The constant feeding / snacking of children

Tried and tested was family meals. The same thing for everybody. Slightly dull and repetitive. Obviously if somebody disliked a food or texture it was OK to not eat it.

What tried and trusted methods?

Introducing new food to my kids happened mostly at home where, if they didn’t like it the cost impact wasn’t significant. If we went out to eat the kids would have something I knew they liked and would eat, and they tried food off mine of their dads plate. If they liked it, it went onto the list of things they’d order if we went out to eat.

Im guessing the parents had a better idea of whether their kids would eat a curry, or indeed a steak, than randoms on the internet. While I’ve never restricted my two to the kids menu, I also don’t give them free rein of the al a carte.

With you up until size 16 and middle aged spread.

No it's not. It's having the guts ( pardon the pun) to stick to tried and tested methods.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s. My packed lunch was a sandwich, packet of crisps and a chocolate penguin bar every day.

My secondary school had vending machines full of chocolate and crisps that all of us used.

“Also in our house, food is something that happens sitting down at a table. Unless you go for a picnic, you sit properly to eat.”

@Lordofthebantams out of genuine curiosity why?

A lot of people espouse the importance of sitting down to eat at a table and proper table manners, but what does it teach or reinforce that you cannot get in other ways? You can spend time together as a family, or learn manners in other ways.

And the idea of sitting down at a table with cutlery to eat and formalised meal times is after all a very new habit for the human species. For most of human history people probably grazed and snacked in the day, maybe eating one bigger meal around the fire in the evening. The idea of a big breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and a big sit down dinner was invented during the Industrial Revolution because it benefited factory owners.

Just curious why it’s something you’ve chosen to emphasise for your family if you feel like it’s not the norm now?

I felt the same when I first had a baby - felt judgy at all the snacking. But then when my kids were between about 2 and 5 I realised why it was necessary - they still had small stomachs and got very grumpy and hangry between meals. Snacks were essential to keep them going! The toddler years were <hard> and snacks were a useful tool.

Now I have two stick thin and permanently ravenously hungry teen boys. Even after the biggest meal they are constantly grazing - but we don’t tend to buy junk so it is usually on nuts, fruit, yoghurts, cheese.

We were recently at a little singing show put on by a private local singing teacher to showcase her students. It was a 45 minute show which started at 6:45. One family had their eldest of 3 children in the show and two younger (around 7 & 10 ) I would say with them in the small audience. After their daughter performed they gave their two younger children a huge bag of crisps each which they sat and ate through the rest of the show. The whole video of my daughter performing has the sound of rustling crisp packets and the crunching of crisps in open mouths. We were sat behind them and it completely ruined the whole show for me. Even the video taken by the teacher by the stage has the rusting crisp packet sound. I can’t understand people sometimes. It was only a 45 minute performance, could they really not go that long without food?

I think everyone knows that obesity increases your risk of multiple diseases?!

the point is, there is this weird idea that an obese person is someone who needs a bariatric dental chair, or to be craned out of their house. A poster can’t believe 1 in 5 children leave school over weight

because obese isn’t what they think it is. It’s their mate who wears size 16 clothes, it’s the stocky kid at swim club. It’s the middle aged spread.

Good for you, when do you get your medal?

Obesity leads to a range of other problems, including but not limited to diabetes and heart disease. It's not just a number on a chart, designed to make obese people feel bad.

No, if we banned ultra processed food there would be a lot less childhood obesity. Children have small stomachs and generally burn a lot of energy, there is nothing wrong with a child having a nutrient dense snack to fuel them between meals.

Why make them wait ten minutes for no reason?

It's different if you're driving home and there's no food in car ... Fine wait ten minutes. But to make them wait 10 minutes for no real reason seems a weird power play 🤷

Nonsense.

Humans across the globe have been snacking for centuries.

Children should get NO snacks whatsoever. They should just eat their meals and that should be enough. If we banned snacks there would be a lot less childhood obesity and obesity in general.

I have seen parents at buffet type meals and carvery loading their children's plates and desserts with an amount of food a small adult would struggle to eat. My daughter-in-law allows the grandchildren a small morning snack and a small afternoon snack. They survive!

On the first day DS started infant school, I hid biscuits in his coat pocket because I thought he'd never survive the morning without the snack he used to be given at pre-school. He was fine, of course, and has grown into a slim adult who now snacks constantly between meals 😂p.s. He has teeth a film star would envy.

I am starting to really see this too and I have young children who love snacking! We definitely fell into this trap of convienience snacks but are now trying to be healthier as a family.

One things I've noticed is since my oldest started school, all the children are handed junk food by their parents the second they leave the classroom at home time and my daughter naturally expects the same.

Why do children need snacks as soon as they leave? Surely they can wait the 10 minutes or however long to get home!

It's so difficult to navigate when there's so much rubbish food available and children's menu's in restaurants are awful offering nuggets, sausages, pizza and so on.

But that’s made up. She obviously doesn’t know whether complete strangers “constantly” snack on stuff.

you can’t pretend it’s common for children to be eating constantly.

Re read the OP's first post. It's not snacking per se but the constant snacking on unhealty stuff , which becomes the norm rather than an occasional treat.

Ah I was with you until this. Will not cook two meals and have a wide variety of delicious and balanced meals, but there’s no way I’m spending £10 on something my kids ask for but won’t eat

The nhs only classify children as overweight, not obese

I doubt you’d be able to tell most of them are overweight by looking at them. It just means their weight is on that percentile

Being brought up a certain way doesn't make you immune to current parenting trends, good or bad.

1 in 5 children in the UK are obese by end of primary school

Is that true?? Yikes there was one fat kid in my whole primary school in the 90s!

These are presumably the children you brought up though, who think their own children need constant snacks?