To find the obsession with snacks weird

[yipyipyop]

I've noticed in recent years lots parents seem to think their children can't survive a few minutes without a snack. We live a 5 min walk from school so I don't but parents with a similar commute seem to have a bag full of snacks they're handing out. It just seems over the top

YANBU.

When I was a child there was breakfast at home, morning milk about 10.30 (?) dinner time then home time. Out of the entire class of 30 only 1 mum brought a snack at pick up.
We survived.

My dc ask for snacks out of boredom- depending on the time I sometimes say no if it's an hour or less to a mealtime, unless I know they've not eaten much then I would allow fruit.

It drives me potty when mums feed their toddlers non stop snacks then moan when the kids don't eat their meals!

My 85 year old FIL has a bad snacking habit ( I think it's boredom to be honest) and consequently then wonders why he can only eat half of an evening meal at 7.15pm - well that's what happens when eating packets of cheddars and olives at 5.45 every day and cake mid afternoon -

The constant mention on here of snacks seems nuts to me - ( pun intended)

I don't like snacking but find the DC are only given about 10 mins at lunchtime to actually eat so they come out at the end of the day starving. We go straight to clubs most nights so they would be on the floor by 7pm if they didn't have a handful of nuts to keep them going

Food was still on ration after the war when I was a child, no such things as snacks, barely enough for proper meals, Somehow we all survived, you rarely if ever saw an overweight child and I don't remember being hungry. We might have had an ice cream at the weekend, but that's as far as it went.

If I lived 5 mins away or drove I wouldn’t bother either, but I don’t, our walk home is much longer, so I bring a snack.

You survived because you had no choice. I'll bet plenty felt hungry but just had to deal with it until the next ''meal''.

Not how I'd want to raise my DC by choice.

Snacks have definitely always been a thing. We stopped for ice cream or sweets every day after school and this was in the 80s. Dh same era always went for penny sweets at the village shop after school, maybe not every day, but lots of days. That said, my dc don’t have food in the car right after school unless we’re on our way somewhere and it’s not really something I see at our school, but maybe because most people (not us) live in the village.

Yep, we had little lunch, big lunch and then afternoon tea when we got home. Losing weight they recommend eating every couple of hours to speed up your metabolism. Because you've only just eaten, you're less likely to over eat at meal time.

I think it's the quality of snacks that are the issue. Fruit is good and healthy. You should have two serves of fruit a day. Apple plus fruit and yoghurt and you're done. Instead you see so much rubbish given as snacks.

Snacks are socially acceptable dummies for some .

The snack culture took off in the 80s pushed by manufacturers. Prior to that a bottle of milk at school and homemade cake or biscuit after school was more usual. Now it’s all packaged crap!

Snacking does not speed up metabolism!
Snacking triggers insulin which encourages fat storage.

@Tipperttruck that is one big difference- this clubs thing- my son is now 26 but the only club thing was one after school activity a week ( like archery or something at secondary level) and cubs at primary level - same was true for me in the late 60s and early 70s - so it was usually dinner about 6.30 and my son might have had a banana or possibly a bit of malt loaf at 4.30 most days

I eat a couple of times a day as an adult in my mid-40s and that works for me now, but I definitely remember eating five or six times a day as a kid (breakfast, snack - a playpiece as a Scot! - lunch, after-school snack, dinner and sometimes supper. Definitely six times a day as a sporty teenager.

Never been overweight and have a very healthy relationship with food.

That wasn't a girls' school in a North London borough by any chance was it....? I can't believe two headmistresses would say such a thing. Ours mentioned the patent shoes reflecting your knickers, something not forgotten half a century later.

To keep them quiet.

Snacks have always been a thing, I went to secondary school in the 90's and we had morning snack then lunch.

Have you tried going into your local corner shop at school finish time? It's full of teenagers buying junk (not all teenagers do this I admit), most kids are hungry when they finish school, if dinner is not on the table as soon as your home then a snack is normal. So what does it matter if it's eaten on the way home.

I agree, its constant isn't it! I can't imagine its going to be a helpful habit to have in later life.
I've seen it everywhere this week- in shops, in church, in the park, getting into the cat, on the bus. Must always have a snack in hand!!

I used to deliver training courses, and the snacks people brought were ridiculous. Some had eaten more or less a whole packed lunch by 11am; sandwiches, various chocolate treats, fruit, biscuits. Then they'd go on to have a whole lunch during the lunch break... often going off and reappearing with takeaway drinks/pasties/baguettes/more cakes, it was gross. No medical needs. They'd just joke about it.

In many ways I agree with the OP. My parents never turned up to pick me up from primary school with a snack, and I think my kids have come to expect it and it's a pain in the arse to be honest. The idea that they may have to wait til we get home (10 min walk) seems beyond the pale. My daughter also thinks she must take a snack whenever she stays at school for a club. However, in their defence my son (now at secondary school) often doesn't have time to eat lunch - especially if he does a lunchtime activity, due to all the time spent lining up. Seems a bit unfair. And while my daughter does have more time to eat, she generally hates the (free cos we are in London) school dinners. Also especially in warmer my kids play in the park after school rather than go home (we live in a flat so that's important, I grew up rural so went home to play in my garden).

Days out are a whole other issue, they want / expect/ demand constant snacks and drinks. A train journey with no snacks goes down very badly with my kids. It's prob all my fault for getting them to used to it and I do think I need to accidentally on purpose forget snacks combined with getting to the station too late to buy any on our next train journey, ideally also ensuring the train is without a trolley service! It will be painful but I need them to build resilience!

Snacks is a ridiculous concept.

Little pickers wear bigger knickers 😅

Is it...?

You should probably tell the entire planet that...

Also, A child that's eaten maybe a piece of carrot, two bites of pasta and half a sausage at 12 in school at lunch, then goes and runs around for 30+ minutes, does 2+more hours of learning, walks home, goes to the playground for 45 minutes, does some homework and gets dinner, 6 hours after their "lunch" at 6pm is ridiculous for perhaps being a hit hungry around 4? And is going to be overweight because they had an apple and a bit of cheese...?

What nonsense you speak.

A playpiece! Had totally slipped my mind that's what we called it at school.

At the risk of outing myself - Not Miss Cotton was it?

Yes, I think the way school treats lunch is a problem. So often they seem to rush the kids out.

I used to rush out myself because I found the lunch room too noisy and chaotic.

Kids really should be sitting in a calm environment and allowed to eat at a healthy pace.

It’s a snack if the person is eating it as a snack. How bizarre that anyone would try to categorise what someone else eats. 🤪