The constant feeding / snacking of children

[Lordofthebantams]

At swimming lessons tonight I've sat next to two children chomping their way through a packet of crisps and a packet of chocolate biscuits at 4pm. ( No eating on the poolside but never mind that, the little darlings need some salty junk).

We had a day out with friends on Tuesday at a farm park and kids are being handed food every 5 minutes.

You go down the street and everywhere you look the toddlers in buggies have their little hands stuffed in packets of puffs or gripping a biscuit.

It's no wonder we have such chubby children everywhere.

It also can mean they do not have enough appetite for actual meals, and importantly, for trying new foods like vegetables and fruits because of feeling hungry enough to try.

Oh don't start me on that!!

We sat behind a family in a restaurant at the weekend and the boy around 7 or 8 asked for the chicken curry and was told he wouldn't like it! He then aid ok steak and was told he's never tried that either so should have nuggets.....

How sad.

This completely winds me up. I’m with you OP. The snack culture in this country is doing everyone a huge disservice IMO.

I’m just wondering, OP, how old are your children?

When I used to take my dad shopping to Tesco, we'd get there about 9.15 am ish and outside the entrance there was usually two or three young women with buggies and very young kids, all eating doughnuts or sausage rolls. The women all smoking.

Did they not have breakfast or was this their usual breakfast, fat, sugar and additives or in the mums case, nicotine?

Poor kids 😕

2, 4, 5

Yawn.
How many threads do we need on the eating habits of children that don’t belong to the posters.

You are not more saintly because your own little darlings have never snacked.

YANBU

In the 15 years I've been on Mumsnet there's been an insane amount of posts telling OPs to 'make sure their kids have plenty of snacks to keep them quiet and occupied'.

This is when they've asked how to keep a small child quiet during parents evening, a wedding, a long journey, siblings after school activities etc.

And considering the amount of adults who struggle not to boredom eat, you'd think they'd know better than to encourage their kids to do it.

It’s ridiculous. My kids’ primary has an open air pool we could use throughout the summer holidays. I was often amazed at the sheer volume of crap some mums would bring for their children. Entire packets of biscuits, bags of crisps, fruit shoots, sweets. I never did any of that.

They do snack. At 10 am and 3 pm they have fruit. Occasionally something else but I feed them proper meals.

Also in our house, food is something that happens sitting down at a table. Unless you go for a picnic, you sit properly to eat.

You’re so judgemental!

Maybe they wanted him to choose the kids meal to keep the cost down, or maybe they’ve been there before where he chooses a new meal and doesn’t touch it.

Stop with the judgement, this is a societal problem.

All hail saint @TooOrangey , we are most unworthy.

Back in the Jurassic when dinos roamed the land, I got a piece of fruit for my snack. Apple, pear, banana, plum, a piece of fruit. That was it.

I guess one reason is that my taxes pay for the bad health that these parents are pushing their children towards

Regularly feeding children junk feels like abuse to me. You would be shocked if a child was given alcohol every evening? If a child was smacked ? But set a child up for a life of ill health is fine ?

Yanbu. Eldest is 9 and a growing portion of kids in his class are really fat, being given crisps and ice creams and chocolate brioche at the school gate. The girls are hitting puberty earlier and earlier because they are fat.

They come for dinner & i put a big dish of vegetables out & they wont eat any of them

So you feed your children a snack at 3pm but it’s world ending because someone else does it at 4pm?

I’m sure you are the only parent in the world to feed your own children proper meals.

Snacking has caused tooth decay and overweight children.

I’d give my kids a quick snack after a session at the pool especially if straight from school. Just like on Fridays I treated my kids to an ice cream from the truck that would park outside the school gates. But I agree people seem to use food to keep their kids quiet and ‘entertained’. Might be essential on an airplane, unnecessary if just on a regular outing.

Totally agreed. That's why they are often so fat and picky with food.

I thought it was normal to give your children a snack
we do fruit/crackers/oatcakes/yogurt/veg sticks and hummus Mid morning, mid afternoon and sometimes before bed.
I also like a snack. We also all eat normal meals.

I’d give my kids a quick snack after a session at the pool especially if straight from school

Why? Havent they had lunch? Is it going to be a particularly late dinner? Human beings dont need to eat constantly, we can easily last four or five hours till the next meal.

If you offered vegetables for the snack they would probably turn it down.

I agree. You only need to look in Supermarkets and ‘Baby Aisle’ has loads of snacks aimed at babies and toddlers and don’t get me started on those pouches full of shite.

Disclaimer: I’m 62, the only snack we got as wains was a Cow Biscuit and a cup of milk watching Brian Cant on Playschool each morning.

So do you never snack yourself OP? All hail you, the perfect mother. Come back in 20 years when your offspring are all a healthy weight please. Fruit isn't that healthy.

They do snack. At 10 am and 3 pm they have fruit. Occasionally something else but I feed them proper meals.

Why are you assuming these kids won't get a proper meal based on a snap shot of their lives?

Maybe they eat very late in evening - some families do - and their snack time might be 4 pm not 3 pm to accomodate.

If it's what they are are eating - well sometimes snacks aren't just fruit - those days for us were often swim days when we also walked the two miles to and from the pool as we didn't drive and had time to do the walk.

Depends on the child I suppose. My 5 year old eats like a beast after swimming. We can be in for 2-3 hours at a time and when we get out he’ll eat a peanut butter sandwich, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and sometimes a flapjack, then an hour later have a full dinner.

If it’s healthy and a lot of fruit and veg then snacking can be balanced out by a very active child.

At a societal level, snacking is off the scale. But I’m a terrible snacker myself.