How long do kids have snack time? - Page 3

[meemee]

Originally Posted by sunnygir1 

and, I believe (and have been told by numerous health care providers of various persuasions and professions) that it is healthier to eat smaller amounts more frequently. 

you know i thought that too. till i discovered they are absolutely wrong. if i force bfast on my dd she gets stomach aches... etc. i am like that too. there are people who are like me. we eat most of our calories in one giant meal midday and then can actually go without food for two days. so bfast is not a big meal and dinner is non existant. that's how we eat in summer. but with school it doesnt work that way for dd. 

but to say everyone needs bfast every morning i just dont buy. 

dd could eat a snack at 1 and yet be famished after school. 

in fact i would say the school system is affecting her body rhythm. and since she is there she has to follow the routine. 
 

[leigh09]

Our school and many others in the area have a "balanced school day".  Their day is broken into thirds - the have the first third, break for 1st lunch, the second third then break for 2nd lunch, the last third then go home.

We are all strongly encouraged to just split their lunch in two - my kids all have 1/2 sandwich, drink, and fruit at each lunch break.

[Thursday Girl]

my kids school is from preschool-12th grade. They have a break for the entire school, the kids have a snack, socialise, and run around/play. If a child isn't hungry they don't have ot eat there snack.

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by meemee 

you know i thought that too. till i discovered they are absolutely wrong. if i force bfast on my dd she gets stomach aches... etc. i am like that too. there are people who are like me. we eat most of our calories in one giant meal midday and then can actually go without food for two days. so bfast is not a big meal and dinner is non existant. that's how we eat in summer. but with school it doesnt work that way for dd. 

but to say everyone needs bfast every morning i just dont buy. 

dd could eat a snack at 1 and yet be famished after school. 

in fact i would say the school system is affecting her body rhythm. and since she is there she has to follow the routine. 
 

I actually didn't say that everyone needs to eat breakfast.  And I know that many people eat the way you describe.  I don't agree that it is the healthiest way to eat.  But, whatever works for you.  I don't think that model would be a good one for the schools to adopt.

I can eat a snack at 1 and be famished at 3:30 too, and so can my kids, and we eat at least one breakfast every morning.  In fact, some of our best days are when we eat hot food 4 or 5 times throughout the day -- not huge meals, but sit down to a plate of hot food.

[musikmama]

I am a teacher in an elementary school where many of our students don't have enough food, or the right kind of food, at home. Sometimes, their last meal is lunch at school.  Our school has a fresh fruit and veggie program, where they get a fresh snack every afternoon.  Its great, and many kids DO eat it because they're hungry.  Our school feeds breakfast to over 200 students every morning, and lunch to nearly 500.  Some parents don't have the means, aren't there when their child wakes up, or aren't concerned with what and when they eat.  I completely disagree that children should be left to find their own breakfast at a certain point.  Who wouldn't love to have breakfast with their family every morning, and make another connection before everyone goes their separate ways?

[mamazee]

I don't think they "should be left to find their own breakfast at a certain point." I think that if someone else isn't getting them breakfast together, at some point of age they should have the ability to take on that responsibility. 4th graders are 9 years old. Kids that age are able to put a breakfast together if they need to. They aren't helpless. I think older kids are sometimes infantilized.

[meemee]

sorry sunnygir1 i came on too strong. yeah i know what you meant. lately things around me have been very cookie cutter and i remember the hardness it put us thru as a family when i tried to follow that. dd cant do bread or any sweetner in the morning. it gets her really tired and sleepy and thus cranky. IF she didnt eat much the day before, she is hungry for bfast. otherwise she cant handle food at 7:30 am. 

i get a lot of flak for not giving dd bfast. when i do i see how detrimental it is to her system. 
 

Originally Posted by sunnygir1 

I actually didn't say that everyone needs to eat breakfast.  And I know that many people eat the way you describe.  I don't agree that it is the healthiest way to eat.  But, whatever works for you.  I don't think that model would be a good one for the schools to adopt.

I can eat a snack at 1 and be famished at 3:30 too, and so can my kids, and we eat at least one breakfast every morning.  In fact, some of our best days are when we eat hot food 4 or 5 times throughout the day -- not huge meals, but sit down to a plate of hot food.

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by meemee 

sorry sunnygir1 i came on too strong. yeah i know what you meant. lately things around me have been very cookie cutter and i remember the hardness it put us thru as a family when i tried to follow that. dd cant do bread or any sweetner in the morning. it gets her really tired and sleepy and thus cranky. IF she didnt eat much the day before, she is hungry for bfast. otherwise she cant handle food at 7:30 am. 

i get a lot of flak for not giving dd bfast. when i do i see how detrimental it is to her system. 
 

Yeah, I understand.  I think the time around going back to school is especially stressful on families, and even moreso for those of us who have special dietary needs or are chemically sensitive, etc.

My sister makes her kids sausage or eggs or tofu or something like that for breakfast nearly every morning because the gluten free toast with jam or cereal with milk just doesn't cut it for them -- as you said, it tends to make things worse.

At the school near us, the "breakfast" and "snack" boxes provided by the school are disgusting and IMO can't really be called food.  There is tons of packaging and they contain things like sugar cereal and rice crispy treats.  Nothing healthy and they probably don't help with behavior at school.

