To think your child doesn't need a snack in a 30-minute toddler class?

[Mummyreindeerlegz]

Sorry for the long title.

Why is it some parents give their one year old snacks during really short classes (or at all during classes!)? A one year old wandering around with a soggy rice cake, dropping bits is grim. Wait half an hour or give them a snack before you come.

Please tell me why people think this is ok? Fully prepared to be told I am being unreasonable.

Actually, I take my judgey pants off when children are at school plays, weddings etc. It's just a sensible strategy as long as the snack isn't orange powdery organic snack noodles in a rattly bag...

I read the title as need a smack! My answer was some do, but as it is a 'snack' my answer for that is NO they do not.

I hate this culture of feeding kids on the go all the time, we never had snacks when little, what's wrong with being hungry occasionally? No wonder there are so many obese children today.

If children ate properly at mealtimes there would be no need to snack or graze all day long, they can't do it at primary school so get used to it from little. Half the time children are actually thirsty as they don't drink enough water daily.

What even is a 30min toddler class

It's a class for toddlers, lasting 30 minutes.

HTH.

But plenty of times they don't eat well at mealtimes because they're not well, or teething. At those times I would feed them what they will eat, when they will eat it.

I wouldn't give dd a bag of rice cakes as she doesn't know to keep the bag the right way up. I probably wouldn't give her anything at a 30 min class as it's so short, but I probably wouldn't go at all for that reason. I would definitely clean up any mess, but I doubt I would care what the other kids were doing unless it was every week.

If they're not stuffed with snacks, they soon learn to eat well at mealtimes.

"Toddler eats rice cake"
FFS no wonder some people think women are snippy and interfering.
A whole thread about someone else's child being subjected to a snack.
It's like watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie with the gossipy old women in the shop making judgemental remarks about all and sundry.
YANBU to think that most of us eat too much and most kids probably don't need a snack every five minutes.
But YABU to think that this child having a snack is worthy of so much of your interest and judgement to be shared.

Agree Well

Much more likely to eat if properly hungry. I do think small children often need small snacks between meals though. Between, not just before.

And make them sit down to eat or if in a pushchair stop with mum sitting down rather than eating on the go I bloody hate it

I would definitely always try to avoid giving a toddler a snack at a 30 min class. I agree that at this age children tend to eat little and often and haven't got into the 3 set meals a day routine yet, but surely they can last 30 mins! It used to annoy me when a child started eating and then my child sees it and then wants something.
My local sure start- stay and play session has a no eating policy because of allergies, some people still get snacks out. If there is a child with health problems, they are allowed to go to the office next door for a snack and come back.

I can see how it's annoying when seeing food makes your child ask for it. Last week I was on a train to visit family for the weekend, and the people across the aisle from us sat down and put some grapes on their table, which dd spent 3 hours pointing at and crying when I said no. We had our own food but every time she remembered the grapes she wanted them. Obviously they can put whatever they want on their own train table, but when we arrived 4 hours later and they hadn't eaten a single grape, but had sighed loudly every time dd made even a happy noise I could have thought of a few uses for their decorative grapes that they wouldn't have appreciated!

"Toddler eats rice cake"
FFS no wonder some people think women are snippy and interfering.
A whole thread about someone else's child being subjected to a snack.
It's like watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie with the gossipy old women in the shop making judgemental remarks about all and sundry.

If you'd RTFT, you'd see that it's actually been a very interesting discussion about modern parenting methods regarding food, and how they might impact weight and behaviour.

Nice of you to drop in and spew out some good old fashioned misogyny though, that's not something you see every da....oh wait.

WellErrr Sorry, I'm with Bettersleepoutdoors on that point. A toddler eating a snack doesn't merit a (rather judgemental) discussion on modern parenting methods... unless that snack was a Big Mac!

I very much doubt a toddler having a handful of raisins or a rice cake between small, appropriately portioned balanced meals is what makes a difference to their weight. It's the type of food and the portion sizes they eat, not the frequency.

Wow. What a considerate thoughtful attitude . I wish people would think more about what is for the common good rather than just about themselves all the time.

Really Mamushka? You support that misogyny?

It's no longer about a rice cake, is it? If it were 300+ posts discussing the scenario in the OP you would have a point about repetition at least, but it's not. Discussion is how Mumsnet works. One post can spark a debate about many related things.

What I absolutely can't fucking stand though is the belittling of women in the above post. If it were men, it'd be a 'debate.'
But no, just because it's a group of women talking, it's 'snippy and interfering,' and 'gossipy.' Wouldn't use those words about men, would you?

That was a reply to a PP, not the one above!

WellErrr No, I don't see it that way - I don't think the post in question is misogynistic. She's saying that some posters on here are living up to the misogynistic stereotype. And I have to agree - it's a case of being very judgemental over something really quite trivial. As women we should rise above that, support eachother, and not judge eachother on such trivial parenting choices.

My post was not misogynistic.
And yes, i did read most of the thread thanks but still think that the opening post was unreasonable, small minded and unneccessarily judgemental.

BetterSleep yes it was. You start knocking women's discussion down by calling them "gossips" and "old women" as though being an old woman is automatically a negative thing and that is misogynistic.

I just realised this could be about me. My toddlers can easily go 30mins without a snack. But the other day we were in a group and they found some sandwiches and rice cakes in my bag. They helped themselves and I didn't stop them, assuming they were hungry. I did tidy up after them though.

I think it's a bad habit to let them get into. Thinking they can eat in any situation at all. A baby is different of course.

But it doesn't need to be a habit to meet their needs for each particular developmental stage, does it?

When people say about young people eating a lot/frequently that they won't be able to eat like that forever, it will catch up to them, what would you rather? They undereat, leave themselves hungry and are underweight until they're in their 30s and their metabolism catches up? Or is it better to learn flexibility with eating, and change it according to your body's needs?

If one were training for a marathon they'd probably eat a lot more than if they sustained and injury and had to rest for example. Eating to restore the deficit isn't a 'bad habit' that will be punished by weight gain later.

Of course my daughter won't snack so often when she's in school, because she will be old enough to understand 'later' and school rules. A one year old can't understand that there are some situations you can't eat in and therefore have to just stay hungry, they understand 'hungry, need food.'

It's more about the situations in which they're being fed. Allowing toddlers to eat during classes or wander with food isn't on and if they can't cope for half an hour without, then that's a good indication that they're too young for the class anyway.

Yanbu

I will get flamed but the amount of crap children eat is disgusting. I'm sure some children don't know what being hungry feels like so the moment they're not stuffed full they scream for food.

Nothing worse than seeing an overweight child eating a tub of Pringles or a chocolate bar so big they can't even hold them properly.

Where a live a lot of people use 99p chicken and chips as a snack inbetween meals.

If a toddler (or adult) is genuinely hungry will a rice cake fill them up? I thought they were basically diet food to satisfy psychological need of eating something with minimal calories.
I think yanbu in this scenario. Doesn't sound like child was hungry and leaving mess is rude.
I haven't really noticed toddlers here eating continually. Not in UK. Advice is I think 3 meals a day with 2 snacks and avoid constant eating as it's bad for teeth. Seems to work for most of my friends with toddlers. We've dropped the morning snack as never got round to it until nearly lunchtime which seemed pointless. Of course if out for coffee or something may be extra food or on say a long train journey anything for distraction but it's not a regular thing.

I start a new class tomorrow. This came with the joining info.

'Please do try to reframe from'

Why can't people write these days?? Or at least get publicised documents checked?