Feeding Hungry Teens During The Summer

School is out and summer time is here, which means the kids are home. I always enjoy summer time because life slows down and in our family we no longer have to live by schedules.

But summer time also means more active kids and even more active appetites. Every summer I was faced with the problem/annoyance of my kids constantly asking for snacks or saying they were hungry all the time. Sometimes they would ask for a snack literally 20 minutes after they ate lunch. It drove me crazy.

I was constantly nagging and saying, “no, not yet” or “you just ate!” I decided I needed a solution because it was stressing me out. And then it dawned on me, sometimes schedules can be a good thing.

Enter the “SNACK SHACK”! I came up with a simple idea based around what my kids enjoyed doing, and I entered the snack times into the schedule. Part of the schedule was to relieve me of stress and annoyance, so I prepped all the snacks at the beginning of each week and loaded them into the bottom drawers of my fridge.

When our cuckoo clock chirped 10 am, I would hear the pitter patter of little feet run across the house and the fridge door would swing open and it was Snack Shack time. They didn’t have to ask me for permission or yell “mom, can we have a snack”. They knew they were allowed to get a snack at those designated times, and it made them less stressed and I was less stressed too.

I have used this method for the last 4 years and it is such a lifesaver. My kids are older now, so the portions are a little bigger and I allow them to pick any 2 items, but they can’t pick the same two. Also because my kids are older now, their schedule isn't as structured. Instead I have told them they get 2 snack times during the day and they can choose when they want to have a snack themselves. 

Listed below are some ideas of different items I have included in our
Snack Shack drawer:
String Cheese
Apples
Yogurt
Pudding
Baby Carrots
Mandarin Oranges
Pears
Cheezits
Pretzels
Grapes
Gold Fish
Animal Crackers
Shoestrings (Potato Chip French Fries)
Applesauce
 
Let me know if you introduce the Snack Shack to your kids and the amazing difference it makes.
*Even though goldfish and pretzels don’t need to be refrigerated, I found it easier to have all snacks in one place. 

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