How many snack bags do your kids take to school?

amother

Tomato

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 2:45 pm

For boys I would say more as they are in school longer hours.
I give my son 2 baked goods, like a danish brownie bar etc. wafer, about 3 -4 snack bags. Sometimes some sweets, and I’d try to stick an apple in there every once in awhile. Plus 2 big water bottles.
Sometimes he eats it all, other times he leaves it for the next day, or gives it away to a kid without snack.

amother

↑ Puce

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 2:52 pm

amother DarkMagenta wrote:

My problem is I think the chips do the opposite.
Potato chips provide no energy.
If anything I would think it effect kids negatively and make them lethargic.

I see the poster above also disagrees with me.

I just never felt chips gave me anything. Other than wanting more and hungrier bec of the salt and chemicals.

I guess everyone is different I find that if I don't have some form of sugar (it could be a healthier sugar from fruit) whether chips/carbs or anything then I feel faint when my blood sugar drops. I find the same for my kids. They don't necessarily need a lot but it needs to be consistent. a break from eating for 4 hours is insufficient.

Reality

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 3:17 pm

I never fully realized how much peer pressure and culture comes into play with the food our children eat until I moved out of the US. My kids were also always starving in school and wanting a tremendous amount of snack bags in the US.

Then we moved to Israel where the food culture is so different. The kids all wash and eat a sandwich for morning snack and bentch together. It is so much more filling than a lousy bag of chips.

Not to say my kids don't take snack bags. Just they'd never take more than 1 on a regular school day because that's the social norm in their schools. Before posters say they have a much shorter day, I am specifically talking about my boys who are in school from 8 am to 4:30 pm.

I wish OP there was a way to change the snack culture in your children's schools. It is truly an uphill battle.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 3:33 pm

amother Puce wrote:

Blood sugar drops are usually the result of too much insulin which is caused by high carb intake , it becomes a cycle. The fix is actually more protein and fats to avoid those spikes, which in turn avoids the drops.

erm

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 3:53 pm

My boys take 4-5 snacks. They always say they need more because there are a lot of kids who ask for snacks because they don't bring enough. (I don't mind sharing once in a while for a kid who forgot his snack but its annoying that mothers don't send enough for their own child on a constant basis)

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 5:23 pm

amother Acacia wrote:

I read your last thread also and wanted to reply, but didn't as we don't live in America and my experience probably isn't relevant to you. But as it seems like you feel alone in the world with your beliefs, let me assure you that there are many countries worldwide where your way of thinking is the norm.
So to answer your question: 0.
My kids bring zero snack bags to school. And so does everyone else around here. Actually you cannot buy snack bags, there are no supermarkets that sell them as there's no demand. Also schools here wouldn't allow kids to bring baked goods, cookies or popcorn on a regular basis. Those who need snacks, bring fruit, vegetables or yoghurt.
Of course there's always that one kid. The one who brings a shopping bag of snack bags at yours. Here that one kid will bring a granola bar or a baked good and the rest of the class will complain to their mothers about it.
Yes the food culture is drastically different than the one I read about on here. I'm not lying, I'm not bragging, and I don't think I'm better than anyone else. But for sure I live in a very, very different culture where the expectations are very different. I live in Scandinavia, Europe.
(And before you start feeling envious, let me assure you that the kosher food marked here is very small and boring. But snack bags are not a thing, neither in nor out of the Jewish communities.)

Wow. Just wow. Very interesting.

amother

Crystal

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 5:28 pm

I only allow one snack bag. 2 for trip days. I didn't realize I'm such a mean mother lol.
They can take any other snack they please. they usually each take about 3 snacks a day. brownie bars, cereal bars, pretzels in a ziploc and even fruits or veggies.

(during school year its not really a problem. they are not allowed to bring snack bags to school. they eat their 1 a day on the bus home. or while waiting until the bus comes after school.)

In lakewood. oldest is 10

amother

Glitter

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 5:32 pm

amother Crystal wrote:

What Lakewood school doesn't allow snack bags

the world's best mom

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 6:47 pm

amother Crystal wrote:

You are not a mean mother! Honestly, I think it's kind of mean to allow kids to take 5 snack bags. How much garbage can a kid eat in one day? I am not even close to being a strict mother as far as healthy eating goes, but my kids take one snack bag and 2 other snacks, which could be rice cakes, cookies, pretzels, granola bars, or rice crispy treats. 5 snack bags would make them sick!

amother

Honeydew

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 7:39 pm

This is fascinating, my kids aren't allowed to bring outside food to school.
They leave at 7:15 and come home at 5.
The school bus (1 hour each way) doesn't let food and is very strict about it.
They get from school a sandwich type snack in the morning recess, full lunch (main meal of the day) and an afternoon recess snack of some kind of cake and fruit.
One of my kids refuse to eat breakfast (usually bread and cheese) and hates lunch and come home starving.
I live in South America, besides the fact that we don't have even a fraction of the snacks sold in the USA, it's really not a culture here. When there are trips kids take Nash, more candy and less snack bags

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 10:30 am

amother Honeydew wrote:

So interesting that 5 imas from outside the US all described food cultures so vastly different from here. Thanks for sharing.

amother

Wandflower

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 11:18 am

I’m SHOCKED by this thread. My kids don’t take any snack bags to school! Those are strictly treats for special reasons. I didn’t even know it was a thing.
I usually pack them a sandwich bag with pretzels, rice cakes, flatbreads etc and a sweet pastry to balance it out. Maybe I’m still old fashioned? My oldest is 10.

amother

Clover

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 11:45 am

I allow three snacks per day but they’re not all junky snacks. One is usually homemade baked goods, one is a protein like string cheese, nuts, or crackers with pb, and one is a snack bag. Fruit gets warm and mushy at school, so my kids eat that when they come home.

mha3484

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 11:54 am

My kids take a morning snack, a lunch like a sandwich and something to go along side it, and an afternoon snack. My oldest who has minyan and late stay takes one more snack then the ones who end earlier. They take things like chips, popcorn, different bars, fruit snacks, pastries, seaweed snacks. I like to keep it varied so no one gets bored.

I don't really buy individual bags anymore I feel like they are 4 chips and air. Thanks shrinkflation.

amother

Daffodil

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 12:01 pm

My younger kids (whose lunches I pack myselves) have mostly healthy snacks with an occasional treat. So normally 1 main lunch, 1 fruit, 1 fruit-based snack (applesauce, raisins, dried fruit), one carb (pretzels or similar). Occasionally I'll throw in a treat of some sort, especially if they happen to be around when the older kids are packing lunches and notice a treat that they're having and want it.

My older kids pack their own lunches. So a main lunch that inclues a protein, a fruit, a bag of pretzels or equivalent, and one "treat." Said treat can be potato chips or another snack bag, but I usually buy large bags and show them how to blow up little ziplock bags so they don't get squished.

If a kid is very hungry on a regular basis, I tell them to bring more of their main lunch -- so maybe two sandwiches, or a bunch of extra crackers and cheese. Or at least an extra fruit. Being hungry and wanting snacks are not the same thing, I'm sorry.

Why do so many parents seem to have a hard time sticking to decisions that their kids are less than happy with? I don't understand. Why is saying "no" so hard, when it's something that really doesn't make any sense?

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 12:18 pm

amother Wandflower wrote:

Are you in the US?

amother

↑ OP

Fri, Jul 26 2024, 12:19 pm

amother Daffodil wrote:

It's a good question. I don't know.

And I totally agree that being hungry and wanting more snacks are not the same thing.