Daycare mom fined for imbalanced lunch

ROSSBUM, Manitoba, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A Manitoba mother said she does not blame her children's daycare for fining her for failing to include grains in their lunches because she approved the rules.

Kristen Bartkiw of Rossburn said she was fined about $10 when the lunch of roast beef, carrots, potatoes and juice she sent with her young children to The Little Cub's Den daycare was found to be imbalanced due to a lack of grains, the QMI Agency reported Tuesday.

"I don't blame the daycare," said Bartkiw, who served on the board of the daycare when the rules for fining parents were approved.

Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care requires day cares to provide any missing nutritional items in a lunch required by regulations to include a milk product, a meat, a grain and two servings of fruit or vegetables.

"We chose to do it as a more of a deterrent, because parents were sending their children a lunch with only a pizza pop," Bartkiw said of the fines.

She said incidents such as hers led the daycare to start providing hot lunches for the children.

"It was just too difficult for parents to follow these strict [guidelines]," Bartkiw said.