3Yr Old and Snacking

This is a great idea that I saw on Supernanny.
Get him a special container that he can open (
Put his name on it.
At the beginning of each day, let him pick 3 or 4 healthy snacks and put them into the container.
Then these are the ONLY snacks for the day!
He is allowed to choose from this container whenever he wishes, but when they are gone, there are NO MORE snacks for the day.
You should make up some snack size bags containing cereal, cookies, crackers etc. in advance and use fruit like apples, oranges, bananas etc, or pre-packaged fruit cups, etc.
This should help him learn to ration these things throughout the day so that he will have something left in the evening if he wants it.

My son, who is now 4, has always been the kind of kid, even since he was really little, that would eat very well when he was hungry, and if he wasn't eating (like at mealtime), he simply wasn't hungry and if I tried to get him to eat (he would willingly try, even if he said he wasn't hungry), he would gag, and vomit. Very sensitive gag reflex. So I learned early on not to push him to eat if he says he isn't hungry. I have always allowed him to eat when he says is hungry. The caveat to that is that I make sure to confirm, in my mind, whether it is reasonable that he is asking for food, so as not to allow him to develop the habit of eating when he's bored, etc. If he just ate a full meal, I won't allow him a snack right away. If he asks for a snack while in bed at bedtime, I don't allow it at that point, simply stating we don't eat at bedtime (as long as I know he has eaten through the day and isn't truly hungry. I have made exceptions if he hadn't eaten much through the day.)

I am sure that this is not the recommended way to schedule your child's eating. But I just want him to be able to identify when he's actually hungry, and eat then. I don't want him to eat simply because food is put in front of him. We are not rigidly regemented people, and I only have one child, so I am not having to cater to a house full of different eating habits and styles, so I can see how this wouldn't work for some people. And as an aside, my son is not overweight and chooses and eats a variety of foods. So this has worked fine for us.

I just wanted to let you know that there are those of us out there that aren't doing it by the book. I always feel better to know that there are other mom's out there who aren't perfect!!

We just had a dietician in to our mom's group to talk about this subject. Her guidelines were that you determine WHEN your kids eat, and they determine what and how much. So if your child decides not to eat dinner you can have a "family snack" before bedtime and leave it at that. You also decide what the snack is (something healthy) and then they can choose to eat it or not eat it. That way everyone isn't constantly eating something different at different times. If you happen to make something they don't care for for breakfast, they can choose to eat or not eat it and you can tell them if they do not eat any they will have to wait until snack time which won't be for a few hours. This helps them to determine whether they should eat or not and the dietician said it helps them listen to their own bodies.
Either way, I would not let your children "help themselves" to snacks whenever they want. If you offer a snack it should be to both children at the same time.

I would have a set time for snacktime. If you wait until a 3 year-old says they are hungry, then you take the chance that it will be right before a meal, and end up with a crabby kid. My daughter can get quite crabby if she gets too hungry (but then, so can I :)

I wouldn't, at that age, have snacks out for them to grab whenever. Some kids (and adults) are triggered to eat whenever they see food, whether they are hungry or not. Of course, young children are hungry often, and I would rarely say "no" to a child asking for food, just have crackers or something small handy.

I have started letting my kids eat grapes as they please. If I see they are eating too many I say, "Okay lets put them up for a little bit, and MAYBE we can get more later." They usually say okay, and go off and play. This has really seemed to work for us. Hope you find something that works for you guys! Best of Luck!
C.

We let our 4 year old ask us for snacks. If it is not an appropriate time, then we say no and explain to him that dinner will be done in 15 minutes or whatever the reason. Sometimes it works, sometimes there is a meltdown. He gets it eventually. We also encourage the independence, but we expect to be asked. I do have to say that we have always had a pretty strict schedule so our children know between 3 and 4 is snack time. Of course, they can't tell time, but they normally ask during this time period since we have always had them on a schedule. We give them two options of what they would want and then ask if they want us to help them open it or get it ready or whatever needs done. Sometimes they want help, sometimes they try first and then want help and other times they are contend for us to do it all. By the way, my daughter is 2.

