To think children can go a couple of hours without eating

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

Not sure if this is just the people I hang out with but every park play date I go on at the moment (there’s quite a few- child is 4), the other parent brings with them copious amounts of snacks.
I’m in no way a food nazi, my child has a morning snack, the odd ice cream when out on hot days, a biscuit pudding after her dinner - I always carry water and an apple- but even I think she can manage 2 hrs in a park without me having to produce a family size bag of crisps, popcorn, a fruit shoot, a haribo.
I’m really fed up of it, firstly because I’m the grinch who says “no” when my daughter asks if she can stuff her face 2hrs before dinner and secondly, because then (unsurprisingly) the other kid sits there eating rather than playing.
If you take a picnic amount of food to a 2pm play date- pls why?

@shouldistop

No exactly. I was making a similar point to you.

Your snacks aren't the popcorn/sweets that the OP was talking about.

I meant that if you start your day with sugar/refined carbs then you are going to crash and be hungry quickly and life becomes a cycle of needing sugar to keep energy up. Which is why 'everyone' is getting fatter and has less energy.

I was that person for most of my life. So I totally get it. You're genuinely hungrier and more tired so eat more to compensate. It's a vicious circle. So the kids aren't lying that the need the snacks due to the average western diet being so poor these days.

Although to be fair popcorn isn't a terrible snack (unless it's sugar coated)

But we have friends who a park visit will be penguin bars, crisps, haribo and an ice cream if they van is there.

I'm with you OP. I'm a nanny to toddlers and when I take a snack out, it's a rice cake or something similar. But there's a nanny we meet with that does a full on banquet, 3 different snack options plus fruit, sometimes has 'leftover breakfast' as well. I have to tell her no thank you because she just offers to mine and I want them to eat their lunch! I sometimes feel it's a competition to have the best snacks with some people, but I have no issue saying no thank you and telling the children that it's lunch time soon.

@PurpleVerbena

Cue fat kids eating snacks on demand. It is NOT necessary. If a child has 3 meals a day, there is absolutely NO need for 'snacks'.

Because my child has type 1 diabetes and running around playing can cause blood sugars to drop quite dramatically.

Oh god there's always one. Obviously if you have health issues that need to be regulated with food, this isn't about you

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Because my child has type 1 diabetes and running around playing can cause blood sugars to drop quite dramatically.

Oh god there's always one. Obviously if you have health issues that need to be regulated with food, this isn't about you

I know right! It's pretty obvious that the op isn't talking about those with medical issues and clearly no one thinks that they're unreasonable if a child has diabetes or any other medical condition.

Oh I know somebody who does this to their children.Its mad.

I'd never heard of a 'second breakfast' before this family.

These kids have 2 or 3 breakfasts, then late morning snack.

Then for lunch they are followed around and tormented to eat, for a couple of hours or however long it takes them to finish.

Then afternoon snack.

Then dinner is horrendous, constantly on them to ''eat..eat it, finish it'' can go on for hours too.

Then dessert.

Drink and snack before bed.

These children are constantly eating or having food shoved at them.

All the food is healthy homemade..weighed out to the gram, no sweets or junk allowed.

But the WHOLE day is about fighting with the children to eat eat eat.

The mother goes on about how food is such a chore and a battle and why are they like this

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Because my child has type 1 diabetes and running around playing can cause blood sugars to drop quite dramatically.

Oh god there's always one. Obviously if you have health issues that need to be regulated with food, this isn't about you

In fairness, the OP specifically asked for reasons why people take snacks to play dates:

“If you take a picnic amount of food to a 2pm play date- pls why?“

So that poster is perfectly entitled to answer the question.

@shrodingersbiscuit

Oh there’s an awful lot of nutribollocks on this thread.

The insulin spike model of ob*sity has been disproven. High carb diets are actually linked with improved insulin sensitivity.

Homeostasis is a thing. You don’t oscillate wildly between low and high blood sugars or insulin levels - you’d die. Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes (1 or 2) and nor does body fat. Some fat distributions (visceral) are linked with it, but it’s multifactorial (type 2 - type 1 is pretty much genetic). Some fat distributions are actually protective, mainly subcut hip and thigh fat.

Hanger definitely is a thing! Your brain runs on pretty much pure glucose. If you aren’t giving it enough glucose it can’t work properly. That can manifest in lots of different ways - fainting, irritability, difficulty concentrating, tiredness etc.

A kid looking chubby doesn’t mean they are unhealthy. Fat is an endocrine organ, not an inert lump. Subcutaneous fat isn’t bad - It produces and stores a lot of things including growth hormones so it makes sense that children, who are growing, build up some fat sometimes and then use it (and it’s stored growth hormones) to y’know, grow.

