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.

Yep! I went to secondary an hours bus journey from home and I remember feeling it was ridiculous dinner was 5 instead of our usual 4pm. The world of work was a shocker

Do you have children?

Where?

Whilst I do agree with the basis behind this I do disagree with your view here. Obvs I’ve no idea behind the parents thoughts here (just as you don’t) but I don’t think a restaurant is the place for kids to order new foods. Whilst it is great to try new foods, if they didn’t like it it’s a long wait and expensive to get another meal made not to mention a waste of a meal.
That’s not to say they can’t/shouldn’t try a bite of an unfamiliar food from a parents plate or try new food at home where alternative options don’t need to be ordered and paid for.

Et voilà, an obesity epidemic.

So then why are you surprised other kids snack.? And honestly if mine are having a sugary snack then after a sports club is the time for it. Also prepare yourself especially if you have a boy, mine grows at an alarming rate at 8 yrd old and both me and the other school mums despair of their constant hunger. I've started only offering carrot sticks cucumbers and apples after a certain point when it gets too ridiculous.

Child of the 60s here and after swimming was pretty much the only time we got a 'snack' of the crisps or biscuit type. We called it a chittery-bite, something to stop your teeth chattering when you were cold and damp and tired and hungry.

But we got free milk at school at playtime, and if we took a 'play-piece' it would be half a raw carrot, or half an apple, or a tiny pot of raisins.

We didn't have a snack after school because tea time was always 5 o'clock.

Where do you know that will freshly make a steak or a curry to allow someone to taste it before ordering?

Yanbu. Just yesterday I was at school sports day and a sibling was brought along by one of the parents. They were sitting next to us. The sibling is is 3 or 4 and really overweight. The mother had brought what I thought was a packed lunch for him in a large bag. But no, she pulled out processed snack after processed snack for him to eat. I felt sorry for the kid, he has no chance of being a healthy weight.

Also my niece has snacks shoved at her constantly even when she isn't asking for them. Her mum, my sister in law then comments often that 'she wont eat meals' and 'she is just a picker/grazer'. Well she wouldn't be if you weren't constantly supplying unhealthy snacks!

The NHS recommends 3 meals and 2 to 3 healthy snacks a day for toddlers. so the snacks aren’t the problem it’s the type of snacks that are the issue. But it’s also absolutely none of your business lol

There is also an element of lack of education / knowledge etc.
i remember watching a documentary with a low income girl (prob in her 20s) who had no idea that the drawer in her fridge was for vegetables. No one had taught her how to buy/ store and cook healthy food. Once she knew it was a game changer for her.
Of course there is also lack of caring as a reason. That one is more worrying.

This is how my mother in law tries to treat my children. She had my 8 yr old yesterday and he's got a very fatty loose tummy today. I asked him what he had for breakfast, weetabix, ok no problem, lunch, cheese wrap and watermelon, again grand no problem. I said what did you have for snacks? A breakfast roll with sausage potato scone and ketchup, a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate, some crackers, a crunch corner yoghurt and some sweets.

It does not matter what we say she cannot seem to learn moderation. As is at he does be constantly asking for food but in our house he'd have had the meals, then a snack of say apples or banana and peanut butter and a n afternoon snack of carrot sticks and a spoonful of humous. Way more filling and actually nutritious.

I had a rage last week when I discovered the day in the week she does school pick up she was wondering up to the gates at lunchtime playtime to give him a twice through the gates. It's infuriating because actually he is very high centiles and I'm constantly battling to reduce his calorie intake without him being a ware bit when she's doing that weekly it feels like a losing battle. She's so sneaky too. And you can say dotn use her for childcare, I wouldn't if I could get a way with it, he has an after school club at his school that he loves and has lots of friends at but she wants him ab afternoon a week.

I think babies and toddlers do need snacks but I didn't give snacks routinely to any of my children after about age 3. I particularly remember that DS wouldn't eat at all at preschool but I wasn't really concerned as he wasn't used to having snacks mid morning anyway. I do think swimming is an exception though, I always took a snack for that.

He didn't have a snack for school playtime? Or a post school snack? Or an Early dinner then a supper snack at bedtime?

Have worked in 10 or so restaurants and been to many more and have no idea what you’re talking about.

