Can children aged 4–6 years evaluate their food?
- 18.01.2022
- English Articles
- Inga Hesse
- Anette Buyken
- Sibylle Adam
Peer-reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 25. Juni 2020 / Revision accepted: 05. Januar 2021
A survey among children on lunches provided in day-care centers in the region of Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)1
Introduction
At the beginning of 2020, about 1.8 million children aged 4 to 6 years (i.e. ≥ 4 and < 7 years) were attending a child day-care facility in Germany, of which about 74% (1.4 million children) used the midday meal offered there [1]. The nutrition situation in day-care centers has previously been investigated by surveying various stakeholders, but not children [2–7]. For example, in Rhineland-Palatinate, 92% of parents were satisfied with the food and drink in the day-care center and, in the parents’ opinion, 96% of the children were satisfied [3]. In Thuringia, 84% of the day-care centers stated that they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the catering in general and 85% said the same of the midday meal specifically [7]. Recommendations that have been put forward to improve the nutritional situation in day-care centers include increasing the participation of children [3].
There are various concerns when it comes to surveying children—for instance concerns about reproducibility and validity as well as the possibility that response behavior will be influenced by what is perceived as socially desirable [8]. However, at the same time, children are increasingly becoming an important target group in survey-based research [9]. Children influence the consumer behavior of their parents, and in some cases, children’s everyday activities remain hidden from their parents [10]. When interviewing children, aspects such as possible shyness, necessary adaptations to accommodate their limited areas of experience and limitations in language skills and attention span have to be taken into account [10, 11].
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1 The content of this article is based on the final report of the 2018 "Zufriedenheit von Kita-Kindern mit der angebotenen Mittagsmahlzeit in ausgewählten Kindertageseinrichtungen in Rheinland-Pfalz“ (Survey among children on lunches provided in day-care centers in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany regarding children’s satisfaction with lunch) and also deals with the methodology used in detail.
Abstract
The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether children from the ages of 4 to 6 years attending day-care centers are capable of expressing their satisfaction with the lunch offered at their day-care center. The practical suitability of the questions asked and the instruments used to record the satisfaction of children in this age group were also investigated. In individual interviews, 112 children from 12 day-care centers in the Mainz area were asked about their feelings and level of satiety, their taste experience at lunch, how much they liked individual foods, the basic conditions of the lunch, and how much they liked eating at the day-care center in general. The children’s responses and the additional information they provided showed that it is possible to measure satisfaction with lunch in children attending day-care centers. Individual questions and instruments will need to be revised for future surveys. Recording satisfaction in this way and taking it into account would satisfy the requirement to take a participatory approach.
Keywords: preschool children, child nutrition, satisfaction, lunchtime, daycare
