Summer Snacking for Kids

If it seems like your children are eating 10 times the amount of food in the summer compared to when they are in school, they probably are. For some strange reason most children have a super growing spurt in the summer, not to mention that they are no longer just sitting at a desk all day.Usually, they’re out running or swimming off that excessive energy all summer long. Because of all of this, they really are hungry and use all that fuel quickly.

Here’s an example of a day’s worth of snacks in my daughter’s house:

Popcorn
apples
packages of peanut butter crackers
muffins
apples, bananas and other fruit

Prepackage things like cereal or crackers into ziptop bags in 1 serving size.

She also places a bowl in the fridge with cheese sticks, yogurt and other cool foods.

Do you feel if you hear “I’m hungry, what is there to eat?” one more time, you will not be responsible for your actions? Here’s an idea my daughter came up with to help her keep her sanity: In the morning after breakfast she filled a bowl or plate with the day’s portions of snacks and sets one out for each child. When acute starvation hits, they then can just grab something out of the bowl instead of screaming “MOM…” one more time.

Stop the snacking about an hour or so before the next meal to make sure they will eat their lunch and dinner.

Jill