This is why our children are fat

[whoisjohngalt]

My kid is doing a coding camp.  This "camp" is only  2.5hrs a day.

I just got an email from the instructor saying that they will be taking multiple snack breaks and I should pack him snacks and water bottle.  WTF??  He is not an infant and can certainly go for 2.5 hrs without food, especially since they will be sitting in front of laptops.

How about having a jumping jacks break instead!

[Deleted]

Well, I hope you don't drive him to and from school without cookies in one cup holder and juice in the other. What kind of cruel mother are you, anyway? ;-)

Seriously- I agree with you. I'd provide water and healthy snacks but activity would be a nice supplement.

[saveinla]

Are the snack breaks part of the 2.5 hour class?

[weltschmerz]

WTF?

Kids can't go 2.5 hours without a snack?

[whoisjohngalt]

Jul 6, 2017 22:08:43 GMT -5 saveinla said:

Are the snack breaks part of the 2.5 hour class?

I think so.....he is only suppose to be there 8.30-11am. 

[whoisjohngalt]

Jul 6, 2017 21:59:53 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Well, I hope you don't drive him to and from school without cookies in one cup holder and juice in the other. What kind of cruel mother are you, anyway? ;-)

Seriously- I agree with you. I'd provide water and healthy snacks but activity would be a nice supplement.

You have nooooo idea.....

[busymom]

Ouch!  I've told DD many times that we used to do sports practices without water bottles.  If there was no drinking fountain nearby, we were out of luck.  It's amazing no one got heat stroke, but we'd never been pampered by our coach, so we made do.  (And we survived!)

[Deleted]

"Multiple" snack breaks?  That's ridiculous.  I'd tell them my kid had a normal metabolism and would be fine with just a water bottle if there wasn't a drinking fountain within 100 yards of the class.

My 7 year old is at the Y from 6:30am until 4:30pm and they only have two snack breaks outside of lunch.  In between that, it's gym, aquatic center, park...they're going non-stop. 

[Lizard Queen]

I agree about the snacks these days, but in this instance, I compare it to a college class. I've taken lots that were 2:50, and the prof would allow 1-2 breaks in which students had the option to go to the bathroom and grab something from the vending machine. If they're on computers, and being kids, I can see why they'd limit that to "snack time", just to keep the annoyance/spill factor down.

[ohmomto2boys]

I'm so over the snacks.  
Sitting at a computer for 2.5 hours - I agree, they need a stretch break - not a snack break.
When my kids were little, yes, I brought snacks, however when they got older - no more snacks/drinks.  If they are hungry, or think they will get hungry/thirsty, they are old enough to get a snack and drink to bring along on a long car ride.   
Sports - thank goodness DS#2 has joined a soccer league that does not do snacks.  I was so excited!
DS#2 has a friend and that is all he cares about is the snack after the game - he plays baseball.  

[giramomma]

For the most part, I totally agree with you, that kids don't need snacks.

What drove me up  a wall is when DD1's BB coach would reward the girls with a cupcake, cookie, etc after practice.

At the end of every Little League game, they boys get a "snack." DS usually gets crap food.

Which is why we abstain from bringing crap in the house for the most part.

However, there's a little part of me that wonders if there are any kids at camp that are on scholarship. Because there might be food insecurity issues with that child. These days, it's getting harder and harder to identify the poor kids from the non-poor ones. I've found shoes tend to be the only big tell. The only other clue you get is by application or if kids open up to you. As another parent, you aren't going to get that sort of information.

In the program I taught in that was geared for at-risk kids...we often supplied snacks when we knew kids weren't getting enough to eat. Now, yes, we ended up teaching kids that did have food on the table. But, we didn't go up to each kid and say "Ok. It's snack time..you are welcome
to have a snack only if your parents can't afford to feed you. If your parents can afford to feed you, suck it up, butter cup."

I mean, you just don't do that.

And I think one should be a little careful about assumptions. Because you just never know.

[dannylion]

Jul 7, 2017 6:33:37 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

What is wrong with you people.......it is CODING CAMP.  Every camper must bring a six pack of mountain dew, three bags of Cheetos, a box of Twinkies, and 17 other junk food items of their choice.

You forgot the giant bag of Skittles.

[giramomma]

You also don't mention the kind of snacks the kids are getting.

