To never buy snacks/squash/sweets etc again

[Fiera]

Every single time there is somthing remotely snackly in the house it just gets taken and eaten. The large double concentrate bottles of squash gone within 24 hours, any kind of sugary cerial gone the same day they come through the door.
I dont like to use the word 'steal' but tonight its the only word i can use because my daughter actually STOLE my can of coke.
We never usually buy coke or Fizzy anything, nut it was my eldest sons birthday and all the children had a can as a very rare treat. My daughter actualli hid my can up her sleeve (after having drank hers earlier in the evening) and went and drank it in her bedroom.
Even my toddler daughters 'treats' like 'GoGo' biscuits and 'Goodies' puffs just disapear before she even knows theyre there.
We have a full fruit bowl, two actually, every day and even they get emptied. They have hot meals every day so theyre not 'hungry' just greedy.
I just dont understand why they do it and im seriously considering just not buying again.
My toddler will happily drink water (theres hardly ever any squash left for her anyway)

Are they overweight unhealthy kids? Assuming not as I think you would have said.

Dd has done this to me (recently in fact) taken something she KNEW I'd bought JUST for me - very annoying. Weirdly it was a "healthy" thing she just was craving it.

On that note. You SAY they have suitable portions at meals but as a pp said teens need FAR more cals than adults especially if they're sporty/active - dd is 17 rake thin and I serve her twice as much as me and I'm fat!! She also eats far more snack wise than me. BUT she works full time, walks to and from work, has physio to do daily PLUS goes swimming at least once a week, and gym once a week. I'm home all the time (agoraphobia) plus my own disability makes exercise very difficult. Plus she's still growing - 1.5" taller in last 2 months!

They also need more frequent top ups because puberty hormones, being more active can lead to blood sugar/insulin levels fluctuating more than in adults or younger children.

In addition - girls have hormone cravings. Sometimes chocolate but sometimes savoury (We're both like this it's apparently quite common and is due to cravings that are a desire to replace the salts lost in the blood lost at menstruation) - so are the crisps going around "that time" or if the kids have recently exercised/it's been hot? Girls also have a higher calorie requirement at that time. Plus carbs can help with symptoms like pain.

My own mum started doing a sort of extra meal as we hit teens - straight after school, sandwiches & yogurt, soup, small portion of pasta. Or add in a supper? Cheese on toast, low sugar cereal?

And how big a bottle of squash? If a litre then that will go in a day among 4 kids especially with the warmer weather some parts of uk have had lately. I also hate water plain water gives me dreadful heartburn no idea why.

I only shop weekly (combo of health and limited funds) so when the best stuff is gone it's gone and dd knows that. She'll occasionally say can she have extra crisps/pretzels on weeks she knows hormonal cravings will kick in but I don't add loads.

We do go through a lot of bread which is eaten as toast.

Dd throughout her life I've talked to her about having a healthy DIET overall. No food or drink was verboten (seen SO many cases in my own and younger age groups where the parents were REALLY strict then as soon as the kids had their own money they went crazy buying and eating junk and developed ED's, weight issues, type 2 diabetes - the very things their parents were trying to avoid) because in the wider world the junk is there. Teaching them how to handle that is important.

Talk to them maybe? If it is a competitive thing "Jack eats all the crisps if we don't get there first" maybe let them have a box of treats each with name on and when it's gone it's gone? Put combi padlocks on them if necessary.

I'm one of 3 my brother was a bugger for snaffling the good biscuits

I disagree that shadows snacks for her son are "bad bad bad" pizza - carb, bit of veg if only in the sauce, cheese (protein and calcium), hot dogs and burgers - carbs, protein, iron, some vitamins and minerals. Not perfect "wholemeal cous cous and organic slow roasted veg" type food but not toxic either!

Charliecat I had similar when dd was younger she rarely fancies sweet stuff and hates choc.

"Laughing my head off at those claiming not to like water" why? 🤔 is there NOTHING you don't like?

