PSA: Don't send you kids to playgroup with chometz

amother

Babyblue

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 8:53 am

Miriams wrote:

My morah asked for no chometz lunch this week. Kitniyos is fine. What in the world am I supposed to send for lunch??

Cream cheese, peanut butter, melted cheese, tuna, eggs on rice cakes, matza, egg matza.
Yogurts, fruit

amother

NeonPurple

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 8:55 am

Miriams wrote:

My morah asked for no chometz lunch this week. Kitniyos is fine. What in the world am I supposed to send for lunch??

Scrambled eggs, sandwiches on rice cakes. Buy a box of chickpea or rice pasta. Pesachdik fish sticks/ chicken nuggets (even if you don't use them on pesach)

amother

Mintgreen

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 9:12 am

amother NeonPurple wrote:

Scrambled eggs, sandwiches on rice cakes. Buy a box of chickpea or rice pasta. Pesachdik fish sticks/ chicken nuggets (even if you don't use them on pesach)

My child eats either bread or pasta every day for lunch. It's hard enough over pesach. It is unreasonable of a morah to add on another 2 weeks of this stress. The playgroup room should be cleaned last or sold.

amother

Chicory

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 9:17 am

amother Babyblue wrote:

Cream cheese, peanut butter, melted cheese, tuna, eggs on rice cakes, matza, egg matza.
Yogurts, fruit

And if the kid is a picky eater?

Morahs claim that a large part of the reason why they give off x amount of days before pesach is so that they clean up the kids' space for pesach. In that case, there's plenty of time to get rid of the chometz in one room. If they're making the kids' space pesach'dig so much before the actual YT, then why can't the Morahs run the playgroups until erev Yom Tov itself. T They can't use both sides of the argument to make their case. Either they need to time to clean up the space, or they work like the rest of us working moms till erev YT.

amother

Chicory

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 9:18 am

amother Brown wrote:

I do that, but it means I have to be on top of them, when they finish, clean them etc. Before they get off the chair and go play on their own. Not ideal but I do that. I do tell the parents, they just apologise said child wouldn't come in otherwise!

Confused - are they generally not supervised during meal time?

amother

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 10:05 am

Op here!
Yes they can bring chometz for lunch!!! I might ask them not to for Thursday but wouldn't write a PSA on here , I would tell them directly!
It's not nice the whole year but much harder this week!
I had a child come in with a full bag of crackers(half of it was just crumbs) in his hands.
I've been a playgroup for the last 25 years, believe me I know I can make them sit down at the table, I can also put it in their backpack and deal with the tantrums too!
Wouldn't it be just nicer if parents would be considerate and not send a bag of cookies in kids hands?
I also know Morahs are paid and they even get a full 2 and a half days "vacation" before the other working mothers... doesn't mean parents can't be a little more careful this week!
If it doesn't apply to you, feel free to ignore I won't get offended I promise! LOL

P.s: when I ask parents not to bring chametz for lunch, I usually make french fries and ask parents to send yogurt/cheese/apple sauce or cut up vegetables.

amother

Chestnut

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:01 am

Sorry but no.
You get extra vacation to clean and prep for YT. While I work. Somehow I manage to clean, shop and cook for YT while working longer hours than you do. I still pay the same amount for daycare this month so I cant just take a few unpaid days off. You get the PAID days off to clean up from messy kids. ( I have my messy kids too but still have to work.).
My kid is picky. Won't just eat anything.
French fries are not healthy. Guess what he will eat for 8 days? Why add an extra week?
Pesach food is expensive enough. Why add it on for an additional week?
If you want to prepare all food for the kids and then tell us not to bring in- sure! Otherwise- deal with the crumbs and ask us NEXT WEEK to not bring in.
I need to survive this week too.

Simple1

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:05 am

amother OP wrote:

P.s: when I ask parents not to bring chametz for lunch, I usually make french fries and ask parents to send yogurt/cheese/apple sauce or cut up vegetables.

Did you tell them directly and hang a sign on the door? Unless you tell them otherwise, they probably assume you’re not chametz free and that you clean up after playgroup closes for Pesach.

amother

Mintgreen

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:13 am

amother OP wrote:

P.s: when I ask parents not to bring chametz for lunch, I usually make french fries and ask parents to send yogurt/cheese/apple sauce or cut up vegetables.

So tell this to the parents. It's not a general PSA as every morah has different policy. If you don't want it happening, tell parents directly. You have nothing of posting it here.

amother

Starflower

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:14 am

As a fellow morah who's doing group through Thurs I tell parents not to worry. The vacuum will pick up all the crumbs. And the kitchen toys and toys in that room will get done last, along with the couch.

Bh for vacuumes!

amother

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:28 am

amother Chestnut wrote:

Doesn't look like you understood what I wrote! What

amother

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 11:32 am

amother Mintgreen wrote:

So tell this to the parents. It's not a general PSA as every morah has different policy. If you don't want it happening, tell parents directly. You have nothing of posting it here.

True! And it could be some morahs don't have that issue but a lot of them do.

I didn't know ppl are so resentful that morahs are off 2 and a half days before everyone else that it's a reason not to be considerate! I guess some kids must come to morah holding a bag of chametzdik snack...
I hope that at least a few ppl will be a little more careful, the other ones just keep on sending snacks, I promise morah will deal with it! Rolling Eyes

amother

Brunette

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 12:14 pm

Playgroup morahs, you probably don't realize that parents are not doing things purposely to bother you. They are unaware. You can't expect them to realize or know these things automatically.
Tell them and don't hold a grudge. But I also get really annoyed when kids walk in holding food. You can literally watch the trail of crumbs forming.
(I'm selling my whole playgroup room, there's no way I'm checking all the toys. I know not everyone sells chometz but I will happily sell it all.)

amother

Natural

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 12:18 pm

amother OP wrote:

P.s: when I ask parents not to bring chametz for lunch, I usually make french fries and ask parents to send yogurt/cheese/apple sauce or cut up vegetables.

I sent my child to a playgroup I haven’t sent to before this year. She sent out an intro letter and one of the only rules was no walking in holding or eating food. If they need to eat immediately you can let her know and she’ll sit them down in the eating area. I thought it was so smart and something I realized I wasn’t careful about before I read it.

amother

Springgreen

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 12:29 pm

amother Natural wrote:

Last years Morah did that too. It’s great because we don’t always have time for breakfast before going to Morah. I have an SN kid and mornings are so hard sometimes. Being able to seat my playgroup kid at Morah’s table with a bag of cereal can be a lifesaver.

This years Morah doesn’t have that so we need to put the food away before coming in. I understand it but it’s still annoying.

amother

Brown

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 12:58 pm

amother Chicory wrote:

Confused - are they generally not supervised during meal time?

Of course they are. My point is that it's not meal time so don't make it into one by sending your kid in with a cookie in their hand.
It's free play first thing in the morning.
I've not said no to Chometz this week but I have a pesach kitchen so maybe it's different to those that don't. I don't think it's right to ask for no Chometz to be sent in entirely. It's expensive to use pesach food for much longer than the 8 days, plus a lot of little ones struggle with pesach food so I wouldn't prolong that for them.

flowerpower

Sun, Mar 26 2023, 1:04 pm

amother Mintgreen wrote:

Agreed!!!