To not carry about endless snacks and things for my DC?

[AwfulMaureen]

I seem to be seeing an awful lot of parents with snacks in bags....I remember that I did do that a bit when the children were tiny...as in under 3...and their meal times weren't always regular. But now they are 9 and 6 I don't...however I see that the parents of their friends have things in their bags all the time....bags of cheese or chocolate bars...cartons of juice etc. This is not for long gaps between meals whilst waiting for swimming lessons or anything...it's constantly!

Walking about town with a friend and her bag is full of bloody food! Her son is NINE...surely he can wait a couple of hours?

[WorraLiberty]

And the people saying their constantly snacking kids are not overweight...well I'm not sure what that has to do with it?

There are thousands of overweight adult comfort eaters who might not have been overweight as children.

But over the years, the comfort eating they learnt has started to take its toll and now they can't break the habit.

[notso]

I have to say the healthiest eater I know eats 6 times a day, she has an amazing figure. She always carries snacks for her DD.

A family friends on the other hand constantly feed their daughter like a baby bird.
We went on holiday with them and she never sat down to eat properly her Mum, Dad and Grandparents just picked bits of food and shoved them in her mouth as she was running round.
When I say constantly I mean it. All day long it was give her some of your egg, give her this toast, see if she likes olives, here try this avocado, can she have some of your cake, give her a bit of this orange etc etc.

DS3 is a month older and they were amazed that he sat down with us to eat and used a fork and spoon.

[andsmile]

I agree worra it wouldnt bother if my kids have to wait they would just be told 'tough you can't..'

BWIW I agree there also, all this sugar in media has really made me think. We had already cut out squash completely. I sometimes buy fresh juice but I dilute it 50/50.

I have stopped buying flavoured yoghurts, we have plain with fresh fruit in it now. I have started doing cooked breakfast just sausage plus toast or egg and toast instead of cereal.

[TheUnemployableLeech]

Really Worra? If I get hungry the signs are "ummm, I feel hungry" within 5 mins or so I start to feel faint. If I've not eaten within 45-60 minutes I will start retching or vomiting. A couple of hours is not possible. I notice with DS, he gets very bad tempered around 11, starts tantrumming for the smallest thing, refuses to walk any more and if I insist will start hitting/spitting/lying on the ground etc. So yes, I would rather give him snacks than deal with the alternative and wait until we (eventually) get home.

[WorraLiberty]

I think constantly feeding ourselves has now been normalised by the introduction of the word 'grazing'.

Switch back to the words 'constantly eating throughout the day and night' and it doesn't sound so attractive.

[DoYonisHangLow]

It depends if the child is comfort eating or eating for hunger I suppose doesn't it.

[WorraLiberty]

Then you sound as though you have a medical condition Leech

My posts are aimed at the general population of snackers and snack feeders who don't.

[AwfulMaureen]

See, really I don't even HAVE snacks to take out with me...I mean I have biscuits in the tin sometimes...but I'm not going to take out a few digestives with me...fruit is obviously a snack of sorts but there's no need to be eating fruit all the time between meals is there?

At home, the DC just eat their meals....I do have cheese in the fridge and sometimes crackers...we use the cheese in packed lunches...I also have lolly ices at times but only in summer...I can't pack those things and if we're not home at meal times then we eat out! I'm just pointing it out I think...because I do think that the snacking thing has gotten out of hand. I know there are people who say that it's better to eat a lot of small meals a day...and I don't know enough to say if that's right or wrong...but snacks don't make a "meal" do they?

[FudgefaceMcZ]

I wouldn't carry snacks for 12yo, and haven't since she was maybe 8 or so- we can wait until we get home to eat, unless some kind of emergency delay in which case we will go in a cafe. I do carry snacks for 4yo after nursery pickup because she is a complete nightmare without them, I think low blood sugar combined with tiredness. I also carry them to bribe her if we are on a long walk. I don't really care what other people do though, maybe they have more or less irritable when hungry children, maybe their kids are underweight or have difficulty with large meals so need to eat more intermittently, etc. People are different.

[AwfulMaureen]

Leech I agree with Worra...that sounds dreadful to be living with..and not normal at all. You should see the doctor!

