Many kids in classroom do not bring snack

[Anonymous]

It wasn’t until I started to work at a school that I realized the vast gulf between different kinds of parents. Every day we have kids who people forget to pick up at the end of the day, who come in without jackets, clearly who have hardly slept, who have medical and hygiene needs. A lot of people’s lives are just really chaotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the furthest thing from a health nut but if lunch ends at noon, why is there a snack needed at 2pm? I could see it if the lunch is really oddly early like 10:45/11, but this just seems like a pain for parents to have to remember/send when it is unnecessary. My kids are hungry hippo snack monsters and could make it from noon to dismissal and eat an after school snack like all children have done for decades.

Last year my kid ate at 10:30. She was famished in the afternoon. This year my son eats at 1:15.

[Anonymous]

I was just chatting with my Kindergartner’s teacher yesterday and she said her snack stash was low, so I plan to grab a box of something next time I shop. I think that many parents pack a little extra lunch, but young kids don’t recognize it and eat it all at lunchtime/throw out whatever is left at the end. My kid’s K class has lunch at 10:40 and they don’t get out until 4:05, so they usually do need something mid afternoon. If the teacher is asking for it, I will do whatever they ask to make their lives easier!

Last year my 2nd grader’s teacher asked us to pack the snack separately so it was easier to locate for students. I keep it outside the lunchbox. Applesauce and cheerios or protein bar or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the furthest thing from a health nut but if lunch ends at noon, why is there a snack needed at 2pm? I could see it if the lunch is really oddly early like 10:45/11, but this just seems like a pain for parents to have to remember/send when it is unnecessary. My kids are hungry hippo snack monsters and could make it from noon to dismissal and eat an after school snack like all children have done for decades.

Last year my kid ate at 10:30. She was famished in the afternoon. This year my son eats at 1:15.

Right. As I said, if the lunch is 10:30 I understand the need for an afternoon snack. OP said lunch is noon, not 10:30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When does snack time stop in school? I would have expected kindergarten or at the latest 1st grade but it sounds like 2nd grade snacks are normal from this post?

Our elementary school had it though 6th grade. I started making my kids responsible to pack their own by mid elementary or they didn’t get one. Middle school was when they actually needed it, when lunch was at 10:20. Usually there was one teacher who was okay with eating in class if they wanted a snack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And you wonder why there is an obesity crisis in this country….

Agree. Since when are snacks mandatory? Your child isn’t going to pass out 2 hrs
Post lunch without a bag of goldfish. Maybe the parents don’t pack a snack bc their kid
Doesn’t need one? Our school provides a morning and afternoon snack and my child never eats it. She does, however, eat a
Hardy breakfast and eats her entire lunch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t until I started to work at a school that I realized the vast gulf between different kinds of parents. Every day we have kids who people forget to pick up at the end of the day, who come in without jackets, clearly who have hardly slept, who have medical and hygiene needs. A lot of people’s lives are just really chaotic.

Yup, this. I’ve worked in $$$ private schools and seen a lot of families with chaotic lives for various reasons. Many parents rely on their kids to tell them things or remind them of needs and deadlines. All kids have developing executive functions, but the ones who have less organized home lives tend to have particular problems remembering to prompt their parents for stuff.

I supervised an after-school study hall for middle schoolers, and the snack issue was a nightmare. A minority of the students had snacks with them, but everyone was hungry after school. Attempts to buy group snacks with donations led to further chaos because the same kids who didn’t have snack also forgot to bring money for the group snacks (no one was high needs in this population).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t until I started to work at a school that I realized the vast gulf between different kinds of parents. Every day we have kids who people forget to pick up at the end of the day, who come in without jackets, clearly who have hardly slept, who have medical and hygiene needs. A lot of people’s lives are just really chaotic.

Yup, this. I’ve worked in $$$ private schools and seen a lot of families with chaotic lives for various reasons. Many parents rely on their kids to tell them things or remind them of needs and deadlines. All kids have developing executive functions, but the ones who have less organized home lives tend to have particular problems remembering to prompt their parents for stuff.

I supervised an after-school study hall for middle schoolers, and the snack issue was a nightmare. A minority of the students had snacks with them, but everyone was hungry after school. Attempts to buy group snacks with donations led to further chaos because the same kids who didn’t have snack also forgot to bring money for the group snacks (no one was high needs in this population).

Schools/teachers need to communicate the needs for kids. Our ES did not send us regular updates and the teachers rarely communicated with parent due to a nasty principal. I didn't know until a few weeks in as my child couldn't communicate in that way to me and I heard it from another parent. When I did, I regularly sent in extra every 2-3 weeks as I didn't want kids going without.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have sent a box of snacks in to me sons class so the Teacher doesn’t have to buy all the snacks for kids. It isn’t much but it is better then nothing.

We did this for one of my kid’s classes. The room parents organized a sign-up for parents to drop off snacks every week so the teacher didn’t have to keep buying them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One year my kid always told the teacher he didn’t have a snack because then he got the chocolate chip mini muffins in the class for the kids with no snack. He wanted those over what he brought.

My kid did the same in K, but with goldfish! Fast forward to 1st and I've bought goldfish from Costco - no longer eats them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet in some cases parents are sending a snack in the lunchbox and kids are eating it at lunch and/or throwing it out if they don't finish it. Kids throw away SO much unopened food.

My kid was not clear on what was snack and what was lunch the first week. I tried to make it as clear as possible but he would still often end up eating snack at lunch. Started putting snack in a different pocket and he forgot he even had it and it came back uneaten. We have finally cleared it up for him but I imagine there were days in the first couple weeks where he was a “didn’t bring a snack” kid even though a snack was packed.

[Anonymous]

Kids eat snack with lunch or, in some cases, say they don’t have a snack if the classroom provides “better” snacks than what their parents pack.