So I thought I'd just throw out some snack ideas here for my first post. Coming up with snacks seems like the trickiest thing sometimes so this is also a reminder to myself that there are a lot of options out there beyond cheese and crackers. First off here is a list of 85 healthy snacks from the 100daysofrealfood website. One of our favorites from this list are the homemade pop tarts (toaster pastries). SOOO yummmy warm. Basically just whole wheat flour, butter and jam. I added a little drizzle of powdered sugar to ours. Which decreased the healthy level but they are pop tarts after all!
Another nice list of snack ideas I found at the six sisters website here. The nice thing about both of these snack idea lists is the foods can be used for little ones' lunches as well. Zeke isn't a super big lunch eater but he needs a little something before his nap so these are awesome ideas that I need to remember more instead of PB&J once again.
Here are a few more of our favorite quick and easy snacks:
This butterfly is just a clothespin that I glued a ribbon on and some pipe cleaners for antennae. Reusable instant snack fun!
Zeke loves these snack cars. Just toothpicks, grapes and apple. Just have to make sure they don't eat the toothpicks!
Most important thing I could emphasize in feeding kids is to offer, offer and offer again. They won't learn how to eat vegetables or different foods if they aren't served to them several times. I know it is frustrating to serve veggies or food that doesn't get eaten (oh boy, do I know this) but honestly it takes kids 10-17 times of being served something to get to the point of accepting it. Of course, I am all about the no pressure offering. I encourage Zeke to take a bite and if he doesn't like it fine. We'll try again another time.
Anyways, just wanted to share some fun snack ideas that can make life more interesting and make a kid (and a mom!) more excited about eating some different things.
I love these ideas, Melissa! Thanks for sharing! I do have a question. Sometimes my kids won't like what I serve for dinner, and I don't force them to eat it. Then I get concerned that they will wake up hungry in the night. I usually don't do snacks before bed, but when they haven't eaten their dinner, I try to re-offer their dinner at bedtime and usually do end up forcing them to eat it in order to have something more appealing like a snack. Any other ideas? I really don't want to force, but I also don't want them to wake up hungry at 5 in the morning. :(
ReplyDeleteI guess I should preface my first comment by saying that both of my kids are actually pretty good eaters. The scenario I described happens maybe once or twice a week.
ReplyDeleteI would say research and my personal experience go against ever forcing a kid to eat (besides the rule of trying one bite). My recommendations for trying meals that are new or ones that kids might not like as much is to make sure there is one safe food included ( for example, my mom would always make sure there was bread or bread sticks with spaghetti or lasagna as I hated those as a child). But make sure they know that this is dinner and that you'll have a real good breakfast the next day but this is it for today. Since they are good eaters normally they should be fine and it might take them waking up a couple of times to realize that mom and dad mean business, dinner is dinner. I know that is rough on everyone to have potential midnight adventures but I think better for everyone in the long run as it will encourage the kids to be more diverse in their eating. It could be that they just aren't really hungry due to the plateau between growth spurts and they are fine not eating much at dinner for that day. Up until age five kids' bodies are really good at knowing their caloric needs. You could have a snack before bed if you are really worried about it, but I would make sure it wasn't a treat or a favorite snack so your kids don't get into the routine of knowing they will get a snack they like if they just stick it out. Zeke's bedtime is pretty much right after dinner so there really isn't enough time between dinner and bed to have a separate meal.
DeleteI'd say try not forcing it, have a safe food and see how it goes. If they end up waking up early real hungry you could have a healthy snack right before bed. Anyways, my two bits!
the snack cars are really cute! thanks for the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteShelley, we have a lot of problems with Emily eating food. She will say she's full but as soon as she gets down she's asking for a snack. She is old enough now, (your kids may still be a little bit young), that if she doesn't eat, then she doesn't get anything else until the next meal. They eat what's for dinner, or they don't eat. (Isaac and Emily, Jared obviously we don't do that.) She has gotten a lot better, and we would do the same thing with Isaac and he is now an awesome eater. The one thing I would caution about is don't have the breakfast after be their favorite. Make sure it's filling and nutritious, but if they learn they'll get something they really love the next meal, they'll be fine waiting for it. (Emily has tried this...)
ReplyDeleteI love the 100daysofrealfood website as well! I've done a couple different things with bedtime snacks. One book I read about picky eaters mentioned that it's okay to do a bedtime snack as long as it's far enough away from dinnertime that the child doesn't use it as a replacement for dinner. We also do like Melissa's mom did by having at least one thing on the table that they'll eat. Then if they make a good faith effort to eat at dinner, I'm okay with an occasional bedtime snack. Although Emma claims to be hungry even when she's in the middle of eating a gigantic meal. I think it's her conversation starter phrase or something.
ReplyDeleteI love these healthy snack ideas, especially today-- the day after Valentine's Day, when I think most of the food Autumn ate yesterday was loaded with sugar! We do give our girls a drink and snack before bed, which is a step in the right direction from when Autumn was desperate for a snack and drink in her bed a couple of years ago. I can tell she's going through a growth spurt right now, so I'm fine with it. And I think I'm a softie because I hate the thought of my kids waking up hungry in the night (I hate waking up hungry in the night!). I do make sure they eat the healthiest things from dinner before they get any other snack-- especially with Autumn. I am a believer in Melissa's advice to give lots of chances for a food, but don't force it. Autumn used to hate raw carrots, and now she loves them. Anna used to take a lick of a cucumber and throw it down, and now she'll usually it them. Little successes like that mean so much as a mom, don't they?
ReplyDeletep.s. I usually read these posts on my phone, but it's too hard to respond until I get a minute to sit down to the computer. So I'm sorry for delayed responses to everybody's great posts!