For parents of schhol age children

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smae1980
smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
in Food and Nutrition
At what age did you start letting your kids get a snack without asking first? recently my 5 (almost 6) year old daughter has begun to get snacks without asking first, I often don't find out until later when she either tells me or I find a wrapper in the living room. She's not getting bad snacks, its usually fruit or a cheese stick, but I don't really like the new habit because sometimes she will get a snack an hour after lunch or right before dinner. I also found out that she is using the money in her school lunch account to buy chips or ice cream without telling or asking first. She brings her lunch so she's only supposed to be buying milk. I don't want to be one of those parents who control everything their kids put in their mouths for their entire childhood, but I also don't feel that 5 years old is old enough to be in charge of their eating , at least not entirely

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  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    I just noticed I spelled school wrong :blushing:
  • TakeTimeToCare19
    TakeTimeToCare19 Posts: 32
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    My kids do the same. My 16 year old is 5ft 7 and over 200lbs. The only thing I can tell you is to keep fruits and veggies in the house. Get the junk food out. This way when she does go for a snack, it's an apple.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Probably about the age of 7 or 8
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    7-8 is closer to what I was thinking. I 'm not concerned about her weight, she's not overweight and she eats good foods when they are given to her, and she's active. I guess I'm more concerned with at what age will she be capable of making good choices for herself and I don't think it's 5 years old...
  • rompers16
    rompers16 Posts: 5,404 Member
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    I pack a healthy snack for school, they can only choose a healthy snack after school, and then after dinner, they can choose what they want but we try not to keep junk in the house...so it might be a granola bar or italian ice.
  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 557 Member
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    Give her water to drink at lunch. You can make sure she gets her milk at other times.
    That way she has no money at school. And yes make sure there is no junk food at home.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    As soon as they were able, before school age. I had a drawer and fridge shelf with healthy snack and taught them they could ave fruits whenever they wanted.

    As long as it's healthy food, my thought is that people are hungry when they are hungry, not always 'only at meal times" and it's good to recognize one's own body cues for such things.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    7-8 is closer to what I was thinking. I 'm not concerned about her weight, she's not overweight and she eats good foods when they are given to her, and she's active. I guess I'm more concerned with at what age will she be capable of making good choices for herself and I don't think it's 5 years old...

    I agree. At that age, you can get ingredients out for her, and "help" her fix her own snack, but she will need an eye on her, or who knows what could happen.

    Kids are a trip at that age. Cute, but crazy! :laugh:
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the feed back. Right now I think I will enforce the ask first rule and focus on helping her learn how to make good choices so she doesn't have to ask first until the day she goes off to college, lol!
  • AMYJK7110
    AMYJK7110 Posts: 126 Member
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    How about getting her a 'snack basket' that you fill with snacks she can choose from during the day? Although I realize she is already choosing healthy snacks when she does, but you can put, say, 3 snacks in the basket and those are what she gets to choose from that day?
    As for school lunch, can you contact the school and tell them she is only to purchase milk?
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    How about getting her a 'snack basket' that you fill with snacks she can choose from during the day? Although I realize she is already choosing healthy snacks when she does, but you can put, say, 3 snacks in the basket and those are what she gets to choose from that day?
    As for school lunch, can you contact the school and tell them she is only to purchase milk?
    [/quote

    I can contact the school, but I don't want to embarass her and I also want to teach her to make good choices on her own. I like the snack basket idea too
  • shelbygirl444
    shelbygirl444 Posts: 10 Member
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    I too have a "snack basket" on a shelf that is at my son's eye level in the pantry & he knows that he can have ONE item out of there at any given time. I fill it with healthy choices for him.

    Raisins
    Craisins
    Peanut Butter Crackers
    Fiber - One bars
    Nutrigrain bars
    Granola Bars
    etc

    YOu could also put a plastic container in the refrigerator and fill it with yogurts, cheese sticks, sugar free jello, etc. It actually may be MORE beneficial to let her get her own snacks so that she feels the pride in choosing a healthy snack from either basket. You should praise her verbally when you see her walking away from the kitchen with one. This could be the start of a healthy eating lifestyle for your child and its as simple as a snack basket! =) Best of luck!
  • Momma1213
    Momma1213 Posts: 56
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    My 11 year old still asks even though I've told her to help her self several times. Her snack choices very from healthy to horrible. I do keep a tab on the horrible junk food ( Halloween candy, Holiday candy, etc) and slowly throw it out over the months. Her extended family enjoys giving her candy like she's the taste tester for Willy Wonka's factory so it's a constant fight to get them not to do that.
    I like the snack basket idea and will start that up for her on the weekends! She goes to a Charter School so we don't have to deal with the milk money issues and I couldn't be more thankful.
    Good luck!
  • iamkarent
    iamkarent Posts: 145 Member
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    I would agree that at 8 I would allow a child to get a snack on their own....but we would have agreed to which choices they can choose. Like you can get fruit, yogurt, cheese stick or granola bar....but anything else you need to ask.
  • kinsellae
    kinsellae Posts: 167 Member
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    My son is almost 8 and if he wants a snack I don't mind that he gets it on his own. He knows if I'm cooking dinner he needs to wait but otherwise if he's hungry I encourage him to eat. I try to keep mostly healthy snacks in the house anyway so if he goes for something it's more than likely a fruit, sting cheese, yogurt...

    I should add my son is avg. weight I would say and extremely active.
  • kinsellae
    kinsellae Posts: 167 Member
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    7-8 is closer to what I was thinking. I 'm not concerned about her weight, she's not overweight and she eats good foods when they are given to her, and she's active. I guess I'm more concerned with at what age will she be capable of making good choices for herself and I don't think it's 5 years old...

    I agree. At that age, you can get ingredients out for her, and "help" her fix her own snack, but she will need an eye on her, or who knows what could happen.

    Kids are a trip at that age. Cute, but crazy! :laugh:

    My son once made himself a pb toast except this one had tons of candy sprinkles on it too!
  • wlkumpf
    wlkumpf Posts: 241 Member
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    My kids tell me everything, so even without asking they will inform me they are going to have an apple/banana/orange/crackers/carrots with dip etc..... I don't know why they do but even my 10 year old still tells me EVERY time!
    I try not to keep the unhealthy things on hand, but when they are here they know they HAVE to ask first. Like a small stack of pringles or popsicles.

    I guess now that I think about it even though they aren't asking, I will sometimes tell them just to wait and eat lunch or supper first, so by telling me they are asking for permission????
  • freckles_cmj
    freckles_cmj Posts: 205 Member
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    My kids, 10, 5 and 5 all have free access to things like fruit, veggies, yogurt and a few other healthy snacks pretty much whenever they want....exception being right before dinner. The sweet stuff...like cookies are put where they cannot reach them as they are doled out as a dessert after dinner on occasion. My kids tend to graze so I just let them have free choice of healthy stuff and it has been like that since they were old enough to reach the fruit bowl :)
  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
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    This may sound bad..mine are in 4th and 6th and they still ask. The 6th grader will sometimes grab a granola bar or something and tell me about it later though.
  • kristanb05
    kristanb05 Posts: 44
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    My older two are almost 6 and 7. We just simply don't keep junk food in the house, so when they DO ask, it's always for a fruit or something healthy. I have them ask and I almost always say yes, unless it's close to a meal time. They will eat a full meal of fruit and not touch their dinner.

    I send water in their lunches too.

    That said, when we did keep candy/snacks in the house, even when I would hide them, they'd wake up early to find them. I'd find wrappers stashed all over the house. That's when I stopped buying it.

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