I agree with Steinhauer. I have mom friends who bring snacks to EVERY outing or activity we organize. God forbid the kids go hungry for 5 minutes... Another pet peeve of mine is how they organize "snack duties" for the parents during organized sports. It seems like kids need to be fed constantly.

Grazing is actually a really heathy way to eat, the key is to have five or six *snack sized* portions a day instead of 3 meals and 3 snacks though..

Gack. Organized morning snack in elementary, organized snack for cub scouts, organized snack for baseball practice. It never stops. Of course if we were talking grapes, string cheese, and such, I wouldn't get so cranky; oreos, doritos, kudos bars, rice krispie treats (prepackaged no less,) and those dumb cracker and 'cheese" dipper things. All washed down with a caprisun. Couldn't believe it when my firstborn went to kindergarten and one of the parents sent in twinkies for 10 am recess snack. (My kids are mortified when I send in a bag of clementines.)

I agree with Steinhauer. I was so surprised when we received an email after signing up for soccer with a snack sign up sheet. Here we enrolled our kids in soccer so they can exercise, and they get a snack as soon as they are done. Of course, our soccer is right before lunch, so what is the purpose? I agree with the many small meals a day, but lets face it, the other parents aren't bringing balanced mini meals. It's mostly carbs or sugar. Sigh.

hmmm interesting thoughts? i too have read that article and while i completely see the harm in feeding kids junk between meals (or anytime for that matter), i think it's perfectly healthy to give a child a handful of grapes, slices of an apple, a piece of cheese between meals. those are snacks to me, and that (i've heard) is a very healthy way to eat, rather than just 3 square meals a day. i find my child is much happier and predictable when she's not overly full or too hungry, so it seems like the perfect balance to me.

OK I'm confused. Why is it alarming that kids are moving towards three snacks and three meals a day? That's what has always been recommended to me by all doctors, and that's what every book I've ever read that addresses childhood nutrition recommends. My kids usually eat three meals and two snacks, but sometimes I give them an evening snack, which adds up to three. Eating several small meals/snacks a day is actually recommended even for adults, instead of just eating three huge meals.

I think this really depends on WHAT they are eating, and how much each time. I guess if they are eating a bunch of junk food, it doesn't really matter how often they eat a day. But if it's healthy food 5-6 times a day, I'm honestly unclear on the problem here.

I completely agree. While it is difficult for me to bring my kids to afternoon playgroups due to naps, I almost wouldn't want to anyway since there are always unhealthy snacks. I don't consider 4 pm as snack time anyway since it is too close to dinner. It would be ok if it were some baby carrots or some cut up apples. Also, I don't want to feel pressure to provide a snack at that time of day if we host a playgroup. At preschool my son had rice crispy bars as the snack the other day. That is considered a healthy snack? Yikes.

My little boy (3 1/2 now) has never been a snacker. It's nice. But when other kids come to our house, after about 20 minutes, they ask (demand?) for a snack.

I always serve fruit and plain, air-popped popcorn (kids LOVE watching the popcorn machine, and I feel like that's a healthy alternative).

HOWEVER, I guess I will say - both my son and I get hungry if we run more than 2 errands in a row. I don't know what it is about errands! They're just hunger inducing for us! So I always make sure to bring a little snack so we don't wind up stopping at McDonalds (because it's the only drive-through in town, and the baby is usually asleep by the time the hunger monster gets us).

But I don't have a problem with organized snacks. I think that's healthy. I also try to serve healthier snacks most of the time, but I promise: my kids get their share of yellow dye #1 occasionally.

You tend to get hungry running errands because you are out and about burning calories, otherwise I'm guessing you are at home not expending as many calories so you are not getting as hungry>

It's alarming because snacks are often meal-sized, and meals are three times larger than they should be.

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And the people feeding their kids (or themselves) McDonalds... have no perspective, or concern about healthy.

I think there is a huge difference between "snacking" and "treating". Like several others that have posted, we do have healthy snacks at home as part of our routine -- usually fruit. Whenever possible we eat our snack at the table, together, just like we do mealtimes. It is a time to take a break and nutritionally recharge.

