Constant snacking ffs

[anothersuitcase]

So sick of this. My group of friends are obsessed with forcing snacks on their kids, they are literally never allowed to become hungry. I like my kids to feel hungry at mealtimes, and actually want to eat their dinner rather than pick at it. But every time we meet up snacks are produced or bought not even an hour after the last meal. Is it just the people I spend time with or is this the way things are now?

Yes I know you do get kids that need to eat regularly for various reasons, but surely not all kids? Is there actually anything wrong with a rumbling tum, even a bit of a gnawing hunger pang at mealtimes? I know I could tell my kids they can't partake but that is pretty awkward when all the others are tucking in.

I raised this with my friend today and she said something along the lines of this isn't post-war Britain and why deprive them when you don't have to? And I said that's exactly why there is a problem with obesity in children (her kids aren't obese to be fair) Things were slightly strained after that. So who is being unreasonable?

I agree with you OP but many don’t and that’s why so many children are becoming obese. I saw a woman today with two children about 10-11 walking beside her. Heads and necks bent into screens, both wearing glasses, waddling along, both grossly overweight. Mother carrying huge coke bottles. It’s child abuse and a dystopian future.

What's cruel is the number of obese children being raised by parents who continue to over feed them.

...how dare people keep their children fed and watered.

Most 'snacks' I wouldn't even class as food: crisps, squash, biscuits... all just crap basically.

The always needing a bottle of water is daft too. No one who went to school in the 1980s or 1990s did this and no one suffered any ill effects. Now people clutch them like their life depended on it.

@Psychobabble123 a water bottle is a good thing ...

Lots of people already don't need enough water, and kids aren't good at sporting dehydration, I think the water bottles are a good thing about modern life

No opinions on the snacking though

Don't drink enough water*

You can't go 40 mins without a drink Lemony?! Ridiculous!

My kids are 23 now. The only time I ever used snacks was when we had one of our numerous hospital appointments. It would take an hour to walk there and an hour to walk back and we might well be waiting for a few hours too. So I'd take a small bag of cheddars and a bit of cheese so they didn't get too hungry if we were waiting through lunchtime.

If we were going to the park for an hour, it wouldn't have occurred to me that they would need snacks. As they got older, they might get a slice of toast or a biscuit when they got in from school but only if they asked (or signed in ds's case).

I often see kids eating sharing bags of Haribo and crisps after school. There is no need for anyone to eat that much.

I grew up in a hot, dry part of Australia. Water bottles in classrooms were unheard of; you drank from the water cooler at break times. Eb

There’s no benefit in sipping constantly over having a bigger drink less frequently.

Not sure water bottles are really contributing to obesity though.

WRT the hangry thing for little kids, mine just ate meals earlier or had less time between them. Snacks can’t replace healthy meals—if a child eats a biscuit 20 mins before a nice dinner of chicken, rice and veg, he is not going to be hungry for dinner. So instead of getting a mix of nutrients, protein & carbs, he’s had carbs & sugar. It’s not what his body needs to function so he’ll be hungry again in an hour. Why not just let him wait the 20 mins or serve dinner 20 mins earlier if it’s a regular occurrence? Food tastes good when you’re hungry and UK children are not going to starve to death before dinner is ready.

Most people don't drink as much water as they should, so I don't see the harm in encouraging water regularly...

Regular unhealthy snacks maybe not such a good thing but I don't really get being against snacks in general. Isn't it supposed to be healthier to eat 6 small meals a day than 3 bigger meals?

Op YANBU. I am in agreement completely.

We seem to have developed into a society that is unable to function unless it has a pile of snacks readily available at all times.

We went to the cinema and the panto recently as a family. Both were mid afternoon showings. So it was logical both times that we would not be needing any snacks as we had had lunch before we got there. I think we were the only group in the audiences that didn’t clamour to rustle open a bag of crisps or sweets as soon as we sat down. Some people had giant hot dogs, nachos etc....

Ok maybe they hadn’t had their lunch, or maybe it was a (very) early supper. But we couldn’t get our head around the fact that nobody can sit through a film or a panto without chowing down on a meal’s worth of calories throughout.

A symptom of the obesity crisis, for sure!

LemonysSnicket Sun 14-Jan-18 11:23:35
"@Psychobabble123 a water bottle is a good thing ..."

Not for the environment, it isn't! Training our children to wait until they get within striking distance of a tap would make a huge difference to the health of our planet. And it's not just about the waste product: producing all that plastic uses up masses of energy.

There is no evidence that eating 6 smaller meals a day is healthier for most people than 3 meals a day. But we have all the evidence we need that filling the earth with snack packets and plastic bottles is very, very bad, both for us and for the planet in general. The beauty of the tap is that it delivers your drink without extra packaging. The beauty of regular sit-down meals is again that you save on packaging.

