My kids have been driving me BONKERS asking me for food ALL. DAY. LONG. I know they are hungry. I know they need food. Don't you remember how starving you would get after swimming as a kid??? They do this every day!
So in the morning after I've given them like 3 breakfasts, I pack them "snack packs". I fill their buckets with all sorts of food: applesauce, bananas, blueberries, crackers and cheese, cookies, granola bars, goldfish, fruit roll-ups, etc. Then I tell them, "You both have snack packs in the pantry. I will make you lunch and dinner and you may help yourself to your snacks anytime you want. When they are gone, there will be no more and if you don't finish them I would like you to stop eating snacks by 4 because I will be making dinner and I want you to eat it." They LOVE it. I am soooo incredibly happy to not be listening to the constant, "I'm still hungry. Can I have a snack? Can I have another snack? Is it snack time? I'm starved!" And I don't have to think about what else to make. Should they keep having snacks? How much more food do they need? What now? Am I just being controlling or lazy every time I say 'NO MORE!'? The first day I did this I thought Brendan was going to eat the whole bucket in one sitting. But he didn't. He rationed in out and finished his last snack at about 3:45. I heard him say, "perfect timing." :) Wyatt, of course, ate his cookies first and only ate a few of the things in the bucket. Fine with me. I figure if they ruin their lunch I'll just bag it and put it in their buckets. So far, it's working like a charm.
Problem solved. It's hard to keep up with the snack packs, but it's easier than keeping up with the little piranhas. They are just hungry, active, growing boys...getting bigger by the day. Soon there will be three and I honestly don't know how I am going to afford to feed them!!!!
8 comments:
love it! I think I might just have to steal this idea from ... whomever it originated with! Especially because I am tired of handing out goldfish and I can throw in some fruit!
(By the way, Carter also eats about 3 breakfasts. I think I've cleaned up the kitchen for the morning .. but no, more cereal and yogurt and milk all over the floor and more dishes in the sink ...)
can you make me a snack pack? i would like someone to give snacks to me all day. :)
(and what a coincidence...my security word is reese, i guess i need some peanut buter cups in my bucket!)
I have a great homemeade granola bar recipe that's really filling and takes only minutes to mix up. Let me know if your intrested. It's way cheaper that buying individually wrappes bars. Let me know if you want it and I can send it to you or perhaps I'll post it soon.
This sounds like a great idea, my boys are eating me out of house and home and the girls are not far behind. I'll have to try this.
Sounds like the boys better pack some snack buckets for fishing, I only take water.
Uncle Bubba
i'm thinking the only way you are going to afford to feed your three ravenous boys is to get up here and get that garden growing and the orchard and the berries....then you can tell them their snacks are outside....just like you kids did when you were young (there is nothing quite as tasty as fresh fruit and veggies from the garden)
Really cute idea...I'm tempted to try it in our house too. Though I'm sure I'd hear a lot of complaints about "I don't like healthy snacks" and "can I just have 10 packs of fruit snacks?" And, yes, my kids too eat several breakfasts...even Ashlyn. So, not just a boy thing!
Evil. Genius.
AND when you get that new dehydrator working you'll have lot's of awesome freshly done fruit to put in those snack packs!!! :)
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