My Horns Come Out At Meal Times

[NeedaVaca]

I would probably change most of my snacks to fruits & veggies. She'll eat if she's hungry Lot's of fun dips to go with them. Hummus, Kale chips, roasted chick peas, fruit kabobs, yogurts etc.

[NightOwl]

I would probably change most of my snacks to fruits & veggies. She'll eat if she's hungry Lot's of fun dips to go with them. Hummus, Kale chips, roasted chick peas, fruit kabobs, yogurts etc.

I thought a grain/carb was a required component for snacks?

[daycare]

Agreed. But here's a question. What do you do when the child doesn't eat lunch (which is daily) and at snack time, asks for seconds, thirds, etc?

She picks at breakfast (only the carbs), no lunch at all, then scarfs down as much snack as I'll give her (also only carbs). She never touches the fruit served, either. So every.single.day she is only consuming carbs.
So do I allow her to essentially stuff herself at snack time? I'm not sure where to cut her off. I don't want her to be hungry, but I also don't want her entire intake for one day to be a few nibbles of toast and tons of goldfish, kwim? Or should I stop worrying about it and leave it to the parents?

I have 3 kids that refuse all meals all day and their behavior becomes horrific because of it.
The only thing they ever consume is milk at breakfast and lunch.

Their parents complain and I offer it they choose to eat or not.

[CraftyMom]

I thought a grain/carb was a required component for snacks?

I also wouldn't offer carbs at snack if that's her game plan. For my food program, snack is a combination of 2 components. The components are milk, meat (protein), juice/fruit or vegetable, and grains. Choose any 2. So essentially I could completely skip grains every snack

[Meyou]

Agreed. But here's a question. What do you do when the child doesn't eat lunch (which is daily) and at snack time, asks for seconds, thirds, etc?

She picks at breakfast (only the carbs), no lunch at all, then scarfs down as much snack as I'll give her (also only carbs). She never touches the fruit served, either. So every.single.day she is only consuming carbs.
So do I allow her to essentially stuff herself at snack time? I'm not sure where to cut her off. I don't want her to be hungry, but I also don't want her entire intake for one day to be a few nibbles of toast and tons of goldfish, kwim? Or should I stop worrying about it and leave it to the parents?

I only offer fresh veggies for snack for children who don't eat a healthy lunch. The kids all know this. It isn't a punishment...it is a natural consequence to not putting good food in their bodies earlier in the day.

If you HAVE to offer a carb I would offer only whole grain options and only one small serving per child. Anyone that's hungry can fill up on fruit or veg.

[Josiegirl]

Yeh, I don't get it. Kids nowadays...there are so many foods they don't like and won't even try. I have a 5 yo who I asked what kind of veggies does she like. Cucumbers and lettuce. She's diabetic so I'd really like to have her expand her horizons ya know? She's very carb crazy, fortunately she also loves cheese and chicken but still I feel she needs to try other things.

When I was a kid we ate or waited until the next meal. Course we didn't frequent places like McD's or Pizza Hut all the time either. Is that the cause of today's kids' preferences? Or was it just because eating what was served was expected. But then I have 1 family who eats out a lot, yet their 2 kids are really good eaters, they'll eat just about anything.

I had a dcb last year who lived on corn dogs and pizza. If he ate his corn dog for supper they'd give him a cookie cause he ate his supper.

I can understand not liking a few things. But most everything?? It is extremely frustrating.

Yesterday for lunch, we had salmon, sourdough bread, cherry tomatoes, red peppers and cucumbers. Out of 7 dcks 4 loved the salmon, 3 at least tried it but left it for my dogs, which made *them* very happy. I should just serve hot dogs and Kraft mac'n'cheese every day.

[Happily_wed]

Agreed. But here's a question. What do you do when the child doesn't eat lunch (which is daily) and at snack time, asks for seconds, thirds, etc?

