Play, Eat , Learn

Recently we have started our new initiative of Play, Eat Learn.  This means that we have made some changes to our timetable in order to allow this to happen.  The children are given time to go out to play before they eat at both morning tea and lunch.  When they have had a chance to play, they can then go on to eat their lunch and then carry on with their learning.  I see some serious positives for this initiative.  I feel that the main advantage of playing before the children eat, is that the children are not rushing to finish eating so they can get on with the playing.  I also think that after they have been inside ( usually) learning, then they need to have a run around.  I also find the transition from learning to play is very quick- which is great if you are on duty.  I might be worng but I think I have noticed less arguements and problems in the playground.  I see some advantages regarding the way we are running our "eat"part of the day, however I am unsure as to whether or not this is to do with the order of playing first or not. These advantages are that I think the children are more hungry so therefore they eat more lunch. I like the way everyone has the same amount of time to eat so this eliminates the rushing to play problem.  I have noticed a lot of chit chat with the children at eating time- sometimes a bit too much chit chat ( or rather a bit much volume.) I think taht on the whole, this is positive as they are building their realtionships with each other.
On the other hand I can see a couple of possible issues with this- one being that the children are eating quite late in the piece ( especially for lunch).  My reasoning for saying this is that I know that when the children are at preschool, they begin kai much earlier eg 11.30am so to leave it till 1.00pm is challenging for the little ones I feel. This will be something they will get used to but I think that when they first start school , it might be tricky.  I have to admit that I sometimes feel a bit guilty eating before the children too.  The only other issue I can see is that the little children sometimes need more time to eat their lunch than what they have.  I believe that this would only apply for my end of the school, in fact- I wonder if the senior part of the school experience the opposite problem?  And on the whole- these are little things. ( I guess I am trying to be reflective!)
Another part of our new initiative is the carb snack in the morning,  I think that for some of the children, this is vital and I certainly believe that without it, it would be bad news.  Happily, I am sure that most of the children get a good breakfast before coming to school but this is not he case for everyone.  The children like the carb snack and they are very happy to be involved.  I don't recall anyone who has declined the carb snack.  Obviously introducing such a thing comes with it's logistical issues- we have got onto those eatly in the piece and  it seems to tick along nicely for us.
We have also introduced the 'drink to think' initiative too.  I feel that personally I am probably one of the people to benefit the most form this as I am not great at drinking water and I am enjoying it- although my trips to the bathroom have certainly increased!!  The chidlren have also really appreciated the drink bottles being available all the time..  Some of the children are better at rememebering to drink it than others but I am trying to model this for them.  Initaially, they were always wanting to go to the toilet, but thankfully  this has settled down.
I am very keen to find out how the Omega 3 initiative goes as well down the track if we go ahead with this.  I have tried this with my own children and I saw almost instant results which surprised me.  It appeared to have a calming or leveling affect.
All in all, I think that to comment on the outcomes of these new initiatives is too early as we need to give it more time to reap the benefits.  It is great that we are trialling these and as it is with anything, we get used to it and if I was told it was going to change back to the 'old way' - I think I would be dissappointed