The constant feeding / snacking of children

No but her kids willl be in better heath.

I have a very active and very lean 4 year old, who will demolish her main meals, but also snacks quite frequently. Snacks to me are things like fruit, pitta bread, etc. etc. I wouldn't worry about how frequently other people's children eat, OP! Mine saw a consultant for months as she struggled with her blood sugars and eating little and often suits her much better. However, I do agree with you about the constant eating of packaged/processed food. I find it hard when I collect my eldest from school and she's hungry, so I give her some food... And lots of her friends are given giant bags of crisps, packets of haribo, etc. I'm not anti treat, but I feel it's important to teach children that there are some things you can eat that sustain you, and some are just fun and delicious. So better to eat a piece of fruit and some nuts and then a cookie if you're genuinely hungry than just a packet of biscuits!

I totally agree with you OP.
Our gym has an outdoor pool and usually kids aren't allowed in it on weekdays, but they made an exception in the heatwave (as it was also half term).
I was amazed at the amount of kids with rolls of fat protruding over swimwear, getting out of breath quickly, sitting on sun loungers cramming crisps and donuts into their mouths. It's disgusting.
Maybe I have a limited memory but we didn't have so many fat children when we were younger. I don't remember anyone in my cohort being porky.
We do have snacks as a family, mainly fruit and puddings are limited tow weekends and special occasions. My kids aren't allowed to constantly graze between meals.

I bloody hate the word snack, and I hate the word snacking even more!!!!

OP I do think you have a point. Whilst I don’t think you can judge the people at the swimming pool, I do think kids eat too much shit.

My kids are older now but I can remember parents chasing round after little Tarquin getting him to eat a box of raisins or those disgusting puff things. Even if little Tarquin was happily playing!

What sort of snacks did your children enjoy?

I'm a dentist, my kids could snack but it had to be sugar free (including drinks)

I've taken far too many small children's teeth out to do anything else.

YANBU.
It's lazy parenting, and yes producing unhealthy overweight children.
Not the childrens' fault - but they are the ones who will suffer.

I gave my kids a snack at swimming tonight, albeit not poolside. They had Greek yoghurt and a banana. Other weeks this may be cookies or crisps. I try to follow the 80/20 rule but if you saw me 20% of the time you would judge me….

Maybe but I don't think children not being able to sit at a table and use cutlery is a new thing. My DD is 18; and I can remember when she was at nursery her key worker asked if we ate at the table. I said yes and she said I thought so because DD was one of the few children who could sit to the table and eat properly so looks like this is a longer standing problem than people want to admit.
Snacks I'm not that bothered about. DDs would sometimes snack after school and sometimes didn't. DS goes swimming most days and will always snack after that and have a proper meal and hour or so later. He is autistic though and never stops moving apart from meal times so just burns everything off. He actually slightly underweight so I'm not going to turn in to the snack police yet.

These threads piss me off. You don't know what that child has eaten the rest of the day. Worry about your own kids. My dd had an eating disorder at age 11. Please don't put your attitude on to your kids and make them worry about eating the wrong and right things and if it's too much. My son is always starving when he comes home from school he has a couple of snacks, still eats dinner and he's really skinny, walks to and from school. To all those saying about not eating snacks it's not true. We were told by the ED clinic kids should eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day spaced out to ensure the hunger cues are listened to and working properly. I would never judge anither parent for what their kid is eating as I've been through hell on earth having a child that wouldn't eat.

You win! Highland toffee was so good, I’m amazed I have any teeth left.

I’m also amazed I reached adulthood given my iron bru marinated early years.

Raise you a Highland toffee bar and packet of Johnny’s onion rings

🏅

Well, some children have bigger appetites. My dc would cry when young if I gave them only fruit at 3pm when they come out of school. They need a sandwich, fruit and something else like a biscuit or cheese. They still eat dinner. They are also play sports and thin. The older two are in secondary now so more independent and sort themselves out for snacks....but if they did not eat snacks they would be way too thin...especially my son who does sport 7 days a week. He still needs to put some weight and we try to feed him as we can. When they go to the in laws every summer for 3 weeks, they always drop weight and come back looking too skinny (less snacking there).

