My Simple Solution for the Kid Who Asks for 999 Snacks Every Day

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pick your snack - title

“Can I have a snack?”

If your house is ANYTHING like mine, you might hear this question asked no less than 1000 times every single day.  It sounds innocent enough, but when it is asked over and over and over again, it’s enough to drive me right up the wall.

We were only about 5 days into summer break when the “Is it snack time yet?” broken record started to give me a twitch.

Then one morning, I had a brainstorm.  A real light bulb moment!  I came up the easiest, most simple strategy that would not only (hopefully) give me a shred of sanity, but would also teach my kid some lessons in patience, rationing and independence.

I have big pocket organizer hanging on the back of the food pantry door.  Each morning (or at night before I head to bed) I pick 2 -3 fairly healthy self-serve snacks and place them in a bottom pouch, one that Lily can reach easily.

Those are her snacks for the entire day.  Those snacks are aside from her meals of course.  She is free to eat these snacks whenever she wants throughout the day.  If she wants to eat them all at 10 am, so be it.  But that’s it, no more.  Snacking is done for the day.

We are about a week into this new system and so far it’s working great.  She loves feeling like she’s in control of her food and I enjoy letting her be independent.  (Okay, who am I kidding?  I also love the fact that she’s not pestering me for a snack every 7 minutes!)  The next time I go to the dollar store, I am going to pick up a small plastic basket and use that for refrigerated snack options such as string cheese and yogurt.

pick your snack

Tell me – how to you enforce healthy snacking habits with your kids?

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