My niece is 18 years old and graduating soon from high school. Waaay back when she was 4 years old and demanding snacks all day my sister put out fruit in a bowl and would direcdt her to the bowl on the kitchen table. You want a snack? Sure! Take something from the bowl. And that was NOT what she wanted - she wanted carbs. Crackers or bread. So there were some (a lot) of tantrums until she figured it out: snack will be fruit. If she had a piece of fruit, fine, but she was not getting crackers all day long.

You can change your child's demand for snacks if you want to - but it will take a solid week of fury and sturm and drang and tantrums until they figure out the new regime. But I would suggest you do it - nobody needs so many snacks.

I say this as a director of a full day preschool: licensing requires that a snack or meal is every 3 hours. So we have snack at 9, lunch at 12, PM snack at 3pm. And I am not sure children should be eating every 3 hours! Sometimes kids just aren't hungry for lunch, and it's because they had snack. We try to limit it to 1 scoop/2 crackers and a few pieces of fruit, but when there are 16 children serving themselves, it's hard to be the snack police and see it all.

But truly, children do't need snacks every few hours to make it through! Yes, babies eat every 3 hours, but their tummies are teeny. Children ages preschool and up do not, but we've created this. And look, we are all much heavier than we used to be - snacks to the rescue!

Anonymous wrote:We have one mid-morning snack and one mid-afternoon snack. We are not feeding them snacks on demand. Snacks are things like cheese, pretzels, fresh fruit or veggies, nuts, yogurt, raisins or other dried fruit, peanut butter and crackers, or fig bars.

Carbs are fine; lots of highly processed carbs without a lot of fiber or protein aren't great.

+1.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

Snacking *all the time* might be an American thing, but other countries definitely have snacks. I recall my French teacher fondly recalling her after-school goûter--which was usually a baguette stuffed with a chocolate bar. The Brits have afternoon tea. The Spanish have merrienda. Eating something in the afternoon, especially kids having an afterschool snack, or adults having coffee/tea with a small treat, seems pretty common.

Yes, but it's not snacking all. the. time. Like one pp mentioned it's the constant snacking in the morning, at the playground, on the car ride back, before lunch, after nap, at church, before bed, the soccer practice. That's where it's an American thing and she's right that is stems from boredom.

Correct, if you'd read bringing up bebe then you'd know she covers this goûter. It's also why I do offer an afternoon snack after nap to try to extend dinner to a time where DH will be home and we can eat 1 meal altogether.

The general notion of always having snacks on you (multiple snacks! your bag is basically a vending machine!) and plying your children with them at the first sign of a whine is what's american.

And it’s not uncommon to see a 5 year old in France with a pacifier in their mouth. They’re pacifying their kids one way or another.

But there is a big difference between pacifying with snacks and with a pacifier. The latter they eventually drop. Snacks create food association. Upset? Food is the solution. Bored? Food. Hurt? Food. Any kind of psychological discomfort? (e.g. having to wait, switching activities, etc) - food. You see where it's going? yes, into the obesity epidemic and eating disorders eventually especially for young women.

Obesity rates in France are approaching those in America.

No, they are not anywhere close. But even if they were, what's your point? Let's be obese all together?

I used to worry about snacks- and then it occurred to me that our snacks are usually healthier than our meals- read apples, carrots, berries, melon with pretzels and very occasionally goldfish and cheese and yogurt- vs meals of pasta, pizza, tacos, etc. I do need to increase the veggie intake on both ends though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Snacking *all the time* might be an American thing, but other countries definitely have snacks. I recall my French teacher fondly recalling her after-school goûter--which was usually a baguette stuffed with a chocolate bar. The Brits have afternoon tea. The Spanish have merrienda. Eating something in the afternoon, especially kids having an afterschool snack, or adults having coffee/tea with a small treat, seems pretty common.

Yes, but it's not snacking all. the. time. Like one pp mentioned it's the constant snacking in the morning, at the playground, on the car ride back, before lunch, after nap, at church, before bed, the soccer practice. That's where it's an American thing and she's right that is stems from boredom.