However, any "snack" consumed outside of the house has automatically become a "treat". At school, soccer, playdates, you name it! My daughter's kindgergarten teacher actually told us at conferences that our daughter needed to work on motor skills to open bags, such as fruit snacks and chips! I have never been so proud that my child could not do something.

Now I'm wondering if this is perhaps regional and also age-related. My kids are only 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. We do attend playgroups and other activities, but the only snacks ever offered are fruit, nuts, raisins, cheese and whole grain crackers, and other things like that, with fruit being the most common offer. I wonder if it will become more of an issue when they are in school and extra-curricular activities.

So what I'm hearing is that it is not the fact that three snacks are being eaten, but that things like fruit snacks and chips are being offered for those snacks.

Another article that blows something out of proportion and has us believing this is a great epidemic -- it's so alarming!

People forget we evolved as hunter-gatherers, not as people who ate three meals a day at fixed clock times. Dr. Sears actually recommends a snack tray for young toddlers to choose from during the day, and as someone else pointed out, grazing and eating many small "snacks" during the day is a better way of eating. It's better for our blood sugar levels and our digestion.

Quality over quantity. Who really cares as long as the snack is good for you?

Isn't obesity a nutritional issue?
Frequent healthy snacks keep you from having big drops in blood sugar. They also let your metabolism function normally.
I really believe that we are born able to tell if they are hungry or not. From a young age in our culture, we are taught to ignore this and 'schedule' our eating. What kind of message are we giving our children when we talk about food so negatively, not to mention, count how many times a day that they eat?
Perhaps, we should look at the snacks we are giving our children. I try to bring healthy snacks when my son and I will be somewhere that sugary, prepackaged food is offered.
If you don't tamper with your child's natural instincts he will be able to develop healthy eating habits.

We eat often in this house, but things like nuts and cheese and fruit. All of us have fast metabolisms, and don't often go more than 2 hours without a bte of something.

What I HATE HATE HATE is when we're in the middle of a 45-minute class/sport and someone's kid starts demanding goldfish crackers. Or worse, they don't even ask and the parent starts handing out snacks. I'm talking three-year-olds, not little babies or young toddlers. I often give my kids something in the car on the way to the activity (yay for cheesesticks!), but we do not eat DURING it. It's distracting for the other children, and also takes time away from whatever thing we are paying for while we wait around. We also don't eat during because we're trying to be sensitive in case of other childrens' allergies. But I might be more aware of that than others, because my son has celiac.

I guess whichever way you're going with the nutrition, you have to have a plan. We're in the one-snack-at-3pm crowd, and after a week in a house with five other families I realize we're in the minority.

Some of it's personal - it's smoother to eat with a hungry toddler for us, and I don't want to put together six solid snacks a day and oversee their being eaten! It also is partly cultural, since my French husband has strong opinions about meals in general.

The last couple weeks, I've started wondering if it would be worse to offer a cookie or carry a screaming kid out of the grocery store because she has to keep her shoes on! Maybe the snack-as-calming-device is part of the story when young kids are in question, huh?

I think it's a delicate balance. My struggle with my toddler (3 1/2) right now is that he won't eat his breakfast, but he's asking for a granola bar 30 minutes later. We only feed them healthy snacks (only the whole grain, no HFCS granola bars, fruit, nuts, etc.), but I'm starting to wonder if he's just banking on getting something different at snack, so he won't eat his meal.

Snacks in school wouldn't be so bad if they weren't doing away with PE simultaneously...

My culture is all about food, and we do allow snacks for children : a small one at ten if necessary and another one around four Pm. This said, we hardly take breakfast, mostly milk for children and cafe au lait for adults. My son doesn't take much lunch and sometimes hardly eats his dinner on school days. I was worried until I realized how many snacks they eat at school.

In many blogs, I was also surprised to see food given as a way to keep children quiet or occupied when travelling.

This said, when we are on the go, and I know we might be late for lunch, I always take my boy's favourite snacks, the one I don't like him to eat at home. It helps us surviving errands tantrum free!

I agree that, in any case, the problem is probably more about what kids are given to eat.

