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?

@SoftSheen

France is sometimes held up as an example of lack of good food habits, but even there the children are given an after school snack at around 3-4 pm ('gouter').

Gouter is a small meal like an afternoon tea. OP was talking about constant eating.

Could it even just be that they're actually having lunch? I was a nanny in another lifetime and the DC I looked after always liked to eat his lunch as a 'break' from playing around 2-ish. It probably looked like he was being overfed snacks but it was actually one of his three meals!

YANBU, it’s a sign of the times I’m afraid. Back in the day as a child myself we had breakfast, perhaps a drink/malted milk biscuit in the morning, lunch and evening meal.
I once read on here of a mum doing a full on packed lunch sort of thing for her wains when they came out of school as the poor lambs had a 20 min walk home and would otherwise collapse after 30 yards with starvation. I never took more than a mini finger of fudge with me for DD but half the time I’d eaten it myself by the time she’d dragged her coat across the playground floor to meet me at the Infants gate.

Wow so riled by me- touch a nerve?
Yeah. Judgemental, small-minded people tend to 'rile' me. You ought to try expanding your world a little bit. You'll be surprised at first but after a while you might start to get used to the fact that all kinds of people share your parks.

I'm only in my 30s and as a child the choice for a snack was fruit or nowt til mealtimes.

I'm in my 30s too and people definitely had snacks when we were children - maybe you didn't, but they certainly existed!

YANBU, it’s a sign of the times I’m afraid. Back in the day as a child myself we had breakfast, perhaps a drink/malted milk biscuit in the morning, lunch and evening meal.

And children who grew up eating like that are now overwhelmingly obese adults.

Its quite shocking how badly educated a lot of posters are

It's shocking how badly educated you are!

It's not about 'snacking'. Poor health & weight gain is linked to poor dietary choices and lack of exercise

If you eat too much of the wrong food, and are inactive, you'll create problems.

However, healthy snacks, a good balanced diet & plenty of exercise are all fine.

@Hardbackwriter I also don't do playdates...they are tedious. So i wouldn't be leaving one to feed my child.

@DroopyClematis

At the KS1 school , that I worked in, children were offered free fruit both in the morning and afternoon. Most of the fruit had to be thrown away as the children wouldn't touch pears, carrots, sugar snap peas, tomatoes etc.. parents sent separate snacks... popcorn, cheesy biscuits, those stupid processed winders, even hummus with wraps. Some children came in with those compartment lunchboxes with hummus, breadsticks, grapes, baby bels, cheese strings , pepperamis etc...

Come lunchtime, these children ate nothing as they were full up from their 'snacks.'

Parents would complain about their children eating nothing at lunchtime.

School policy was a piece of fruit at break time.
Parents just took no notice and felt that their child must have every snack they'd want, irrespective of the fact that lunch was 45 minutes after playtime.

So so much school dinners went in the bin. So many children didn't eat their packed lunches.

If ever a member of staff said anything, along the lines of ' you won't have room for your dinner, or, ' just eat the grapes' we'd get a rollicking from a precious parent for any comment that we'd made.

I despaired.

Agree with this completely

@DysmalRadius

YANBU, it’s a sign of the times I’m afraid. Back in the day as a child myself we had breakfast, perhaps a drink/malted milk biscuit in the morning, lunch and evening meal.

And children who grew up eating like that are now overwhelmingly obese adults.

Not me.

YANBU!

Two hours is like from 9am until 11am.

This is why we have an obesity problem!

The snack culture is bonkers.

When my dd went to preschool she started at 9.30 and was there until 12.00. Despite her having a good breakfast, they seemed to think that at 11.am they all needed two slices of toast, some fruit and a yoghurt. That's more calories than a grown adult would need. She would never eat her lunch afterwards. No three year old needs this much food. A bit of fruit would have been enough- it's a snack, not a full meal!

Lot of my DC's friends have constantly snacks offered to them throughout the day and during any activity. But majority of them are very active children and seem healthy and happy.

I'm not great at remembering to pack snacks with me. Also my dc don't have a very active life atm but they still snack a lot at home which is not great....

@namechange7865

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...!!!!!

You bring food? How far away from school do you live that you can't just wait until you get home?!

I used to live a 10 minute walk away, and no, when ds was in reception, he couldn't make it home.

He came out of school, having been on best behaviour all day, and melted down in the playground, or on the way home. he also had to walk, and while he was normally active, he through a strop about walking home.

So I met him with a banana, digestive biscuit and a drink. Then we had a great walk home, which was through woods, so actually fun.

I have 2 younger dds, and neither of them needed a snack.

Kids are different

@DroopyClematis

Surely the fault is with the school, for implementing snack time 45 minutes before lunch and allowing outside snacks?

I don’t usually take snacks but do take drinks, although I don’t care that others do.... at the end of the day it’s no one else’s business 🤷🏼‍♀️

I usually take a pack of apples or bananas and probably a box of nakd bars out with me. It just gets rid of the whole ‘I’m huuunnngggrrrryyyy’ argument completely which makes sense because who can be bothered with it really. They don’t sit around gorging or anything and they don’t always eat the snacks, I just like to have them to give them one less reason to whine.

I'm with you OP. My two DSs have never been big snackers at home, where there are only boring options like fruit or toast between meals, never pester for snacks if we're out, but if we meet someone and they produce a massive bag of crisps and offer them around, suddenly they're all over it and, yet again, I'm the evil parent who never brings snacks out for her precious moppets and someone else has to feed them. It's so embarrassing

And most snacks, with the exception of fruit, tend to be of the plain carby variety, and horribly moreish. I'd rather mine kept a healthy appetite for their tea, which invariably contains far more vegetables, protein, and interesting complex flavours to try than the average snack food.

@Hardbackwriter

I'm only in my 30s and as a child the choice for a snack was fruit or nowt til mealtimes.

I'm in my 30s too and people definitely had snacks when we were children - maybe you didn't, but they certainly existed!

What kind of snacks did you see?

We have breakfast at 7 and lunch at 12, so 2.5yo DS does need to need something between those meals. He never stops running or jumping or climbing and burns a huge amount of energy. Heck, I need something to eat between those meals!

• threw a strop

@FreekStar2

This is why we have an obesity problem!

Obesity is more prevalent in 64-75 year olds than children - the obesity problem lies with the older generations who seem to have only ever eaten at meal times.

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...!!!!!

You bring food? How far away from school do you live that you can't just wait until you get home?*

May be astonishing to you but not everyone lives on the doorstep of the school. My DC’s school is 1.8 miles away so takes me 25 mins when I’m alone but usually 35-40 when DC are in tow. It was the only school willing to give them a place when we moved here despite having a school on our street.

I think it’s weirder to be so irritated by someone else’s child eating than it is to bring snacks to the park.

I don’t bring food, because we only live 10 minutes walk away so we are always home for lunch time when we go. But if someone else did, I wouldn’t really care. If it was ruining the play dates I would stop going.

@JanisJ what, in the 90s? There were pretty much all the snacks there are now! Unless you grew up on an isolated farm surely you saw other children eating a bag of quavers or wotsits from time to time?!

I agree. I have friend who will bring out snacks at two hour intervals. They eat so much and then she will say “let’s get ice creams”. This has been happening since they were babies and they are now fat teenagers. My kids can’t even eat the amount they do.