Children’s participation at daily routine in Slovene preschools

Abstract

Since most of the children in Slovenia attend full-day programs, the daily routine represents a significant part of children’s lives in preschool institution. We presents some of the findings of a research on children’s participation in daily routine and play; in this paper, we focused on meals. In a study, which included 150 preschool teachers from Slovene preschools we researched their viewpoints with a questionnaire, made by ourselves. The results show that some problematic practices still exist, as insisting that children at least try the food they refused or that they must eat everything from their plate. Less than a quarter of teachers encourage children to express their desires and proposals abut meals in preschool. The obstacles to changes in daily routines might be in the traditions and stereotypical beliefs of preschool teachers. We suggest that children should participate more in the organization of daily routine.