After school snacks for the journey home

[AlternativelyWired]

We live a mile and a quarter from school. It's a big step hill for a quarter of that. Sometimes we head straight up the steep bit if in a hurry or we meander through the woods and along the river or canal if it's really warm and/or we have time. Sometimes we get the bus. Ds always asks what snack I've brought with me. It could be an apple, a kitkat or similar, packet of crisps, oatcakes, satsuma, banana, whatever is to hand as I rush off to pick him up. I take one item because he'll be having his dinner about 5pm. He's 7 if that's relevant. Some of the other parents seem to take a picnic. I'm not kidding-a whole bag of food-a sandwich or breadsticks, crisps, oat biscuits, pots of fruit, chocolate biscuits and a drink. Ds has snack envy especially if I've had the nerve to bring him an apple. In the summer/if it's ever warm/hot I always take an ice cold drink as that walk home can take an hour if we take the scenic route. Other parents always offer ds something from their picnic as they seem to feel sorry for him stood at the bus stop with them STARVING 🙄 It's only if we get the bus that we witness these picnic bags. The bus journey takes 10 minutes.

What snacks do you take for your primary age dc? Do you offer them a steady stream of food and drink if they don't ask for anything?

No one seemed to have any snacks after primary school when I was there. Maybe something small when I got home but generally no.

Always took snacks ....fruit/oatcakes/flapjack sometimes..cold drinks/icepop in the summer dc always starving coming out of school ...maybe yoghut/babybel/cheese cubes./sandwich/falafel.. often went to the park after school so didnt eat til later

Carrot on a stick.

Actually it's a Mars Bar but it still worked. (Perhaps even better than a carrot)

Just to clarify the ones with the picnic go straight home and don't do activities during the week. My thread was more to gauge what is normal regarding after school snacks as I see the picnics at one end and no snacks at the other with a fair few bags of crisps or similar. High school kids are often armed with big bags of Haribo and energy drinks. Like a pp I wonder if kids get to feel hunger if they are constantly given snacks. I need to up my after school snack game and be more organised but I'm not doing the picnic thing unless it's a hot day and we have a proper picnic in the park by the river.

Never took snacks for school pick up (it never crossed my mind) unless we were going to the park or something and I’d stick a pack of iced gems in my bag.

Oh please, 80s child and we all had crisps, chocolate bars, my usual was an iced finger on the way home, its nothing new and not leading obesity. Totally normal for a child to leave a busy day at school hungry and worn out, lunch is often around 12, or infants start lunch at 11:30. Compared to years ago I see mums with bread sticks, cheese strings, fruits, crackers hardly the end of the world. No I live close so don't need to but I'm certainly not judging those who do. Your child's hungry and walking up to an hour home, grab an apple and a packet of crackers, hardly difficult.

After school snack is normal at DC school. Kind of wish it wasn’t tbh, but they’d be the only ones without.

DC1 genuinely needs it, she has a physical condition and a high metabolism (not from me sadly). DC2 doesn’t need it but loves snacks and can’t exactly give one and not the other.

Snacks range hugely in size and healthiness but I’ve never seen a picnic!

One of my favourite memories is when my dad would pick me up from school in summer and we had to drive past this amazing ice cream place on the way back. I would always beg to stop and he would eye roll and give in
Then say he didn't REALLY want anything and emerge with a giant cone and 3 scoops and "don't tell your mum we went"

Oh please, 80s child and we all had crisps, chocolate bars, my usual was an iced finger on the way home, its nothing new and not leading obesity.

Ha, this is totally true, my mum was the only one bringing healthy stuff and boy did I resent it!

Mine don’t get anything unless it’s a day we go straight to after school clubs then I will take a piece of fruit and packet of crisps.

Mine are in reception. Pretty much the whole class has snacks as they leave the school

No snack, the mile walk home doesn’t really warrant it.

To some extent, not to the same extent as snacking. Every single snack raises insulin levels, so however poor your evening meal
is, it will only raise insulin levels once, and won’t have as bad an effect as snacking or grazing

Crisps, cereal bar, popcorn, gingerbread man (special treat), Mini biscuit bag....

My DC have 1.8 mile walk home so giving them something to eat keeps their mind off the walk.

Are you sure the kids eating a picnic aren't just eating their lunch? Half the kids in DS class seem to run out, pull their lunch boxes out of their bags and start digging in. At DS school they only get 15 minutes to eat their lunch before the next sitting comes in, quite often DS will only eat one item from his lunch box due to talking/messing about and has to finish eating on the way home!

Sometimes I do but ds 8 eats his main meal when we get home around 3.30pm.Has supper around 7.

Nothing. We live a 30 minute walk from school. DS can survive without food for 30 minutes.

My 7 year old can last from school to ballet to home without a snack.

My 5 year old (reception) can barely leave the playground without a snack. It's usually a carrot/apple and a biscuit for the walk home. Some days more when home. Occasionally toast and peanut butter, then dinner at 5pm. As long as it's not sweets/chocolate/crisps, I can see he's genuinely hungry.

I always take a snack. DC can be quite grumpy if I forget. They also have a snack as soon as they get home. Most parents seem to bring a snack but I've never seen a picnic!

My son is so hangry after preschool. I usually take a babybel and something bready like a brioche or half a hot cross bun something like that. I used to have complaints and strops all the way home now he happily nibbles and walks!

I really fancy an iced finger now!

We currently live about 3 miles from school as I'm waiting for new house within walking distance of school to complete.

1 DC has a banana, smoothie drink, and 3/4 chewy sweets like fruitella/starburst on the way home.

1 DC has 2/3 cream crackers, smoothie drink, and a 3/4 Tangfastic sweets on the way home.

DC eat dinner about an hour after arriving home (in after school club/pre-school until 5pm) so proper food about 6.15pm.

Ds gets a snack at home but it's only a 5 minute walk. I always give him crips/breadsticks etc and a bit of fruit. We have dinner a bit later 6.30ish and then something small around 8 and bed 8.30.

Sometimes, we'd call in at a bakery (less than once a week) on the way home for a gingerbread man but generally, the kids had nothing until we arrived home. They were poor eaters so I didn't want snacks to spoil their appetites. I dished up tea at 5pm

We always have a snack after school sometimes at home, sometimes on foot/in the car as we have an activity for one or both kids every night. We don't eat dinner until 7. There's no way they could go from 12 o'clock school lunch until 7 with gymnastics/swimming/karate in between. You don't know what everyone's evening is like so snacks might be necessary.

I always took a fun size bag of sweets or chocolate bar & a sugar free drink for when ds came out of school.