What type of snacks do you provide?

[bright sparks]

Wow, I'm impressed by all you ladies.....for me a snack is something small to hold you over 'till the next meal, so A piece of fruit. Like a banana, or an apple, pear etc.......That's it. Is that too little? Some of the pp included multiple items in a snack...maybe I need to revisit my menu.....

I think you do what works for you and the children you care for SummerLuvin. I find that snack time can really back fire and lunchtime comes around and they dont eat as much, if any. I also hear that people give a protein at snack times???? Not sure why. The only thing I can think of as to the large snacks people give is that they are following the Canada Food Guide. I do not follow the guide as IMO and through research, the guide is not good. 8 portions of whole grains a day!!! Are you kidding me, thats 8 slices of bread/pasta/rice.... I make sure that the snack isnt to big at all and just tides the little ones over until lunch time. I have an early lunch at 11/11:15 so morning snack is small and then afternoon snack is much more substantial as they likely wont have anything for about 3 hours after that snack.

[happyheart]

toregone, give that kid some cheese with his fruit or banana, those help bind. ha ha dont you hate it when the day care get s the blame? my kid said a bad word, must be the day care! my kid has the sh***! must be the day care. My kid stayed up late, must be the day care!!! my kids and idiot, must be the day care!!!

Totally agree!!!!!!

[Inspired by Reggio]

.... The only thing I can think of as to the large snacks people give is that they are following the Canada Food Guide. I do not follow the guide as IMO and through research, the guide is not good. 8 portions of whole grains a day!!! Are you kidding me, thats 8 slices of bread/pasta/rice..

I agree that Canada's Food Guide is not necessarily best because the research used to make it is tainted by the funding coming from the agriculture industry that produces A LOT OF GRAIN not to mention that our governments themselves are biased to support grain because they subsidized the grain farmers greatly ~ however wanted to share that the guide varies dependent on if you are serving children and/or adults so what you've stated above is incorrect for CHILDREN .... grain servings for a child between 2-3 years if only 3 servings a day not the 8 you mentioned .... 8 is the recommended servings for an adult male ... females are only recommended 6 servings .... also be wary of what a 'serving' actually is according to Canada's Food Guide because that too is deceiving between what WE think if as a serving and what is an actually 'healthy serving' .... because technically a serving of grain for an adult is 1/2 a bagel, 1/2 a pita, 1/2 a tortilla shell and 1 slice of bread and most people eat the WHOLE bagel, pita, tortilla shell or 2 slices of bread and count that as ONE serving .... plus a rice serving is a 1/4 cup and a pasta is 1/2 cup COOKED so IME most adults would consume their 4-6 servings of grain in a sitting if that is what is being served .... suggested servings sizes for children are even smaller I know my daycare crew will eat more than a cup of cooked pasta each at a sitting and they are kids and they only 'need' 3 servings so that would be their grain in a day easy ~ so even though I do not agree that adults need as much grain as indicated .... based on what Canada's Food Guide suggests that children 'need' I have no issues in meeting the children's recommended daily does of grain cause 3 is a piece of cake and I do not even serve 'grain' at each snack/meal cause I am one of those more inclined to serve a fruit and protein

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-gu...uantit-eng.php

...I also hear that people give a protein at snack times???? ....

This is a tip learned from anyone who suffers from diabetes or glucose intolerance. A protein when given at snacks helps keep ones glucose levels steady between eating because protein is more slowly digested it helps to keep the 'carbs' in other foods being digested along side it burning steadily/evenly rather than quickly which than causes that sudden 'drop' in blood sugar between meals that makes one feel fatigued/irritable ... this is specially important for children as dips in blood sugar can cause impulse control issues and moodiness issues which are already a challenge for most toddlers to master so helping to ensure you have a consistent blood sugar for them will minimize those 'tantrums' they are prone to

So for example if I were to eat an apple at 3 pm by 4:30 my glucose would be LOW on me but if I do something as simple as eat a tbsp of peanut butter with that same apple my levels will stay steady right until supper time at 6 pm.

[Momof4]

Remember that the Canada Food guide recommends all those servings, but for instance a whole bagel is 4 grain servings. Check the size of the servings. I serve 2 things at breakfast, all the food groups at lunch and 2 things at snacktime. It usually works out to 3 fruit servings per day, 3 bread servings per day, 1-2 protein servings and 2-3 veggie servings per day.