I do not understand snacks

[Yellowdaffodila]

So I'm not from the UK and I hear and read about the snack thing all the time.
What is a snack? When I take my children out I'm asked to bring snacks. They will be home for food after our trip. They eat breakfast. Why a snack?

The people I know who need to eat between meals are generally slim. DH is BMI 18.5 and starts to feel wibbly if he doesn't get something mid morning, DS is the same and so is my best mate who is very slender. I am pretty chunky (hanging into the healthy range by tips of fingers!) and can easily skip a meal or two and feel fine.

Snacks are things for toddlers who have little stomachs so need to eat little and often.

BUT... snacks are something parents keep giving to their kids as even though most kids 5+ can just eat 3 meals a day, parents can't deal with the tantrums so just hand snacks out to keep kids quiet! They then wonder why they don't eat so much at meals!

I have a friend who is always feeding her 7 year old snacks. All bloody day. When we go out, my 7 year old doesn't have or need snacks. My friend tells me that her daughter doesn't eat much at meals so NEEDS snacks...

So when I had my friend's daughter for an entire day, she gets no morning snack (she asked, I said no), and then unsurprisingly she ate all her lunch. She ate so much at lunch she then didn't even ask for an afternoon snack, then happily tucked into a huge tea.

I stopped snacks with mine age 5 and they eat so much better at meal times.

I think some parents just can't deal with a hungry child, except being a bit hungry is normal and ok!

And where are you from? We haven't got the highest rate. America does. And not all snacks are unhealthy and so fucking what if I want to eat 10 packets of crisps in a row. I don't put the weight on 🤷‍♀️

In the UK, culturally we have a small thing to eat mid morning. Adults might just have a drink (usually hot), but typically it will constitute a drink and a small food item such as a biscuit, piece of fruit, bit of cake or a small sandwich, piece of cheese.

You may or may not have similar mid afternoon and then at some point before you go to bed. It's normal to have these built into your routine. It won't cause comment if you don't bother, for whatever reason.

Very small children often have this baked into their routine - again, this is cultural and not mandatory. If you're going out somewhere then it's much cheaper and more convenient to bring a small snack item from home than get fleeced in Costa for a flapjack.

When your child goes to school you'll be expected to provide a morning snack. No-one will call social services if you don't do this and your child doesn't care to have it. The school may have a scheme where they provide a piece of fruit in any case.

Just because a particular culture does one thing doesn't mean you have to do the same, but that's what a snack is. Just in case you really didn't "understand".

@Yellowdaffodila "snacks" could be anything that you eat between the main meals. So fruit, biscuits, crisps, sweets, a small sandwich, a yoghurt, piece of cheese....or whatever type of things you/your children like to eat.
Many people have a mid-morning snack often at around 11 o'clock - that's why it's sometimes called 'elevenses'.

If kids are out running around a lot then the chances are they're going to get hungry and a lot of children get cranky when they get hungry - snacks solve the problem. But if yours don't have that problem then you don't need to worry about it.

Some people seem to do well eating a big meal and then waiting a long time for the next one. Other people like to eat little and often.

Obviously like most of us I was brought up on the 3 proper meals a day regime but it’s not actually compulsory now I am an adult and buy / make my own food … and I prefer to eat little and often… so I do. My DC seem to prefer that too.

BUT... snacks are something parents keep giving to their kids as even though most kids 5+ can just eat 3 meals a day, parents can't deal with the tantrums so just hand snacks out to keep kids quiet! They then wonder why they don't eat so much at meals!

My DC's behaviour is demonstrably worse when they're hungry, just like when they're tired. Why on earth would I leave them hungry or cranky for the sake of a snack? If I was feeling so hungry it was effecting my mood, I'd eat.

Yep, my BMI varies between 18 to 20 and I snack. I pretty much never sit down and eat a full-size meal, but I generally need to eat something every 3-4 hours during the working day.

Well done you. You are indeed supermum 🙄

Honestly most parents are just out here doing our best. Some people will assume superiority over others for the strangest reasons.

I love snacks. My kids love snacks. At school in the seventies we always had a snack at break time. Because of hunger!

One thing which has changed a bit is that if my memory serves me correctly, as kids we did not snack whilst going round a museum or supermarket in the seventies and eighties. That level of unstructured nibbling on raisins etc seems to be a more modern phenomenon. I could be wrong though.

‘I don’t understand snacks’
Proceeds to describe giving her kid snacks.

This thread is going to lure in the competitive undereaters.

Assuming that you're a passing Martian, a snack is food that you eat when you're hungry between meals. HTH.

