How to handle tired vs. hungry

jewishwoman

Tue, Oct 21 2014, 2:56 am

My kids (3.5 and 2) end gan at 1:30, after which I have to drive them home. They are both extremely exhausted, and extremely hungry. If they eat they get too excited to take a nap after, or it gets to late, cutting into bedtime. But they NEED the nap! they need at least 1.5 hours. That's just their nature. Or they misbehave and hit and throw tantrums etc. But if I put them for a nap right away, they wake up too early because they're ravenous. What to do? Then if they're over tired later they go into a cycle of being tired and don't eat well..

I've tried giving them food right away after gan but the get too excited. They have food at gan at around 10/10:30 am and I usually pack A LOT of food for them.

Any ideas would be appreciated =)

amother

Tue, Oct 21 2014, 3:00 am

Maybe bring a snack for the car ride home - some apples, pretzels, or something. That should hold them over through the naps, and then they can eat lunch when they wake up. Or you can just give them sandwiches or something easy to eat with their hands in the car, and that can be their lunch, and you can just give them a snack when they wake up?

Dolly Welsh

Tue, Oct 21 2014, 3:12 am

Ice cream. They will like it, it will coat their stomachs, it has no bulk, digests easily.

Or mix vanilla ice cream with yogurt. Tastes similar, less sugar.

Or get the low-sugar ice cream, but you do want the butterfat. You want it to be real eating, not just sugar-water that has no substance.

Or a smoothie that's like that. There are smoothie travel cups that fit on a blender, blend-and-go, that sort of thing.

https://www.google.com/#q=blend+and+go

If you don't like the sugar, then maybe pieces of cheese.

You might tell the teacher to wind down the activity level gradually during the last hour.

5*Mom

Tue, Oct 21 2014, 4:54 am

No, not ice cream. Yes to cheese. They need protein ASAP if they've last eaten at 10:30. Real food, not snack food. If you choose to feed them in the car, have on a story tape that they will want to sit quietly for. If you wait till you get home, read them a story or three while they eat so they will want to sit quietly for that. By then their blood sugar should have stabilized and you'll likely see less overexcited behavior.

Liebs

Tue, Oct 21 2014, 5:06 am

Snack in the car : healthy muffin, yogurt w/ a straw, whole wheat pretzels/crackers w/ peanut butter. put extra sandwhich in tik and tell teacher to let them start as sitting outside and waiting for mom.

jewishwoman

Wed, Oct 22 2014, 2:03 am

Thanks for your replies. So, my daughter can't have protein. But I will try to encourage them to eat whatever is left in their bag. I tried bringing snacks in the car yesterday after yesterday's comments and the result was not good. They got too excited that I brought them food, and just wanted more and more food. In the end she never took a nap. =/

This in between age is hard!

chani8

Wed, Oct 22 2014, 4:58 am

This is the weirdest thing I've ever heard, that they get 'too excited' from eating and then won't take a nap. Are you for real????

They are hungry. They need to eat. You're starving them, that's why they 'get so excited' about food. They last ate at 1030 and you think they should nap before eating????

Dev80

Wed, Oct 22 2014, 5:29 am

I'm just curious if this would at all work for your life style...can you pick them up in a stroller, give them a snack of your choosing in the stroller, maybe take a bit longer to get home than with a car and then hopefully by that time they will have eaten something and be relaxed from the walk that they can go in for a nap? Aka are you close enough to do pick up without a car?

5*Mom

Wed, Oct 22 2014, 6:31 am

OP, you've got a few separate issues and it's best to deal with them one at a time:

1. Hunger. Your very little children last eat at 10/10:30 and by the time you pick them up 3 hours later they are ravenous, which wreaks havoc with children's (and adult) behavior. I would actually speak to the ganenet about this. She should be having snack time again no later than 12:30. Little bodies are not capable of keeping their blood sugar balanced for longer than that. This is not only a behavior issue but a health issue.

2. Gan is often overstimulating, especially for such small children. The demands on their cognitive and emotional skills are enormous. Not to mention that after the chagim, it's like starting a new school year all over again. So expect them to be wound up after gan. When they settle back into a routine and when you find the right nourishing+calming afternoon routine that works best for all of you, things should improve, at least somewhat.

3. The last issue is the nap issue and you can only figure out what each child needs and what to do about this after dealing with issues 1 and 2.