Seconds, thirds ?? How much is too much?

Hi Just wondering what you all do about kids who ask for more food and whether you offer seconds or even thirds and fourths or not?

One of the reasons I am getting out of after school care is that I had a child who came after school and this child would be eating me out of house and home at the age of 6 ! The child was not over weight but could eat a horse.

I would serve a fruit and a grain for snack....i.e 1 apple sliced and cored and maybe 3/4 of a cup or 1 cup of crackers like teddy grahams. The child eats the snack then proceeds to tell me they want Goldfish crackers because they are still hungry. I give goldfish crackers and they (no word of a lie) eat at LEAST half the bag. Then....an hour later....child comes and tells me they are still hungry and want some cucumber or a cookie or something else to eat. There were days where I would lose almost a whole cucumber and half a bag of goldfish for just 1 child !

I would ask the child whether they ate their lunch from school and they would assure me that they had.

I was talking to another provider who said that for after school she gives 1 apple and 1 granola bar and then tells them they have to wait until they go home for supper if they are still hungry.

I am impressed that she can do that. I just have a hard time saying no - especially to someone saying they are hungry. I can understand where she is doing a good job preserving her bottom line though.

So....what about you...do you give seconds, thirds and keep giving food or do you put your foot down?

For daycare lunch I always will give more of our hot lunch or fruit/veggie if the child wants and if a child comes during the day and says they want a cracker I usually will give them 2 to tide them over.

Children do come home hungry and would eat an entire meal if allowed. For cost if you really wanted to you could probably make hotdogs for the cost of the crackers and fruit - at least it would fill him up better. But the kids also need to be reminded that this is snack and not a meal. It is not intended to make them feel "full" but intended to tide them over from the grumblies till they get home and have supper. Serving things like carrot sticks, toast and peanut butter - things that take longer to eat ie more chewing usually satisfy longer. But once snack is served - the apple and granola bar is sufficient - that is eat till they go home. Mine do not get anything between snack and meals so if the after school kids you have were there as preschoolers then they may just have learned a bad habit - if I ask I can get crackers. But the cost of feeding schoolagers compared to what parents will pay for the service is the best reason to get out of doing it.

I would check his lunch bag to see if he has eaten everything in it. While being a nanny to 3 school-aged boys a few years back, the rule was when you came home from school, I opened their lunch bags. Whatever they didn't finish, they finished then, and if they were still hungry, they got another fruit to eat. It worked, and they were set until dinner.

What about giving something with a little protein to fill them up better? I always try to include protein in the afternoon snack...cheese or yogurt or peanut butter for older kids. Carbs don't last as long in the tummy.

I would have a hard time saying "no" too!

However, I think adding some protein would be a big help. How about tortillas wrapped around lunchmeat and cheese?

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Originally Posted by kangaroomama

What about giving something with a little protein to fill them up better? I always try to include protein in the afternoon snack...cheese or yogurt or peanut butter for older kids. Carbs don't last as long in the tummy.

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If only !!! lol I know that the after school child I had turned their nose up at yogurt, found cheese to be gross, wouldn't touch a banana, jam or peanut butter.

I think in a way it is true that I would have been better off and cheaper off just serving a 'meal' than a snack in this case. That never occurred to me. Once I was making lasagna and the dck said to me how they love lasagna and it smells so good but I just brushed it off thinking that they were just thinking of more ways to eat me out of house and home. lol

I guess the thing that worries me with anyone 3 years and up is that they can go home and complain and say you refused to feed them

Grilled cheese, alphagetti, even mac and cheese were regular after school snacks for me. A box of krafat dinner split between 3 is less than 50 cents for a snack. Hot makes a difference. When you think about it these are foods that you would have served them for lunch had they been in care but instead they got sandwiches, carrot sticks, yogurt, granola bars, crackers and cheese - all the foods you are trying to serve now for their lunch at school. It is like reversing the day in that they are eating your hot lunch when they get home but yes it is cheaper than the snack foods. Even a cheap bag of frozen fries and give each a dish of ketchup an let them munch away - if it takes time it will also fill them up more too. But a bag of no name fries split between several kids is very little per serving. Ok so not the most nutritious but just using it as an example.

At snack/meal time in my daycare, we have a couple of guidelines:
1. If you want more, you must finish all of what you have been given initially. So no more fries until you have eaten the portion of chicken and veggies first. Then we can have seconds, etc. It doesn't sound like that's the problem, though?
2. We eat at snack/meal time. Not in between. I would not be giving out crackers, etc, personally. For me, it just avoids the "how come HE gets another snack?" discussion. You eat enough at the designated times, or you wait until the next one. If you must have something, you can have all the water you can drink!
3. School age kids are welcome to have something left from their lunch bags. I know that snacktime and lunchtime can be pretty hectic, especially when kids just want to go play. I would double check, just to make sure that lunch kit is coming home empty. If not, there you go, some more to snack on.
4. A snack is just that, a snack. It is not a full meal, nor should it be. Not that you can't have hot, meal-type foods (I think that's a great idea, and will try it out!). But in no way should you be having meal size portions.
If you are concerned, I would mention it to mom/dad, before the child can complain about "starving"!! :) Any chance it's boredom? My own kids frequently think they're hungry when they are just bored and looking for something to do.

I also used to have SUCH a hard time saying no more until I had an inspection from my head office one day and I was told I was actually feeding them way too much ! lol She showed me what a regular portion looks like ( 1 fruit, and 1 granola bar are plenty) and I have since learned to say , no more.
We should be trying to show them proper eating habits anyways and portion control is one of them.
Lunch or supper is never too far away anyways

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Originally Posted by mom-in-alberta

At snack/meal time in my daycare, we have a couple of guidelines:
1. If you want more, you must finish all of what you have been given initially. So no more fries until you have eaten the portion of chicken and veggies first. Then we can have seconds, etc. It doesn't sound like that's the problem, though?
2. We eat at snack/meal time. Not in between. I would not be giving out crackers, etc, personally. For me, it just avoids the "how come HE gets another snack?" discussion. You eat enough at the designated times, or you wait until the next one. If you must have something, you can have all the water you can drink!
3. School age kids are welcome to have something left from their lunch bags. I know that snacktime and lunchtime can be pretty hectic, especially when kids just want to go play. I would double check, just to make sure that lunch kit is coming home empty. If not, there you go, some more to snack on.
4. A snack is just that, a snack. It is not a full meal, nor should it be. Not that you can't have hot, meal-type foods (I think that's a great idea, and will try it out!). But in no way should you be having meal size portions.
If you are concerned, I would mention it to mom/dad, before the child can complain about "starving"!! :) Any chance it's boredom? My own kids frequently think they're hungry when they are just bored and looking for something to do.

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Not sure it is boredom....this is a very high energy child and their parents told me (and wrote in the forms) to expect a LARGE appetite and that she likes to eat a lot. When the parents told me that I smiled because I thought 'how much can a 6 yr old possibly eat?" I have a 7 year old and he eats pretty average...but this child eats probably double or triple depending on the day. lol

I should say no but I just feel bad. We were raised to feed hungry kids, to feed the kids before yourself, etc so it feels bad to say no. The one day we had some really expensive cookies sitting out and dck ate their snack and then saw the cookies and asked for some. I knew that dck would eat the whole box of these expensive cookies and I did not think that the $10 I get paid plus the large amount of snack I had already served warranted anything else so I put my foot down and said no. Well.....the next day our fridge & freezer broke and I had the throw hundreds of dollars of meat and food out. I wondered if that was bad karma because I said no to the cookies.:blink: Now I am in an even bigger worry to say no to food. lol