Correct, if you'd read bringing up bebe then you'd know she covers this goûter. It's also why I do offer an afternoon snack after nap to try to extend dinner to a time where DH will be home and we can eat 1 meal altogether.

The general notion of always having snacks on you (multiple snacks! your bag is basically a vending machine!) and plying your children with them at the first sign of a whine is what's american.

And it’s not uncommon to see a 5 year old in France with a pacifier in their mouth. They’re pacifying their kids one way or another.

But there is a big difference between pacifying with snacks and with a pacifier. The latter they eventually drop. Snacks create food association. Upset? Food is the solution. Bored? Food. Hurt? Food. Any kind of psychological discomfort? (e.g. having to wait, switching activities, etc) - food. You see where it's going? yes, into the obesity epidemic and eating disorders eventually especially for young women.

Obesity rates in France are approaching those in America.

Same boat (4 and 2.5 yo). Frustrating, not sure how to stop it!

Snacks are fine so long as it is not for appeasement or being used as a transitional object.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Snacking *all the time* might be an American thing, but other countries definitely have snacks. I recall my French teacher fondly recalling her after-school goûter--which was usually a baguette stuffed with a chocolate bar. The Brits have afternoon tea. The Spanish have merrienda. Eating something in the afternoon, especially kids having an afterschool snack, or adults having coffee/tea with a small treat, seems pretty common.

Yes, but it's not snacking all. the. time. Like one pp mentioned it's the constant snacking in the morning, at the playground, on the car ride back, before lunch, after nap, at church, before bed, the soccer practice. That's where it's an American thing and she's right that is stems from boredom.

Correct, if you'd read bringing up bebe then you'd know she covers this goûter. It's also why I do offer an afternoon snack after nap to try to extend dinner to a time where DH will be home and we can eat 1 meal altogether.

The general notion of always having snacks on you (multiple snacks! your bag is basically a vending machine!) and plying your children with them at the first sign of a whine is what's american.

And it’s not uncommon to see a 5 year old in France with a pacifier in their mouth. They’re pacifying their kids one way or another.

But there is a big difference between pacifying with snacks and with a pacifier. The latter they eventually drop. Snacks create food association. Upset? Food is the solution. Bored? Food. Hurt? Food. Any kind of psychological discomfort? (e.g. having to wait, switching activities, etc) - food. You see where it's going? yes, into the obesity epidemic and eating disorders eventually especially for young women.

If my kids leave a big mess in the car, I ask them to clean it up. When they were younger, I’d just vacuum it out myself or run it through the car wash every 7-10 days and let them vacuum. It’s a small trade off for having to listen to hangry kids.

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Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you have too many rules/restrictions about eating. As long as it’s a healthy snack, it’s not impacting the eating of actual meals and no one is obese, what’s the issue?

Eating anything in the car is disgusting. I don't care if it is an apple or a bag of Goldfish or what.

Unclench

Enjoy your whiny, demanding kids and your crumb-laden car. Maybe you'll be as lucky as my cousin and get a nest of mice in your minivan.

It’s kids of hilarious to see the person get so unhinged when people talk about eating in the car.

It's "unhinged" to answer the question of "Did I create a snack monster" with "yes"? It's "unhinged" to think that eating in the car is gross? Huh. It's almost as if anyone who disagrees with you and doesn't share your exact perspective is crazy. Right, Donald?

DP here. You are the one who said that eating in the car is disgusting no matter what. Your answer wasn’t yes yuor answer was that it was disgusting.

Perhaps if yur response had been “I don’t like having crumbs and the like in my car so we don’t eat in the car” you wouldn’t have gotten an “Unclench” response. To which you ersponded that the other posters kids (who you don’t know anything abut) are hiny and demanding and hoped that they ended up with mice in their car.

We eat in or car on occassion. It does lead to crumbs and a bit of a mess but that doesn’t bother me. The dogs ride in that car. We use it regularly for hiking, camping, all manner of sports and other activities. It ends up with dirty shoes, rained on coats, tents, dog slobber and wood bits from hauling fire wood. So it doesn’t bother me if the granola bar my kid eats on the way to baseball practice at 5 PM leaves some crumbs.