[Flor]

In my district there is snack/recess up to 6th grade (but kids bring their own). When I taught elementary, I think almost all the kids ate almost everyday. In middle school we don't have a break, but I wish we did. My class before lunch is a waste of time. They are starving and grumpy. Personally, I eat about every  2 or 3 hours all day, and I notice if my son doesn't he gets very grouchy. He has an AM snack at school and an after school snack when he gets home.

[cyberfish]

We never had snack or recess after kindergarten.  The only break and food you got was at lunch. 

[meemee]

Flor did you think it was lack of food? or a combination of things? because dd would be grumpy too. but not from lack of food, but from lack of a break. 3 to 4 hours is a long time without breaks.  her 3rd grade teacher realised that and at every period change she gave her class an extra 5 minutes to transition and it REALLY helped my dd (and others too) enough to mention it as she doesnt do v. well with change. she is the concentrate on one subject for hours kinda child so just doing 45 mins (or however long it is) is pretty stressful on her.

i mean here in CA you have to give workers a 10 or 15 min break after 2 hours. i cant see why we cant do that with students either.

Originally Posted by Flor 

My class before lunch is a waste of time. They are starving and grumpy.

[Flor]

MeeMee-- They are middle school students, so they actually get a 5 minute break between each of their classes (at 9:15, 10:15, 11;15, then they come to me). Middle schoolers manage to circle the campus and visit all friends in that span of 5 minutes, so in my opinion, it was lack of food. They could of course have a snack during those breaks if they chose to, but most buy lunch. I eat a snack during their passing period.

[tccandlsccmom]

My dd is in 4th grade, and I like it that she has snack time in the afternoon because she eats lunch at 10:45....

[meemee]

so flor in middle school is recess done away with because the kids take a 5 min break every hour? yeah esp for preteens i think that break becomes more imp. the school day should be completely redone for middle and high schoolers. recess, starting later.... ah well.

 

Originally Posted by Flor 

MeeMee-- They are middle school students, so they actually get a 5 minute break between each of their classes (at 9:15, 10:15, 11;15, then they come to me). Middle schoolers manage to circle the campus and visit all friends in that span of 5 minutes, so in my opinion, it was lack of food. They could of course have a snack during those breaks if they chose to, but most buy lunch. I eat a snack during their passing period.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Flor 

 Middle schoolers manage to circle the campus and visit all friends in that span of 5 minutes

Our public middle school went to a 3 minutes class change to cut down on fighting. The kids often don't have time to go to their lockers between classes (depending on where their classes and locker are located). I doubt they are allowed a snack, but I'm sure they wouldn't have time to eat one, or a way to carry it since they had to carry books and notebooks and supplies for a couple of classes at a time -- and backpacks weren't allowed between classes. Everything had to be hand carried.

Equating this to a recess doesn't work for me. It's was more like an obstacle course.

The did have PE every single day so they did get movement in.

[erigeron]

I don't have school-aged kids yet, but the idea of a scheduled snack sounds great to me. Kids who aren't hungry don't have to eat, and this way people with different daily rhythms are accommodated. I'm not a fan of the rhetoric that "kids should be able to make it through the morning". As an adult, I've struggled to make it through the morning without bonking out from hunger, finally found a couple of foods that worked for me, and then when I got pregnant that all went out the window. I see no merit to insisting my kid go 4 hours without eating if she's hungry! I spent so much time hungry in school because my mom made me pack my own lunch and I was really bad at remembering to do it.

[meemee]

Originally Posted by erigeron 

I don't have school-aged kids yet, but the idea of a scheduled snack sounds great to me. 

see all elementary schools have it. its called recess. some kids choose to eat then, many dont. 

but in OPs system to sit at your desk and some eat and others dont have anything to do spells trouble for some kids. many kids can just pass the time drawing or reading or something individual, but many get fidgity and restless. yeah even for 5 mins. 

[erigeron]

That was kind of needlessly snide... in any case, not every school has recess every day for every grade, unless things have changed everywhere since I was in grade school and since I did a stint as a teacher's aide when I was in high school. I went to a bunch of different schools over the years and definitely remember days with no recess and days (or entire years) when recess was immediately before or after or concurrent with lunch. Kids getting bored during "snack time" sounds like more of a problem with the specific execution of "snack time" rather than the intrinsic idea of having a mid-morning or mid-afternoon opportunity where it is suggested that kids eat their snack. Also, it might not occur to a little kid to eat a snack at recess, even if they would benefit from it, unless the adult in charge suggests the idea and makes space for it... as adults we have to advocate for ourselves when we need a certain thing to happen in our schedule and it wouldn't otherwise, but a kid won't necessarily know to do that. I'd imagine it would be a rare kid who would say "Wait a minute, I want a snack because otherwise I'll get grumpy before lunch" when the class was being lined up to go outside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meemee 

see all elementary schools have it. its called recess.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by meemee 
see all elementary schools have it. its called recess. some kids choose to eat then, many dont. 

my kids have never attend a school where you can snack during recess. Even at their current, extremely mellow alternative school, you can't eat unless it is the time and place to eat. A lot of kids of messy when they eat.

Edited by Linda on the move - 9/13/11 at 12:43pm

[MsBirdie]

DDs school has snack at all grades thru 6th.  The little kids eat around 1030 so there snack is in the afternoon.  Older grades eat lunch closer to 1pm so snack is in the morning.

I think it just makes sense for focus.  No one is making sure they eat, but they have the option.  Each child is responsible for their own snack and it must correspond with the school's strict wellness policy. 

They are able to go outside or sit and read for the 15 minute break.  They also have a short recess after lunch.