Isn't it supposed to be healthier to eat 6 small meals a day than 3 bigger meals?

Yes, but define 'small' meal.

Many parents are feeding their kids adult portions before they've even left primary school.

Or what used to be an adult portion before they grew in size too.

If my four year old gets hungry at the park or in a walk it doesn’t matter how much I tell him it’s good to feel a bit hungry he will mope and stop running about and get into very low mood. I don’t see how this is a good thing OP?

I guess with a lot of unpleasantness I could train him to ignore the feelings of hunger until it’s 6pm dinner time but I’m not convinced that’s a great idea.

He’s a perfectly healthy weight and quite small for his age (I’m short) so I will continue to offer an Apple, a little cheese or mini oatcake or similar.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/henry-king-by-hilaire-belloc-hgt3pmd2npk

Yanbu, OP.

When children are still little it makes sense to bring a healthy snack if you're going to be out a long time, e.g, at the park. But a) this doesn't seem to be just about long outings b) what is on offer is not healthy.

If my four year old gets hungry at the park or in a walk it doesn’t matter how much I tell him it’s good to feel a bit hungry he will mope and stop running about and get into very low mood. I don’t see how this is a good thing OP?

He's 4, he'll grow out of it.

Just like I grew out of it and thousands of others too.

Or you could continue to encourage snacking and hope he'll still be a perfectly healthy weight when he's a teenager/adult who was brought up with a snacking culture.

If babies can go 3-4 hours between feeds, why can't older children?
I'm from an older generation, who grew up during the war with rationing. Snacks were unheard of, unless it was an apple during the apple season. My children, born 1960s, had a plain biscuit and a drink of squash while watching Play School, and had a fairly early tea while they were still small.
There is nothing wrong with a child feeling hungry. The people holding their hands up in horror at the idea of 'hunger pangs' are being ridiculous; we are not talking about children in famine areas or war-zones, who are genuinely starving.

Depends on the snacks for me.

My DS is 12 and very sporty and skinny. He generally has a snack mid-morning (school break) and another when he gets home from school. It's usually an apple, raspberries, blueberries or a banana. After his fruit, he is allowed a small bag of crisps or a biscuit.

He still eats breakfast, dinner and tea.

He had a friend who does no sport or exercise and is a bit podgy, but will eat a full packet of biscuits and 3 bags of crisp as a snack when he gets in from school.

Snacks are fine in moderation and not always full of sugar, fat and salt.

My DS also drinks quite a lot of water.

I think a middle way works best. Yes, forcing a child to go on forever whilst too hungry to enjoy anything not great. But otoh whipping out a bag of crisps at the first sign of whining is potentially setting up very bad habits for later life. There are other things you can do to distract and it's a useful thing to learn in life, that you can distract yourself.

I don't think it's proven that 6 small meals are better than 3 'square' meals. But, even if it were true, the problem is that snacks aren't meals. They're handouts of carbs, sugar and fat. No protein. All they do is take the edge off your appetite for proper meals.

And there's the creeping chocolatisation of basic foods. Chocolate breakfast cereals, chocolate rice cakes and Nutella with everything.

If babies can go 3-4 hours between feeds, why can't older children?
Completely agree. There is absolutely no need for constant snacking (unless the child has a diagnosed medical condition).
Personally I would expect young children to go at least 3 hours without food. Water is a different matter, though for the sake of the enviroment a reusable bottle should be used.
Teenagers are a different matter though, some of them do seem to need constant snacks as they go through their growing phase.
It's interesting about the constant water drinking amongst adults. I notice when I go swimming a lot of people have water bottles at the end of their lanes, even though they might only swim for 30 minutes. I can swim for 90 minutes then get showered and walk home without a drink, all without any ill effects.

This drives me mad. DD’s friend eats very poorly at meals but then, as soon as they get down from the table, the Mum gets out a massive bag of snacks and starts offering them to her child as ‘she’s hardly eaten anything so must be hungry’. This means loads of crumbs and mess everywhere as she is allowed to run around with them. Then the Mum complains that her daughter never eats proper meals! When instead she’s trained the child that she’ll get a snack straight after the meal!

They are 2, so I feel they do need some snacks - DD generally has breakfast at 8, snack at 11, lunch at 1, snack at 4, tea at 6 (which is pretty much the pattern at nursery too) - but not constant snacking. The morning snacks tend to be a piece of fruit, the afternoon ones a glass of milk or piece of cheese.

I also see this problem at work, I work with mostly 18-25 year olds. For various reasons food and drinks (including water) aren’t allowed where I work and you would think this was breaching their human rights! They seem incapable of going even an hour without a drink. I’ve had to point out several times that the rules also apply to me and I won’t be having a drink or something to eat for the next 3-4 hours either!