My daughter has snack time at daycare around 930 and 330. On the weekends, we usually have a snack around the same time but it's not 'set in stone'. If she tells me she's hungry, I'll ask her what she wants. It's usually a yogurt or pudding. She also can open the fridge and in the lowest bin, I keep healthy snacks she can choose from - yogurt, string cheese, applesauce cups and pudding. I always make sure to monitor when she gets in there but she is very good about closing the bin and then the door.

In our pantry, she can only get to what is on the bottom and that is the cereal. We have a cookie jar (candy/suckers/smaller snacks) that she was getting to by putting her stool up to the counter so we moved it and out of sight, out of mind! She doesn't ask for those snacks as much as she used to.

She still often asks for candy in the mornings when we wake up! I'm always like 'no we do not eat candy for breakfast!' I think she thinks if she keeps asking, I'll give in! LOL

As far as drinks, we used to let her wander around the house with her sippie cup but after one to many nasty cups found places, we have implemented a rule that states that her sippie cup has to stay in the kitchen when she's watching TV or playing. If we are in the room with her, she can have it with her. She's very good about getting the drink off the island, taking a drink then putting it back.

I do not care if she snacks too much and doesn't eat dinner as long as it's fairly healthy.

We still keep everything up high for our 3 yo son. He does know how to pull a chair over and climb up to the cabinets though. He gets snack after nap time and thats about it unless he asks. He does beg sometimes for food while I'm making dinner so I will let him have fruit or some crackers.

Our 3.5 year old son has always been a snacker - from the moment he was born, he would nurse only a few minutes and then would sleep. Our pediatrician advised us to allow him to eat on demand as it would likely help prevent over-eating down the road.

We have a pretty liberal policy in our house regarding snacking based upon that. We keep 2 bins of snacks on the floor of our pantry. We keep relatively healthy foods in there. And, we always have string cheese/cheese sticks on the first shelf in the refrigerator.

Our one rule is that they MUST ask before they get a snack. There are a lot of times we battle on what they want vs. what we want them to have.
But, usually, if they come to us saying they're hungry or want a snack (has a 2 year-old sister also) we give them a few options. When I was making dinner last night, I gave them an option to snack on a pear or blueberries/blackberries. They chose the pear. I didn't mind that they ate right before dinner because it was healthy.

We keep snacks in our diaper bag (granola bars, gold fish, etc) so we don't have to stop and get fast food when we're out and about.

Good luck. Our son's also learned where the scissors are, but he has only gotten into them once. We keep a pair of safety scissors in the same place that he knows are his (preschool scissors without sharp points) and that he needs to ask before using them.

My son is a little older, now 7. I am not a scheduled person. I am always losing track of time, taking extra time to do things (2 days to clean up the house instead of 4 hours) because I get distracted and such. My son is actually a very scheduled person. His school schedule typically rolls over into home life. So on the weekends, he'll eat breakfast when he gets up, around 11:20 he's ready to eat again. Then again around 2p and 4p he eats and then dinner and a after dinner snack. This has actually been pretty close to the routine since preschool. He eats just about everything we put in front of them and is consistently asking for more. He's by no means a big kid (75% percentile in height and only 50% percentile for weight and BMI). The kid doesn't sit still though--always on the move. He hardly uses a chair at school, he would rather stand and the teacher lets him. I think he just burns a lot. He chooses healthy snacks: Oatmeal, apples, oranges, water, milk, etc. He gets one juice (capri sun) a day and no pop. he can have one peice of candy a day but that rarely happens--St. Nick candy is still sitting on the shelf.
If dinner is in 10 minutes, I offer part of dinner early because he's a slow eater. So I'll offer him a salad while he waits for me to cook.
He is not the independent type. He ask before he touches any food, even that which is sitting out. He won't open a capri sun on his own so I know when he drinks it and he likes his apples and oranges cut up. I'm not sure how to handle the independent part...good luck with that!

My step-daughters are 8 and 4, when they're home during the day they have two snacktimes, in the morning and afternoon. Morning snack is always fruit, and for the afternoon it's things like cheese and crackers, sometimes pudding or jello. It's not a set time, just when it's been a couple hours since breakfast their told to tell us when they're ready for snack. My older SD can get snacks from the fridge or cabinets after she asks, but her younger sister isn't allowed to open the fridge or cabinets.