Just got RL flamed for the packed lunch I did for DS

[AClearShotOfTheStreet]

Lovely friend is here. Didn't know how but got on to the packed lunch I did for DS, who is 6, today for a holiday camp.

Apparently it's not enough, no wonder he is skinny and I am starving him (mostly lighthearted but kernel of truth?)

He had porridge for breakfast with a cup of milk, semi skimmed. I have given him an apple for morning snack, a ham and cucumber sandwich on seedy bread for lunch with a yoghurt, and a small bag of hula hoops for afternoon snack. He will have cottage pie with veg for dinner and a tangerine for afters, possibly a bit of Easter egg with a cup of milk just before bed.

This is OK right? Hula hoops are a bit of an anomaly as we are having the kitchen knocked down and It's what I could find. But this IS a reasonable amount of food for a 6 year old? He's very sporty and slim but I don't think I need to feed him any more? He rarely complains of hunger and if he does is directed to fruit bowl or slice of toast with peanut butter etc.

My 5.7 yo eats 2 dry waffles for breakfast. A chicken sandwich, small bag of hula hoops and oaty bar and water for lunch. 3 sausages and 3 slices of dry bread for dinner. And water. (every day) and he's on the 98th centile for height and weight. I'd cry with happiness if he ate what your ds has. I think it looks great.

My skinny 5 year old would be hungry after that. She’s always hungry from what she tells me. For a packed lunch She would have a sandwich, crisps, babybel cheese or similar cheese stick type thing, yoghurt and then fruit. I often have to take the fruit off her (grapes usually) as she would eat a whole punnet!! Some days we might substitute the sandwich for a pot of hummus with breadsticks and some loose ham. She would then want an afternoon snack of maybe a biscuit with a drink. She would have also had a morning snack of milk and a cereal bar. Her breakfast is often a bowl of cereal (porridge/coco pops/cornflakes/weetabix to choose from) and she still may also have a croissant or piece of toast (well bread and butter as she doesn’t like toast 😬) depending on time.

All those snack foods, yogurt pouches, raisin boxes, baby bels etc must cost a fortune. Some of the food lists here for skinny 5 or 6 year olds seem like a ridiculous amount of food to me. Do they really need all that, surely an extra sandwich would be more beneficial in a packed lunch?

That is nothing, for most 6 year olds. The lunch is not enough.

@Lizzie48 you say you don't see obese children but my ds(12) is a prime example of the many normal looking kids who are actually overweight. He's tall & athletic looking - you definitely wouldn't describe his as overweight- but under his hoodies he's got love handles & a tummy roll. Unfortunately it crept up on us gradually since starting secondary school we've discovered he's been devouring pizza & panini in the canteen, stopping at the newsagents for chocolate on the way home &

deadringer Mine doesn’t really like a sandwich. It’s a struggle to get her to eat one. If she had the option she wouldn’t even have one. What’s wrong with a yoghurt? (We don’t pouch, I usually get whichever 6 larger sized pack is £1, mini ones they’d need to have 2!!). Babybel or other similar cheese mentioned, again when in offer or get a big block and chop into chunks. Mine don’t like raisins but would eat a punnet if grapes or blueberries. Guess it depends on where and how you shop.

Posted too soon ....and doing less exercise and is nearly a stone heavier (at a guess) than 6 months ago . Obviously we are trying to address it without going mad or giving him a complex but we are also to blame allowing him to snack excessively, 2nd portions, not helping from find new physical activity to replace the one he's dropped.

The lunch is not enough
Of course it's enough. The kid would be underweight, lacking in energy and complaining of hunger if it wasn't enough.

My DS is 6 too, but this wouldn't fill him up. He's very active but likes his food. In his lunchbox for camp this week he had sandwiches (ham or chicken), Pom Bears, cucumber/grapes, a banana and jelly/gingerbread man. I also had to provide a snack and he'd have about 5 mini breadsticks and either apricots or chopped pear. He ate everything every day. However, he's always had a big appetite, so if your DS isn't complaining about being hungry and isn't underweight then I'm sure he's fine. We are all different.

