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?

How could a child eat enough at meal times if they've been snacking all day anyway?

I think it's a bit of a vicious circle.

^How could a child eat enough at meal times if they've been snacking all day anyway?

I think it's a bit of a vicious circle^

well exactly how can parents expect their children to eat anything if they are eating all day or have just had something an hour before lunch and then they pick at lunch baffles me,

How could a child eat enough at meal times if they've been snacking all day anyway? My DD does but she is an eating machine! Don't know where she puts it all, must have hollow legs . To be fair it's all pretty healthy anyway, especially during the week, only really have treats at the weekend.

Some do appear to have hollow legs!

But take swimming for example, is there a reason why you take the snack with you rather than wait until they get home?

That's what I find interesting...why some people want to immediately put a stop to their child's hunger?

How do they ever learn to cope for a while? I just wonder whether this sort of thing is producing the over eaters of the future?

We go to swimming on the bus, usually on a Sunday quite early in the morning, so we are coming out of the pool at say 10ish (breakfast has usually been at 7) so the snack is for the bus on the way home as it would be the sort of time she'd have a snack anyway.

Surely the children with "hollow legs" are the ones you need to be even more careful with though to make sure they don't get into habits of over eating?

Ahh I see Kelly

Actually whenever I smell chlorine, I automatically think of chicken cuppa soup because that's what I used to have as a kid when I got home Lol.

Surely the children with "hollow legs" are the ones you need to be even more careful with though to make sure they don't get into habits of over eating? I don't think three meals per day and two snacks is over eating though. DD will always be hungry for sweets/cake etc but it doesn't mean she gets it. I personally think eating on a more regular basis, as well as being good for your metabolism and blood sugar, stops over eating at meal times. Some kids will have massive portions followed by a stodgy pudding which isn't how we eat at all. I've always been an advocate of little, healthy and often.

We used to go and get chips from the cafe after swimming on a saturday

Ive said to know to snack just now after he walked in the door as his spag bol will be ready in 30 mins.

Before I would have given them both a piece of fruit or a ginger biscuit (or other small biscuits).

MN can give you a wake up call. I still took a narnie and drink out to softplay for toddler.

We used to go and get chips from the cafe after swimming on a saturday My DD is a weird child who doesn't like chips! There's a chip shop right by the bus stop when we come out of the baths. Might nip in next Sunday and leave DD to have her banana and a bag of chips for me

I take a snack to swimming because we have breakfast at 7, leave the house at 9 for the 20 minute walk to get there. Then he has his swimming lesson at 930, then more often than not I need to do a food shop so we have a 20-30 min walk to the shop, have to do the shopping and then have a 15-20 minute walk home.

I think swimming is an exception leech makes me starving anyway