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?

Exactly this. Also, my DD doesn't eat breakfast - we leave home early for school, and it's just too soon after waking up for her to be hungry. She carries rice cakes and carrot sticks or an apple in her bag and has a mid morning snack instead. A lot healthier than the sugar laden cereals her breakfast eating companions have already consumed too.

To people saying the snacks of Sri Lanka they are we call tourist snacks.
As a country we are poorer so those snacks for you would be meals for locals if meat based.

Maybe it is a money thing as well.

I love Sri Lankan food and really want some now. For lunch, for a snack, I really don’t mind.

OP one of my DC turns into the devil child when hungry. It happens rapidly, especially after exercise. Feeding her before she becomes too angry makes the world a safer place. She’s not overweight and we generally give healthy stuff as a snack.

The other one doesn’t turn devil in the same way but is much happier between the tiny school lunch and teatime if she gets something.

I'm a snacker, or more accurately a grazer.
My Mum told me that she had to make sure I ate often otherwise I'd get very grumpy.
I am very slim.

If an event says bring snacks usually it means there will be a break and the kids will be expected to have their own food and drink for this. If your kids don’t really eat between meals then send them with a tiny snack so they don’t feel left out but won’t spoil their meal. Bread sticks, fruit, cheese string, carrot sticks, sausage roll, rice cakes. I wouldn’t not send something as it’s just as much a social thing and I wouldn’t want my kids sitting round (or causing chaos) while everyone else eats.

The problem with snacks is control. Healthy snacks are fine. The occasional non healthy one is fine too.

The main issue with kids who are used to snacks 2 to 3 times a day is when they get their own money and allowed out alone. They believe that snacks are ok if hungry and will think nothing of buying crisps, biscuits, bars etc...from the corner shop or eating a whole pack of biscuits coming home from school rather than the 2 or 3 they were allowed before.

Threads about teenagers eating all the snacks in the first few days of shopping are frequent enough.

Obesity is a massive issue and now it's affecting a forever increasing number of teenagers and kids. Snacks are a significant if not the main contribution of the problem.

Not all children eat much breakfast or like big meals generally. Some children have an early breakfast before school and it's a long wait until lunch. Some children play lots of sports or have a long walk until school. Hence, they appreciate a piece or fruit or cereal bar mid-morning to tide them over. (Mine don't usually have a morning snack but always have something after school, and they definitely need it. Both slim).

There's a huge difference in snacking because you have to (blood sugars, after excessive exercise etc) and then mindless grazing for no other reason than boredom.

But really, who cares. We are all different. Some of us snack, some of us don't, some of us love three huge meals a day, some of us skip breakfast, some of us get up at midnight to raid the fridge. Just enjoy your life. It's bloody short.

We eat breakfast at 7 and lunch isn't until 12. Tbh I need a snack with 5 hours between meals! Small tummies can't hold enough food to give them the energy they need for that long. My kids (4 and 1) are grumpy nightmares when they're hungry so I head that off by giving them things like crunchy red pepper, apples, rice cakes.

I grew up in Sri Lanka and there is very much a snack culture! There are most certainly not "tourist" snacks and I've not known anyone to eat them as a meal substitute! Sri Lankans are feeders and I was always offered snacks between meals.
What are "short eats" for? All those yummy pastry type things, sweet things, fruit with chilli and salt, too many to mention.
Perhaps your family culture is different.

Also, we are all slim in our family and we all snack.

Whats wrong with snacking? I'm known for my snacking amongst friends and colleagues 🤣. I get so grumpy and even sometimes have out of body experiences if I go for too long without eating. I've got a bmi of 19, am active but don't ' exercise' and don't have to think about what I eat. I do tend to have small meals and hate feeling that stretched full feeling.

Nah I think you need a snack.

I'm hangry myself and not well.
What's your excuse?

And then there are kids who were never allowed snacks who when they get hold of their own money, go crazy for snacking and have no concept of what might constitute a healthy snack so eat a whole packet of biscuits because they never got taught to stop at one or two... You see how the best laid plans can backfire? Some kids will learn moderation and some won't, whatever their parents instilled from an early age. Parenting is complex, children are individuals and the same strategy won't work for all.

I think you're being absurd to assert that the snacks on sale in Sri Lanka are for tourists only...

It’s concerning how many people don’t ‘get’ or ‘understand’ snacking.

It really isn’t that complicated a concept. If you really really try to imagine a world where everyone is different, you might just comprehend the role of snacks in someone’s life.

I presume you know what a sback is even if you don't eat between meals. Any smsll amount of food eaten between meals can be a snack.

I'm not sure that this is better is it? Obviously it is if the snacks are chocolate bars but I've never liked massive portions. Little and often us a perfectly valid diet.

People who can't read?

Right hahaha

mumsnet competitive under eating strikes again

Do your DC not do any sport OP? It’s well known that after doing any decent level of sport, everyone should eat between 10-20g protein as soon as possible, to assist with both muscle recovery & help improve future performance.

Personally, I’d far rather my DC carried on training & competing, with a protein based snack after sessions, that not snacking but not doing any sport.

If the OP genuinely does not understand the concept of a snack, it would be far quicker for her to Google this than to wait for answers on a thread.

If the OP is actually saying 'Goodness, all you greedy people snacking all day long, whereas I don't even know what a snack is!' then she should say so.

Well, everyone is different but there's no way I'd be able to go 5, 6, 7 hours between meals without eating a thing. I'd be so hungry. Yes, I eat proper meals. Yes, I eat all sorts of snacks, some healthy and some not. I am not a fatty. And children have small stomachs, sometimes they need to be filled a bit between meals like mine does.

There was some research done quite a while ago (can’t remember when but it was before I qualified as an early years teacher so possibly about 20 years ago) which showed that small children function better when eating small amounts regularly rather than 5 meals per day.

My kids snack on babybels, apples, oranges, crackers.. all kinds of things.
They are always starving after school and we eat together at about 6:30.