Lady DeWinters
Senior Cook
Does anyone have any healthy ideas on what to pack for a preschooler? Seems all the aisle have stuff that are either too sweet or too salty and I want something for my little one that's healthy and good to eat. Thanks!
That is the sweetest thing, Elf! I used to put little notes and would often cut the sandwiches out using a cookie cutter, but I never thought of the mustard thing. Kids love secret messages. I'll bet you were the favorite mom in the neighborhood!A pre-schooler is happy with some peanut butter crackers (saltines) and half a banana. At least mine was. It's a great lunch. He also liked just a cheese sandwich. When mine got older I taught him to carefully open his sandwich - there was always something written in mustard in there! LOL It could be a heart, a smiley face, I love you.....the list goes on.
I'm still trying to figure out my kid's school policy on snacks. What the school sent us in a letter is to send a "healthy snack like a small fruit, few crackers, or fruit snack" no cookies or chips and no peanut or peanut products. It also says not to send in any juice or drinks with the snack, they have a water fountain.
Verbally, we're hearing don't send in anything with sugar in the top two ingredients. Also, I've overheard a conversation between a teacher and a parent where the parent sent in a home made snack. The teacher wouldn't allow the child to eat it because it didn't have an ingredient label.
These rules are new this year in NJ, apparently state mandated. My kids like fruits and veggies for snacks but occasionally I like to treat them with some home made cookies in their lunch boxes. But now some pointy headed legislator is telling me I can't do that. It's a good ting the U.S. is a free country
People have been eating for thousands of years, how did we get to the point where we need government to tell us how to do it correctly
Michael
People have been eating for thousands of years, how did we get to the point where we need government to tell us how to do it correctly
Michael
Wow Caine, I envy your son. I have one like that too who is 6'2" and weighs 180. He's 27 and still eats everything in sight but he's also very active. He and his friends fence, play hackysack, bicycle and of course, help each other move pretty regularly.
I remember as a kid we all had lunches similar to what you gave your son. But we also left the house in the morning and went to school or played outside till dark. The moms all could be heard calling their kids at dusk to come home. So there really wasn't any idle snacking. I'm sure that has a lot to do with kids (and adults) being overweight.
Plus most of us have a little more disposable income and a fast food place close at hand. So having a "little something" requires very little effort. The availability and quality of dessert type foods was not what it is today in the grocery stores. Also the fact that most households require both parents to work, if there are 2 parents, so kids get their own snacks and even regular meals themselves. Kids aren't known for making great food choices.
I don't know, I just think there are many influences at play when we look at the issue of obesity in youth and I don't know how we will address them.
OMG, you're right about the fast food. I remember we went to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone once or twice a month. They were 10 cents! Oh man, I loved those. I had a PB&J or a tuna sandwich everyday for my school lunch, along with a piece of fruit and some sort of cookies. I was always sent with money for 2 cartons of milk, which I think were 10 cents each, too. I think this was because I was a really poor eater and extremely thin but I would always drink milk.In elementary school, we were given an hour to go home for lunch. I had a hot lunch every day, even if it was just a bowl of Campbell's soup. In junior and senior high school, I brought the same lunch every day for 7 bloody years! Monday through Thursday, 3 chopped ham sandwiches and a snack cake. Friday, 2 tuna sandwiches (tuna is more filling!) and a snack cake.
I remember the first McDonalds in my area. The dawn of fast food:That was their entire menu! No 1/4 pounders, no Big Macs, no chicken or fish, no choice of sizes for sodas or shakes.
- Hamburger - 15¢
- Cheeseburger - 18¢
- french fries - 12¢
- sodas - 10¢
- milk shakes - 25¢