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.

Out of interest, why is a crumpet or a pancake better than a biscuit?

How can eating something you like be pointless?

Not necessarily. A child that eats Coco pops for breakfast, chocolate spread sandwich, wotsits and fizzy drinks for lunch, then cheap processed dinners and sits around all day on Xbox, but doesn't snack will not be in better health than a child who has Porridge, apple snack, wholemeal vegetable pasta for lunch, some cheese and a few nuts in the afternoon a new mackerel, salad and boiled potatoes, that goes outside playing, running and jumping around for 4-5 hours a day

Not snacking isn't automatically better health.

THOSE ARE SNACKS 😂😂😂😂😂

Your "supper" of a crumpet is the same as someone else's snack crumpet at 4pm

You've just swapped it round and called it supper 😂😂😂😂

Well also the way life goes there is no real reason either child would be judged healthy or unhealthy.
At that age health tends to be down to luck, youngsters rarely get lifestyle related health problems. Plenty of healthy kids eat the coco pops diet.

Yeah coz, wannabe middle class superiority 😂

Maybe the child needs a snack because they get small school dinners and that is a long gap before dinner. What does piss me off is parents don't bring snacks and then their kids are begging mine for theirs.

I don't like kids snacking and rarely offer snacks, and I cook healthy food at home. I'm often shocked at the volume of food other people's kids are eating. However, one of my kids is slim, the other is overweight. So it's made absolutely no difference.

This made me laugh 🦕🦖🤣x

Oh god it's the pious anti-snack nonsense again. Look it's not IF you snack it's HOW you snack.

My fit and healthy kids have always snacked. They are 9 and 11 now, they do 3 sports each.

For after school snack I have a list stuck to the fridge of things they can help themselves to, namely toast, corn cakes, crackers, oat cakes, fruit, cheese, peanut butter, yoghurt, dried fruit/nuts/seeds. They have something or nothing depending on their hunger levels. We have full meals and they are not fussy. I don't refuse them snacks as long as it's a long while to mealtime, if I'm actively cooking in the kitchen I tell them to wait. They don't over-eat, and they eat pretty much everything (lots of soups, curries, stews in my house, vegetables galore)

On Fridays they- Shock! Horror! Get some treats... So I put a biscuit/chocolate/whatever in their lunchbox on that day and then later before swimming I get them ANOTHER TREAT (last week they had chocolate pretzels. This week we are going to our local ice cream place for a scoop of gelato) They then swim (hard) for an hour.

Have I contributed to a public health crisis yet?

But feeding for entertainment is appalling for teaching future self regulation.

I have an attachment disordered 4 year old who is hyperactive due to drug exposure. We read and play whilst the other one is swimming.

I stand by snacking is inherently problematic but crisps and biscuits as a snack seems excessive and sitting in the pushchair munching constantly is not teaching good food habits.

Food is fuel, not to keep children quiet.

My sister was like this with my niece. Always had to have a selection of snacks to hand wherever they went. As though my niece would simply wither and expire without one. She never had to wait for a meal and probably never felt real hunger as she was constantly grazing. She learnt that if she said was hungry (even after a meal) and ask for snacks and said snacks or “treats” would appear. No surprise she is now a very overweight 13 year old. It’s a shame.

Try having a 9 year old gymnast, who trains up to 20 hours per week and has a small appetite. She loves healthy food, hates fatty meat and excess oil, but the girl needs calories, sometimes those come from less healthy sources, but the biggest concern is her losing weight and muscle mass. She has a nutritionist.

“I stand by snacking is inherently problematic but crisps and biscuits as a snack seems excessive and sitting in the pushchair munching constantly is not teaching good food habits.
Food is fuel, not to keep children quiet.”

this is such a disturbing attitude to food. Do you have an eating disorder? Only growing up in an eating disordered household will be so damaging to your children

After swimming my kids always got a twix out of the vending machine as still talk about it! All of my kids (now 31, 23 and 15) are slim and have healthy eating habits.

Eating disorder OP? Seem rather too aware of what others are eating near you!! Myb

No I have a typing disorder. I meant to say that snacking is NOT inherently problematic. It's the non stop junk on the go that's the issue.

An issue because?!

People are totally missing your point. Some snacking is not the issue its the constant shovelling of food (usually processed) to shut the child up. And the attitude that they must never ever feel even slightly hungry

But you literally cannot know anyone feeds their children non stop junk food all day long based on a series of interactions at specific times with different children!

What's so unusual about a child eating crisps and a biscuit at 4pm. That's a normal time for kids to eat snacks. And who doesn't feed their kids after swimming? You sound really judgemental. And nosy.

Cringing hard for you

Apparently the only acceptable time to snack is at 3pm and at home at the table, so OP is judging everyone around her armed with a handful of years experience parenting preschoolers.

So a pre-bedtime snack?

I find that odd - because as part of a normal diet odd crips packet and biscuit seems fine. Same with snacking occaionally it's fine. Fruit also isn't alway best for snacks as the acid and sugar attack teeth.

I also did reading playing and talking to kids as distractions when they were young when they need to be quiet - also did lot of walking so they could sit quiet when needed - but occaonally still used food and drinks for quiet/distraction or to ward of hangry behavior. They are now in late teen 20s - not overweight with a better realtionship with food than I ever had.

I do think some parents can get into bad habits and use food distratcion too much - but then think it very promlematic DN has a screen shoved at him every time he makes any kind of noise - but it's part of a wider pattern of behavior not one off snack after a phycial activity.