Do you pack unhealthy snack for your kids school everyday?

amother

NeonGreen

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 9:53 am

Zehava wrote:

For the first couple years after my wedding I literally bought out the grocery’s junk shelves. I drank coke and sprite instead of water. I ate kokosh cake for lunch. Until I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and that’s when I learned balance.
Point is, whole wheat bread, goats milk, and carrot sticks didn’t set me up with healthy eating habits. None of my siblings have healthy eating habits.

Why do we need to get hit over the head with disease to realize the importance of good diet?

jj1236

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 9:58 am

People don't need to get defensive. I guess my husband and I are health focused so it's so out of our mindset to send in chips and cookies. Our kids gets plenty of junk don't worry. Between Shabbos, birthday parties, random ice cream from the ice cream truck at the playground, my parents, and various other times, they get cupcakes, cookies... we do take out once a week where they get chicken tenders and french fries... and all that, but in our house, sugary things are considered special treats. Meanwhile whenver I cut up a big salad, now my daughter always "steals" the vegetables from the bowl while I'm cutting it because she loves veggies. She gets excited when I make a big bowl of fruit and thinks smoothies have to have kale in them lol. She loves her fruits an vegetables. I understand balance and I think I'm doing a good job of it. There is no reason to start them off in life thinking cookies and chips everyday is a normal thing to eat.

bigsis144

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:04 am

My 11 year old will take pringles, bissli, popcorn or potato chips, or he won’t eat anything from 8am-4pm.

He doesn’t ever eat fruit or vegetables or sandwiches or meat or cheese (he peels the cheese off of his pizza). At home, he lives on chocolate milk and ice cream. He’s skinny and has lots of energy, and our pediatrician says he’s not deficient in any vitamins or minerals.

I will not make food a battlefield. I am a role model of balanced eating (whole grains, protein, fruit, veggies, etc with occasional sweet/unhealthy treats), and I hope that one day he’ll decide to eat like me. It’s all available if he decides to try it. But until it comes from him, I’m not gonna force anything.

Last edited by bigsis144 on Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:05 am; edited 1 time in total

watergirl

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:12 am

jj1236 wrote:

There are cookies... and there are cookies. If your kid wants cookies, make a batch of oatmeal raison cookies with a few chocolate chips sprinkled in. Use the healthy choice margarine and whole wheat bread. Keep them in the freezer and every day put one in her lunchbox. Now she has a healthier cookie and does not have to feel deprived. There are also snack bags and there are snack bags. My daughter recently found these snacks called Hippeas which are made out of chickpea. All the kids in her high school love them so we got them and shockingly, my younger kids love them too.

By putting such a firm line down against "snacks" and not teaching your kids how to make good choices when they are craving junk food, you are not teaching them how to make better choices when they are not with you. Like others said, if you do not send them with fun food, they WILL get it and worse, they can become one of those annoying kids who beg others for their food. No one wants to sit next to that kid. Yes, I know NOW your little kids love the healthy fruit and vegetables, but that may change as the kids get older. A bit of creativity will take you far.

As for cookies and chips every day being a normal thing to eat - we all have our own version of normal. Some people have no issue with it. Some people allow a lot of cookies every day, some allow one or two... but please realize, it is not on you to decide what is normal or not for others.

amother

NeonGreen

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:19 am

watergirl wrote:

My kids are not interested in my homemade whole grain cookies with raisins. Btdt in a million versions. They want the junky Oreos that everyone else brings. We tried hippeas too, and so many other healthyish snack bags. They like them ok, but when everyone else is eating hot sauce chips they still feel deprived. And get bored of them super fast because they don’t provide that same fix. The saddest part is that they don’t not like the healthier foods, just that the junkier foods will always be more appealing because they were created to be addictive. And so they will still feel deprived with healthier options.

amother

Sapphire

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:21 am

notshanarishona wrote:

I send my daughter with one healthy and one unhealthy snack a day . Some Reasons are (1) I don’t want her to stick out (2) she is so busy talking/ playing at snack time that unless she really likes the food she won’t eat it and comes home starving, (3) we aren’t worried about her weight by any stretch of the imagination, if anything she needs to gain so let her enjoy indulging while she can as long as it doesn’t make her overly hyper , (4) unhealthy snacks are faster , more convenient and typically cheaper .