My sister worked for a private tutoring company funded by No Child Left Behind. She was in charge of helping kids with homework after school, a program that included a snack. Guess what they were given to feed the kids? Prepackage rice krispy treats and Capri Sun. It isn't just other parents giving kids junk - it's our supposedly helpful educational programs, too!

This is an interesting discussion. What I've noticed in our home (i.e. my own behavior) is that I find myself sometimes using a snack to quell a tantrum or as an activity to quell boredom - often without thinking. I agree that a few healthy snacks throughout the day isn't unhealthy for kids especially since my son and his friends at least don't eat huge meals, but adopting smaller portions for meals isn't something my husband and I have been successful at (we don't snack much however) so this model of eating (grazing or healthy snacks smaller portion meals) is something we need to think about as parents both for ourselves and our son as he gets older.

Carrie

I have a question that may seem a little trite after this discussion . . . where is that cute little bag from in the picture??!!

To add to the problem the grazing (eating a little bitt all the time) is actually one the biggest offences to the dentition (children or adult). All food is sweet/sour allthough it might not taste so, and i therefore a threat to teeth. As a dentist I see many children with bad dentitions and usually a few questions about meal times reveal a lot. teeth need time without food or drink (water is fine ofcourse, milk also) to recover from the attacks. eating an d drinking causes. Teeth wise its best to eat a lot in one go. I see same problems with people on diets that demand eating every 2 hours so you always feel 'full'.
So to save the teeth (making fake dentitions for 25 year old is no fun) don't let your kids eat constantly.

Interesting point, abbytail. I hadn't really thought of it.

I have one grazer and one meal eater. I think a good bit of it is environmental--the grazer ate little at meals so I worried he'd be hungry in between and so I was in the habit of packing a snack of some sort for our time away from the house. Kiddo number 2 is a great meal eater with a ton of food allergies, so it's harder to find snacks for her while we're out and about--if I don't pack it, there's little for her to munch so she isn't used to eating every 2 hours.

wow, its pretty amazing that absolutely everyone here is perfect when it comes to what you all feed your kids. I think that some of you are full of it. I caught my good friend who is a health fanatic feeding her kids campbells soup (I stopped by unannounced) this crazy chick is ALWAYS bragging how healthy she is and what she feeds her kids!

That said, now that this topic is on the table I think snacking has gotten out of control too. I admit that my child probably eats too many snacks that aren't 100% healthy for him all the time. I think I really need to work on that.

Wow, some of these stories are scary (Twinkies at school?? let alone 10AM). I don't think the mention of these two articles was meant to be a grazing vs. meal debate when healthy food is involved. From both the articles and the statements here, its obvious that a trend has evolved in schools and extracurricular activities and, unless you're with your kids 24 hrs a day, its likely many of those snacks are provided by others and are unhealthy. Why do kids need snacks in elementary school anyway? Especially if in lieu of gym or recess. I'm not going to homeschool, so what options are there in having your child opt out?

Celeste's Mom: You can find plenty of cute little snack baggies on etsy.

I have to agree with the camp that suggests it's more about what the snack is then when. Like others have said, my girls are much happier and less volatile if their bellies never hit fully empty.

Jenx_chemgrrl: As for having your child 'opt-out'- You can probably arrange to have your student bring their own snack for this time. Also, especially for early elem. kids, after kids finish their snack they have time for centers or free-play or free reading. You child might be able to forego snack and move right to this activity. You would have to speak with the teacher though. You don't want your kid to feel separated, and you also don't want other kids to be resentful that your child might get more 'free time'. Also, if you can, volunteer to take in snack for parties or classroom events- you can choose a healthy snack that you would want your kid and his friends to enjoy.
Do what you think is best for your kid.

Boy, that was wordy...

My kids are really too young to understand Steinhauer's situation directly. I can understand the annoyance of having to provide a snack for any event/activity your kid is signed up for... and I've been there when I've met a friend for a parkdate at 4p without snack (on purpose) to only have them mooch junk food off their kids. What can you do though? Teach your kids how to make good decisions and if their snacking is ruining dinner time, try your best to let them know why you don't want them to have that snack at the park or soccer practice.

I disagree though that snacking is making kids fat. Poor choices in snacking, the fact that mcdonald's and other pre-packaged goods are cheap and accessible maybe, but not traditional snacking.