What do you let your kids have for after school snacks? I feel like this battle will be the end of my daughter and I! She always wants junk (cake, cookies, chips, etc) and I tell her to make a healthy choice. It turns into whining and arguing and then she ends up in trouble. I struggle with my weight greatly and right now she is almost 8 and still tall and skinny. By 8 I was chubby. I don't want her to have the same struggles I do. She has never been allowed to have unhealthy after school snacks, so I don't know where this is coming from.
Thanks for the great ideas!! I like the one where maybe she can have one or two cookies if she has some fruit or something. I have MOSTLY healthy stuff in the house...but we have some leftover superbowlo things (including a small cake that no one wanted) so she has some temptation. I don't mind her having some bad things, because she's a kid - but not every day. I like the idea of something small that is not so healthy and a mostly healthy side.
I definitely do not argue with her for long. I don't like to immediately shoot her down, but I feel like it's what we do. She gets two chances to argue back with me and after that she gets a chore. Same with my boys. They don't love it so it works for punishment and helps me out!! They do help on a regular basis too.
My son eats lunch around 1030am and gets home at 330. He's usually starving. When he gets home he will either eat fruit , granola bars, cliff z bars (which are delicious and healthy wih a lot of protein) or a peanut butter nutella sandwich. They also like popcorn, trail mix (target has awesome trail mix), toast, nuts. A good website for ideas is www.familyfun.com
Hope this helps!
My daughter, even if she eats lunch at school, (which lunch for her at school is at 11:30, and she comes home at 2:30), she is HUNGRY after school. I feed her a 'lunch.'
I don't feed my kids junk. It is food. We just don't have junk in the house nor buy it. That way, the child does not have to 'choose' what to eat. They just eat what you have in the house. Healthy foods/snacks.
She is not you. But feed her healthy. It is not the amount they eat, but the quality of the food. And, to teach a child to go by their cues... ie: for hunger and fullness. Not just eating out or boredom or emotional reasons.
Also, after school, kids are tired and fussy and need to deflate and are hungry. And when feeling like this, some kids will crave sugar junk. But it is a quick energy for them. Not really a good energy food.
Or, make her smoothies instead. Healthier and still 'sweet.'
Give her alternatives, for 'sweet' junk stuff.
Fruit
Smoothies
Breakfast bars
Whole grain chips
banana bread
Oatmeal cookies
Peanut butter on apples
I agree with healthy snacks after school. However, I would not deny her unhealthy sweets. I have read, heard and seen too many times children who were denied unhealthy sweets and then when they go to a party (without the parents) or go to a friend's house they gorge themselves on sweets. Every once in a while a little unhealthy sweet is OK. If your are not that comfortable, start slow, say a Hersey's Kiss. That helps me when I have a candy craving.
Maybe try some healthier sweet snacks and that might help her cravings. Try some apple sauce with a little cinnamon. a granola bar with chocolate chips in it, banana bread. If you make them from scratch then you can control the amount of sugar you use.
Hope this helps.
Cheese sticks, carrots and ranch, crackers and hummus, animal crackers and peanut butter, apples, bananas, dried fruit, cereal without milk, applesauce, fruit cups, yogurt. We have a cupboard in our house that we call the snack cupboard. It is full of crackers, dried fruit, peanut butter, granola bars. So that's where my son goes when he wants a snack. If you don't want her to have junk don't keep it in the house. We rarely eat chips and the only cookies we eat are ones I bake myself.
It doesn't have to come from anywhere. Kids just naturally gravitate towards junk, lol.
What I do with my kids, is require that they eat a healthy snack (an apple, a cheese stick, some nuts, etc) and THEN they are allowed to have a SMALL junky snack. The junky stuff doesn't satisfy any hunger, but by giving them the healthy snack first, they do get their hunger satiated, and then they get the little "treat" after.. so they don't feel deprived.
Works for us.
Maybe that is why she wants it, because she has never been allowed it?? Has she been to a friend's house recently and they eat it? All it takes is seeing one twinkie commercial! lol
I give my kids the following:
- Sunchips
- An occassional cookie and milk
- Grapes, any sweet fruit - this tames my family's sweet tooth often
- popcorn
- gogurts
- jello with fruit in it
- pudding
- carrots and dip/cucumbers and dip
- string cheese
- granola bars
When my kids want something "bad", I try to pair it with something good too. For example, blueberries and a cookie. They gobble it all up.
