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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this too much for a snack?

301 replies

SingingOutOfTune · 21/06/2018 17:02

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 afterConfused. Don't like controlling what he eats but it seems excessive for a snack

OP posts:
formerbabe · 21/06/2018 17:56

My dc are starving after school...they have a snack on the way home and dinner pretty much straight away...then something else before bed.

8pm is very late to eat for children...that's a long time between lunch at school and dinner at home...and you're objecting to an extra glass of milk. Sorry op, I think you have issues.

WerkSupp · 21/06/2018 17:58

Of course milk quenches thirst! It's hardly a dehydrator like alcohol. What an odd thing to believe. It also provides Vitamin D and calcium that is very important for a young person who is growing. DD who is 12 often has a couple of slices of toast with baked beans and melted cheese for snack and still polishes off a full dinner. DS is younger but he's already bigger and taller than DD so I expect he'll likely eat even more.

TheMagnoliaTree · 21/06/2018 17:58

The snack is small compared to what my children would eat.

Ds1 (15) would think nothing of drinking 1 litre of apple juice in a day. Ds2 is 12 and eats more than what your Ds is eating for a snack.

We have grapes, apples, pineapple, peanut butter, jams, croissants, crisps, cheese, chicken, ham, wraps, bread for sandwiches or toast, pepperamis, yoghurts.

I am home so they know they have to have a mix of foods. We eat about 6.30 - 7pm as we wait for Dh to come home.

gryffen · 21/06/2018 18:00

Our 3yr old today.

Up at 9.

Dry cereal
Pineapple
Strawberries
Apple slices
Orange juice
Toast

Lunch

Lidl mini pizza
Cucumber
Onion
Frube yoghurt drink
Apple
Banana
Chocolate biscuit.

Afternoon snack at nursery

Usually a sarnie
Fruit or veg
Water or squash

Home 4pm

Gingerbread man
Squash
Strawberries

Dinner 6pm

Fish fingers
Salad
Chips
Grapes and melon

Snack 9pm

Warm squash
Toast
Grapes

Bed 10pm.

Summer solstice and all = late night.

She's lean, mean and tall for 3yr old and fit as a fiddle

PinkHeart5914 · 21/06/2018 18:01

I think if your making him wait until 8pm for dinner obviously he needs a snack, he is growing so much. Why is dinner not till 8?

It’s not the healthiest snack but I see nothing wrong with the size of the snack.

Also who moans at a child for drinking milk? It’s milk it’s not like his drinking liquid gold ffs

theladylovescupcakes · 21/06/2018 18:06

He's having a snack at 4 and dinner at 8. He's not being starved from 12-8pm!

BrendasUmbrella · 21/06/2018 18:07

Do you have concerns for his weight? If he is overweight he is probably having too much of something. But if not that snack sounds too light if anything. Why do you eat dinner so late?

LovingLola · 21/06/2018 18:07

*Our 3yr old today.

Up at 9.

Dry cereal
Pineapple
Strawberries
Apple slices
Orange juice
Toast

Lunch

Lidl mini pizza
Cucumber
Onion
Frube yoghurt drink
Apple
Banana
Chocolate biscuit.

Afternoon snack at nursery

Usually a sarnie
Fruit or veg
Water or squash

Home 4pm

Gingerbread man
Squash
Strawberries

Dinner 6pm

Fish fingers
Salad
Chips
Grapes and melon

Snack 9pm

Warm squash
Toast
Grapes

Bed 10pm.

Summer solstice and all = late night.

She's lean, mean and tall for 3yr old and fit as a fiddle*

Who eats and drinks quite a lot of sugary shite.

thinkingaboutfostering · 21/06/2018 18:11

Milk is actually one of the best things for dehydration!!! So it it is one of the best things for thirst Hmm

lifechangesforever · 21/06/2018 18:14

Why do you eat so late? My tea has been done and dusted for the past half an hour.