True as you say about sticking out.
Also for those people saying their kids love healthy snacks and aren't interested in junky snacks at all I wonder a) how old they are b) if they over the age of 5 or 6, if they are as honest with you as you believe. Lol to the poster with the mother in law who found out at PTA her kid was begging snacks from a friend
I do remember one girl who stuck to the healthy foods only rule her mom set out, when I was a kid. She'd come to a birthday party with a bag of raisins and announce loudly she was eating it instead of having any birthday cake, her mom didn't let her eat unhealthy foods. Nobody made fun of her but she came across as weird.
I wasn’t in her class in upper grades but at some point she switched schools and went to a high school where she boarded. I wonder if, not having so many friends played into it. Because most kids do pick up social nuances and want to fit it. And making your kid have to do a big pronouncement like that and set them apart isn't helping them if they are already a bit weak in that area.

P.s. the kids who lived on junk food when I was a kid turned out to be adults with normal diets. No, they aren't necessarily overweight. I think genetics plays the biggest role in that.

watergirl

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:26 am

amother [ NeonGreen ] wrote:

Well I was talking to OP with my comment, but I will address you also. You can buy the reduced fat or thin oreos, or just give them an oreo. Give a bag of reduced fat chips - they make them. Is this really the hill you need to stand on? There are SO MANY other restrictions we deal with, this is not one I want to fight. Your child will find a way to get the snacks, and it won't be a good way.

ETA I just went back and read all of your posts in this thread. What is it you want?

Last edited by watergirl on Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:29 am; edited 2 times in total

amother

Red

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:27 am

Not all snacks are evil.

What's wrong with a bag of pop corn? or a bag of corn pops yes I agree that its empty calories but those 60-100 calories aren't going to make a difference in the scheme of things.
Let kids be kids and enjoy their snacks.

During the week I send pop corn(Flavored), corn pops, veggie straws/flutes(all flavors) and those potato puffed snacks-they keep coming out with different names....
They take 2-3 a day depending on how long the day is.
For shabbos I buy bissli etc but they can have occasionally during the week as well
Cookies aren't a treat here, because they are readily available. When something is off limits it becomes all they want.

One of my children has a health condition so I try to give him healthier foods that aren't as junk laden but I would never deprive him of snacks.
Yes I use the word deprive. Let him be normal

Nosh I buy for shabbos and special occasions. I buy the individual (more special) noshes as its more portion controlled. (and they are much worse for my son so I don't want them noshing it all afternoon...)

amother

Obsidian

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:30 am

So my kids also steal veggies from salad - ages 2-15. And eat fruit or cheese as snack. Or will make their own salad if hungry with leftover grilled chicken.
But they also eat lots of Nosh.

I don’t see how eating lots of garbage and junk makes kids not like veggies and fruit. They can still like both. It’s not like either - or.

My kids are in camp now going on major trips. The most important part to them is bringing good stuff. I can’t imagine sending them with only healthy stuff. Maybe up to age 5. But the older kids all bring it.

Like today for a 9 hr trip they take an apple,rice cakes, shibolim, cheese, chips, gum, danish, tons of candy. You can have balance and like nosh and healthy items. (Not that I’m happy but for them it’s necessary)

As my kids get older they move away from eating junk and yeshiva food on their own. I’d rather it that way.

amother

NeonGreen

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:31 am

watergirl wrote:

Fwiw, Im more worried about sugar than fat, and additives like msg. I don’t want to die on this hill, so I do give in a lot, but it makes me sad because other people’s choices are affecting in a big way how I want to feed my kids. And my kids struggle with weight and behavior and endocrine issues. I know I can’t control others. Other people are lucky they can get away with it. But it still makes me sad. Because no one would lose out if everyone was healthier. But my kids are losing out in the long run because nobody else cares.

amother

Natural

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:33 am

Several of my kids won't eat real food at school. They eat a great breakfast and a great dinner and snacks at home are often fruit or cheese. But at school, there isn't time, or it's messy, or the fruit gets squished, or they don't like vegetables that have been sitting cut in a bag for five hours. (The amazing thing about stealing veggies from a freshly cut salad bowl is the freshness.) So we send popcorn and pretzels and a bag of cookies and a box of craisins. And then they comes home and eat cucumber spears and. chummus. And based on friends, that seems to be common- when they bring friends home, they also want fresh fruit or vegetables.

watergirl

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:38 am

amother [ NeonGreen ] wrote:

I truly do not believe my kids are losing out in the long or short term because they get chips and/or a cookie every day. I feed my children a diet their pediatrician supports. I care. Just not about this concern in the way you care about it.

amother

NeonGreen

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 10:42 am

watergirl wrote:

This made me feel very alone. Because my kid are without a doubt losing out. And I also don’t believe that other kids are not losing out. It’s just that parents are not connecting the dots. So sad. And fwiw, pediatricians know zilch about nutrition.