National Days in March

Mar. 4: National Pancake Day

Read Pancakes, Pancakes (Carle, 1970), and If You Give a Pig a Pancake (Numeroff, 1998.)

Pancakes credit as a bread/bread alternate at any meal or snack, provided they meet portion size requirements.

(Crediting Handbook for the CACFP p 97)

Food Program Anniversaries in February

5 years: Tangueray Bannister

10 years: Mindy Sorenson

15 years: Appalonia Scott, Melissa Rudack

25 years: Jodie Tornow, Elizabeth Tuesburg

30 years: Elise Wiegert, Dawn Pearson

35 Years: Tammy Bakalars, Vivian Kind, Kathryn Shisler

We applaud your commitment to serving nutritious meals and snacks to the children in your care!  

Welcome to Our New Providers!

Keyanna and Cathleen in Milwaukee

Gwendolyn in Wauwatosa

Cherrie in Brown Deer

Mark in Menomonie

Tracie in Boyceville

Jenny in Casco

We welcome you and applaud this mark of professionalism!  

National CACFP Week is March 16-22

Get ready to celebrate National CACFP Week with us! It's a national education and information campaign sponsored annually the third week of March by the National CACFP Sponsors Association. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of how the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) works to combat hunger and support providers. CACFP brings healthy foods to households across the country for children in child care centers, homes, and afterschool programs, as well as adults in day care.

Components and Crediting 

Recipes to Try! 

Hungry for something warm and zesty? MyPlate offers this recipe for New Orleans Red Beans.

New Orleans Red Beans | MyPlate

Cornmeal Pancakes: Looking for a new pancake recipe for National Pancake Day? MyPlate offers this recipe for Cornmeal Pancakes.

Cornmeal Pancakes | MyPlate

Ask the Food Program

Question:

My new child care child’s parents are sending food to child care. They are worried that their 2-year-old won’t eat the food I serve. There are no known food allergies/sensitivities or medical or lifestyle reasons for this. Is that allowed? I am a new provider, and I don’t know how to handle this.  

Answer:

Providers who participate on the Food Program have a mandate to offer the creditable components of the meals and snacks they serve and claim for reimbursement. This is a good opportunity for you to inform the parents about your Food Program participation and what components are required to meet the CACFP guidelines for healthy meals and snacks and to share the other information related to your regulation and your own policies that relate to nutrition.

Here are some other things you may wish to consider:

• At about 2 years of age, children commonly go through a developmental period where they are very cautious and suspicious of new foods. Providers have a unique opportunity to help children become more well-rounded eaters, by offering * a variety of familiar and new foods. Sometimes a newer child will have the chance to see some of the other children, or those with wider food preferences, eat foods they themselves may be unready to try. It can take many exposures to a new food before a child may choose to try it. That is developmentally appropriate and something to (try to!) take in your stride.
• Both certified and licensed providers have a mandate to offer meals and snacks with not more than 3-hour intervals between them. If a child refused everything they were offered at a meal, you can reassure the parents that their child is unlikely to starve before the next meal or snack is served!
• Parents may have no understanding of the rules and regulations to which providers are held, especially if they have not had a child in care before. You can help them become more knowledgeable consumers of child care by informing them about both the standards to which you are held and about your own business policies.
• Many providers have policies barring parents from sending food to child care. (To be clear, this would not extend to agreements such as those documented in the Parent Provider Formula Agreement OR to some stipulation with the provider about the way new pureed foods should be introduced to infants.) In most cases, when parents send food, it cause challenges because the other children in care may, similarly, want something else. Soon enough, all the children may reject the meal the provider has served, and what could have been a pleasant mealtime turns into a power struggle.
• Avoiding a power struggle with children over food is important. Honoring their food choices is a huge piece in developing a positive and trustful relationship with that child and in helping the child to have a receptive attitude toward food and nutrition. A child – even a young child – should be granted respect and autonomy to make certain choices, which will expand as the child grows in age and maturity. If we adults fail to do so, the child may feel forced to greater and greater displays of their frustration and anger.  
• Honoring children’s choices about food – what to eat or even whether to eat – means we must not bail them out of the consequences of their actions. Experiencing the natural consequence of choosing not to eat a meal/snack – i.e., hunger – will help the child learn, with time, to make wiser or more comfortable choices. If you do not steel yourself, you may be tempted to offer them something else to eat. If you do, you begin to train the child to reject the prepared meal and grumble and fuss until you give in and offer some other food.
• Try whenever possible to sit and eat with the children. That can be a big ask for a busy provider, but it helps them – and you! - connect in a way that differs from other interactions you may have during the day. You become a model of good manners and an active participant in the conversation around the table, and you can demonstrate acceptance and willingness to try new foods. You join in on the moment, rather than lurking on the sidelines or inserting yourself as the food referee.

By providing healthy meals and snacks, helping create a pleasant atmosphere, allowing children to choose which components to try or eat, and, when possible, joining in to sit and eat with them, you are creating the ideal situation in which children are accepted and nourished. They will come to understand that meals and snacks shared with friends can be times of joy. And in sharing that with parents, you help them to understand what you value, how you uphold that each day, and how much you bring to each child and each family with whom you work.

*Offering means (a) plating a portion size by age and serving it to each child or (b) putting proper portion sizes by age times the number of children being served into a communal bowl for providers serving family style meals/snacks.

New Guidance: Added Sugars in Breakfast Cereals in the CACFP

Effective Oct.1, 2025, providers who participate on CACFP must offer breakfast cereals that contain no more than 6 grams of added sugar per dry ounce. 

How do you determine that? Use this resource from USDA.

NOTE: The Nutrition Facts lists the serving size in both cups and grams.

Monitoring and Oversight

Child Re-Enrollment: Be on Time!

• Children subject to re-enrollment in a calendar month turn yellow in cacfp.Net on the 2^nd of that month. Timely re-enrollment must be completed – i.e., signed by the parent and submitted – on or before the 9^th of the month. If that does not occur, the meals and snacks served to the child(ren) in that month will be disallowed for “No Enrollment on File.” 

Example: The Child Enrollment Form was signed by the parent on January 20^th, 2024. The child’s name will appear with an asterisk behind it and turn yellow in CACFP.Net on February 2^nd, 2025. Re-enrollment must be completed on or before February 9^th, 2025, to be timely and allow the meals and snacks served to that child in January to be reimbursed. 

Juice Reminder

Only 100% fruit or vegetable juice is creditable on the Food Program. You must choose your juice from the list of foods in the drop-down menu in CACFP.Net so the program can keep track of how many times you serve juice each day. You may serve juice once per calendar day, per family child care home, to children 1 year and older.

 A creditable juice product will state Juice: Full-strength juice; single-strength juice; 100% juice; and reconstituted juice; juice from concentrate or juice concentrate. Items named cocktail, beverage or drink are not 100% juice and are not creditable.

Juice is not creditable for infants. 

Moving? Let Us Know!

As soon as you know your new address and moving date, notify us! Call or email your Area Coordinator to let them know.

• Email a copy of your updated regulation listing your new address to foodprogram@wisconsinearlychildhood.org.
• You cannot be paid without a current regulation on file or if there is a lapse between the end date of your former license or certificate and the start of your new regulation.
• Remember that your new address also may affect your tier, which determines your rate of reimbursement.
• Questions about your new tier? Contact mmundt@wisconsinearlychildhood.org
• If your banking information changes as a result of your move, submit an updated Direct Deposit Form.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

The Provider Connection is published by the WECA Food Program.

Any Questions: Call 608-240-9880 or visit our website.

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