1. I emptied out one of my crisper drawers in the refrigerator and designated it as a drawer for snacks. It was the bottom drawer because I'm tall and my kids are short! :) This has been a huge improvement for the kids finding a snack. No more standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open trying to decide what to eat. They go in, open their drawer, and pick something.
This is what kind of snacks I put in the drawer:
- string cheese
- baby carrots
- cleaned grapes
- gogurt
- cut up fruit, vege's, i.e. catalope, pineapple, berries (just clean and place in airtight Tupperware)
- oranges, apples, and pears
- mini manadarin oranges or applesauce
The key is to make the snacks ready to eat, without a lot of work for you or the kids to do when snack time comes along. I love it too because you can have healthy options for the kids, a place for the snacks to go, and the kids know exactly where to go when they are hungry.
2.) Have one place in the pantry for dry snacks. If you don't have a pantry use one shelf in the cabnets. One small place. If I make big trips to cosco/samsclub then I will put extra snacks somewhere else. Only the snacks that I want them to eat are on the snack shelf. It limits choices and helps the kids see the available options and helps them make a faster choice.
These are the kinds of snacks I put on the snack shelf:
- Fruit snacks
- Crackers
- Nuts
- Granola Bars
- Nutrigrain bars
- Healthy homemade snacks
I do not put candy or other dessert items here I save these for dessert or family night or just plain snacks they have to ask for. But with the other snacks I just let the kids help themselves, a little freedom is good and they don't eat me out of house and home either. If they haven't had freedom with snacks yet they may over eat a bit at first but their body will tell them when they've had enough. Well, I do have one daughter that could eat as many sweets treats as she wanted, thats why I limit those snacks.
3.) I had a friends mom who would put out bowls of snacks on the table for the kids during snack time and they could pick what they wanted. I like that idea but I could never keep up with it. But it might work for you too!
*Now what about the opposite dilemma? Too many treats at Halloween!!!!!! When I was a kid we had maybe an hour party at school and then trick or treating that night and that was it. I feel like there is soooo much going on for Halloween. Downtown trick or treat, Harvest party/Carnival, Library story-time party, ALLLLLLL day Halloween Party, parade, and trick or treat at school, and trunk or treat and trick or treats. It is too much. Well anyway, needless to say next year we will be boycotting half of the activities. Yah I say that now! ;) Anyway, my husband is against taking all the candy away that makes it home so I steal all their bags and then I can at least limit how much they eat at a time. My kids really have learned when enough is enough and I do see them stop most of the time when they've had enough.
A couple tummy aches and even the thing that follows. But now one of my daughters always says, "I've had enough!"
This is what kind of snacks I put in the drawer:
- string cheese
- baby carrots
- cleaned grapes
- gogurt
- cut up fruit, vege's, i.e. catalope, pineapple, berries (just clean and place in airtight Tupperware)
- oranges, apples, and pears
- mini manadarin oranges or applesauce
The key is to make the snacks ready to eat, without a lot of work for you or the kids to do when snack time comes along. I love it too because you can have healthy options for the kids, a place for the snacks to go, and the kids know exactly where to go when they are hungry.
2.) Have one place in the pantry for dry snacks. If you don't have a pantry use one shelf in the cabnets. One small place. If I make big trips to cosco/samsclub then I will put extra snacks somewhere else. Only the snacks that I want them to eat are on the snack shelf. It limits choices and helps the kids see the available options and helps them make a faster choice.
These are the kinds of snacks I put on the snack shelf:
- Fruit snacks
- Crackers
- Nuts
- Granola Bars
- Nutrigrain bars
- Healthy homemade snacks
I do not put candy or other dessert items here I save these for dessert or family night or just plain snacks they have to ask for. But with the other snacks I just let the kids help themselves, a little freedom is good and they don't eat me out of house and home either. If they haven't had freedom with snacks yet they may over eat a bit at first but their body will tell them when they've had enough. Well, I do have one daughter that could eat as many sweets treats as she wanted, thats why I limit those snacks.
3.) I had a friends mom who would put out bowls of snacks on the table for the kids during snack time and they could pick what they wanted. I like that idea but I could never keep up with it. But it might work for you too!
*Now what about the opposite dilemma? Too many treats at Halloween!!!!!! When I was a kid we had maybe an hour party at school and then trick or treating that night and that was it. I feel like there is soooo much going on for Halloween. Downtown trick or treat, Harvest party/Carnival, Library story-time party, ALLLLLLL day Halloween Party, parade, and trick or treat at school, and trunk or treat and trick or treats. It is too much. Well anyway, needless to say next year we will be boycotting half of the activities. Yah I say that now! ;) Anyway, my husband is against taking all the candy away that makes it home so I steal all their bags and then I can at least limit how much they eat at a time. My kids really have learned when enough is enough and I do see them stop most of the time when they've had enough.
A couple tummy aches and even the thing that follows. But now one of my daughters always says, "I've had enough!"
1.) One of my friends gives the kids a sandwich size ziplock bag and says what ever fits in here you can keep and everything else either gets thrown away or put away!
2.) My sister-in-law makes a type of advent calender with the candy. She wraps a piece of candy for each day until Christmas in plastic wrap individually and then let's them eat a piece a day as a count down to Christmas!
3.) Always take some pieces for yourself when you're inspecting the candy as a tax for the taxing service you provided on Halloween! :)
How do you get your kids to eat healthy and stay away from too many sweets for the holidays?
