How many times a day do your kids ask these questions during the summer:
“What is there to eat?! I’m hungry!”
“Can I have a snack?”
“Is it time for lunch? Is it time for dinner? What can I eat?”
My four kids ask me questions like these every five minutes, and by the third day of summer break, their endless snacking spree kills the euphoric summer feeling I’ve been anxiously waiting for since February.
I don’t know about you, but I start counting down to summer halfway through the school year. I can’t wait to replace rushed mornings, packed school lunches, piles of homework, and rigid routines with lazy days, late mornings, and lackadaisical schedules that mostly involve sitting by a pool or beach replace.
But, just as day three of summer break rolls in, my kids are crying boredom and scarfing down every last morsel of food in our kitchen as though their video game scores depend on it, and I’m scratching my head trying to figure out: Why do they need a third snack and a second breakfast by 10am every morning? And, am I bad mom if I only want to feed them three meals a day instead of seventeen?
Below, are my top four tips for managing kids’ ravenous appetites without losing your sanity during the summer.
Want 60+ healthy snack ideas to keep your kids fully replenished this summer? Click here to grab my A-Z Snack Guide as a free printable download.
Top 4 tips for managing your kids’ appetite over the summer:
1. Set up and stick to a schedule
Once kids are out of school, their schedule completely changes.
During the school year, they eat at set times every day and know when to expect their next snack or meal. In the summer, not so much. And that’s when they start raiding the pantry every few minutes to forage for Goldfish.
To manage their daily intake of tortilla chips and granola bars, I set up an eating schedule that looks something like this:
8:30am – Breakfast
11:00am – Snack
1:00pm – Lunch
3:00pm – Snack
6:00pm – Dinner
8:00pm – Evening Snack, if needed
This is what works for my family. If you have younger children who wake up and go to bed earlier, then adjust this schedule to meet their needs. Kids thrive best when they know what to expect, and they’re less likely to overeat or have hangry meltdowns.
2. Teach portion control
Kids don’t innately understand portion control. As far they’re concerned, all snacks come wrapped as individual servings.
Don’t expect your child to take the Family Size bag of Doritos to the living room and eat only a handful. Instead, try these tricks:
Offer them a small container or bowl to fill with their snack.
Divvy up large contents into smaller bags or containers that are stored within your child’s reach for easy access.
3. Set up a snack station
Snack stations work great if you have more than one child or a houseful of neighborhood kids throughout the summer and don’t want to spend 87% of your day making snacks for everyone. Snack stations are appropriate for children ages 3 and older.
Designate a small shelf or table as the snack station. Each day after breakfast, decide what snack will be available for the kids (fruit, crackers, pretzels, hummus, etc.), and place the snacks in a large bowl or on a tray. Provide small plates or bowls as well as serving utensils near the snack along with a sign that lets the kids know how much food to serve themselves. (For example: One scoop of pretzels. Four apple slices and five crackers.)
Keep in mind, children do require frequent snacks throughout the day to keep their energy levels up. Just be sure to avoid giving them snacks too close to meal time so they’re more likely to eat the balanced meals you prepare.
You can learn more about promoting healthy eating and independence in the kitchen by clicking here to read How to Create a Child-friendly Kitchen.
4. Offer snacks that fill up
I’ll admit that I made the rookie parent mistake of giving my kids fruit snacks as though they were really fruit snacks. In reality, they’re little pouches of fruit-shaped empty calories.
I eventually got wiser. Now I know that when my kids are hungry, they need real food that fills them up and helps them recharge so they can keep kicking soccer balls, doing cartwheels, riding skateboards in the kitchen and annoying each other.
Here are some ideas for snacks that will keep your kids feeling fuller longer:
Graham crackers and peanut butter
Pita crisps and hummus
Banana, peanut butter and yogurt smoothie
Apple slices and almond butter
Wheat crackers with pepperoni and cheese slices
Trail mix with nuts, dried fruits and chocolate chips
For more snack ideas, check out my free A-Z Snack Guide.
The quicker you get your kids’ eating schedule under control, the more time you can spend refereeing sibling wars and answering: What can we do today? I’m booooooored!
How many more days until school starts?
Jennifer, The MommyPreneur, is a mom of four. She runs her own digital marketing business and is the founder of two Montessori schools in eastern North Carolina.
She retired from commuting and punching a timecard in 2015 to pursue her dream of starting a successful online business. Like many women, she became frustrated trying to balance a 9 to 5 job with raising a family and was determined to find a better way to earn income without sacrificing time with her kids.
Her mission is to help more moms realize there is a better alternative to the daily work/family juggle. There are a gazillion opportunities available to women that make it possible for them to make money from home while being a hands-on mom.
When she’s not copywriting, creating savvy marketing strategies or keeping her kids from dying of snack deprivation or boredom, you’ll find her dancing to Beyonce in her living room, watching her kids surf at the beach, or planning her family’s epic cross-country roadtrip.
Meet Jennifer and get ready to laugh and learn at jenniferafriend.com.
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