Oh no thats so frustrating! Could you speak to the school about her passing stuff through the gates at lunch time. Im sure they could put a stop to that.

I have a mixed view here because I dont agree with kids eating copious amount of processed/junk food, or eating food when they dont even ask for it/say their hungry, I dont see an issue with children having healthier choices to snack on when they need it.

You also have to factor in the lifestyle of children aswell so children who are very active either always out doing things i.e. lots of walks, softplay, or taking part in a sport etc. I could imagine they are getting hungry fairly quickly and will need top ups for the energy they are using up. Children who are hardly ever given the opportunity to go outside to play and explore who stay in constantly sat down/gaming/watching TV generally living a mostly sedentary lifestyle but are still constantly eating well id agree thats far from ideal.

He does sometimes have a mid morning snack now he's at school but didn't at preschool. It would have been milk at 7, breakfast at 8, lunch at 12, dinner at 4:30-5 and milk at bedtime, occasionally cereal then too if he was hungry. Obviously I didn't refuse to feed him, I just didn't routinely offer snacks between meals after a certain age.

We've had to, I got my husband to speak to her too but then she gets all wounded and passive aggressive. Nothing overt but still enough to make life unbearable when we see them. The kids love it though, there's also the huge amount of plastic tat she buys them and clutters up my house to end in landfill. I could rant all day.

The effects of obesity are impacting the health service. There are teens being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and other diseases that are typically related to excess weight. For many young people this was preventable and results are lifelong. Excess weight is linked to chronic health issues.
Peoples taxes are going into fund the NHS therefore it becomes a societal issue. A society getting progressively unhealthier does have knock of effects on everyone else.

All the people saying "stop being so judgemental" etc - yeah that's fine, but 1 in 5 children in the UK are obese by end of primary school. Obese, not chubby, not puppy fat. We're talking apnoeas at night, can't breathe well/run around in the day, fatty liver disease, fatty heart, metabolic issues, blood sugar issues. You're concerned about the parents' feelings - you should be concerned about the children's feelings. They are being massively, massively failed, at a societal and individual level. And they are very unlikely to recover from such a lousy start.

But why do they recommend this? It wasn't always the case.

My brother and I raised our kids in the 2010s and dutifully gave them loads of (healthy) snacks as that's the advice we were given. The kids then inevitably didn't eat their meals which led to stress all round. I couldn't help thinking all the bloody snacks didn't help. Maybe we were giving them too much in a portion, but there's not a lot of advice on that and his kids were given loads at nursery.

My mum couldn't understand it, she said when she had us in the 70s we had 3 meals a day and that was it (although i remember an occasional biscuit it certainly wasn't every day).

Its like a kid being slightly hungry is now seen as an unacceptable thing, when surely being too full to eat proper meals is worse?

Uff don’t even get me started on kids menus - I detest those and my kid has never eaten from those. He can read now so last week we stayed at a nice hotel and went to have breakfast. They gave him the kids menu (7yr old) he looked at the lady and said ‘I don’t like these things’ (pancakes, waffles, cereal). He ordered eggs, smoked salmon and toast.
he always has a big breakfast and doesn’t like eating/ snacking until lunch. I had to have an argument with the teacher at the start of the school year as she saw snack time as socialising and he didn’t want to eat anything 🙄. What does she want me to do if he doesn’t want to snack??

Well that's both unusual and not what health visitors etc recommend. A health snackis good for keeping blood sugar level in busy kids. Obviously I'm not saying send a packet of crisps daily but at our primary school induction we're advised to send a healtht break time item, our head teacher always says they don't police it but the general guidelines mist parents follow is fruit, bread sticks, rice cake, cereal bar type thing mon-rhues then a biscuit or crisps on a Friday. Which the 3 yrs my son has been at school has been my experience.

Obviously up to you but I'd say kids not having a break time snack are in the minority

Is the issue here snacks or junk food?

Struggling to see what the issue is with a kid having a banana or a rice cake with some soft cheese on en route from school to swimming. School lunches at primary are often around 11:45am and tea might not be until 5:30 or 6pm if a couple of kids are swimming. I would be hungry with that gap especially if I was exercising.

I can though see what the issue is with kids routinely having a packet of crisps and a packet of biscuits en route from school to swimming. I think these are 2 entirely different things though?