Do you let your kids snack on fruit between meals?

[ShabbyAbby]

I don't let my kids snack freely on fruit. They like fruit and could eat mountains of it, but I'm happier when they have something with protein and/or healthy fats.

Do you have a blanket rule like "you can only have fruit between meals" or are snacks a mix of the food groups?

Tia x

Haribo, icecream, cake, biscuits- I let em scoff it all!!

No seriously what is wrong with an Apple and a banana when they come in from school?!! 16 apples and 4 bananas yep but honestly forbidden fruit ( pardon the pun!) is always more enticing so better to stave off the hunger with a bit of fruit/ veg than skittles!

We have “something to put us on” every day about 3.30/ 4pm. If we were posh we’d call it high tea but we aren’t!

Jheez, I have my DD snack on a bit of chocolate or a biscuit sometimes!! She probably has some every day. She's 3 and not overweight at all. She has fruit also. It depends.

We have a fruit bowl that they snack from but I keep an eye on how much they consume. When they were younger they ate huge amounts of fruit and ended up with fillings (they didn't eat sweets or drink fizzy drinks and brushed their teeth well so this was the only thing it could be). Since I limited fruit the problem stopped. They are teens now so eat more and I prefer they snack on other things too as fruit isn't really filling.

My teens are pretty free to snack on whatever they wish. One usually chooses bananas or sultana bran the other biscuits or cheese.

“BertrandRussell

I let mine have peas. Apparantly that’s shocking because of the carbs....”

My peas never even make it in from the garden.

“They can fill their boots as far as I am concerned! I giggled when DS14 appeared with four satsumas in one go the other day, but bit my tongue as frankly, he can have as many as he likes - he's growing like a weed!”

Do hope you’ve Brexit stockpiled loo roll (I know, lowering the tone )

Fruit bowl is free range but berries/grapes in the fridge are not as they'd be gone on day 1.

I maintain a big, filled fruit bowl which everyone, adult or child, is welcome to eat from whenever they like.
I hate the no "snacking" between meals approach. It's horrible to be hungry for ages then stuff yourself full at mealtimes. I thought it was more healthy to "graze"?

We have fruit in the bowl and fridge but they are welcome to help themselves to what they want unless it’s very near a mealtime.
The teens sometimes make a cake over the weekend and will have a slice after school during the week, they might have a packet of crisps instead, or some pittas and hummus. I will sometimes do a plate of quick food for when they all come home - just snack things.
I don’t mind them snacking, they do tend to eat their meals and make their own healthy choices.

DS5 has free range on the fruit bowl. If I think he's had too much, I'll offer him raw veg or frozen peas. He doesn't like big meals though.

Sort of...I let DS have fruit whenever he wants but I don't let him have an unlimited amount.

He'd happily eat 3 satsumas in one go but I don't let him as he'd get a tummy ache (he's 2) If he's still hungry after seconds of fruit I give him something more stodgy like crackers or a biscuit.

My DC snack all the time and they eat their meals, they are not fat. They are normal healthy, active kids with a penchant for junk.

Fruit bowl is available and unlimited, unless excessive consumption is noted.

Yes they can help themselves to anything. My 12 year old is always hungry and always eats his meals. He has carrots, apples, biscuits, crisps, toast, bagels, whatever - I don't mind. He knows not to do stupid eating like entire packets or anything so I don't even think about some of the draconian rules on this thread

Mine have unlimited access to the fruit bowl but they’re not that fussed tbh. Only one of my kids would eat himself full on fruit, but he’s quite particular so I just don’t buy loads of grapes and strawberries

DD6 has 3 meals a day, snacks when she's hungry and it could be pretty much anything from a pear, slice of toast, chocolate, cake bar or anything really. She's active, healthy and enjoys food - no problem in my eyes.

Surprised a poster put on here, their kids can snack on biscuits,cake, but not fruit because it contains sugar, its not unhealthy processed sugar.

My 2.5yo can't help himself to snacks yet. I try to limit him to 3 pieces of fruit a day as I think that's plenty. I'm not particularly worried about the sugar, more his bowels 😂

fruit/raisins, when they were younger.
now they eat fruit, toast, crackers,same as most people.

Most of us at work have fruit between meals also.

what do all the posters snack on? op?

Never had a rule on snacking, DCs are always starving when they get home from school so they can have toast/yoghurt/couple of biscuits and fruit. As long as they have a bit of fruit or cucumber/carrots with it, I'm not fussed what they eat between meals. They're both healthy, normal weight children (DS is a little underweight to be fair) and plates are always clean at every meal. My mum was very strict with food when I was younger, and I now have a fairly unhealthy relationship with it. I've done my best not to pass that on to my DCs and it seems to have worked. DS 10 occasionally has hollow days where he just can't seem to eat enough, and on those days I let him fill up on fruit, bagel with cream cheese, pitta and hummus etc. I still let him drink full fat milk too (shock horror) although the rest of us drink 1%. He still eats all his dinner so I'm not concerned. My guess is he's going through a growth spurt, although he's yet to do much growing. He'll probably wake up one day a foot taller

My dc have acsess to the fruit bowl, they also snack on sliced meat from deli counter, yoghurt and crackers, pickles etc, I'd rather they have that than biscuits and crisps .

Our fruit bowl is there if ds wants to help himself. However he doesn't tend to snack after school. He is in by 3.15pm and we have tea at 5pm. If he is hungry he tends to have toast

No snacking in our house on fruit or anything else.

What! No one has ever had something to eat between meals? How old are your children? Even at school they get a break time for a snack, do you just not give them one? What a miserable existence.

mine are 3 teenagers and 1 21 year old at weekends (home from university) they have free access to what they feel like. this includes chocolate haribos ice cream crisps fruit sandwiches cheese ham hummus there is 1 shelf in the fridge for dinner stuff they know not to touch this.

dd3 regularly eats a pack of grapes however rarely chocolate crisps etc.

we usually have a pack of strawberries eaten over an afternoon..

ds age 17 eats 2 sandwiches on arriving home then some fruits and still manages dinner at 7.

chocolate haribo and ice cream is what gets left last none of them eats a lot of it.

I buy fruit for dd1 to take to university as yes too expensive for her. will do similar for dd2 come september.

they are capable of making sound good decisions and if one day that includes 4 flapjacks I am ok with that as long as it's not daily