I too am sceptical that as many mothers on mn as CLAIM so ACTUALLY are as strict as they are re "junk food" doesn't bear any relation to my real life experiences at all.

Also a few people on thread are equating "snack" with "junk" no it just means a small food item or items not a full meal. Crudités and dip - snack, breadsticks and houmous - also a snack, boiled egg - snack

I can imagine your frustration. 4 of growing up In my house and my poor Mum used to cook us hearty meals, lots of veg and rice and pastas and meat and fish and pulses and lots of fruit, special muesli she would get made up that had good amounts of natural sugars but we were all always so greedy. We wouldn’t eat two tangerines, we’d eat 5.
If she bought 20 packs of hula hoops We’d each eat 2/3 in a row.
It was only when we all become more weight conscious as teens that we learnt some restraint.
Some teenagers are better at restraint than others and can handle coming off sugar better. It’s not your fault or a result of way you shop, what you provide etc.

@LondonGin, no snacks at all. That’s how I was brought up and also I couldn’t afford snacks when I left home so we’ve never had them. We eat really healthily. Three times a day. Biscuits, crackers and cheese are just crap basically. You don’t need them, IMO.

I know his will sound level Lena stupid question, but you know that are taking it all...but are they actually eating it all?could they be selling the crisps and chocolates and sweets to friends/other kids at school to make some quick money,

I tend not to have this sort of stuff, either, in the house. I buy 1 six pack of crisps but leave it in my car boot for a bag a day after school. In the home they have unlimited availability of fruit - hard and berries - vegetable stocks, breads, crackers, cheese, nuts.

If they need a snack they have cheese & crackers, olives, an avocado, nuts. I buy hot choc but they tend to have mint tea or a cup of builder’s tea. No squash. I felt mean at first but I’ve noticed if i don’t buy crap, the bulk of their diets (and mine) are better. They can spend pocket money on chocolate if they so wish, but they don’t! I’m surprised at the shift.

Vegetable sticks, not stocks!

I agree, they don't need it, it's just greed! When I was a teenager and my mum was away, my dad bought shoppingbags of crisps to tide us over until he got home. I never ate just one pack, I gorged myself until I felt sick! And my dad never questioned it, just replaced them when supplies got low!

Teenagers generally need snacks, and fruit is only sufficient to a point

Getting into the habit of eating copious amounts of crap because teenagers can get away with it/ need it is one of the reasons for our obesity crisis.

There is no need to snack on crap. Eat bigger meals, it's good to be hungry before dinner. If they absolutely have to have a snack because they are 'starving' then there's a sandwich/ toast/ weetabix/ banana/ porridge/ hummus or something else more filling. There is no need for anyone to eat crisps and biscuits on a daily basis.

And to pp - yes I eat 3 meals a day and that's it. I accept some people prefer to eat smaller meals more frequently. But I have cheese and crackers at Christmas, I rarely east crisps and may have an ice cream or if I am out somewhere.

I don't think squash is evil though. OP yanbu at all to not buy it all.

storm that’s exactly how I feel re water! I only drink fizzy water for that reason. Everyone thinks I’m nuts!

We met up with one of my friends and her DS the other day. Both kids had a fruit shoot. Her DS is never allowed them and it was a one off. Mine doesn't have fruit shoots that often but loves innocent smoothies and has juice every day. She is also happy with water but would choose juice.

The DS scarfed the whole bottle in under 5 minutes. My DD had a few sips and left the rest. It's still sitting in the fridge. I don't know what the answer is as DD's diet could definitely be better but I think if kids feel they're missing out they could easily take to binging.

I never had biscuits or squash in the house when my kids were young. It wasn't a 'health' thing, but laziness and cheapness - I didn't consider them food and drink, so couldn't be arsed carrying them back from the shop, and didn't want to spend money on them. It seems to be considered almost a human right to have cupboards filled with sweet shit.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable to limit high-sugar foods and drinks.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable to expect that they show self-control and honesty around food.