It was 90 and humid as hell yesterday. The camp I teach lessons at served watermelon as a snack. They also kept the kids inside in the afternoon because of the heat. So, they were mostly sedentary that day.

I'd be less irritated if the snacks were baby carrots and watermelon type snacks vs. goldfish, tortilla chips, and pretzels.

[Deleted]

Jul 6, 2017 22:31:54 GMT -5 busymom said:

Ouch!  I've told DD many times that we used to do sports practices without water bottles.  If there was no drinking fountain nearby, we were out of luck.  It's amazing no one got heat stroke, but we'd never been pampered by our coach, so we made do.  (And we survived!)

Water is more important.  When I was in Costa Rica I was trying to read the local paper (never studied Spanish but I can fake my way through reading it with the aid of a dictionary) and they were talking about how many adult males were going into kidney failure, many needing dialysis.  It turned out they'd worked years of manual labor out in the hot sun without adequate hydration.  Apparently that took a real toll on the kidneys over the years.  Not that that will happen over a summer of T-ball, but water is cheap and important.

[alabamagal]

But those snowflakes in training might get a little hunger pang before lunch!

Really they should have a break to get up and do a lap around the building.

My son played HS football (5 years ago) in South GA. He went all the way from lunch to class, 3 hour practice with water only. He was a big guy and would lose weight during the season

[whoisjohngalt]

Jul 7, 2017 7:15:48 GMT -5 giramomma said:

You also don't mention the kind of snacks the kids are getting.

It was 90 and humid as hell yesterday. The camp I teach lessons at served watermelon as a snack. They also kept the kids inside in the afternoon because of the heat. So, they were mostly sedentary that day.

I'd be less irritated if the snacks were baby carrots and watermelon type snacks vs. goldfish, tortilla chips, and pretzels.

Oh, they are not getting snacks, I am suppose to send it with him.  It's suppose to be nut free and not messy.

[andi9899]

I snack all day long. I'm a fat child of god.

[zibazinski]

Jul 7, 2017 6:22:10 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

One advantage to getting long in the tooth is that one can really start to notice societal changes over time.

I started school in the mid 1960's.  We had two "fat" kids in our class, and by today's standards they really weren't even that fat.  In fact one was really more stocky than fat, but if kids wanted to get under his skin they called him fat.  However they had better know how to run or fight, because he was also a bruiser, lol.  

Anyway, that translated to between 5-10% of our class if you called them both fat.  And for the rest of us, most of us were skinny as rails.  I don't remember too many obese parents or adults either, although of course that memory is not so precise.  There were a few I can remember.  

Our eating habits were different though.  There were no school snack breaks.  We had breakfast and then went to school.  Then there was lunch, which was usually a PBJS.  After school we usually found something to gnaw on mid afternoon, fig newtons, toast and jelly, or something.  And then dinner.  Dinner plates had a diameter of 8-9".  Take a look at the diameter of your dinner plates.  More impressive, take a look at the diameter of dinner plates in restaurants.   We didn't usually have desert at my house, but I know a lot of families did.  When we did it would usually be ice cream, sometimes cookies.  Take a look at the size of desserts in restaurants today.  WOW!

Coca Cola came in 10 oz bottles. Curvy, green tinted glass bottles with white letters.   Small ones came in 7 oz bottles I think.  Large ones were 12 oz.  At some point they came out with 16 oz bottles, which I thought was The Bomb.  Apparently so did everyone else, because now you can go to the 7-11 and get a super duper calofragelistic expidaleotious Big Gulp which has about 55 gallons or something.  Soon they'll put it on wheels.

As all good YMer's know, little kids have no choice in what they eat though, and it is up to the parents to establish good eating habits early.  This isn't easy, because most rug rats want to eat nothing but hot dogs, boogers, cookies and floor schmeg.  But they really have no choice in the matter at the end of it.  Make 'em eat their veggies and keep the sweet treats very small and as far between as possible.  Sugar is the enemy!  Outlast them in their early test of wills with you and you will give them a good foundation which will give them a fighting chance the first time they walk into a 7-11 or super duper Walmart!  