They're also as I'm sure you're aware the subject of a hotly contested (and boring) debate between the "Why does anyone need to eat more than once a day" brigade and the "Of course my child needs a snickers, a family bag of haribo and a Quavers multipack when I pick them up from school" brigade.

Reason, as is usually the case, is located somewhere between these two viewpoints. Some peanut butter toast or cheese, a piece of fruit or even the odd biscuit, chocolate bar or ice cream here and there probably never did anyone any harm.

I don't tend to snack anymore as trying to lose weight but ds will have a couple biscuits or piece fruit when we get in from school . If we are going out will take a snack usually

Everyone be kind. Every culture has different concepts of food and that’s okay, as long as her child is happy, healthy and well-fed. For me personally, I always have had snacks and grew up on them, more because I take after my mum in that I cannot eat big meals. I have a fast metabolism and get full quickly but then I’ll get hungry quickly again so I need to eat every 2-3 hours. I’ve always been thin. Same with a lot of kids! Some other countries have different concepts of meal times too, for example some kids may have a proper lunch after rather than during school hours, then a later dinner. We operate on quite an early schedule over here. Some people are fine without snacks and having bigger meals is sufficient. I think the school suggest this because the majority of children will need something between meals and they don’t want to be dealing with a bunch of hangry children. Even if your kid doesn’t need snacks, it’s worth considering bringing something small and healthy like a piece of fruit so they don’t feel left out when all the other kids eat. But whatever works best for you and your family!

Ah, so I'm just imagining I'm hungry between main meals then? I don't like eating 3 big meals and then nothing in between, I prefer to have a smaller breakfast/lunch and snack in between
I didn't say that it was always wrong. I'm on the extreme of snacking but managing to be healthy as I monitor what I snack on and exercise a lot.

But it is a choice, not an actual need, and whereas a minority do manage to snack healthily, too many people eat normal meals, plus snack 2 or 3 times a day on the most unhealthy options. It's really not a good habit to give kids if it can be avoided.

I agree. I would put up with the tantrums and try and insist on a 3 meals and nothing else regime if it was actually better for them… if there was a reason to do it…? But otherwise why? Why make life harder for no point?

I won’t eat an actual lunch with graze over the whole mid morning to mid afternoon point. Is this hurting anyone?

Is it not actually healthier (as in a healthy relationship with food way) to eat when you feel like it and listen to your body? If I am given lunch at 1pm and know I won’t have anything at all until 6.30pm I’ll force myself to eat more because I don’t want to be hungry later. Is that actually a good thing?

Perhaps if you focused on your reading skills, you'd notice that I wrote "high rates" not "highest rates". You'll also perhaps be able to comprehend the bit where I wrote "...which are OFTEN unhealthy", this being a different statement from "...which are ALL unhealthy".

Not that it's any of your business, but I'm British.

Bringing snacks on a day out is to shut them up really. Especially if other kids are likely to be eating, yours might whinge if they don't have a snack too? It can just be some apple/grapes.

Which Asian countries don't do snacks?

From mochi to pakora to mango with chili salt in a cellophane bag, I'm not sure I've been to an Asian country that doesn't have ample snack provision.

My children whinge at me a lot less when I keep chucking raisins, digestives, apples and bananas at them at hourly intervals.

I prefer to snack throughout the day than to eat big meals. My job is incredibly active and it keeps me going. I don't eat meals at all on days I graze. Weekends I'll have a fast day and a normal 'meals' day.

So to explain myself further I am from Sri Lanka. We do feed at school of course. Children get milk and then they eat together at the lunch stop.
They come home and after chores we eat with my husband at 7pm. My children do eat but maybe different. We eat a rice or oat breakfast but not crisp or sweets.
I hope that explains. We would not eat if not our meal.

You share views and have a similar username to the OP, how lovely.

And your point is? Report my post if you want and let MN see if I'm in any way linked to the OP ( as a hint for the hard of thinking - I'm not). I've been here years under the same user name.

But if you don't eat snacks then where is your fruit intake? A fruit for e.g between meals, would be a snack, along with a list of many others.

There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't snack, and snacks are absolutely fine in moderation and balance.

I encourage a healthy snack between meals and consistent water intake for my 5 and 2 year old, and even myself as there are many benefits. It provides a boost of energy and also the extra nutrients that your meals may not contain. E.g fruit, dairy. It decreases hunger so that you don't over eat at meal times too.

My kids are happy and healthy and I have never been more than a size 10 with a healthy BMI.

I am all for a snack 🥳