To think.. there is a weird obsession with snacking?

[helpmeplease2045]

I have two DC age 6 and 3.

My 6yo has a pretty big breakfast (bowl of porridge with fruit and often second bowl of muesli or cereal for e.g.), we then provide them with a morning snack (maybe piece of fruit) for school, then two hours later they have school lunch then after school parents are handing over more snacks (ranging from fruit to biscuits, cakes, crisps, sandwiches etc), then a snack at home / at a playdate / children's party. There are snacks after activities / on the way to activities.. all this before dinner.

Sometimes I feel like it's a constant battle to stop kids from constantly eating all day! When I was younger we had bkfast, morning snack maybe on a school day and school dinners then we waited till the evening meal. I don't think little children need a constant supply of (often sugary) treats throughout the day.

AIBU to not want my small children to be eating something every two hours!?

[tinypop4]

I think snacking makes a mess

Can't the person having a snack just sit down and eat it at a table off a plate, to avoid this? Breakfast, lunch and dinner would also make a mess if you wandered around with it...

[CEOD]

We don't have supper until 6pm and then children are "starving" (so they say) when they come out of school at 3:30 so I let them have something healthy then (kale chips, or veg. sticks with cream cheese or humous dip or a piece of fruit) to tide them over until dinner time. I don't see the need for morning snacks though.

[Notso]

I think snacking makes a mess - unless small children are really just helping themselves to fruit from a bowl and then putting peel, cores etc neatly in a bin without being prompted.

Mine have all done this from about 18 months. The only one in the house who can't quite manage it everytime is my 40 year old husband

I do think if it wasn't for fruit and veg between meals as a family we probably wouldn't eat enough of them especially now it's supposed to be 10 a day.
Something I think a lot of people don't factor in as a snack is a drink. Smoothies, juices, hot chocolate, latte, cappuccino and milk or milkshakes are all snacks, often people will have something to eat with them though as they are seen as a drink.

[Wtfdoicare]

Something I saw recently at during a dance class made me feel sad. The girls were 5-6 years old and one girl stuck out significantly as being the largest, although one of the shortest, in a class of 15. The girl was wearing a crop top underneath her leotard as she had a more developed chest, and her mum had brought snacks (crisps, sausage rolls) along for her during the 40 minute lesson which was first thing in the morning, so presumably she'd just had breakfast. She kept on breaking off dancing to have some of her snack. No other children were eating as they were dancing, and it was not an allocated snack break.

[Carolbetty]

Yanbu. Just look at the number of overweight kids (and parents). It's a problem.

[SafeToCross]

Some kids need snacks, especially if struggle to keep weight on/underweight, fussy eaters (so don't eat much at meals) or certain medical conditions. Which is why schools snack policies are too 'blanket' at the moment. But in general, I agree, especially as lots of snacks are sugary and therefore make you crave more.

[ElinorRigby]

I think snacking makes a mess - unless small children are really just helping themselves to fruit from a bowl and then putting peel, cores etc neatly in a bin without being prompted.

I'm not a particularly tidy person, but there's something about people going constantly in and out of kitchens, rootling round in cupboards and fridges, which I find a bit unrestful.

Unusually I was watching ITV last night and there were two advertisements involving snacking. One was for ready-made popcorn and the other for jam doughnuts. So it is being promoted as a 'normal' happy family activity.

[morningconstitutional2017]

We wonder why we have a problem with obesity in the developed world. When I was a child snacks were an occasional treat, we didn't have the means to indulge ourselves everyday and most of us were slim.
Most children aren't going to keel over due to hunger but is there an irrational fear that they might?
We also have become unused to waiting for things, "I want it now!" which probably doesn't help.

[Galdos]

Plenty of adults snack. Sometimes the press call it 'grazing'. My kids snack: they are pretty self sufficient in that respect, and short of standing in the kitchen with a rolling pin I can't really stop them. Their choice of snacks is limited though (basically bread & butter). I don't mind them snacking, but encourage them not to within 2 hours of a scheduled meal, otherwise they won't always clear their plate.

