Long before we were parents we were sure that our child would be the one on the block the other kids hated.
“Hey Billy, wanna come to my house to play?”
“No way, your mom serves crappy snacks.? What’s with the celery and whole wheat sandwiches?? And the cookies.? Frankly dude they suck.”
Although I know how to make great treats, I don’t believe children should be filled with over processed junk food.? We have whole wheat bread, fruits and veg for snacks and all natural crackers.? I rarely buy cookies and the “treat bucket” is very special.? Or a bribe to get the kid to eat the dinner and not throw it at me.? Don’t judge me.
When we were hunting for a preschool (it wasn’t much of a hunt… he goes to our church preschool) we specifically wanted on that was not a co-op.? I send my kid to preschool for a mommy break more than a learning experience.? While the church preschool is not a co-op it does ask that we provide snack on a regular basis.? From what I understand this is pretty standard for most preschools.
On preschool orientation day they handed out a little “handbook” that outlined all parents needed to know about preschool (except the number of children in my child’s class).? In that handbook there was a section on snacks.? The school tries to emphasize health eating!? What a concept.? The challenge is finding different snacks to keep things interesting.? Sure, I could bring the same thing every time, but then I might have a preschooler revolution on my hands.? Aww, who the hell am I kidding… my kid eats oatmeal every day for breakfast.
Tonight I went grocery shopping.? I did so mainly because tomorrow is my snack day.? Fruit and cheese sticks are normally my stand-by, but tonight I found some graham crackers in the health food department.? They proclaim to be sweetened with honey and molasses, not sugar.? I’m all about cutting back the sugar.? I grab the crackers and crunch on out of the grocery.
Fastforward, boy sees crackers sitting on the counter and asks to have one.? They’re healthy, why not.? I give one a go.? Um… I’d rather chew on a shoebox.? Honestly.? Do these people not try their food before sending it out?? I suppose it’s a good thing I bought cheese sticks and fruit.
Good for you for trying to give ’em healthy food! And EXTRA good for you for not making them eat the healthy food that tastes like crap.
We too try to eat healthy…graham crackers really are not that bad for you though. Oh… they have a little sugar but much less then a cookie. Put a little cream cheese on them and it’s a not so bad for you snack. It’s hard to eat healthy and everyone slips but the effort is worth the benefits you reap from being a ingredient watcher! Hope our grandson is still not being a stinker!!!!!!!!!!
love ya, Mom
Ah, snack. I’m waiting for the special birthday snack to come out of the oven – mini strawberry cupcakes (by request). These are in addition to bell peppers (yellow and red) and pineapple. Pineapple is the snack of choice.
“Quin, what should we bring for snack on Tuesday?”
“Pineapple.”
“But we’ve brought pineapple EVERY MONTH for snack. Wouldn’t you like something different?”
“Um, no. Just pineapple. And little strawberry cupcakes!”
The pressures of bringing snack to preschool – good grief! If I ever needed a soapbox post that would be the one.
In the year we’ve been parents to a preschooler, the policy for snacks have changed three times and frankly, every time it changes it gets worse.
But, our preschool also wants healthy snacks, so you aren’t alone in that one …
I was horrified at the snacks parents brought to Slugger’s soccer games — “granola” bars that might as well be candy, “sports” drinks that are nothing but sugar water, and so forth. Slugger was horrified when I suggested bananas as our treat. In the end I bought Honey Crisp apples (yum) and water. Slugger was a bit worried, but all the kids loved the apples.
yeah, sometimes the box tastes better than what’s inside…
I am horrified by some of the crap that kids eat. (I have a friend who sends Lunchables to school when she wants her son to have a healthy lunch. Has she never checked the sodium level if nothing else on one of those boxes?) But at the same time, a lot of people don’t understand healthy eating so it is hard to blame them for not feeding their kids better.
My standby is whole grain goldfish or string cheese…. can’t go wrong with cheese & Fishies