Daycare food ban to prevent choking: Why I support the new restrictions

"If in order to keep every single child safe they need put in the same precautions across that board, that's ok with me." Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

A parent's worst fear is getting that phone call. The one that makes your heart stop and your earth shatter.

Something has happened to your child, while in the care of another person.

So to me, as a mother of a toddler, it makes total sense to ensure every single precaution is taken so that you never have to receive that call.

That's why when I saw the new Ministry of Education restrictions and food rules for early childhood centres and watched others react in outrage - I as a parent of a young child wasn't bothered by them.

In fact, I was relieved to know that after a tragic set of circumstances, where a Rotorua toddler was left brain-damaged after choking on a piece of apple, changes were being put in place to make sure this never happened again.

So that no other parent would have to face the agony that that family faced when they got that call. That what happened to that little boy wasn't in vain - that something was learned from this tragedy.

I see in my 19-month-old how easily accidents like this can happen.

He learned to eat through baby-led weaning, and I offer him a wide range of foods that he can enjoy and explore. But I do not pre-soak raisins - as suggested by some daycare centres - or mash his peas.

I know that fruit with the skin on causes him to gag and cough up food, but cooked peas and dried fruit are no challenge. That's because he is my child and I know everything about him.

But when I hand my child over to his daycare centre, they also have other children to watch. They don't know every meal he has ever eaten, every corn chip he has ever struggled with, or every kiwifruit he has attempted to swallow whole.

And while my son is provided with meals at daycare, some parents have taken issue with not being able to send certain items in their kid's lunch box anymore.

What if another child got hold of that item your child has no trouble with? Or your child was distracted by something and didn't carefully chew his grape that day? What if it was you getting that call?

If in order to keep every single child safe they need put in the same precautions across that board, that's OK with me. While my son might be the master of a bit of dried apple, that same thing might choke another child. So if he has to give those foods up for the short time he is in their care, I see no issue.

When I hang up his bag on his hook and kiss him goodbye for the day, I have one overarching expectation of his educators - to keep him safe. Why would any parent find an issue in making sure their child and others were safe?

So to his early childhood educators, I say thank you.

Thank you for making sure he wears sunblock, has his cuddly toy for his nap, can find his favourite book and for being what some call "overly cautious" in what he can eat there.

I will take overly cautious every single day over getting that call.