To bring a snack to school pickup?

[cadburyegg]

DS1 started reception yesterday, he’s sensitive and emotional so we’ve had tears on drop off both days, so yesterday I brought some sausage rolls at pickup time because I thought he would be hungry. Yesterday he was teary at pickup and first thing he said was that he was starving and after he’d eaten he was chirpier. Well my mum came with me today and was a bit about me bringing him a snack, started talking about childhood obesity etc. For reference DS1 is very active, 30th centile and we walk/DS1 rides his bike home which takes about 20 minutes, he still eats a good amount of dinner! So AIBU to bring snacks?! Suddenly I’m doubting myself!

When ours go to after school club the snack wouldnt be on the bell exactly (equivalent of parents handing out snacks in the playground).

The snacks about 20mins later , and sat down.so same as if they've come home!!

Im obviously unusual on here (although the norm for my bunch of friends). I just do t really do eating wandering around if we can have it and love sitting down to something woth the kids when we get in.

I did this in reception but weaned them off. Once older and settled they can last the walk home. And if they ever said ‘what’s for snack’ as a first greeting they got a bollcking for being rude!

Im taking a mini bag of mini choc fingers for Year 1 DD at pick up today!

But then she ate two bananas after school yesterday. Friday is treat day. Plus she eats her bodyweight in fruit and veg.

Nothing wrong with a snack,younger kids are usually tired and hungry after school. I bring fruit to choc to crisps. Depends on what I can crab first.

Never did it for DD1, had absolutely no need to as she was fine until we got home (1.5 mile walk).
DD2 started reception last week (just turned 4) and she is ravenous when she comes out. I’ve started taking a snack to make that 1.5 mile walk bearable for all of us.

Pink I take a snack because I can then be more flexible. If it's a nice day we might go to the park and so not get home for a couple of hours. Or we can meander home slowly instead of rushing because DD is starving. We might go to the nearby cafe with others after school. Might need to go to the shops.

Lots of reasons why we wouldn't head straight home.

DD also never ate much of the school lunches so she was always hungry.

I brought my dd a snack in reception but she didn’t need it as she got older. Her appetite varies but as she got older she mostly stopped being hungry before dinner time. Little children like your ds otoh need to eat little and often.

Yeah we often don’t go straight home. We stop at the park, or chat with friends, or they run around on the grass at the bottom of our hill for half an hour. On top of a 1.5 mile walk it often takes us more than an hour to actually get home.

My two DD are ALWAYS hungry... We live in a country where dinner is later (say 8pm for children) so am packing them practically a full packed lunch box for every pick up otherwise they are starving! They have hot dinners at 1pm but by 4.30 they definitely need a snack! Today is cheese, half apple and fuet. They are 2 and 5

My kids cry if I haven't taken a snack, they look forward to it. Always fruit, something sweet on a Friday.

3 - 3.30 is a pretty good time for a snack really, I don’t see the problem. I’m a teacher and I have a snack when the kids have gone.

My youngest left primary school 9 years ago now and back then it was not the done thing. I never saw anyone giving out snacks at pick-up time.
Like PPs have said, most live within 10-15 mins of school and so they can definitely wait until they get home. We would generally walk with friends and there was enough distraction on the short walk to prevent any meltdowns.

Fast forward to me picking up my 3 great-nieces and nephews a couple of years ago. They didn't even say hello to me, they were just clamouring and demanding their snack immediately - which, of course, I hadn't brought with me as I didn't know about it!
And they were normally driven to school, so not as if they were going to expire en route home if their mother hadn't provided a snack.

Not quite sure what has changed in the intervening years, but snacks, in general, do seem far more commonplace...any time or any place.

Whats wrong with 30th centile @crunchymum?

We wait until we get home, but you know whether that would work for you or not I guess!

I didn't realise there was one?

We always had a snack. Most of the children at schools I worked with did too. School dinner portions are tiny now and carb heavy, so most kids are really hungry by home time. As long as he is healthy and active I really don't see the issue

Crunchymum there is every centile from 1-100. According to the NHS BMI calculator my 5 year old is 42nd centile.

I bring DD a snack everyday. There’s nothing weird about it

crunchymum centile (short for percentile) literally means 'of 100' so there are literally 100 of them. Children should follow their centile line on the whole but a deviation of 2 centile lines (which is actually 10%, no 2% helpfully) either side is fine. DS was born 16th, dropped to 9th but settled at 30th once feeding was established, went up to 89th just before a growth spurt earlier this year and is now 41st, he generally bobs around 30-40. Under 15th is considered underweight, over 90th is overweight.

Nothing wrong with a snack.

Everything wrong with kids crying because they haven't got one or expecting one, asking 'where's my snack?' before even saying hello!

We take snacks to pick ups every day. It's devoured. They're hungry so feed them!

Your child, your choice.

YASoooooNBU! I was amazed in reception at just how urgently my ds1 needed to eat immediately after school. Lunch portions are not huge if they're having school meals, and the mental and physical effort in the day exhausts them. Ds would walk out of class open mouthed straight into whatever snack I'd brought. Banana, homemade pancake or waffle, occasionally a digestive biscuit or similar. You need something starchy to keep them going.

Took ds one since nursery.

It's been a while since my kids were at primary but I go into the same school my kids used to go to on a regular basis for CIN or core group meetings.
It never occurred to me to take snacks after school and the other parents didn't do it either. Once a week the lads could spend 50p each at the newsagent on a treat.
Now when I come out of the same school now I am amazed at virtually all kids eating sausage rolls and crisps. Nobody seems to offer their children a banana or anything less processed.
Times change I know but I waited until the boys go at home to eat rather than eating on the street as they walk home which took about the same time as you.

I never brought snacks, I must admit that I'm of the 3 proper meals a day thinking, a biscuit and juice perhaps and I mean one biscuit and 100ml of juice after school. I don't understand the obsession with snacking, individually kids may need a snack, especially if they are underweight but as a population waistlines have expanded in children (and adults) as the habit of snacking has increased.