Children and snacks

[Lydiaatthebarre]

A friend of mine has just been complaining about some noisy kids on the train and said she couldn't understand why the mum didn't bring some snacks to keep them quiet.

Another friend brings a big bag of food for her son anytime we go to the park for a couple of hours.

I've also heard a mum complaining recently about a local supermarket not wanting loads of kids going in there at school closing time, and wondering what would happen if her daughter got delayed at school and needed a snack on the was way home.

When did all this essential snacking for children become the norm,?

I know someone like this. She gets very panicky if she runs out of snacks for her young child. It's like a crutch. The kid has her wrapped around her little finger. The minute she makes a peep something appears!

Yanbu
ExSIL was like this, the thought of her daughter going 20 minutes without sustinence was a fate worse than death
The daughter was about 14 stone at 12 and her mum was in complete denial and would constantly be procuring snacks for the girl

I get people thinking I'm some kind of crap parent because I don't come out with virtually a mini buffet for my kids in my handbag. If they're doing an after school activity before they'll get their tea I'll pack something but not as a general rule.

There's a box of mini veg in the fridge (things like baby peppers and cucumber and cherry tomatoes - babybels if I've been to the shops recently) that they can help themselves too freely at home (unless it's like I'm cooking tea and then they can flipping well wait) - but I've really tried never to normalise snacking constantly right from toddler age, or food as a means to keep them quiet doesn't work with DD1 - nothing stops her talking

I'd take my young kids a snack if we were going to the park for a few hours. Nothing massive, some fruit maybe. I think obesity is linked to the type and amount of food provided, not necessarily the frequency. My brother is a big fitness buff and eats 5 small meals across the day. My eldest dd, as a toddler, ate little but often and had to work her way up to bigger meals. Every kid is different.

I hate snacking. In our house food is eaten only at the table with a bib on, then hands and faces are wiped before getting down from the chair and touching toys/walls/furniture. There’s nothing worse than parents letting kids run around and play while they eat. Everything gets filthy including the child.

In our house food is eaten only at the table with a bib on, then hands and faces are wiped before getting down from the chair and touching toys/walls/furniture.

Sound like my kind of dinner party...

@DoJo

I think there's an element of habit snacking. My kids are forever eating at nursery, they have set snack times!

Mine have snacks if I think they are hungry and need them. If we go to a cafe they might have a bun or hot choc that they don't need, but it's a nice experience!

I would not ban snacks, sometimes they don't eat much breakfast so they are hungry too early for lunch etc.

Mine don't snack constantly but they have three meals a day and two snack times in between. Neither can go from one meal to the next without something (they're 2 and 5). They don't graze though .

Surely it depends on the snack?

An apple/banana between meals isn’t an issue. DD used to enjoy a mix of grapes and almonds.

But surely fruit is too “sugary”? And nuts are ncredibly high in fat.....

Snacks all the time are comparatively recent. I grew up during food rationing; no snacks then!
My own children would have a drink and a biscuit while watching Play School, and tea as soon as they got home when they started school.
When they were older it was a cup of tea and toast when they got in from school and a cooked meal around 6; with a homemade pudding!! No yogurt for us; it is still a yogurt-free house.
They are all fit and healthy.

And nuts are ncredibly high in fat....

To be honest I wish she’d eat more then we wouldn’t get the “well she IS underweight” spiel at her asthma review!

Yeah most kids at my child’s school live within 5 mins. Yet they must have biscuits etc the second they’re out of school.

I might take something to that park but only to avoid crap sugar filled cafe food.

Had a child over to play recently and when her mum arrived to pick her up the child started whispering to her. Mum replied ‘well some people do have fruit for dessert’

We never snacked. Mind you my Mum didn't believe in breakfast either so I spent all day ravenous apart from a few hours after lunch and dinner hence I would then eat huge portions and eating became something to panic about and be preoccupied with, constantly looking forward to the next meal. I'm not convinced that snacking for kids is a "bad" thing.

Mine are nibblers. We do take a container of "snacks" out with us when we're out for more than a couple hours. Two of my children, however, have SNs, and (especially for my older child) there is a sensory seeking thing going on there. It's a distraction, it's there in case we run late for a meal (as this is stressful for them), it's there in case the buses or tubes are delayed for any reason....

The container generally has some combination of cut up carrots, cucumbers, pears, courgettes, kiwi, peppers, as well as sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, grapes. It varies somewhat according to what I have available. We also bring water bottles.

This often means that we can go out in the morning and stay out into the afternoon, then have a late lunch at home, instead of buying lunch out (where they'd likely ask for McD's or something like that).

It depends on the child, surely? My three girls are all on the light end of weight and eat totally differently.

One can't manage big meals, so eats three meals plus a couple of snacks.

One likes big meals and isn't fussed on snacking.

One has the appetite of a horse and does both!

I remember my sister as a child (around 8 plus) getting 'hangry' on days out, so my DMum always packed snacks for her, whereas I like big meals and would rather skip meals when busy and make up for it later!

sometimes children are hungry. Sometimes I’m more hungry than others. Having a snack is not really bad. Constantly eating chocolates, crisps, sweets is bad for you if that’s all you eat. But if you only ate carrots that would be bad for you bits about balance. Ds is 12, 5’8” and eats seemingly constantly. He’s not fat, just growing really quickly.

By surely a fourteen year old can manage a ten minute walk home from school without needing to pop into the supermarket for a bag of crisps, and s four year old can play for an hour in the park without his mum having to pack five cakes and fruit and yogurt?

Five cakes = rice cakes

Thinking about this some more, DD isn’t a fan of breakfast. I understand totally - neither am I! On a weekend she manages well, as she can eat when she’s ready but on school days she can’t so she’ll have something small before school then takes a snack for morning break.

Maybe she’s a hobbit

I notice this a lot at baby/toddler classes that I take my charges to. I see children being given a box of breadsticks or cut up fruit in the middle of a half hour music class - why not give it before or after the class, it distracts other kids whose parents or carers haven't brought snacks and I don't think they are going to waste away if they can't eat for half an hour!

The news today about the rise in type2 diabetes obviously doesn't apply to Mumsnet users, whose children only ever snack on carrot sticks and hummus!

If someone could fix my toddler's grazing that would be awesome. Breakfast, second breakfast,snack, second snack, lunch (at 11!!!), Snack at 2 after nap and by four he's screaming at me for dinner! (Then porridge supper)

Ive certainly not encouraged this but he seems to know what he wants

Timeforanothernewone Maybe he’s just actually Hungry.