Do you let your kids eat in the car?

[Anonymous]

I didn’t when they were little, but with upper el, and middle schools, I find it unavoidable. It’s just snack food for them to go from school to sports, and I try to keep it low mess items. No meals or fast food.

But there has been a drive thru occasional egg McMuffin when we have to be out the door for a meet/tournament too early for them to eat breakfast at home.

[Anonymous]

My kid eats lunch at 11:30, plays a sport immediately after school, and is starving when i pick her up at 4:45. she eats a snack in the car.
It's actually betetr for sports recovery to eat a snack relatively soon after exercise. I've only had a massive ant infestation in my car once.

[Anonymous]

Yes of course they eat in the car on occasion. We are busy and drive around a lot. I eat in the car on occasion too. Had a banana and granola bar on my drive in this morning.

We keep a trash bag in the car and vaccum weekly.

[Anonymous]

I never let them as toddlers so I’ve never really experienced the mess. As they’ve gotten older, it became necessary when you don’t have time to go home after school to eat before you have to go to practice. My kid had to be at gymnastics practice from 4:30-8:30 pm most days of the week and wouldn’t walk out of school until nearly 4 so it was necessary to eat a snack in the car before she went in. It’s usually something like fruit and cheese , it doesn’t make a mess and they wipe their hands.

[Anonymous]

No, we don’t allow it. Only thing allowed in the is water. On road trips we will stop to picnic/etc. But you can definitely tell when people eat in their cars.

[Anonymous]

You're obviously not a travel sports parent.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but cleaning it is one of their chores.

[Anonymous]

Rarely, when they were tweens and teens, and our schedule got hectic but I could trust them not to choke or make a mess.

Never when they were younger and we had more free time to plan meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me it was because of timing. My kid came out of daycare starving and we had a drive and giving them a small healthy snack to prevent a blood sugar swing made sense for us. They still ate dinner. Or a drive to grandmas house was an hour and we left two hours after breakfast and we knew it would be a little before she served lunch…my kids don’t eat all day, but some times it worked better to feed them in the car.

It’s easy to judge, isn’t?

Here’s mine: I’m baffled at parents who hand their kids phones the minute their kids are bored or have iPads strapped to the back of the seat so your kid can zone out all the time.

Nobody is perfect. You don’t have to judge those who make different decisions than you do.

This is how we got started on it also. And long road trips to see family. I guess if the inside of your car is more important that's not a thing.

[Anonymous]

No, but only because I have fairly new car right now. We are almost never in the car more than 30 minute at the time. If on road trip, we stop to eat.
I see keeping kids busy snacking if they are cranky, but I'd prefer phone to keep them busy.

[Anonymous]

Oooh... you are going to hate this OP... we have a BUILT IN COOLER in the car stocked with soft drinks (for on the road) and beer (for when we get there).

[Anonymous]

Yes and my car is immaculate. We don’t allow anything sticky or gross. Cracker crumbs are easy to vacuum plus my kids aren’t messy. We didn’t do it when they were too small to be tidy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way and I'm hardly a neat freak.

Even my toddler knows "No food in the car!"

Don't care what other people do but the cars of people who do let their kids eat there are gross.

What will you do when sports practice is immediately after school and lasts 2+ hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way and I'm hardly a neat freak.

Even my toddler knows "No food in the car!"

Don't care what other people do but the cars of people who do let their kids eat there are gross.

What will you do when sports practice is immediately after school and lasts 2+ hours?

Eat at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way and I'm hardly a neat freak.

Even my toddler knows "No food in the car!"

Don't care what other people do but the cars of people who do let their kids eat there are gross.

What will you do when sports practice is immediately after school and lasts 2+ hours?

When she has older kids, she will be just like my sister and completely deny all the things she sanctimoniously said she would NEVER do as a parent. Thankfully my husband remembers and we know we are not the crazy ones.