Purim with kids suggestions?

amother

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:26 am

My little ones love to eat and I'm already dreading the junk on purim. Every MM they are going to want to eat right away, they are still too little to understand only 1 or 2 snacks and put the rest away. I know it's only 1 day but it's way too much junk for 1 day!!!

Rutabaga

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:36 am

Make sure to give them a filling healthy breakfast and lunch and they won't have too much room for the junk. Let them each pick out a few things of nosh for the day and put the rest away for later. You can explain that too much nosh will upset their tummies.

amother

Freesia

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:41 am

I start one now the rest later with 2 year olds. You need to prep them before. Tell them where they are going to be putting the food that comes in. I would tell them right away to choose their one thing so it’s not a power struggle later. Kids pick up on confidence and if you set it up and are nonchalant about it they can easily follow along even at 2.

amother

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:44 am

What about when they are bored in the car and stroller? They just want to eat. When they know there is food they won't even want a special new toy

devorah1231

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:46 am

amother OP wrote:

Kids are smarter than you think. If they are old enough to express what they want, they are old enough to have limits set.

Serve a proper breakfast, make sure to have food for lunch, let them pick something once in a while. Prepare a box for everything else and make that off limits.

amother

Freesia

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 10:46 am

amother OP wrote:

What about when they are bored in the car and stroller? They just want to eat. When they know there is food they won't even want a special new toy

You set the tone. There is so much to see on purim. I point out the costumes and music and we focus on the action. No reason to make it all about food. Why do they see food while in the stroller? We get the mm and put it straight in the basket. Feed them a real meal before going out and focus on all the other parts.

AlwaysGrateful

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 2:02 pm

Do you tell them no at other times? How old are your kids?

A one year old is generally oblivious. As they near age two, they are both less oblivious and also more able to understand "no."

It's an important skill, for kids to hear "no" and learn to accept it. In this case, it's not even "no." It's setting guidelines -- you can choose one, the rest we'll put away for later -- and sticking to them, even if they don't like those guidelines.

keym

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 2:16 pm

I buy special healthier treats for Purim. And I let them eat any real food that they want from the MM.
So they end up nibbling on cheese, crackers, pickles, olives, baby corn, chocolate milk in the car.

My kids, it's less about wanting the nosh and more about wanting to help themselves from the MM so I let them and they ask for junk less. Or at least they eat less of the junk because they filled up on olives and yogurt and granola

amother

Chestnut

Wed, Mar 01 2023, 3:24 pm

I serve a healthy breakfast. Give everyone a water bottle to sip on and then I let go. We do our meal buffet style so there is always food around. The one thing my kids know I cringe from is full sugar soda so they are pretty good about setting up a beverage station and rationing them out slowly. If you say no to everything it’s yes to everything and sneak. So be realistic.

salt

Thu, Mar 02 2023, 7:10 am

AlwaysGrateful wrote:

Agree.
If the kids are so young that they don't understand that they can't eat everything immediately, then they are probably too young to be receiving their own mishloach manot!
If they are already at the age that they are receiving food, they should understand that they can't eat it all.

Bnei Berak 10

Thu, Mar 02 2023, 8:12 am

As many has said before, make a proper good breakfast and a good lunch too. Make sure they eat *very well*