Abstract
Nowadays, in China, preschoolers eat meals three times a day in group nursing, and group nursing has much to contribute to eating. The purpose of this study is to examine the involvement of Chinese child care workers in mealtime in comparison with Japanese child care workers. We observed the child-care workers' behavior in the lunch time setting of three years classes in both China and Japan, and analyzed them. In Japanese mealtime, the child care workers communicated with children positively and children ate in a pleasant atmosphere. In Chinese mealtime, child care workers taught how to eat and required children to eat without talking with peers. We discussed about the challenges of Chinese early childhood education based on now and the future in China.