One third of normal weight adults have a level of visceral fat that classes them as metabolically unhealthy - and at risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Bear that in mind the next time you’re berating someone with obvious fat store for ‘stuffing’ ‘guzzling’ ‘quaffing’ or ‘shoving’ the food you wouldn’t think twice about a slim person eating.

Oh, and BMI is a load of shite. Here endeth my sermon.

There is an awful lot of bollocks in this post.

I totally see your point OP, my son is skinny and does not stop. I normally take something for him (or a packed lunch if we might stay longer) but only if he asks and only something small. My friend always has mountains of snacks and then my son gets upset that he doesn't have a bag of haribo or whatever. The same friend constantly moans that her child doesn't eat properly and is baffled when he won't eat dinner after having 3/4 snacks 30 mins before!

OP I agree. This drives me mad!!!!

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Because my child has type 1 diabetes and running around playing can cause blood sugars to drop quite dramatically.

Oh god there's always one. Obviously if you have health issues that need to be regulated with food, this isn't about you

So bloody rude!

She asked why people turn up to the park with copious snacks and I was answering why I do! Because if I don’t my child will collapse, have a seizure, go into a coma and die!

When I ‘stuff my child’s face with sweets’ as other posters have mentioned - it’s for a reason! To keep her alive.

So sod off with your ‘there’s always one’. Perhaps some of the people you’ve seen ‘stuffing their child’s face’ with sweets are just keeping their kids alive and don’t deserve your judgemental looks.

@Expecttheexpected

My kids would rather graze all day and eat tiny meals. I'm OK with it. How are you supposed to teach kids to respond to natural hunger cues if you force them to eat 3 set meals a day?

So you are teaching your children to eat the moment they begin to feel hungry. That’s one way of responding to natural hunger cues . Another is to encourage your child to use its natural hunger cues to eat an adequate meal that keeps it from feeling hungry again within an hour.

Thank you @SlipperyDippery. My point exactly.

@DysmalRadius

I don't understand it either and suspect it's part of the reasons why we have an obesity crisis.

Don't worry - it's not! Most obese people are in their 60s and 70s!

Not round here - it's mostly the younger age groups. Young adults in their 20s and 30s mostly.

You rarely saw a fat child when I was growing up, but now it's very much the other way around.

I'm pretty sure if the families the op was meeting up with had a child with diabetes, she'd know about it. And anyway, she wasn't judging random strangers. She is talking about people she knows whose behaviour is impacting her day out.

@Comedycook

I'm pretty sure if the families the op was meeting up with had a child with diabetes, she'd know about it. And anyway, she wasn't judging random strangers. She is talking about people she knows whose behaviour is impacting her day out.

Maybe. But she asked other people on mumsnet why they take copious amounts of snacks out with them. So I answered. Sorry if you don’t get that but it’s quite simple really.

If your child is moaning because they're not allowed snacks, it's your child who is impacting your day out not other people giving their own children snacks. My child sometimes moans when they haven't got their bike or scooter and their friend has. I certainly don't get annoyed at the other child's parent for bringing the bike or scooter and making my child jealous. Take responsibility for your children's behaviour rather than being annoyed that other people have different parenting rules to you.

@Goldbar

If your child is moaning because they're not allowed snacks, it's your child who is impacting your day out not other people giving their own children snacks. My child sometimes moans when they haven't got their bike or scooter and their friend has. I certainly don't get annoyed at the other child's parent for bringing the bike or scooter and making my child jealous. Take responsibility for your children's behaviour rather than being annoyed that other people have different parenting rules to you.

I never said my child’s behaviour was unruly, I don’t think it’s odd that a 4yr old looks disappointed or whinges momentarily when their friend is eating sweets and I’ve said no. I also never said I was anti snacks.

Also it’s really easy to have easy going kids if you let them eat what ever they want, have endless screens and no bedtime- however I tend to opt for actually parenting!

It's not the role of other parents to save your child from disappointment or you from having to deal with whinging.

There will be many occasions in life when other kids will have things that your children don't have and they'll just have to suck it up.

@Goldbar

It's not the role of other parents to save your child from disappointment or you from having to deal with whinging.

There will be many occasions in life when other kids will have things that your children don't have and they'll just have to suck it up.

Well I’m still entitled to an opinion - that’s life!

@Goldbar

It's not the role of other parents to save your child from disappointment or you from having to deal with whinging.

There will be many occasions in life when other kids will have things that your children don't have and they'll just have to suck it up.

Also I haven’t complained about my child!

No, but you've complained about other parents "making you" disappoint your child.