Howdy Y’all,
Hope you are doing well and congratulations it is Friday, you have made it through another week!! Today I wanted to share something mummy related which had made my life a little easier, as I navigate this rocky road of parenthood. As Little L has grown that magic word SNACK has grown infamous. I would go as far to say as that it ranks as one of her top words, NO being the most popular (obviously.) Snacking had never really been a massive issue earlier on with Little L, she has always been a good eater. Recently I have been noticing, with growth spurts, more socializing with peers and her increasing independence of spirit the desire to snack is on the increase. I need to preface because as Mr L likes to point out I have an inclination to explain myself (so here goes 😄) I am not a snack tyrant . I’m not against them, I love a snack, I’m hardly Kate Moss but I also want to teach Little L healthy habits and to make good choices. I basically follow the mantra, everything in moderation. I’m also proud enough to admit that I have used snacks to pacify Little L when I need her to just keep quiet for a few more minutes and when Daniel Tiger on the cell phone no longer works.
So dealing with this increased desire to snack has made me take more responsibility in looking into what is in toddler snacks. (OMG! Another post on that!) Before I receive a barrage of information on what a healthy snack is etc. I’m fairly clued up but there is only so much fruit and veg you can give your little one. Plus when Little L is at the park with other kids and they are eating Goldfish or Animal Cracker (both yum) another round of cucumber sticks might not hit it. Other mummies will also know the perils of the sippy and snack cup. Yup we have all been there, two cups full of identical liquids or snacks but it always tastes better in the cup belonging to the other child, which you can somewhat stomach when you know the other child! But I often find there is that spare cup belonging to no man floating around the park 😜.
I remember reading a while back in some diet article about breakfast cereal, generally people eat at least double the recommended portion of cereal per day because they don’t bother to measure the recommended portion size. This got me thinking. When buying snacks for Little L purely for convenience I tend to buy snack already portioned out. This is more expensive and sometimes not possible, especially when you buy some of the smaller organic brands. So a couple of weeks ago I thought I would look into the recommended snack portion for littlies and the standard seemed to be roughly 30g. If your like me, trying to cram too many things into a too smaller time frame, you are often running for the door thinking coffee, key, purse, phone, diapers, wipes, drink, child and SNACKS!! I’m usually rushing out and don’t have time to consider the correct portion of something. So I have started portioning the snack basket when I buy them and I have been really impressed with how it works. I am more aware of how much she is having and I noticed it’s enough. It is also really helping with decision making because I allow her the option of one of another. I basically measure out the recommended portion in a zip lock back (snack size) then either write on the bag with a sharpie or clip all the bags together with a peg or bulldog clip. I also do this with fruit and veg in the fridge. The only snacks I don’t do this is with is the freeze dried fruit I buy because I find the foil packets keep it fresher. Although this system takes a little time I have found I feel better and for housekeeping I can see much quicker what we are out of. If you are a Costco shopper and buy in bulk this is another way of buying the bigger boxes and still managing portions. Some of you might feel zip locks are expensive but you could reuse and honestly whether it’s Costco or a grocery store they usually have coupons or great deals on zip lock bags. (Especially at this time of year!)
I might be late to the party of course, and you are all doing this as standard. I wanted to share and surprisingly Little L has not been quite so snack obsessed this week, maybe an impending growth spurt. Snacking has been one of my learnings as I navigate this journey of motherhood. I am so blessed to have such fantastic and responsible mummy friends who also care about snacking and who humor my uptight British tendencies. I won’t even bore you with how I expect Little L to sit down while snacking, no eating while running or playing (beginning to relax this one.) Poor Little L it will be a miracle if she can grow into a civilized and contributing member of society with me as a mother.
I have rambled.
Happy Weekend
Ta Ta for now
TLL x
The essentials, love these scales.
Yummy snacks!
Neat & tidy snack basket