[andsmile]

I think managing your food intake is quite individual. For some five small meals a day helps to spread out energy levels. But again depends on what those meals are made up of. It depends what your metabolism and energy expenditure is like. There are so many variables....you need to figure out what works for you to maintain good health.

[AwfulMaureen]

Fudge don't you know that food shouldn't be used as a reward?

[FudgefaceMcZ]

Also neither of mine is overweight, based on actual nurse/health visitor assessment rather than Some Internet Speculator Diagnosis. In fact dd2 was underweight for quite a while- not sure if she still is, HV no longer worried anyway, she doesn't look skinny to me but is also not nearly as chubby as a lot of kids her age.

[DoYonisHangLow]

But why should we eat 3 meals a day just because society tells us we should?

I graze, when I listen to my body. I eat nothing all day till 4 ish, then I graze. That's how I eat the healthiest, I eat good, real food, no crap, just high protein, high fat, low carb foods. On the days I need to ignore the signs my body is sending me and eat differently (for sample at work when I work for 13 hours and have no regular breaks) I feel sluggish and slow.

It's amazing that so many people can't accept that other people's metabolisms and appetites don't work exactly like heir own! Eat to hunger, not by the clock. Why is that so controversial I wonder?

[andsmile]

YY Leech get thee to GP

[TheUnemployableLeech]

Not that I'm aware of! I just can't miss meals and have to eat in between is I always have something in my bag for me. I just extended that to assume it was the same for the DC. I won't give then a snack unless it's at least midway between meals and not if it's less than an hour to the next, so they don't always get if they ask and sometimes they do gave to wait, but I don't see the harm in eating a biscuit in the middle of the afternoon.

[DoYonisHangLow]

I don't rely do snack foods either tbh, though we get a graze box once a week. Be wise I know my DDs routines by now I plan accordingly. At home, DD2 will have her lunch around 10am ish. If we go out she had the same food just as snacks. So, cheese chunks, chicken drumsticks, beef slices, raw veg, cucumber, peppers, olives, tomatoes etc. all easy to pop into a tub and carry along wherever we go.

[meerschweinchen]

It's interesting reading this. I've got in a (bad) habit of giving my son snacks - it is actually advised in all the parenting books, NHS leaflets etc. He's a fussy eater too, and all the advice I read about fussy toddlers encouraged grazing He now eats more, but is still fussy, but I've realised he snacks too much. So it's no wonder he never wants much at dinner. Like a pp said, he'd happily eat all morning, and then nothing else for hours. He's only three, but it's still quite a difficult pattern to break, and I realise I've set up unhealthy eating patterns, when I was determined to give him a healthy start in life...

[youwish]

Didn't read all the thread.agree with OP,I don't see the need to take snacks for DCs for a couple of hours outing to a park for example.problem is,most of my friends carry snacks with them and end up sharing with my kids when they feed theirs,so I feel bad about that and kids still get snacks!

[andsmile]

exactly do which is why I never make my kids clear their plates. But they can't request other food after leaving table. If significant amounts it will be reheated (safely)

fudge they may not be but I still think it is a bad association to have as a longer term life habit. I speak from personal experience.

[DoYonisHangLow]

Because

Sigh. I may be a normal weight but I clearly have fat sausage fingers

[WorraLiberty]

Yes but it's one thing for an adult to decide to graze

I think it's quite another to constantly feed your child so that they never actually learn that hunger is a natural feeling and not something that needs to be 'dealt with', the minute they feel it.

I used to love coming home from playing in the park all day as a kid...wondering what's for dinner because I was 'starving' and looking forward to it.

If my Mum had stuck a sausage roll in my gob every time I felt hungry, I don't think I would ever have learnt to like the feeling of hunger when I've a nice dinner to come home to.

[andsmile]

true worra that is not how I use snacks.

[ThoughtsPlease]

I always have water and snacks for me and 3DC 2-8years

We all have regular meals, but we all need snacks in between, eldest DC perhaps the least.

I am a size 6.

All 3 DC are very slim.

[TheUnemployableLeech]

I'm not going to the doctor for that. Much less hassle just to carry a packet of biscuits in my handbag!