For a 5.5yo, the parents need to manage it but also gently help them move towards regulating themselves. Because at some point, the kid needs to learn how to behave normally even when hungry. I am surprised a 13yo would still not be able to do this. At some point soon she will have to. Parents won’t be around forever to feed the kid. And even if the kid has a good breakfast routine, there are always unexpected disruptions. And you can’t yell at your professor or boss and then expect them to accept the “hangry” excuse.

Hangry adult, here.

I think one important thing that you can do for your child is to help him make the connection between his mood and food.

I was in my 20s before a boyfriend of mine made the connection for me, and it was eye opening. I know that sounds crazy that I wouldn't have figured it out before then, but I guess I just wasn't that self aware.

If you teach him to identify when it's happening, and to address it, that'll go a long way.

You AND your DH have never ever been hangry? That's weird. My DS has a distinct mood shift as soon as he's hungry, and has since he was a baby.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this really something to worry about the future of for him? Give the kid something to eat and move on.

The lying and negative comments during hangry episodes are what got me curious. I can't relate to why DS would lie about other people just because he is hangry. E.g. complaining his teacher is mean to everyone, complaining that we are trying to withhold water from him, etc. When these are obvious falsehoods that he acknowledges are false once he is no longer hangry.

He's irritable and anxious because he's hungry. So he's frustrated and in a bad mood. What he does in a bad mood is unique to him.

As a kid when my blood sugar got low I’d cry, and my brain stopped working. I couldn’t make a decision even about what to eat. Now I get sluggish and grumpy. It’s absolutely a real thing.

You never got hangry because your parents fed you before that could happen. You and your DH sound like people who don’t care about food - which is fine, but your son is not that way. Feed him and this won’t happen. Make a snack area he can go to on his own with filling snacks so he can eat when he is hungry, not hangry.

Anonymous wrote:Is this really something to worry about the future of for him? Give the kid something to eat and move on.

The lying and negative comments during hangry episodes are what got me curious. I can't relate to why DS would lie about other people just because he is hangry. E.g. complaining his teacher is mean to everyone, complaining that we are trying to withhold water from him, etc. When these are obvious falsehoods that he acknowledges are false once he is no longer hangry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord. He is a kid.

PP here. I would have though so too until I birthed one of these kids! Who knew.

Everyone knows except apparently you.

Is this really something to worry about the future of for him? Give the kid something to eat and move on.

It’s a common experience for people. You just need to manage his eating schedule more closely and it won’t be an issue.

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord. He is a kid.

PP here. I would have though so too until I birthed one of these kids! Who knew.

He is just hangry. Feed him, no need to discuss “outgrowing” this or overthinking it.

Yep. I own one of these and she is now 13. Hasn't changed. She's totally the monster in the snickers commercials.

The key is to feed them when they are hungry and feed them high protein food and complex carbs so they don't become the hulk.

DD really is a breakfast eater and not a dinner person. So we now feed her a 3 course meal at breakfast (well, she feeds herself much of it) to sustain her. If she only picks at dinner, that's fine, because we have a big breakfast for her.

Good Lord. He is a kid.

DS 5.5 gets extremely hangry. He is normally a sweet kid but when he is hangry he gets very negative, lies and says negative/nonsensical things like "my kindergarten teacher is mean to everyone", "you never let me drink water", and can't think straight and pretends he doesn't know what 1+1 equals, for example. After he eats he goes back to normal and will acknowledge that his kindergarten teacher is actually nice to everyone. This happens almost every time he is hungry. We do not totally empathize because both DH and I never, ever, got hangry as children, and neither do we as adults. Hunger simply doesn't affect our mood at all, and even if we don't eat an entire day or two we are still pretty cheerful. Is being hangry a condition that one would outgrow? Or is it a lifelong experience that he will need to learn to manage?