Does anyone else do snack baskets over half term?

[LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer]

My 2 are 7 and 5 and all I hear is am huuuuuuungry. They always have free reign of the fruit bowl and have a good size breakfast lunch and tea.

In the half term I make them up a basket each filled with snacks for the day they can get themselves and once the basket is empty doesn't get refilled till the next day and anything left stays in for the next day. At first they used to eat everything but now they've got the hang of it.
The baskets are primarily fruit in today's basket we have.
An apple
Small bunch of grapes
2 tangies
Mini roll
Crisps
Belvita biscuits

They've got you well trained haven't they?

My cats are like this. Only I don't pander to them because overeating isn't good for cats.

I don't think they have me trained well ..... The cat on the other hand

No, that's a ridiculous amount of extra food to be giving children.

Why put it in a basket? Its not awful, its fruit, crips and a chocolate roll. Why can't they just help themselves?

No. Mine would snuffle those 3 treat foods and then not eat lunch. My 5 year old has free access to the fruit bowl and I often give snacks (toast, apple and peanut butter, fruit salad, carrot sticks) as my toddler is a grazer.

No

I think it’s a great idea!

I'm not sure what tangies are, and Google isn't helping, but you can't really say they're 'mainly fruit' if there's two portions of fruit that will never get touched and 3-5 snacky items.

They're probably bored rather than hungry. Tell them to play nicely together, or else you may start with training them in the great art of room tidying.

Ridiculous amount of food??? A few pieces of fruit, some crisps etc. Wouldn't even enter my thought process to be honest. It's fine, it's normal, don't make it a "thing". You're overthinking this one.

Swap the chocolate roll to half a sandwich if you must.

I hardly describe crisps, biscuits and cake as 'primarily fruit'

Terrible idea. My kids would eat all that just because it was there!

What do they have for lunch? I would have some of those items for lunch. Do they have plenty to drink through the day too?

Nope.

Anyone else give their kids three meals a day, plus an afternoon snack, during half term?

Saying 'I'm hungry' usually means 'I'm bored and want a treat' I say it to myself frequently . Why not do a scheduled 'snack' of fruit and toast mid morning and mid afternoon and keep to meal times the rest of the day. Personally I wouldn't want a trail of crumbs and food wrappers left around ....

My dc are a bit older (6&8) but they're passed the snacking phase I think. We might all have a bit of something if we're out and about or if a meal is going to be later than planned but aside from that or the ooccasional apple they don't really snack much.

Tangie - tangerine

If it works for you go for it.

They're probably bored rather than hungry.

This. Eating because you’re bored is a really bad habit to get into.

How much are they snacking on a normal day? Would they be having biscuits, crisps and a mini roll plus fruit in term time?

Ridiculous amount of food???

I actually said 'ridiculous amount of extra food. Which it is. The children are 5 and 7 - they don't need apple, tangerines, grapes, crisps, mini rolls and belvitas on top of their meals.

I think that's a good idea.

Can't believe pp can't figure out what tangie means 😂

I wouldn't. I always told my DC to wait for their lunch / dinner, sometimes bringing it forward if they were really hungry. They shouldn't need to be snacking so much out of hunger if they were eating enough at mealtimes. Boredom is probably the reason. Everything in the basket is high carb and will make them hungrier.

Wait until they get to 15 OP

They literally don't stop eating.

Just parent how you want to and have some confidence in your decisions. You want to fill baskets full of goodies? Do it.

Sorry, I thought it might have been some of that fruit leather type stuff. I normally call a small orange a satsuma, I'm aware that there are different varieties but have never heard anyone refer to a tangerine as a 'tangie' before.

Yes, I agree with above posters, this does not sound a good idea. They sound bored rather than hungry and if they have access to a fruit bowl, then surely that’s enough? It all sounds very high in sugar and half of the snacks are full of empty calories. Encouraging snacking isn’t ideal, why not try increasing the amount they have at meal times? If they were at school you wouldn’t expect them to be snacking all day.

What’s wrong with having to wait for your next meal?

Being a bit hungry is fine. It’s really not good to think as soon as you’ve got a small rumble you have to dash off to eat something.

Their snacks contain 650 cals and 58g of sugar.

They have you very well trained.

I think people are being harsh.

Sounds like a good idea- you could just make the fruit bowl unlimited