People seem to think snacking is a modern phenomenon something invented by in the last 20 years or something...when snacking and eating between meals has been around for centuries.

Two words for you - Wham Bars.

I didn’t realise only eating 3 square meals a day was seen as superior to snacking. When I’ve needed to watch my weight I’ve just been aware of maintenance number of calories and stuck to it… whether that’s been via meals with no snacks or grazing on lots of little bits throughout the day has made zero difference as long as I’ve not gone over.

Irn bru bars, freddos and flying saucers 😋

I bloody love empire biscuits, haven’t had one in ages.

One thing I do know, breadsticks, hummus and rice cakes never passed my lips in childhood, my mum would have flown to the moon before she gave me half a carrot for play piece. Farleys rusks were about as posh as we got.

My kids have meals and snacks depending on time and hunger levels. Sometimes that might be toasted crumpets, or a piece of fruit, or an ice cream, sometimes veggies and a cream cheese dip. I’m not going to get too hung up on it. I survived crispy pancakes and vesta curry - they’ll be absolutely fine. They’re not mainlining sherbet lemons or cola cubes the way I was in primary school.

I agree with you OP. On days out with friends I feel like a terrible mother because I haven’t packed endless snacks and treats. Even going to a 30 minute toddler film at the cinema seems to involve crisps, a biscuit, god knows what else. Endless ice creams and ice lollies on hot days. I find it confusing and irritating. My daughter can always eat when she’s hungry or of course have one ice lolly while we’re out and about, but there seems to be an obsession with shoving crap down kids throats.

I see you’ve got loads of people telling you to mind your own business but I agree! There are situations where needs must but snacks and screen time seem to be a default these days for any time children are inconvenient or kicking off.

I have certainly used both of them before on the rare very desperate occasion so I am not judging families for using them in an emergency but for many parent these seem to be the automatic default to make life easier. Children need to learn to deal with boredom, frustration, and discomfort.

Eating little and often is actually much better for you as big meals peak your sugar levels instead of having a consistent level throughout the day. And as someone who is type 1 diabetic I see rapidly how much energy your body uses from different sports - swimming skyrockets my blood sugar levels down dangerously low sometimes so of course children should be given a snack after exercising to replenish their energy and not just rely on lunch they ate hours ago. Said from a mum of a very healthy vegan 3 year old who eats healthy exciting meals every day as well as snacks in between.

Fruit was somewhat restricted when I was a child - it was an expensive extra.
My snack to take to school - when I was old enough to make it myself - was a Marmite sandwich. When I was younger the school milk (I never liked it) was considered enough.

My Gdcs do get through quite a few snacks - including a lot of bananas - but they’re all very active and super-slim.

I think a healthy balance is fine…my toddler eats mostly fruit snacks in the house, a banana when out and about but if he’s already had a banana that day, I’d happily stick a conveniently packaged/processed snack in his bag…knowing it’s not the healthiest but balance that out for the rest of his food for the day.
He’s been 99th centile or above since 3months old (when he was exclusively breastfed) so people like OP may judge that snapshot and say look at her ‘chunky toddler’ eating a packet of Pom bears! Tut tut! End of the day he eats a very healthy diet 95% of the time.

Kids want to eat little and often because they have small tummies. It's not actually a terrible way for adults to eat either, if it's mostly nutritious.

I do get what you are saying OP, but we are a nation of snackers. Lots of grown ups snack and that is the behaviour that has normalised and is being modelled. It's not great but think about why.

Great for you that you a) can afford to buy nice fruit and b) have kids that will eat it. One of the issues with fruit, especially cheaper fruit, is the variable texture and taste. A lot of kids are wildly suspicious if some of their experiences aren't great and are inconsistent. One mushier apple = don't like apples.

Also, that period between school and swimming is a snapshot on quite a busy and tiring evening. Maybe they don't eat quite like that all the time. We have a lot of busy evenings ferrying kids to stuff, eating late on etc. it is what it is, sometimes it's healthy and sometimes it isn't