Spanish Day Care, Part II: School Lunches

Last week, I wrote about our experience with the public day care system in Barcelona but I left out a description of the school lunches as the post was getting a tad long. I decided it might be better to devote a separate post to them since after all, the lunches are my favorite thing about Roman's school. So here we are- part two of our experience with Spanish day care, the lunch edition!

One thing I found pleasantly surprising is that in school, little Spanish children eat just as Spanish adults do. If you've ever been in Spain, you'll perhaps have noticed that during lunch time, all restaurants have a fixed menu of the day including a vegetable starter, a protein such as chicken or fish, a piece of bread, and a light dessert. Normally a glass of wine or cup of coffee is included in the price. In guarderia, the little ones are served in this same fashion with a first and second course accompanied by bread and dessert to follow. This is pretty different from how I used to feed Roman lunch before he started school. His lunch used to be a simple affair of tuna sandwiches or toast with pesto and hard boiled egg followed by a fruit. At the time, I suppose I was following the American dining ritual of light lunches and more substantial dinners. However, in Spain, it's the opposite--you eat a heavy lunch and a light, quick dinner and this is a habit that is formed, apparently, in infancy.

At Roman's school, lunch is served around noon and at that time, all play stops and the kids put their bibs on, sit down at the table with their classmates and wait for the lunch trolley. I have to admit that I laughed the first time I saw the lunch being wheeled in by the lunch ladies. The trolley itself is really just a metal shelf on wheels but the dishes on the trolley are all covered with these domed, metal dish covers and something about the whole thing reminded me of room service for the honeymoon suite or something. So elegant for little babes! The lunch ladies themselves, I have to mention, are all kind and jovial women who are always greeted with delight by the children. Also, for some reason that I can't quite explain, it matters to me that all the lunch ladies know my son's name--I think it makes me feel that mealtime is personal and even familial.

Not only do the children eat how adults eat, but they also eat what adults eat. There are no hamburgers, fishsticks, or pizzas served in school. Nothing is processed and all the food is cooked on site in the school's kitchen. Above is a picture of the menu from Roman's school. It's in Catalan, so perhaps only a few of you readers can read it, but I will translate some of the weeks' menu for the rest of you. On Monday (dilluns in Catalan) in Week 1 (1a setmana), the children eat rice in a broth with carrot and zucchini as their starter, then a simple omelet, a salad and a seasonal fruit. On Tuesday (dimarts) of the same week, they eat a puree of vegetables, a beef stew, salad, and seasonal fruit. On Wednesday (dimecres), spaghetti with mushrooms, grilled fish, bread and fruit for dessert. If you notice from the menu in the column titled 'Berenars', the children also get a snack (normally served around 3pm after nap time) which is normally yogurt, more fruit, or a cookie. On Thursdays for snack time, the kids eat coca which is a typical Catalan sweet bread with sugar sprinkled on top.

This is a pretty amazing menu, isn't it? It's certainly a far cry from the sloppy joes and pizza with creamed sweet corn that I remember from my youth! I can't tell you how much I appreciate that my son gets to eat so well in school. For one thing, it has exposed him to foods I probably wouldn't have made for him, some of them because they're traditional Spanish and Catalan foods that I'm not familiar with and some of them because they never occurred to me. For instance, I never would have thought of serving a baby a salad with olives in it, yet this is a meal that Roman is served a few times a week (although he normally gives the olives a curious lick and then puts them aside). Another reason why I'm grateful for these quality lunches is because some of the nutrition burden is removed from my shoulders. When Roman eats at school, because the meals are all so well rounded from a nutritional standpoint, I don't have to stress about dinner so much. If I make a simple pasta or a vegetable soup for dinner, I don't worry that there's not enough protein or iron or fiber or whatever in what I made. I know that he consumed these things already during lunch.  The one thing I always try to do is to coordinate what I make with the school menu. So if he ate lentils for lunch, I'm not going to make lentils for dinner. It takes a bit of planning, but it's such a help to only have to worry about two meals a day rather than three.

I don't think many Spanish people are aware of how special the public daycare system is here or how refreshing it is for Americans to see kids eating 'non-kid' foods for lunch. I don't think they know that in the U.S., if you want your kid to eat well, you can't rely on the meals provided by the school which tend to be lacking in quality and diversity. In the U.S., it normally falls to the parents to provide a quality lunch from home and they also have to figure out dinner later.  If parents had less to do, providing three nutritionally adequate meals a day for their kids would be no problem, but unfortunately, that's not the case anywhere in the world. We feel tremendously thankful that there is a system here in Spain that places a high value on a healthy diet for our littlest ones.

So that's part two of our Spanish day care experience. What do you guys think? Is your child in daycare somewhere? What's it like?

P.S. If you missed Part I, you can find it here. 