I do think you haven’t enforced the behaviour around these treats enough. I’ve only got one kid to wrangle, but I can leave treat food out on a plate and it’d be there a week later, however much she’d love to snatch it!

She knows that it would be the last treat food she’d see in months, if there was underhanded behaviour.

Time to lock it up, including toddler bikkies, in an effort to reset the household habits. Any shenanigans and that person gets consequences. Every time till it sticks.

I can leave treat food out on a plate and it’d be there a week later, however much she’d love to snatch it!

What?!?!

DD is far from her teenage years (however often we claim she is 3 going on 13... ;) ) but we already adopted few rules in our household for everybody's health. Both DH and I tend to put on weight easily. I have very little willpower with treats when at home.

We don't buy fruit juices, squash or fizzy drinks apart from sparkling water and some tonic water. There are only mildly sweet children crackers, in small quantity. No sweets, no deserts. No fight and no temptation.

We do, however, have treats outside of the house. Not the most economical way of doing things but at the end of the week, our unhealthy food intake is probably better than if we kept all these things at home. Honestly, that piece of cake at the cafe after the swimming lesson is much more satisfying anyway than a packet of custard cream biscuit eaten carelessly throughout the week.

I'd say provide plenty of food, including snacks, but please stay away from all the sugary junk!

When i had teens i kept any excess supply of anything in the boot of the car. The car was at work with me.for example, if i bought a box of crisps, box would stay in car and id stick 12 packets in the cuoboard

A few years ago I had this problem with two teens and a DH who would eat it all and blame the others... I got everyone a snack box and then split up the snacks into each and they decided when they ate theirs and were under pain of death to touch anyone else’s.... it worked :) did the same with cheese - a Tupperware box each. Amazing how much longer it lasted!

My mum would only buy a set amount of treats each week. When they were gone that was it. Could you adopt that approach? Have started doing something similar with my eldest (14) and warning him when I start unpacking the shopping. Also recommend a secret stash (car?) for you.

I remember we bought a couple of multipacks of pop cans when we moved house. DSS drank his way through most of them in a couple of days, leaving none for anyone else. He's now rationed to 1 can a day, and we don't normally have them in anyway. I think it's partly laziness. It's easier to pick up a can/carton than pour a drink of squash or water. He'd also drink all the little juice cartons very quickly, but I switched to litre cartons of the exact same stuff (to save on packaging) and now he doesn't touch it lol.

I can't get over the bottle of squash a day.

Apologies as I haven't rtft, but one of my colleagues said that when her kids were teens, she bought them each their own treats/snacks to be kept in their rooms, and when they were gone they were gone. One of her three guzzled it all in a day and was left without for the rest of the week; the other one rationed herself. This might be something I try when my kids are older.

I don't buy snacks, squash or sweets. Problem solved. Those things should be eaten on rare occasions when at a party or birthday.

Buy extra fruit, make sure the house is full of carrots and humous and healthy things that can be eaten when the dc are ravenous. All should have some nutritional value.

My DCs could eat pretty much exactly what they wanted when they were growing up. Guess what, they are both in their 20s and are slim and fit with a very normal and positive approach to all foods. They voluntarily choose fruit and vegetables over junk.

On the other hand, I have struggled with food and my weight all my life because my mother restricted my food intake from the age of about 10. I am sure that has contributed to my obsessive relationship with food.

Odd how snacking is practically compulsory on this thread yet when tooth decay comes up, it's because of "weak teeth" (a problem that genuinely exists in only about 1% of the population) and never because of snacking. Even though I saw your dc drink a fruit shoot in the car park and there's a bit of fruit pastille stuck in their tooth

Schrodingers sugar I guess.

I'm so glad I'm not a dentist anymore.

OP YANBU. If it's not there, they can't eat it.

I feel your pain op. I have fridge/cupboard raiders too!!!

It's important to give children as much junk food as they like when little, so they don't over indulge as adults.

Start before they are on solids and liqudise mars bars and chips