She picks at breakfast (only the carbs), no lunch at all, then scarfs down as much snack as I'll give her (also only carbs). She never touches the fruit served, either. So every.single.day she is only consuming carbs.
So do I allow her to essentially stuff herself at snack time? I'm not sure where to cut her off. I don't want her to be hungry, but I also don't want her entire intake for one day to be a few nibbles of toast and tons of goldfish, kwim? Or should I stop worrying about it and leave it to the parents?

I would serve what I wanted for snack and only allow her one serving of the carb. If there are fruits and/or veggies then she has more to eat, she just chooses not to. That is not your fault. I only allow one serving of snack anyway as it's about an hour before pickup and they can eat more when they get home.

[AmyKidsCo]

I thought a grain/carb was a required component for snacks?

Not for the food program - 2 different components are required, not necessarily grain. Except you can't do juice & milk.

I allow seconds of everything, and thirds on veggies. No child has ever starved by missing a meal, or even by not eating a whole day.

I recently read in an article about the French way of eating - children don't snack all day like they do in America, they're served the exact same foods as the adults and expected to try everything. The kids don't drink juice all day either. That's why the French don't have a childhood obesity problem like America does, even though they eat richer, higher calorie foods.

[Blackcat31]

Agreed. But here's a question. What do you do when the child doesn't eat lunch (which is daily) and at snack time, asks for seconds, thirds, etc?

She picks at breakfast (only the carbs), no lunch at all, then scarfs down as much snack as I'll give her (also only carbs). She never touches the fruit served, either. So every.single.day she is only consuming carbs.
So do I allow her to essentially stuff herself at snack time? I'm not sure where to cut her off. I don't want her to be hungry, but I also don't want her entire intake for one day to be a few nibbles of toast and tons of goldfish, kwim? Or should I stop worrying about it and leave it to the parents?

I don't serve carbs for snack and I don't offer seconds at snack. Ever.

I DO want my kids to be hungry.

Hunger is an basic need. A need that drives a child to try new things and thus want to eat at meal time.

I also don't care if her entire intake for the day at my house is a few nibbles. She will eat when SHE chooses to eat. You can't force it...kwim?

Yes, I leave this to the parents. The foundation to good eating habits and liking healthy meals is up to the parents. It's about role modeling, providing the proper choices and having a good routine that leaves little room for junk/processed foods.

If the parents do their part AT HOME and set the stage for their child to be successful during meals/snacks in regards to healthy eating habits then there is RARELY an issue outside of home.

I do NOT worry or stress over this issue. Like any general family belief or values, it's up to the family to provide the basics/boundaries.

Anything that happens in daycare is just additional not foundational.

[NightOwl]

Thank you so much guys! You all always steer me in the right direction! I'm going to reevaluate my entire breakfast/snack menus and do some serious grocery shopping before the kids return on Monday!
I'm eliminating carbs at snack time, at least for a while, to see if she'll "gorge" herself on what I provide. Maybe her hunger is extreme by snack time and she'll actually try something new!

[CraftyMom]

[Josiegirl]

Everything here goes better with ranch, honey mustard, or hummus. Might be a way to get kids to eat veggies. I know my ds used to eat apple trees(broccoli with applesauce). Or he'd eat frozen peas but not cooked.
We had frozen smoothie popsicles on Friday. You'd have to serve another component I think, but everybody loved them and there wasn't anything bad in them.

[Luna]

We had frozen smoothie popsicles on Friday. You'd have to serve another component I think, but everybody loved them and there wasn't anything bad in them.

If you add milk or yogurt, you've got your two components.

[NightOwl]

Menus have been totally revamped to include many more veggies, unsweetened snacks like whole wheat crackers, etc. Now, off to the grocery store!

[Meyou]

Menus have been totally revamped to include many more veggies, unsweetened snacks like whole wheat crackers, etc. Now, off to the grocery store!

You go girl! I agree with the dip comment above BTW. My kiddos all eat raw veggies with much more enthusiasm if they have dip. I serve homemade or Costco hummus 99% of the time with the veggies.