Is this too much for a snack?

[SingingOutOfTune]

My 12 years old gets home from school and has 3/4 Krisprolls with lots of honey and peanut butter and 2 small glasses of milk. This is around 4 pm. We have dinner around 8. Is this too much? I know he is growing and his weight is fine but I am a bit concerned. Can mums of teens on Mumsnet give me some perspective? Told him off today for having a second glass of milk and hated myself after. Don't like controlling what he eats but it seems excessive for a snack

speakout
Re: your last post.. Zero fat? PB can't have zero fat?
I like your idea of having the main meal after school and something lighter later. I might adopt this as I know I just snack, snack, snack when really I need a decent meal at the time.

Ds2's little tub of pb. It's just peanuts.

That is all.

At the risk of exhausting you further.

mainly mono, saturated and poly describes most fats.

What is actually wrong with any of them? Lets take it for granted that nobody is planning to eat it by the jar. A growing child eating some spread on krisprolls five nights a week is also not eating excessive amounts.

Incidentally I've got half a dozen nut /seed butter jars in the cupboard. None have oils, salt or sugar added to the primary content and not all are expensive varieties.

AhoyDelBoy sorry typo- should have read zero salt.

Of course peanuts and peanut butter contain fat. I am fine with that.

We dont need to calm down but a growing boy is going to be hungry after school thats not a lot really and stopping him having 2 small glasses of milk is crazy.
My 13yr old can eat a cooked tea at 6 and is starving by 8.30 and will have an egg or cheese on toast or similar!

Gryffen
I'm nutrition conscious no you really arent, all those pieces of fruit, frubes and choc biscuits are full of sugar, adding fruit juice to that and squash is compounding the issue.

Maximum recommended amount of sugar in something is 5g/100g, Frubes have over 10g/100g its a con that they market them for kids. It would be much better to get some natural yogurt without the added sugar and add a little bit of fruit. And what 3yr old need 4 'puddings' after lunch? 2 lots of fruit, a frube and a choc biscuit, thats basically all sugar with a few added extras! I am amazed he manages to chomp through all that.

Ditto speakout

I get what people aren’t saying about 8pm being a bit late for dinner but in my house we don’t have much of a choice! My 7 yo dd trains at gymnastics from 5-8pm 4 nights week, so eats when she gets home at around 8:30. She does eat a snack between getting in from school and going to the gym but nothing too big as it’s not great to train on an empty stomach. She’s been doing these hours for almost a year now and is used to eating later. On her days off we try to eat a bit earlier but 8/8:30 works for us.

I hate it when people say fruit is sugar and deny their kids it. It is absolutely chock full of vitamins

Nobody is saying deny your kids fruit!

Too much of anything is not good for you if you dont have a balanced diet containing all the other nutrients you need for a healthy body.

I'm not nutrition conscious, I'm teenager conscious.
She'll go straight for the bread with jam and peanut butter, any cakes we have in or cereal bars.
I try to counter this with plenty of veg in meals and throwing fruit in her general direction.

8pm is not late to eat. Different households eat at different times, even if they have grown up together. My sister's household eat at 5-5:30, my parents about 6 and we eat at 7 if we are having a good/early home day and up to 9:30 if we have had a busier day/evening. There is no right and wrong, even if you have kids at home.

Not everyone eats or goes to bed at the same time.

The snack sounds fine. I would let him have two glasses of milk if he wants it - the calcium and vitamins in it are good for him and you want to make sure he has plenty of calcium in case he has a growth spurt.

Watch out how much honey he uses (maybe swap to banana sometimes) but it sounds fine. You could always change it up and have hard boiled eggs instead some days or have half that amount and make up some vegetable muffins. If you google 'I quit sugar recipes' you will find some and other places online. They basically have a lot of grated veg in them (sweet potato, spinach and courgette is good) so you get lots of nutrients and veg is better than fruit.

Blimey, all these posters boasting their teenagers devour loads of food and how starving they always are?
I know teenagers going through a growth spurt may feel more hungry but it doesn't mean they have to eat tons of food.
I think many will still consume that increased amount when they no longer need to because they are used to it.

Yes - and they are always very sporty / active, skinny and 6'6" +. Never average height / short and with a hint of podge

My kids would never survive until 8pm till dinner , my son eats us out of house and home since she was 12-13

I know teenagers going through a growth spurt may feel more hungry but it doesn't mean they have to eat tons of food.

Yes, it does, especially if they are sportive. They can require up to 3000 calories a day. They may need to eat tons of food and feel hungrier because they are. Boys in particular can grow a foot in in one year.

Thanks everyone for their comments and suggestions.

I wouldn't ever use 'starving' because its an exaggeration

I don't see the 'snack' as an issue.

And hunger pangs, regardless of being harmless are horrible! I also know they can be rather distracting if you're trying to focus on homework or revision etc.

Yes, it does, especially if they are sportive. They can require up to 3000 calories a day

Don't doubt it but some of the details of what these teenagers are devouring would add up to more than that along with meals and whatever else they are snacking on out of the house.

Yes - and they are always very sporty / active, skinny and 6'6"

Well mine were not 6'6" but they (M&F) range from 5'11" to 6'4". Sportiness varied. They all ate like horses in their pre-teen/teen growth spurts. All tailed off the volume when they stopped being so hungry.

All are in their 20s at the lower end of "normal" BMI. They eat sensibly across a wide range of foods. My siblings/I were exactly the same, as was their DF and siblings.

Mind you, I didn't obsess about the precise amount of sugar and fat in every single meal or push them to eat more than they wanted. They used to eat with us and the same food generally.

There was less of a snacking culture in those days, just the afternoon tea/Goûter meal rather than regular snacks. Not sure if that affected their adult eating habits.

Gottagetmoving, first, why would would you say parents reporting what their active teenage (boys) are eating is "boasting". What a bizarre word choice, and it definitely exposes your own prejudices on the topic. Why so hostile?

Pressed send too soon...

Second, your implication is that these sports, active teens are mostly all eating way beyond their requirements, hence the obnoxious face. Is your implication that they are setting themselves up to be fat? That we as good parents need to police what they eat and install a strict eating schedule or else we would be contributing to the obesity epidemic?

You need to unclench.

My ds is 15 and never stops eating. He’s like a bottomless pit.

I read out your opening post to my DS aged 14. He said “Wow. That’s how to end up with a broken boy”.