Question for moms.....trying to keep your kids eating health

CharityEaton

So, we are all on here to get in shape, lose weight, whatever the reason. For me it is to lose weight, get in shape and live a healthier lifestyle. I have three little girls that I want to raise into strong confident young women.
However, it has occured to me that all of the chnges I am making for myself should be done for them as well. I realized this the other day when it finally dawned on me that I fix myself a totally different breakfast every morning because I don't want to eat what I am fixing for them! WHAT, I don't wanna eat it so why am I giving it to them, you might ask??? Well, here is the situation, they need to eat before they go to school right? So what is worse...eating a pop tart and a boiled egg or nothing at all????

Then you have the whole issue of school snacks. We are supposed to send a healthy snack with them each day that they get to eat BEFORE lunch. The snack has to be something that is not considered "messy" or that will take too long to eat. It can not be anything that needs to be eaten with a spoon either....so pre-packaged crap is pretty much the option. For my first grader she can not keep her morning snack in her lunchbox(to stay cool, you know like a string cheese or something). She is not allowed to get into her lunchbox during the day BUT her snack also has to be something she can open by herself because the teacher is working with small groups at that time too. I am running out of options for them and I need ideas! What would you send??? We have done breakfast bars, crackers and peanut butter, gogurts for my older daughter, bananas, the clementine oranges, string cheese, raisins, apples(the little one can't eat a whole one cause she has no front teeth right now and cutting it makes it brown fast if not kept cool...see note above about that).

Third problem: WHY do the schools think that these kids need to eat sooo much in the morning???
Our routine looks something like this: 730 am breakfast and my1st grader has lunch at 1145. School starts at 830 so somewhere between 830 and 1145 she has a morning snack. She doesn't get home from school until 430 (long bus ride we live way out in the middle of nowhere). The poor kid gets to eat 3 times before noon and NOTHING from noon until 430 pm! She is totally starving after school and needs a snack but then we eat dinner at 6pm so she struggles with having a small snack and eating dinner. She wants to eat sooo much for a snack and then can't eat dinner. I feel so bad for her because she does eat such small meals anyway, she is just a little peanut. I am not willing to budge on dinner time because it is important to me that we all wait till my husband gets home so we ALL eat dinner together every night!
We usually go for fruit and veggies or yogurt after school but they are really bad about complaining about this! I am getting ready to crack down HARD on them this week but I was wondering if anyone else has this struggle with snacks and school routines etc?

For the most part my girls will eat fairly healthy but we are by no means perfect! I slack off and let them eat crap more often then I should. I justify it by the fact that I usually bake homemade cookies etc rather then giving them pre-packaged ones!
I feel like a bad mom for not realizing this sooner. Any ideas for snacks or healthy meals to pack in lunch boxes would be very helpful. We are in need of a few more options for our rotation! Thanks!

wannababyH

I'd talk to her school, and send an afternoon snack with her to have sometime between Noon and the bus ride home.

Celery sticks, carrot sticks, a bag of some cheese & fruit pieces, a handful of whole grain cheerios. You could also make some baked sweet potato chips.

maidentl

The snack has to be something that is not considered "messy" or that will take too long to eat. It can not be anything that needs to be eaten with a spoon either....so pre-packaged crap is pretty much the option.

Not really. My son takes snack-sized baggies of cereal or Annie's cheddar bunnies, sliced apples, grapes, baby carrots. There's a ton of things that fall into the parameters aren't pre-packaged.

Jaymefirst

I agree, my kids' school is the same way. You could make your own trail mix, chex mix (I put in some of their favorite cereal and m&m's), freeze gogurt (stays cold), and mini muffins. For afternoon snacks we do popcorn, apples with pb, sometimes a frozen cinnamon waffle (plain), and fruit smoothies. Hope it helps!

mandimommy

My kids LOVE applesauce pouches. We buy them at Costco. They can remove the tops and suck out the totally healthy snack quickly and without a mess.

Other good options: string cheese, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, whole apples, dried fruit, crackers. etc. You don't have to rely on highly processed foods. Trader Joe's is a good place to buy convenience food that isn't pure junk.

CharityEaton

My kids LOVE applesauce pouches. We buy them at Costco. They can remove the tops and suck out the totally healthy snack quickly and without a mess.

Other good options: string cheese, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, whole apples, dried fruit, crackers. etc. You don't have to rely on highly processed foods. Trader Joe's is a good place to buy convenience food that isn't pure junk.

I saw these and was wondering if they would like them!

CharityEaton

The snack has to be something that is not considered "messy" or that will take too long to eat. It can not be anything that needs to be eaten with a spoon either....so pre-packaged crap is pretty much the option.

Not really. My son takes snack-sized baggies of cereal or Annie's cheddar bunnies, sliced apples, grapes, baby carrots. There's a ton of things that fall into the parameters aren't pre-packaged.

Well, I am a bit of a germophobe so I kinda friek out over the snack being something she has to continually stick her hand in a bag to eat. She says that they eat snack at their desk as one of their "centers" and the teacher has made a point to tell them that they can not disturb her unless it is an emergency. I'm a little concerned that she may not even be putting germ-x on her hands. I hate to be so nit-picky but I really want to have my ducks in a row before I go to the teacher.
Also, this is my free-spirited child too! She would eat her snack off the floor and not care so who knows if she ever even washes her hands at school.
What do you do with the cheese??? I would think that if I pack her lunch at 730 am and she has snack at 10am it would be a little warm and not so tasty. She is not allowed to get into her lunch box to get her snack, it has to stay out seperate. I guess I need to get her a second ice pack to keep with her snack. All of this and everything will be totally different next year!! That's what makes me CrAzY! We have done the grapes and apples but she seems to get a little bored with those after a bit. I don't buy the pre-packaged ones...cost is a bit of an issue on some of those convenience items. Also, where we live ther really is not a whole lot of options! Trader Joe's is a good 40 min. away and Costco/Sam's club is about 30 min. Our local Wal-mart is a wanna be super center LOL! They will carry something for a month and then you can never find it again! The girls were totally hooked on the Fig newton Fruit crisps an I have not been able to find them for 2 months now! Soo frustrating!

Thanks for some of the other ideas too! I needed some aha moments!! I tried the frozen gogurt but she can not open it herself...yet.

CharityEaton

I feel like by trying to find all of the healthy "snack" options we run out of variety for their lunches too. Maybe it's just me and they don't really care but then sometimes I feel like I am tossing a bunch of un-eaten food out and they always say they didn't have time to eat it! If they would cut snack time and just give them 5 min. extra at lunch so they can actually eat it would help a ton! I hate to spend te extra money for some of the stuff just to have to throw it ou because it has been in their lunchbox all day(yogurt or string cheese etc..)

Anyone have this issue too?

Never fails one day you don't pack enough food and the next you pack too much! I LOVE being a mom!:happy: They all wonder why I am crazy!