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?

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

Well no one thinks that would be unreasonable. Pretty sure that's not the situation the op is talking about.

@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?

Haven’t you just argued your own point- grazing all day means your child isn’t getting any cues and hence eats tiny meals

Worst worst case my child faints from hunger after an hr of running around I could go buy them a snack from any of the thousand shops/ cafes- I’m sure we’d cope !

It depends what they're eating. DD wanted crap after dinner yesterday. I said no. She made herself a fruit salad and ate the lot. She was hungry. Often I'll say no and she'll grin and not get anything. Nice try!

I think there's a big difference between a piece of fruit or a plain biscuit and family sized bags of tortilla chips and sweets.

@PurpleVerbena actually, young active children do need snacks - although not the kind mentioned by the op.
Ds1 is 5 and needs a mid morning and afternoon snack. He's very slim.

Meh if my kid has been running about at the park, and is peckish, rather than her getting grumpy and whiny, then I'll give her a snack. I tend to always have a few snacks in her bag anyway, such as snack bags of jammie Dodgers, bag of wotsits, mini soreen loaf etc.
Maybe the other people are being polite and bringing enough to share with your daughter?? I wouldn't be fed up so to speak, I would just bring stuff you're happy for your daughter to eat

@OnlyFoolsnMothers your child fainting from hunger would be acceptable to you?

@Comedycook

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

Well no one thinks that would be unreasonable. Pretty sure that's not the situation the op is talking about.

You’d be surprised with the looks I get when she comes over to me all angry (having a hypo) so I make her sit down and feed her sweets. Then when her sugars are up I feed her a biscuit / cereal bar etc. There are some very judgey people out there!

I think it’s clear from your post it’s the quality ( or lack of) of the snacks that is the issue.

[quote DemBonesDemBones]@OnlyFoolsnMothers your child fainting from hunger would be acceptable to you? [/quote]
Yep that’s exactly what my comment meant

My toddler has been tube fed for the majority of her life so far and it can still be a struggle to get enough in her, so more small meals throughout the day gets more nutrients in her.
Whilst this is probably unlikely to be the reason in most cases you come across it should hopefully give an example of why you shouldn't judge when there could be many reasons behind it.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers I just don't understand why you'd even think about that being a scenario. To make a point?! It's definitely not us snack providers whose children are going to have issues with food, I assure you.

I thought NHS advice was kids under 5 basically have tiny tummies and high nutrient needs, so space out meals and snacks? Probably all depends on age of the child; I wouldn’t take 2.5yo DD far without a snack and I generally underestimate how much she can stuff down her hollow legs.

I never gave my children snacks, at home or out. Not through any kind of superior parenting, but simply because I wasn't brought up being given snacks, and as a adult I don't snack, and it simply didn't occur to me that they needed snacks! Snacks simply aren't on my radar at all. Or at least weren't until I had teenagers. Now the boy snacks (cheese toasties mainly, but also egg/beans on toast, plus fruit and yoghurt) - the girl still sticks to 3 healthy meals.

Probably as a consequence of not having snacks, they ate well at meal times, and are not remotely fussy eaters. They were hungry for their meals and ate them. I have noticed a very big correlation between fussy eaters and constant snackers - but of course its difficult to see which came first. I guess if my children had picked at their meals, then I might try to get snacks in them. Obviously I would never refuse food if they said they were hungry, but I can't say that was something that happened often, probably not til DSs teenage growth spurt.

All children are different I guess. I have 3 kids, all are lean and active, and all 3 have 3 good healthy varied meals (decent size too!) and 2 snacks a day. Those snacks tend to be somewhere between 10 and 12, and between 2 and 3, so yes, if we are out at those times I take the snack! For context though, it's fruit or similar, they eat it and then carry on playing. If they don't eat they get hangry!

@Tuliprain. I'm sorry to hear that and sadly not surprised. I get the feeling though that the op isn't judging random strangers though..It's people she knows and if their dc had diabetes I'm sure she'd know that. I think it's more the impact it has on her day out

I’ve never encountered parents bringing family sized bags of crisps and sweets and entire picnics for their children to snack on between meals.
DS is 7 now but when he was smaller and we were out and about I’d usually have things like breadsticks, raisins, rice cakes etc that he could snack on whenever he liked. Pretty much every parent I know did the same.

[quote DemBonesDemBones]@OnlyFoolsnMothers I just don't understand why you'd even think about that being a scenario. To make a point?! It's definitely not us snack providers whose children are going to have issues with food, I assure you. [/quote]
The op said she takes a piece of fruit and doesn't object to an ice cream...but family bags of crisps and big bags of Haribo are a bit much!

Grazing is not a bad habit or something to be avoided. Some people are just grazers - that's how they prefer to eat. It's not inherently better or worse than the social construct of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those are modern concepts (in evolutionary terms). Humanity previously ate to a much more intermittent fasting type schedule, where you might eat lots and then nothing for a while, and then eat more again, and it balances out. It's incredibly common in toddlers to do this - eat a lot when there's something they really like, and then pick and not have much for a while. My own DD often eats a lot in the morning - she might have three breakfasts some days! But then doesn't want anything else till dinner time.

I think people would do a lot better to stop fretting and worrying about what other people are doing and obsessing over children's food habits, as that's far more likely to give them issues with food v taking a snack to the park.

I'm with you OP. Most of the time snacking is excessive and so unnecessary. What's wrong with children feeling a bit hungry? How are they ever meant to learn hunger cues if they're fed a constant stream of 'healthy' snacks?
One infant school I worked at, the head swapped the mid morning biscuit snack that was provided with fruit / veg. A few parents moaned but she stuck to her guns. Incidentally none of the kids minded.
After a week or so, the children were eating so much better at lunchtime (which led to better moods, behaviour and learning in the afternoons) and the amount of food waste at lunch was drastically reduced.
Unless there is a medical reason, it really will not do a child (or adult) any harm to feel a bit peckish!

I remember when DD was in her final two years of primary school. She was getting the same size food portions as a 5 year old, while having a massive growth spurt. She came out of school utterly starving every day, and did actually need food just in order to walk home without getting all hangry, let alone cycling straight from school to music lessons and sports clubs. I remember in her final year of primary school, when I was measuring her for school uniform, her waist measurement was age 9 and her height was age 13, so she really wasn't fat at all, just desperately trying to eat enough to fuel her rapidly-growing body.

Children aren't adults, and they don't have the nutritional needs as adults. Both of mine have had phases of rapid growth when they clearly needed far more calories than I do, despite being smaller.

My 5 year old has lunch at 11:30 at school and i collect him 4 hours later at 3:30 so yes, I bring him food...!!!!!

why?

thats only 4 hours!

just why?

I’ve always done three meals with two small snacks as that’s what the HV told me when they were small! So a snack at 10ish and 230ish and we might have that in the park if we are out as it’s nicer (I’ll have a coffee and a biscuit/fruit too). So I can easily see why people take a snack to the park.

I do have friends that come loaded with crackers, biscuits, cakes, fruit etc and their kids will graze all morning/afternoon which works for them but would totally spoil my kids lunch.

I take snacks to the park for my son and when I pick him up from school. Their stomachs are smaller and need filling more regularly than adults, it’s also pretty grim dealing with a small hangry child.

Feeling annoyed about other parents taking snacks, because of having to sit there awkwardly or deal with your own whiny children is pretty pathetic. If you’re so intent on being snack-free then just be confident in your own convictions. Judging other parents because they don’t agree with your snack ban smacks of insecurity to me.