The eldest eats everything (not always willingly, but she sees the point: aged 16). The twins are getting there slowly ...

[DevelopingDetritus]

Is there no one else out there that eats half a packet of Jaffa cakes with a cup of tea at 9pm? Or a bag of crisps in the afternoon? Yes

[haveacupoftea]

These threads are always full of mums who never ever over eat and if they must snack they eat vegetables and other people's kids are greedy pigs for eating crisps.

Is there no one else out there that eats half a packet of Jaffa cakes with a cup of tea at 9pm? Or a bag of crisps in the afternoon?

[purpleme12]

I don't really get the problem with snacking. If a child is hungry they'll ask for something eg a snack. Why would you not give them something? It can be something healthy.

My child is only 3 but yes does snack a lot to be honest. Sometimes i do think it's a bit of a stupid amount however she hardly weighs anything anyway and she most often gets fruit for a snack so i really cant see the problem.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"in offices (for example) a lot of people seem to spend all day eating."

That's mainly boredom.
Also routine. If you usually have a snack for elevenses, for example, your body will start to crave it at that time.
I don't think snacking is good for me at all. In an ideal world, I would only eat outside of meals when one meal is unavoidably delayed, but in reality I eat when bored or when someone has brought something in to share.

[Ohyesiam]

I think snacking is food industry lead, and mostly unnecessary.
Dr Michael Moseley talks about this a lot in his first book. There is a big link between obesity, and frequent eating ( not exactly rocket science) . in the 50' s it was uncommon to eat more often than 4 to 6 hourly, now it's 2 to 3 hourly. And if the liver doesn't get time away from Just digesting food, it never had time to do all the other essential stuff our bodies need it to do in order to ttick over healthily.

[Booboo66]

I remember not having many snacks as a child, I also remember feeling terribly hungry and feeling shaky if I didn't eat regularly. I was given substantial meals too but had and still have a huge appetite, I have always been very slim, begging in underweight on occasions. My DD 7 has breakfast at home, breakfast at breakfast club, snack mid morning (sometimes fruit or a cereal/breakfast bar, occasionally a packet of crisps or biscuit as a treat) school lunch which she always finishes, snack after school (cheesy oatcakes or rice cakes and some fruit or raw veg) often another piece of fruit or carrot when we get home, a large home cooked meal, a healthy pudding eg fruit and Greek yogurt and if doing an activity after dinner then a snack after that (banana and pretzels usually). Even with all this she still seems ravenously hungry a lot of the time, especially before dinner. Like me she is extremely slim, any slimmer and she'd probably be classed as underweight and has also complained of feeling shaky after exercise and having not eaten for a while. Some people just need to eat more and more often than others.

[NotACompleterFinis]

My DC have 2 after school snacks ( despite the fact that I'm against snacks as a general rule) they are 4 and 5. They have somnething like a piece of cheese / cold sausage with ryvita or wholegrain cracker at 4:30. They have carrot sticks and cucumber during TV time/me getting supper ready so about 6/6:30. We eat at 7 - which is late for littlies hence the snacks. It's the only meal we can all eat together. My 4 yo is particularly sensitive to blood sugar drops. I have found that making sure he has plenty of protein whole grains and fruit/veg at mealtimes has dramatically reduced the effects and making sure he doesn't go more than 4 hours between meals. If he does need to he gets a snack - but that would be piece of cheese and small piece of fruit. No cakes, biscuits, flapjacks, crisps. No squash. No juice. People are filling kids with crap - they have cravings instead of hunger. Some people are more affected by sugar and salty fatty foods than others. Feeding children snacks throughout an event to 'keep them occupied and quiet' sets them up to use food as a boredom reliever, it's a horrific practice. I've stopped going to my local church because the kids are plied with squash and biscuits, it's ridiculous. OP you are bang on. It's an epidemic!

