The Finicky Files - Snacktime Smackdown
I’m writing this when the last thing in the world I feel like doing is cooking for my children. It’s been a long week of rejected meal after rejected meal, coupled with a husband working late hours (thus leaving me to wage battle against mealtime unpleasantries all on my own). And, insult to injury, my dishwasher has been broken for about ten days. I have made zero inroads into my kids’ finicky eating habits and really find myself wondering why I bother trying. Aren’t you psyched that I’m sharing this mood with you? Clearly I don’t have many successful tips to pass along. Bear with me.
While it works in so many facets of my life (like my two-and-a-half-year-old son who refuses to use the potty and is inordinately fond of the word “stupid” - thank you Charlie Brown holiday specials), I cannot bury my head in the sand when it comes to meals. My own appetite won’t let me. So it’s time I faced my problems square on, and with a bit of insight from Allyson, I have identified one of the chief culprits: snacks.
Snacks are by far the number one saboteur of successful meals. I say that with absolutely no official data backing me up, and yet I feel quite confident that it applies to just about every child on the planet. I don’t think it’s either practical or wise to attempt to avoid snacks – they’re a healthy part of all diets, when undertaken in the right way. That’s where the wheels so often fall off the cart.
On a typical day, Clare gets home from school at around 3:45 p.m. Having eaten breakfast at 6:45 a.m., lunch at 10:50 a.m. (the teachers refer to it as brunch), and a snack at school at around 1:30 p.m., I find myself in a tough spot. Does she really need another snack at 4 p.m.? No, but at the same time that’s a long day and a long stretch if dinner isn’t until 6 p.m. I do refuse snacks past 4:30 p.m., but while I have seen a modest improvement in appetites at dinner, this clearly isn’t enough.
So I am now expanding my snacktime war to include a battle with carbs. More accurately, cracker- and bread-like carbs. Instead of pretzels, goldfish, graham crackers and the like, I went a different route for the after-school (or in Danny’s case, after-nap) snack: Ants on a Tree. Sneaking in a vegetable, fruit, and protein without a single cracker-related item seemed like an impossible dream. And when I announced to Clare what I had prepared for a snack, she looked horrified and said, “Ew! (long pause) Are you joking?” Which just made me laugh so hard I almost started crying. I assured her that they were not real ants, nor a real tree. She remained a bit skeptical, but was evidently hungry enough to try it – and fell in love! Danny’s veggie radar is, unfortunately, infallible, so he opted for a bowl of raisins instead.
Of course, the real test remained: How would this snack experience affect dinner? I opted to go all-out on my test, too, and tried something new on them: a variation on the Baked “Fried” Chicken, whereby I cut the chicken into strips, thus making chicken fingers. As I have mentioned previously, chicken nuggets are the only form of chicken Clare will consume, so I was curious to see how well this would go over. These were decidedly more chicken-heavy than your typical frozen nugget or tender. I’m not sure if I have the snack or the pre-dinner excursion to the playground to thank, but lo and behold, my chicken fingers were a success!
So with two triumphant Clare encounters under my belt (in one day no less!) I have decided to turn my focus on dismantling the veggie/fruit radar Danny has so keenly developed. Wish me luck, and if you have any advice, don’t be shy!
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Pretty sure Finicky is spelled wrong up there…I’m just sayin’.
DOH! good catch Liz - just fixed
Snacks are our biggest pitfall too - I totally agree. So many carbs, so little nutritional value… I am trying to offer a two fruit choice more often and if they refuse that, then they are stuck waiting until dinner. I am also trying to offer an activity when they ask for snack, because it often seems my daughter especially is eating out of boredom, rather than hunger. (Scary.) It works aboutr 50% of the time. That’s my two cents - hang tough Liz! (PS: my soon to be 3-year old is still wearing her trusty size 6 Huggies, so I’m still with you on that front too..)