But that is my choice. If we are driving in your car and you say that you don’t allow food to be consumed we would, of course, honor that.

Different people with different ideas. But if you tell me that it is disgusting that I allow my kid to eat my car, I am going to be a bit offended.

OK, so use your words and say that. Don't say "unclench," with its mysoginistic sexual subtext, or call someone with a different view from yours "unhinged," which is a dig at people with mental health issues.

Anonymous wrote:I'm where you are OP. My DS is 5, sometimes I he doesn't care about breakfast on weekends because he knows snacks will come later. Like he won't eat breakfast, and we'll go to the playground and first thing he does is ask for a snack. The snacks are healthy (apples, cheese, seaweed) and not far from what I'd give him for breakfast but it's annoying.

What if you didn't give him snack? Does his snacking interfere with his lunch? Is he eating non stop and you feel that since he skipped breakfast that is ok? What if you don't bring any snack to the playground, this is the real issue at hand. You are bringing snacks anywhere you go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you have too many rules/restrictions about eating. As long as it’s a healthy snack, it’s not impacting the eating of actual meals and no one is obese, what’s the issue?

Eating anything in the car is disgusting. I don't care if it is an apple or a bag of Goldfish or what.

Unclench

Enjoy your whiny, demanding kids and your crumb-laden car. Maybe you'll be as lucky as my cousin and get a nest of mice in your minivan.

It’s kids of hilarious to see the person get so unhinged when people talk about eating in the car.

It's "unhinged" to answer the question of "Did I create a snack monster" with "yes"? It's "unhinged" to think that eating in the car is gross? Huh. It's almost as if anyone who disagrees with you and doesn't share your exact perspective is crazy. Right, Donald?

DP here. You are the one who said that eating in the car is disgusting no matter what. Your answer wasn’t yes yuor answer was that it was disgusting.

Perhaps if yur response had been “I don’t like having crumbs and the like in my car so we don’t eat in the car” you wouldn’t have gotten an “Unclench” response. To which you ersponded that the other posters kids (who you don’t know anything abut) are hiny and demanding and hoped that they ended up with mice in their car.

We eat in or car on occassion. It does lead to crumbs and a bit of a mess but that doesn’t bother me. The dogs ride in that car. We use it regularly for hiking, camping, all manner of sports and other activities. It ends up with dirty shoes, rained on coats, tents, dog slobber and wood bits from hauling fire wood. So it doesn’t bother me if the granola bar my kid eats on the way to baseball practice at 5 PM leaves some crumbs.

But that is my choice. If we are driving in your car and you say that you don’t allow food to be consumed we would, of course, honor that.

Different people with different ideas. But if you tell me that it is disgusting that I allow my kid to eat my car, I am going to be a bit offended.

Mine had snacks. Not constantly, but they had them. We did cut them out for a while with the oldest because he wouldn't eat meals.

Op change things up. Maybe she is hungry in the car. At 3 though she can use manners.

If she demands, say no. A simple "yes please" is all she needs to say.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you have too many rules/restrictions about eating. As long as it’s a healthy snack, it’s not impacting the eating of actual meals and no one is obese, what’s the issue?

Eating anything in the car is disgusting. I don't care if it is an apple or a bag of Goldfish or what.

Unclench

Enjoy your whiny, demanding kids and your crumb-laden car. Maybe you'll be as lucky as my cousin and get a nest of mice in your minivan.

It’s kids of hilarious to see the person get so unhinged when people talk about eating in the car.

It's "unhinged" to answer the question of "Did I create a snack monster" with "yes"? It's "unhinged" to think that eating in the car is gross? Huh. It's almost as if anyone who disagrees with you and doesn't share your exact perspective is crazy. Right, Donald?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you have too many rules/restrictions about eating. As long as it’s a healthy snack, it’s not impacting the eating of actual meals and no one is obese, what’s the issue?

Eating anything in the car is disgusting. I don't care if it is an apple or a bag of Goldfish or what.

Unclench

Enjoy your whiny, demanding kids and your crumb-laden car. Maybe you'll be as lucky as my cousin and get a nest of mice in your minivan.

It’s kids of hilarious to see the person get so unhinged when people talk about eating in the car.