[welshgirlwannabe]

I read up to page 3 and then got bored... does anyone admit to having children that snack?!?!? If not I'll do it! I snack. My kids snack. Every child I've ever known snacks. Children have small stomachs and fast metabolisms. They get cranky whrn hungry. They snack. When I was a child (80s) we snacked. I've never been overweight in my life atnd my children are like rakes.

I hate this good food bad food obsessing.

[enchantmentandlove]

My dd is only 9 months, but this is something I really notice at groups.

On one group they just have a little fruit (apple, banana), and sometimes rice cakes or bread sticks. I let dd have a little to join in, although at home she wouldn't usually have a snack at this time. I think of this as being a nice small, healthy snack, but all the other mum's complain it isn't enough (and this is a free group!).

The other group though always has so many snacks which aren't the healthiest. As well as a little fruit, there is cake, crisps, jam and chocolate spread sandwiches etc. And this is about 30 minutes before lunch time. I usually just let dd have a little of the fruit, but as she gets older I know she'll want what the other children are eating too.

I never remember snacking this much as a child.

[PlumsGalore]

My DC were born in the nineties, they have never snacked. I did however give them their evening meal pretty soon after they got in from school DH and I never ate until 7pm and children shouldn't wait that long so mine would eat 4:30-5:00 the downside being we never ate as a family except at weekends.

Bedtime would be a milky drink and digestive biscuit to curb any hunger pangs.

Personally I have never eaten breakfast either, bloody waste of calories and never anything sweet until after evening meal, works for me.

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

My 2 DILs both have dedicated snack cupboards - without collaboration with each other. I feel they think it's getting them off some sort of hook. It's one of the biggest issues I have to bite my tongue on.

[hellokittymania]

When I was in elementary school the only snack I had were biscuits and peanut butter and the only reason is because I have a disability and had to make it as part of my daily living skills. When I would go home I would be given A cup of tea, I know that's quite crazy, but in the 90s it was OK. When I was hungry I could have some ice cream or something else but nothing was regularly given and are used to do gymnastics and was very active

[Jessikita]

YANBU. I don't understand all this snacking either. Or being allowed to run around with them (but that's a seperate discussion.) when I was young we had breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only snack I had was when I came in from school which was fruit.

My children would prefer to snack all day but I don't allow it otherwise they just pick at meals.

Also it's not good for their teeth. They will be constantly getting attacked by acid. A friend of mines daughter at 3 years old has had to have 3 fillings and now has an abscess due to constant eating.

[SugarLoveHeart]

Snacks & coffee shops are a relatively new thing, I suppose. I don't remember eating much at all, as a child, except my meals. Yogurt & cold toast were my fave snacks. Breakfast leftovers! However, when I went to college & started feeding myself, it was snack city...

[kateandme]

I think the pressure on food at the moment is horrific and yes I use horrific to describe it!there is so much pressure on something that should be just what it is,food.lovely lovely stuff food.what we eat to live to breathe.to see there mummy they eat.to play they eat,to cuddle they eat,breathe eat.food yummy lovely tasting food.
not this high powered pressure,thin fat to many suar no suar no red meat.
eat to live to love to be hungry to move.
eat a balance.
when hungry eat.but no when you not hungry.
have meals because it stops dips of sugar levels you don't no are coming.meals have been there to keep us steady.so ifur not hungry ondt have large amounts but try something to just keep you on a level.the body doesn't function with fuel
eat to have lovely stuff inside of you,not to feel punishment or bingeguilt or over eating or chocolate guilt
food its life.i hate where its gone.and what its done to us and kids

[Sarahrellyboo1987]

Totally agree with you! The obsessive need for snacking does my head in!
That said - You're saying you don't want your daughter to snack all day but then happily let her have two bowls of cereal - the second one being quite high in sugar!