Spanish Day Care, Part I

I've been wanting to write about our experience with Spanish day care since Roman began last September but I feared the post would be too long (I have too many opinions on the subject apparently!) and also because I had no image to go along with the post since Roman's school is strictly, but understandably, no photos. But now that he's been there a year--today was his first day back after a two month vacation--I've decided to just get on with it. Prepare yourselves for a long read. :)

Before I get into talking about our experience, I should probably provide a little info on the day care system here. First, there are both private and public day cares or guarderias as they're called in Spanish. The public day cares are subsidized by the government and have a very good reputation. Because of this, the spots are limited and highly coveted and entrance is not guaranteed. Private day cares tend to be more expensive and they can vary widely in quality. But the private ones can be attractive options for parents who work a lot since the schools stay open later, they don't have as many public holidays where the school is closed, and the summer and winter breaks are not as long. We also know people who decide to put their child in private day care because they want their child to be spoken to in English rather than in Catalan which is what children would learn in a public guarderia. You may also go the private route if your child doesn't get a spot in a public school or you missed the enrollment period.

On the other hand, public day care is very attractive to many parents not only because it's very good but also because it's cheaper. I have to mention that Spanish day care isn't even as cheap as public day cares in other parts of Europe BUT while it isn't cheap, it is affordable. Our son attends a public school and we pay something like 300 euro a month, (almost $400) for full time care with meals included. This is nothing compared to what friends of mine back in the States pay. We have friends in Miami who pay $1000 a month for one child and the parents have to provide the meals.

The affordability of Roman's school is amazing obviously, but we're not just happy with his school because of how affordable it is. We also love it because it has exceeded our expectations in so many ways. The teachers are excellent, the meals are prepared on site and are served in courses (I will devote a separate post to the food since this post is already getting too long) and the kids are exposed to all sorts of things that they might not be at home including music,dance, and art. There's no TV watching, no computer time, no screens at all. It's just semi-structured play interspersed with mealtimes and naps.

We especially appreciate the emphasis on doing things independently and picking up after themselves. There is a Montessori aspect in the layout of the classrooms and the required things the little ones have to bring with them to school. In the classrooms there are little chairs and tables, tiny sinks and potties, and each toddler has a designated spot where they hang their washcloths, jackets and schoolbag. Schoolbags must be of the drawstring variety so that the little one can open and close it himself which he wouldn't be able to do with a zippered bag. The school requires the littles to wear bibs with elastic bands rather than bibs with snaps so that the children can pull the bib on and off by themselves at mealtime. They are also expected to put their empty plate on the lunch cart when they're done eating and then wash their hands and mouths at the sink.

From our perspective, day care has been a wonderful experience for both us and for Roman. His school is a safe place for him to run and climb and explore and make a mess which he can't do in our home (or he can but with less abandon). Also he learns from the other kids and imitates them. Sometimes this is bad (like when he learned to hit) and sometimes it's good (like when he learned how to feed himself). For our part, we've been impressed by how much he's grown up and how much of this is due to school. We have a tendency to do everything for Roman because it's easier, faster and cleaner. But in school, because he's taught to do things by himself, we are learning to back off and watch him tackle things on his own. The schedule is fairly structured in Roman's school; the kids play outside in the patio in the mornings, then they come inside to play some more, then they wash up for lunch, eat, wash up again, nap, have a snack and then play until the parents come to pick them up. It's actually been a big help for us to copy the routine he has in school (lunch, then nap, then snack) because we think Roman is more at ease when he knows exactly what to expect and that the routine is the same everywhere.

When Roman first began school, it was pretty hard for me to be apart from him for hours a day especially because he spent the whole first year of his life at home with me. I felt like I should be with him and that he would be happier at home with me. I wasn't working that much at the time and I felt guilty that I had time to take care of my kid, I was just opting not to. I didn't realize how burned out you can get taking care of a baby 24 hours a day every day. It doesn't leave time for work, exercise or hobbies. Also, I didn't consider that while Roman would have a rough period adjusting to being in someone else's care, he would indeed adjust. He now enjoys his school so much that he never wants to leave and sometimes I have to drag him out. He's had so many great experiences at his school--he saw his first puppet show, had his first painting, dance and music class, and made a lot of friends. Even though I miss him when he's in school, I think it's been important that he spends time away from us so that he learns not to take us for granted and for us, the same applies. I've found that we all appreciate each other much more when we're not together all the time and we have time to miss each other.

Finally, I've noticed that since Roman began at his school, the Professor and I feel much more integrated into society than before. We meet up with his classmates and their parents at the local park, we learn about Catalan traditions and holidays and we discover the ways that parenting is similar in the U.S. and the ways it's different. In summary, it's been a learning experience for all of us, but one that we're very happy to have had.

I leave you with a shot I surreptitiously took in his school of Roman in the birthday crown that he and his classmates decorated. He looks a bit pouty here because he doesn't like wearing things on his head, but he actually had a really good day that day. I'm sure he won't remember it in a few years, but this was a place where he was happy.

P.S. Stay tuned next week for Part II about the school lunches.