The snack requests are going to kill me off.

[3AndStopping]

One week into the summer holidays and if I hear ‘I’m hungry.’ One more time I might actually bang my head against a brick wall!! Helppppp!
(light hearted(ish) of course.)

Whatever happened to three decent meals a day and not eating between meals?

We're on day 2 and I'm already preparing to run out the front door the next time someone says "i want a snaaaack" 🤯

PoshPineapple · Today 17:25

Have you tried one of those automatic pet feeders that only open at certain times?

🤣🤣🤣

Dragons' Den beckons - the holiday snack feeder for children. There are different compartments though - nuts, dried fruit, skittles and M&Ms.

@Whataretheodds

Boil 12 eggs, stick them in a tupperware and tell them to let you know when the box is empty.

Do you have an eggy-trump fetish or something?

I used to tell mine to have a drink instead. They soon got fed up with that! Chances are they’re not hungry, just bored.

Just stop buying expensive, unhealthy snack foods in shiny packets. If it's not in the house then they will very soon stop pestering for it. And then anything that IS in the house is fair game and they can crack on (my 4yo will happily grab themselves some fruit loaf, or a few crackers, or some ham, or a piece of fruit etc)

And you KNOW they're not actually hungry, it's just something they say to make sure you don't get a chance to sit down with your own thoughts for five minutes.

They might well be bored, but we’ve been out for the most the days and they have access to an abundance of toys, colouring, painting (sometimes) Lego, Barbie… a garden with plenty to do… so I think that’s a them problem!

My children are autistic, the eldest would just have a box full of haribo (he doesn’t actually snack much at all) and my other son has meltdowns if he can’t access the cupboards. So I put some stuff in for him to access and hide the rest elsewhere so he has a limit just doesn’t know it…

My asd daughter has been known to eat a bag of easy peelers in 1 day😥. Constantly starving. Munches through loads of carrots , bananas, apples all day but is starving to death by 7pm. Send reinforcements😭

I hear you! I had over £100 food shop delivered on Friday. The fridge is bare. I’ve just had to go to the local shop to top up @ £34. Unfortunately mine are old enough to help themselves.

I used to reply with ' good, you'll eat your lunch / dinner '
Then ignore them.

And then anything that IS in the house is fair game and they can crack on

Next week on AIBU - The hamster is missing and my 4 year old is mutter something about ‘goes well with a dry cracker’….

What do they do at school? If they can cope all day with no snacks why are they at me an hour after breakfast!

I particularly dread this because it’s a precursor to them growing an inch overnight. Fruit, bread and butter and cheese are on offer at our house…we appear to average a couple of apples and bananas each a day.

I solved this year's ago by saying one snack (from the snack shelf) plus one piece of fruit a day in holidays and weekends. They are not to ask for more as they're is no need as I provide 3 meals a day so they are not hungry. Also mentioning they must be thirsty or board (in which case they need a drink of water or to do something helpful around the house soon stopped that). The youngest is now 14 and although I haven't mentioned the rule in year's they seem to just stick to it still.

I’ve banned the phrase ‘im hungry’ in our house. If they’re hungry they come to me and ask for what they want and they get a yes or no. It’s worked brilliantly, I’ve found they’re far less ‘hungry’ and the options they choose are often healthier and we no kinder have to play the game ‘ok do you want x’ ‘no’ ‘y?’ ‘No’ ad infinity. It took a sticker chart to get it to stick though!

I think this might be genius

A friend gave me the snack box idea. I tried it yesterday. 3 DC. Each box had two (small) sandwiches, a piece of fruit, a piece of flapjack and a yoghurt. This is in addition to their meals. It worked really well.
DD swopped a sandwich with DS1 for his yoghurt. DS2 gave DS1 his banana and DS1 later gave him his apple. Nothing left in any box at the end of the day.

I have solved this problem as we are now in week 4 of the holidays here. With 4 kids here most of the time i could fill the crisp basket and snack box daily and a whole weeks worth is gone in less than 2 days cue whinging for the following five until the tesco man comes and fights about who had more than who of all the good stuff. I do not want them eating shite all holidays then being too full for real food so Now every week they have £5 each to spend on sweets crisps, fizzy drinks and they can each order that value of their choice of crap and the tesco man will deliver it. That is their lot. No trips to the sweet shop or begging for something every tine I have to stop at a shop. They each take possession of their own items and it is up to them to self ration their treats until the next week. It is working a dream. They are eating way less crap, lots more fruit and yogurt and i keep a tin of home made scones and wheaten bread on the side for if they want something more substantial. They are eating their dinners way better too. They are also learning the value of money and how to get the best value from their £5. Saving me a fortune too!

Sorry to go off topic but do eggs actually give you "eggy farts"?

I thought eggy farts just smelled like eggs and weren't actually caused by eating eggs.

Or they've watched the Gregg Wallace documentary and the next door neighbour has gone awol

You must know by now that Mumsnet is all about constantly making snacks and shovelling them down your kids' throat!

Just common sense really - but hadn’t crossed my mind - going to try this ! Thank you !