I also don’t think that’s enough and I’m not one to give all these snacks. My DC has three meals a day and a couple of biscuits before bed.

I am always amazed when people say ‘my three year old would starve on that’. Where are all of these gargantuan three year olds?

At six that sounds fine. A lot of people over feed their children.

A lot of the food given also seems to be carbohydrates in one form or another too - so of course it’s not satisfying. Adding more proteins and fats would help.

At three years old, all of mine were absolute gannets. The first one especially would have been chewing off my leg if I fed him the amount the OP describes. By six they ate much less.
It really doesn't matters what my child, or someone else's child would eat though. Since the OP's child eats this amount and doesn't want more then it's almost certainly fine.

That wouldn’t be enough for my very skinny 7 year old. I’d add cheese squares, grapes (sliced lengthwise), a biscuit and some cherry tomatoes.

I am always amazed when people say ‘my three year old would starve on that’. Where are all of these gargantuan three year olds?

A 6 and 3 year old need much the same calories outside of serious exercise (where the extra calories required due to being bigger mean more are burnt) So it's not at all unlikely that a properly active 3 year old and a sedentary 6 year old eats the same.

I only have sandwich and yogurt for lunch, and I'm a fat 40 year old adult. Puzzled why a child would need more than that?

Porridge and fruit, sandwich crisps and yogurt, plus an evening meal, chocolate and a glass of milk. Comes out at about 1500 calories which should be fine for a 6yo?

Add a banana and that's almost exactly what my 12 year old ds eats on a normal day.
And more than I eat.

My 7 year old DD would eat about that. She’s tall (99th centile), and very active, but not stick thin.

For a sports day I would probably add a hard boiled egg, rather than something like yoghurt.

She probably doesn’t drink as much milk as your DS, maybe half that on average.

Oh, also we only have full-fat milk. I’m a T1 diabetic and the best way for me to maintain good control is to eat low carb.

I agree there are lots of over weight children which makes it seem the norm, both my self and dd get comments about being skinny all the time (both just inside being classed as a healthy weight for heights, even a slight drop would class as underweight) but he point is still a healthy weight but everyone sees it as unhealthy. We both eat a lot. DD (8) more so than me but she is growing and far more active. I think she probably eats far more than her peers and probably more than a lot of adults but the difference is what she eats. I have other mums mention it all the time that their dc seem big even though they don’t eat that much but they spend much of their spare time baking cakes (and eating them) dc always seem to have juice and sweets in hand where as mine drinks only water and eats piles and piles of food but almost all healthy. We went for cakes at a coffee shop the other day with friends and dd picked an apple. We are in the lucky position that dc can play outside with the other kids in the street so hours is spent doing that instead of sitting in front of a screen (coming in regularly for snacks). So those who are struggling to believe truly skinny kids eat massive amounts, it’s definitely very true in my case.

I genuinely think that he would tell you if he was hungry. Have school ever mentioned he’s not having enough lunch or he’s thinner than some of the other children in his class?. You do know your child best, all children are different, if he’s healthy and not lethargic then I’m sure you are doing everything correct for him

If a child isn't hungry they are probably eating enough. My DD is 8, and over the years I have noticed that her appetite varies enormously from day to day and time to time. Sometimes she is so hungry I assume she's having a growth spurt, and other times she eats what looks like really very little, but as she is very healthy and growiñg well I assume she must be having enough. I have always tried to teach her to stop eating when you're full as one of the problems with our collective weight gain is people like me who can't leave food having had it drummed into me that you must clear your plate. You then learn to override your own satiety signals.

Liked what Sara said about being told not to waste food and eat all on your plate - my Mum grew up during rationing and as a result I have no cut-off for food as you couldn’t afford to waste it. Kids naturally do have a cut-off point so suggest asking the kid if they have had a active day and would like a bit extra. Offer protein- cheese chunk, egg, sausage or easy to eat fruit- satsuma, grapes, raisins and guage the response. I think the lunch is ok, but I would probably had added one more item at that age. Kids can be naturally skinny and as long as they have plenty of energy it’s not a problem.