Why I Stopped Giving My Child Snacks
Snacking.
For me, for six years, it was synonymous with parenting. It was a distraction, a bribe. It was a tool to keep kids quiet for a few minutes.
I used it as a reward and as an activity. Everywhere I went with my four littles I brought along snacks – and lots of them. Crackers, squeezable applesauce, cheese sticks, and the occasional organic sucker.
Due to health reasons, however, we recently stopped all mid-day munching cold turkey. I have since realized that this is completely counter-culture in America. Every day, everywhere moms, dads, nannies, and other caregivers in the United States have snacks readily available– tucked inside their diaper bags and purses.
Snacks are so common, in fact, that the practice of giving our children food at all hours of the day often starts as early as age six months with the puff-type dissolvable snacks.
Snacking happens in the car, in front of the television, at the grocery store, in church, at school, at sporting events, waiting for doctor appointments. You name it. In America, where there are people, there are usually snacks.
Is it possible that this common event of snacking, totally accepted by our culture, is contributing to an undercurrent of health problems? Is using food as a bribe, reward, or a parenting tool something that will come back to harm our children as they grow older in terms of bad habits and coping mechanisms?
Did you know that even just a few decades ago is wasn’t all that common to see people walking around with snack bags and drinks in hand?
Is it even possible to cut out snacking? Have you ever considered it? This is our journey of how and why we’ve eliminated snacking from our day-to-day lives.
It is a small glimpse into how the transition began. . .
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