Everyday Systems

Parents with pre-schoolers or school-age children - have you reduced the snacks you give to your children or that your children have access to? If so, what has been the reaction?

As a predominently non-snacker, I am highly conscious that my 5 year old daughter is part of the snacking culture. They even give (albeit healthy) snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon at her school. I've gotten into the awful habit of giving her a snack after school and also to allay whinging on long(-ish) journeys.

She's a growing girl with high metabolism; she does alot of physical activities eg gymnastics, swimming, dance; and she's very slim.

But I am so worried I've made snacking her habit.

I'm OK with "a meal called snack" for kids. Something with parameters and a little formality around it, that you sit down for and eat from a plate or a bowl. It's the informal permasnacking that's the real danger. It would be nice if there were distinct terms for these distinct activities in general use, but unfortunately there aren't (yet). The good news, from what I understand, is that the snacking in school tends to happen as set "snack times." So there's an element of mealiness to it. Still, there's a lot of bad snaking in our kids' atmosphere, and much of it is beyond our control as parents. What we can control is to insert a little formality and discreetness around snack-time at home, and let the kids know that it's not OK to just grab whatever they want whenever they feel like it. For younger kids, I think there's some amount of good you can do with this approach.

Reinhard

"set snack times"..."formality"..."discreetness"...

Yes, I like this spin on things for kids. Fortunately her after-school snack is only eaten sitting down at home but I need to keep a check on things...

I am going to be alot stricter from now on and feel like I have a fighting chance as she's still only 5.

I understand that French children don't have a morning snack, but they do have at set snack in the afternoon. They also eat dinner later than we do.

I think it depends on the child, but I think it's a lot to expect of a small, active child to stick to three meals a day. Sometimes they are just SO active when they're little - well beyond what most adults could keep up with. I get hungry between meals even when I'm just sitting at a desk! I know that my child didn't seem to be capable of eating a really big meal and so it would have been difficult for him to get enough calories in that way. (He tended to be on the slim side). So he did have snacks, and he's still slim.