Skipping Snack Time

If you’re having trouble getting your kids to eat their meals, then they likely aren’t hungry. Young children won’t starve themselves - they will eat if they’re really hungry. If your kids aren’t having issues at meal times, then you’ve found the balance of foods that they like, and making sure they’re hungry.

For those parents who are having trouble getting their kids to eat dinner, you need to take a broader look at what your kids are eating. For many families, there is a snack time that occurs in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. Snack time can often lead to children eating poorly at meals before and after that snack.

Before going to the extreme, you should first consider what food is being served for snack time, and how much of it. If you are serving unhealthy snacks, of course your kids are going to be eating it whether or not they’re hungry. When kids get a taste of something overly sweet or salty, they’ll generally eat it. The same goes for adults as well - your taste buds will tell you they want more.

If your snacks are not healthy, then you need to change that. Instead of serving crackers, serve vegetables. Instead of serving candy or sweets, serve fruits. Additionally, snacks should be very small - they are not meant to be a meal. If you’re filling your kids up full during snack times, then it’s really no wonder that they won’t want to eat lunch and/or dinner.

For some kids, changing to a healthy snack option is enough to help them to eat other meals better. However, it won’t work for all kids. If your kids are still struggling to eat other meals, consider skipping snack time altogether. You may need to shorten the time between lunch and dinner in order to make it work, but your kids should definitely be hungry come dinner time when they haven’t filled up on some other snack earlier in the day.

For families that are already in the routine of having snack time, this may be a tough transition at first. First, you need to tell your kids that snack time will be going away in one week as the kids are too old for snack time any longer. Next, you should make each snack over the next week smaller and smaller to help your children move off of snacks.

The first week will likely be the toughest for kids to realize there will be no mid-day snacks. Very likely there will be screaming and whining about wanting a snack. Be firm in your stance that they will eat at dinner time and that they will survive. If their tummy feels like it needs something, remind them that they need to eat a larger lunch in order to make it to dinner time. Encourage them to get plenty to drink.

Cutting out snack time is not the easiest option, but many times it is the best option to get your kids to eat better at meal times. Snack is generally a favorite for most kids, but that’s because snack time is generally less healthy in nature. Make the transition to no snack time to teach your kids that meal time is the time when you should be eating.