The constant feeding / snacking of children

Yep. Shop near the school sold sweets in ounces and was queued out at lunchtime (in the days when kids could leave school at lunch time). Mumsnet would have conniptions at the sweet treats we were allowed as kids. We also usually had some kind of dessert after dinner.

Mind you we weren’t ferried around from pillar to post, fewer organised after school activities but lots of outdoor play.

He was direct but not a rude snob.

His Mum could explain he should not say ‘I don’t like’ in future though.

I'm not judgy about people feeding their kids, but I do have relatives, well informed healthy types who definitely don't go in for giving their kids junk, but wherever they go they arrive loaded down with tupperwares of pre-prepared snacks.

As soon as they arrive, say at a relative's house for a meal, or a party, the snacks come out and there are great efforts to get them to eat them.

Then the main event happens and the kids (around age 6-8) are not sat at the table to eat but left a plate on the table which they pick faintly at, before wandering off.

Then as soon as the meal is finished more snacks / special things brought for puddings come out.

There's almost a sense of anxiety around food, like there's a constant flow of it, being unpacked, loud encouragment to eat, then all packed away and then after a 15 minute gap it all starts again .

It feels like a lot of effort when you could just let them get hungry and eat with everyone else.

I've seen others behave similarly. Constant encouragement to graze, rather than sitting down to meals. The kids never really seem hungry.

Obesity causes early onset puberty. You just didn’t know that. Now you do.

Years ago I took my 4yr old to the theatre to see Stickman. I said there was no eating as its noisy and we had had lunch, low and behold everyone had sweets and crisp. I was annoyed that people cannot go less than 2hrs without eating. I have seen fully grown adults bring a picnic to the theatre!

The girls are hitting puberty earlier because they are fat - Are you ok?
The girls get curvier WHEN THEY HIT PUBERTY

I was bemused at a family member going out of her way to go to a shop to buy sweets, multiple packets, for a 30 minute journey. Eldest child (very picky) ate a couple of bits of chocolate. Youngest child ate his way through all rest. He’s what I’d call fat. Once we arrived, everyone had ice cream. Whenever there’s an event, he has both hands full with food. There’s always lots of sweets on offer.

Grandparents have a shelf full of Coke and sweets. Both grandparents and mum, their dd, have a weight issue. Youngest child is 4, I find it hard to pick him up. He’s in clothes 2 years above his actual age. If he wants food, he gets it. I find it really sad that he’s clearly overweight at that age.

This is part of the problem, fruit is healthy, it is better than crisps, UPFs, biscuits etc. All food in moderation, with a huge emphasis on real natural food.

My absolute favourite was the child (now late 30s) who refused lunch, snacked 1/2 hour later and became a vegetarian that doesn't eat vegetables. Yes he is very obese now.

I truly love Mumsnet for posts like this 😂

I’d focus on teaching your child not to be such a rude snob to waiters instead of worrying about kids menus in restaurants.

Kids finish school 3-330pm. 4pm is a pretty normal snack time.

How can you do a snack at 3pm when they’re at school? Ohhhh you probably can’t, because they’re too young for school perhaps? So you’re judging everyone else who will likely have very set routines to accommodate after school activities too.

Kids are hungry after school and swimming quite often. 4pm is quite normal.

Oh also we do a club one evening and if they’re ever doing something remotely active we will be instructed to “bring a snack” even though it’s right after dinner time. So I send DC with a piece of fruit and get lengthy complains about how all the other kids had xyz junk food… it’s so tedious!

I don't think day nursery/ childcare providers help either tbh.

All day nurseries I have worked at offered option of breakfast 7.30-8.30 if parents wanted it, then it was snack time at 10.30ish then lunch around 12, then snack time again around 2 , then "light tea" at around 4ish. That snacking habit is built into a nursery day and becomes habit for the children. DDs school nursery had both morning and afternoon snack time and in reception they also have morning and afternoon snack time - fruit only but still 2 snack times.

Add in that most advice is to give snacks when children are needed to be quiet/ compliant e.g. during errand running, waiting for siblings to finish a club and snacking when out and about becomes ingrained.

Until DD went to preschool I didn't offer snacks unless she was genuinely hungry and then it was something like sandwich or fruit. Once she got to preschool she started snacking and her eating of meals went down.

I try not to have opinions on what others feed their kids but have to admit it annoys me when parents crack out the fun-looking snacks immediately as kids leave the classroom, in front of everybody else, and I have to explain that no mummy hasn’t bought a delicious snack for DC like the other children. It makes DC feel hard done by and envious of pals who get handed a bag of crisps or fruit winder on pick up.

We live ten minutes from school, and if DC wants to play in the park for a bit then the snack will come a bit later. No harm in waiting as far as I’m concerned, as fruit/crackers etc available at home when needed.

I’m on a Disney forum for tips and am genuinely shocked on what people bring over so they can snack all day. Absolutely crazy.
we have meals, snacks if late or special treats I guess. But people are bring packets and packets of snacks for in between actually eating.

Scottish? 😁 I went to school in the 90s and every kid’s play piece was an apple and a bag of crisps or a penguin biscuit. The school tuck shop was open every day and you could buy penny mixtures in white pokes. You could get a lot of sweets for the 20p in your pocket. Can you imagine the posts on Mumsnet now about it? 😂

No. Far too late to be the first.

That was an incredibly quick turnaround from not caring at the start of your post, to wishing people didn’t give their children snacks at the end of your post.

I'm pretty sure I had a snack after swimming as a kid many moons ago. The chicken nuggets thing though, i absolutely refused to buy them for mine.

The ragebait be ragebaiting

My kids snack all the time. They are as skinny and tall. Mind your own business. Some kids eat loads.

My kids are 20, 15 and 14 and snack fairly regularly. However they’re also ridiculously healthy, perfect teeth and slim (more meat on a dirty fork) maybe their snacks are faulty….

Fruit? Jeez. That's a lot of sugar for your kids.

In the context of a child bolting about a playground at speed it's very different to an adult sat at a desk all day.

Absolutely hate judgey threads!!

Please f**k off back under the rock you crawled out from