it is Luca, and from day one he has seen colour on his plate and so he's accepting of it.  Second, I try never to speak in negatives to him.  What I mean by this is that I don't make comments like 'You won't like this' or 'He/She doesn't like peas' or even 'If you eat those carrots. you can have dessert'.  By doing this these little people pick up on the negatives and may start to see food as a negotiation.

As a parent, your overall desire to provide quality and natural taste along with value may be strong.  And so, like me, cooking from scratch and knowing 100% what you're putting into your child's mouth should provide you with confidence, and allow you to explore and try new things, while always putting a positive approach to the new foods they will be trying.  So simple, easy food with lots of natural colour and postives should at least put you in the right direction to getting the greener things in life inside your little one.

This article also featured in ABC , which is the local information magazine for parents in Kent, in their Spring issue. www.abcmag.co.uk Spring Issue #16