My kid is a grazer, but so am I. We focus on healthy snacks and teaching her about moderation rather than how many / restricting snacks.

My kid is now 7, but he was never a huge snacker. We actually used to (and still need to) ensure he eats snacks sometimes because he'll let himself go too long without eating and will become very hangry. I try to have an emergency applesauce pouch or something on hand when we're gone for the day, and I try to get him to eat something before a birthday party if it's later in the day and he ate lunch around noon. Sometimes he asks for snacks and when he does that he's truly hungry so I just let him eat what he needs to eat.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in daycare. We have never and will never have snacks in the car. Our pediatrician very clearly told us that is a choking hazard--car is in motion/hits a bump, even a careful eater can choke. And you can't immediately get to them. Stop it.

Also, how obnoxious is that? Your kids demand something and whine and you cave? Every day? You are teaching them that it's OK to act that way. You are teaching them they don't need to have patience, or ask for things nicely.

Tell them N-O on car snacks.

Oh shut up.

Honestly? I’m super type A about a lot of things. My kids eat healthy homemade meals everyday, but I am not going to fight snack battles.

I don’t have it in me.

However, I ONLY offer goldfish, there’s no other snack available. If they get sick of it they can wait until we get home. They know that’s all I have so a lot of the time they don’t bother asking. Consistency is key.

My kids are in daycare. We have never and will never have snacks in the car. Our pediatrician very clearly told us that is a choking hazard--car is in motion/hits a bump, even a careful eater can choke. And you can't immediately get to them. Stop it.

Also, how obnoxious is that? Your kids demand something and whine and you cave? Every day? You are teaching them that it's OK to act that way. You are teaching them they don't need to have patience, or ask for things nicely.

Tell them N-O on car snacks.

My kid gets hypoglycemic if he doesn't snack between meals. He had a mid-morning snack until he was about 7. Now in late elementary, he grabs a snack for his backpack for after school. He can't make it from (early) school lunch to dinner.

Afternoon snack every day. Morning snack only when lunch will be running late. No handing snacks out all the time.

Anonymous wrote:Stay at home mom. We do ONE SNACK after nap at 4pm. That seems ok because they are usually legitimately hungry from their nap and it is an hour or more until dinner.

No snacks at the playground/museum, etc. I don’t like carrying food around. And then all they do is whine for a snack. If I don’t have it, they can’t whine for it.

This I do not have food with me. The one exception is if we are going on a far away excursion and lunch prospects are dicey, and then I have something packed. But that's not even snack, that's more "backup meal".

Read bringing up bebe, snacks are an american thing.

I give a snack after nap. It's usually cheese or yogurt and/or fruit. Sometimes it's refused and I start dinner earlier than usual. No snacks other than that, and he devours each meal without a struggle.

The problem will naturally lessen when they’re older. Around age 7-8, they’re reasonable enough that you can tr them they’ve outgrown the need for routine snacks. Our kids snacked a lot as toddlers. Now as school aged kids they know to grab a piece of fruit or raw veggies or wait until the next meal. You could try at this phase gradually reducing the carby stuff and phasing in fruit did the ride home.

6 year old. He has one snack at school and then one after school. The in school snack is a granola bar. After school has become a yogurt smoothie where I toss in fruit and spinach and kale. He knows about the fruit, he chooses banana or berries, but not the spinach and kale.

Stay at home mom. We do ONE SNACK after nap at 4pm. That seems ok because they are usually legitimately hungry from their nap and it is an hour or more until dinner.

No snacks at the playground/museum, etc. I don’t like carrying food around. And then all they do is whine for a snack. If I don’t have it, they can’t whine for it.

Anonymous wrote:This is why the 45 minute soccer game HAS to have a snack schedule for parents to haul to the field. It's ridiculous!

This drives me completely crazy. And every week the snacks get bigger. The parents who bring them think they are so gracious and kind to bring vast quantities of snacks, and enough for all the siblings. I have multiple kids who all play a sport. I'm about to simply give up on feeding my kids on Saturday's because they are GIVEN BY OTHER PEOPLE so much food and sugar (e.g. gatorade) at games.

2 snacks a day for my 3 year old and has been for a long while. Around 10:30 and then at 4. That's what they do at preschool. She gets a whole small apple on the way home from preschool/daycare (4:30) That's it. She eats much better for dinner this way. Dh was picking her up for a while and giving her a cheese stick or a banana at pickup and she wouldn't eat dinner but then be hungry before bed.
I'm not American so this eating between meals is foreign to me. Even when I snack I put it on a little plate or bowl and sit at the table. No snacks in the car or on the go.

Anonymous wrote:We are on the other end of the spectrum. No snacks ever. My 4 year old son just never asks so I never offer. He gets snacks at daycare and if the adults are snacking during the day, he is offered some and will eat it, but rarely does he ask for anything.

This. I also have an 8 year old, same routine. So if they do ask for something outside of meals, I know they are actually hungry, not just mindlessly eating.