Good luck!
Set the example, do you enjoy snacking with her? What are you snacking on? In my house we snack on things like carrots, celery, cucumbers, grapes, tomatoes, dried cranberries (not crasins), bananas, apricots, nuts, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, peaches, oranges, apples, raisins, broccoli, cauliflower, and so much more in no particular combination. Low fat yogurt also makes a great snack. We love getting vanilla yogurt and adding some kind of granola or even bran flake cereal.
Don't argue with her, just let the healthy snacks be available for everyone to consume at snack time and see what happens. Just know at some point she is going to choose to eat the junk but you would have laid down a healthy foundation that she will return to or at least find balance in what she decides to snack on.
I would find a way to ensure she gets a choice some days. Maybe 2 days a week something "unhealthy". A cookie won't hurt her -just make sure she drinks her milk with it. There are some good chips out there - stacy's w/ hummus. Try to meet her in the middle. Maybe give her 5 snacks for the week - 3 healthy and 2 not as much so. Tell her that she can choose each day afterschool, but once the cookies are gone the others are left. That way she's learning to make good choices as well as eat her favorite foods, but in moderation.
I think part of the issue is that you're projecting your weight struggles onto her. You said yourself that by the time you were her age you were chubby, but she's tall and skinny. She's already NOT having the same struggles. Being militant about foods is a sure fire way to give her different struggles. Way too many times I've seen moms with weight issues cause some body image and food issues with their own children without realizing it's happening.
If you don't have the junk in your house all that often I don't see that this is actually an issue. A piece of cake or some cookies once in a while isn't going to cause her to have weight struggles later in life.
My children get an afternoon snack every day. It is generally a healthy snack, but there are days when I allow cookies or some other treat. I don't make a big deal out of it when they want a less healthy choice because I know the next day they're likely to choose something more healthy.
I am not going to read the responses, it's late, my 2 cents worth about after school snacks is this. Kids have not eaten for several hours by the time they get home and need a small meal. Not a meal but something substantial like a sandwich or a bowl of cereal. They need protein and carbs. Something balanced and filling. A piece of fruit is burned up in minutes, an oatmeal bar is going to last a lot longer and provide more nutrition.
So, my advice is to have a selection of foods that are filling and full of different nutrients that will help her to function mentally and physically until dinner.
Don't buy junk food-if it's not in the house-she will have only healthy choices. There's nothing wrong with whole wheat crackers or sweet potato chips and cheese and fruit-or veggies and a dip.
You are the parent. You make the rules. Arguing with an 8 year old? I don't think so. Don't let her make the choices. If she was old enough to make all the choices she should go get a job and her own apartment. But she isn't, hence the reason why we are the ones raising the children and making the decisions.
Buy what you feel is healthy, period. Let her know her options. "There's apples, wheat crackers and cheese, string cheese, cottage cheese... take a look." If it's not good enough then she gets NOTHING. If she argues she can be grounded to her room for the night or kept busy with chores all night. Very simple.
If she knows you are serious and will follow through and refuse to argue with a child, she'll get the point fast enough. Her actions will give her good or bad REactions from you. Remind her that it's up to her which route she wants to go. Happy evening and a night of hell. Works in our house!
K. B
mom to 5 including triplets
I make popcorn, soft pretzels, apples/string cheese and wheat thins. Once in a while a sweet but usually not.
don't have the unhealthy stuff around in her sight and it won't be an issue. I let me kids pick from the snack drawer. Of course-it is filled with junky things, but if I put in healthy stuff that is what there is to choose from.
If the junk food is not in the house then she can't eat it. There are certain things I will not buy anymore because my 11 year old son is starting to get a little chubby. I tried letting him have only junk item a day but he could not control himself and would sneak the food so I just eliminated the problem by no having it around.
My daughter is 10 and I have to constantly remind her that a snack is different from a treat. A snack is something to ease hunger like a string cheese and peanuts and a treat is a once in a while thing like dessert. I'm not a total junk food snob though, I do let them have a cookie or a popsicle some days as long as they are not asking for it constantly.
If you don't have any junk food in the house it won't be an option for her :) I've cleaned out all the cookies so I can't eat any even if I want one! Maybe some healthy and tasty compromise that will make her happy? Peanut butter on chocolate graham crackers? Plain yogurt is delicious with a little honey and frozen raspberries!