Isn't he relaxing before bedtime at 8pm? Doesn't give a lot of time for his food to digest either does it?

BitOutOfPractice · 21/06/2018 18:17

math I don't get all this "children must be fed by 6pm" obesssion either. People saying it's late. It's late for your family circumstances. But not for mine and many others.

This is the single thing that makes my blood boil about MN. This "my way or the highway" attitude where posters are adamant that the way they do things in their family is right and all other ways are wrong

We ate at 8:45 last night once everyone had got home / finished their activities. At the last count nobody died as a result

honeylulu · 21/06/2018 18:19

If he's not gaining too much weight (normal growing is ok obviously), and on the flip side is not too full of snack to eat his meals, then he needs that snack.

There is nothing wrong with eating "so late" either. Continental children eat late with their parents and seem to cope fine. As far as i am aware Spanish and Portuguese children do not have a different biological composition. We have french friends and they find it baffling that English parents feed their children a separate meal at 5 and hustle them to bed at 7. (We don't by the way. I only get home from work at 7!)

DrFoxtrot · 21/06/2018 18:20

The not understanding why dinner is ‘so late’ is related to the amazement every Christmas that other posters are working and haven’t got two weeks off as standard.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/06/2018 18:21

@BrendasUmbrella can you honestly not think of a reason why they might eat "so late"

  • Parents work and have long commute home
  • Kids have activities that finish later
  • They are not hungry at 5pm
  • They like to take time to prepare a home cooked meal that doesn't take 10 minutes after work
  • They don't want to eat till late

There's 5 just off the top of my head

Not everyone s the same. I would hate to be eating before 6. On account of not being a toddler. But if it works for you, great

BusterGonad · 21/06/2018 18:22

I can't believe he was told off for having 2 glasses of milk.

Quartz2208 · 21/06/2018 18:22

his weight is fine

so why are you worried? And yes does not sound much for a teenager

nokidshere · 21/06/2018 18:23

My teens always raid the fridge when they get home at 4 and a "snack" for them would be a meal for someone else, and then they have dinner between 8&9 when they are home from stuff.

I could feed them 24/7 and they would still be looking for food.

KickAssAngel · 21/06/2018 18:27

prepare yourself for the teen years. I teach 12 - 15 year olds. Not all teens conform to the stereotype, but believe me, there are many who do. There is no such thing as 'full'. They can eat a 3 course roast dinner then wash it down with seconds of everything. My own DH, in his mid 20s, managed 3rds of starters, main & pudding one Christmas lunchtime - all big portions - and he was underweight at the time. He'd slowed down from his teen years when apparently his eating was legendary.

If what he eats is reasonably healthy, and he exercises and stays a steady weight, all is fine.

noeffingidea · 21/06/2018 18:32

This is fine, assuming he hasn't got fully into his puberty / growing stage yet. You might find he needs a lot more over the next few years.

ReadingRiot · 21/06/2018 18:36

It's not really a snack if dinner's not til 8

Gottagetmoving · 21/06/2018 18:41

Who eats and drinks quite a lot of sugary shite

Yes,...and bed at 10 pm is bit late for a three year old?

pinkhorse · 21/06/2018 18:48

Wow gryffen that's a LOT of food for a three year old and loads of sugar! No wonder she doesn't go to bed until 10, she must be bouncing off the walls!

BertrandRussell · 21/06/2018 18:51

We have always eaten late, can't see the problem. Loads of people do.

HappyStripper · 21/06/2018 18:52

It seems the whole 6pm dinner time and that’s it is a very British thing. I grew up with Russian parents and I ate breakfast, then at 1pm at school, then a full meal at 4 after school and dinner at 8 or so. If a kid wants to eat, they want to eat. Especially denying a kid a drink of milk is a bit ridiculous, unless they have weight problems or are eating only chocolate and crisps then they’re all good.

Audree · 21/06/2018 18:54

You can certainly control WHAT he eats; you shouldn’t control HOW MUCH he eats.
Let him eat to his hunger.