Same here. Two stocky kids, one fat kid, and one fat mom. That was it. Fat kid lost weight in high school. Don't know about the fat mom but her daughters aren't at all. The stocky kids are still stocky but I think it's their build as well. We ate lunches filled with fat and flavor thanks to farm moms who cooked at the school. But we didn't sit around for hours playing video games and we didn't have hours of homework every night.

[swamp]

I hate the whole "snack culture" at kid events. JFC they can go 3 hours without food.

DS will pass up food if he's not into it at the time. DD will eat it.  She is too heavy. I don't want people throwing food at her all the time.

I'm down with the water bottle thing. I think that's a good development.

[swamp]

Jul 7, 2017 7:53:39 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Jul 7, 2017 7:15:48 GMT -5 giramomma said:

You also don't mention the kind of snacks the kids are getting.

It was 90 and humid as hell yesterday. The camp I teach lessons at served watermelon as a snack. They also kept the kids inside in the afternoon because of the heat. So, they were mostly sedentary that day.

I'd be less irritated if the snacks were baby carrots and watermelon type snacks vs. goldfish, tortilla chips, and pretzels.

Oh, they are not getting snacks, I am suppose to send it with him.  It's suppose to be nut free and not messy.

which means carbs.

[ArchietheDragon]

My kids only eat snacks. Not sure of the last time they actually ate a meal.

[giramomma]

Jul 7, 2017 7:53:39 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Jul 7, 2017 7:15:48 GMT -5 giramomma said:

You also don't mention the kind of snacks the kids are getting.

It was 90 and humid as hell yesterday. The camp I teach lessons at served watermelon as a snack. They also kept the kids inside in the afternoon because of the heat. So, they were mostly sedentary that day.

I'd be less irritated if the snacks were baby carrots and watermelon type snacks vs. goldfish, tortilla chips, and pretzels.

Oh, they are not getting snacks, I am suppose to send it with him.  It's suppose to be nut free and not messy.

And...it would help if I had some sort of reading comprehension.

Yeah. We don't do carb snacks. We buy one box of something and it needs to last the kids a week.

And, yeah, I'd not be cool with sending multiple snacks to camp. IMVHO, that's something that if they want to provide they should.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Jul 7, 2017 8:08:13 GMT -5 swamp said:

I hate the whole "snack culture" at kid events. JFC they can go 3 hours without food.

DS will pass up food if he's not into it at the time. DD will eat it.  She is too heavy. I don't want people throwing food at her all the time.

I'm down with the water bottle thing. I think that's a good development.

I hate the snack culture at every adult event.  It used to be you could not bring food/drinks into a theater because it was considered disrespectful to the actors for you to be opening packages and bottles while they performed.

Not anymore.  The Orpheum allows you to bring in stuff after intermission including chip bags and pop.   I almost launched myself over my chair to murder a guy who opened at least three freaking bags of chips during the second half of the performance.

Can people SERIOUSLY not sit still for 2 hours without eating?!  If you can't then go to the damn movies!   I want to hear the actors on stage not hear you eating Doritos.

[whoisjohngalt]

I'll be honest, I used to bring "snacks" when we would go places when the kids were younger bc it was such an easy way to shut them up. By the time my oldest was 6 and youngest 3 - I told them they are not infants who need to be fed every 2 hrs, and I was done.

Now, when we go places (beach, playground, museum) and they start asking for food, I tell them sure, let's go home and eat. You'd be surprised how fast it cures them of hunger.

[Cookies Galore]

I'd just send them with a bag of baby carrots and call it a day! I would imagine older kids can go 2.5 hours without a snack break. I can go three hours. Lol

[MJ2.0]

Jul 7, 2017 6:33:37 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

What is wrong with you people.......it is CODING CAMP.  Every camper must bring a six pack of mountain dew, three bags of Cheetos, a box of Twinkies, and 17 other junk food items of their choice.

and a pee bucket so they don't have to waste time in the bathroom.

[MJ2.0]

an apple and a cheese stick - protein and fiber.

[chen35]

The worst is the half time snacks in soccer. Let's teach a bunch of 7 year olds they can't go 60 minutes without food.

[Lizard Queen]

I hate the snacks required for after soccer matches. The baseball games were a little trickier because they were held right around dinner time. My kids were either not hungry enough to eat much before, or ravenous by the time they were done. Saturday morning soccer matches? Not necessary at all.

ODS's kindy teacher explained they had a morning snack for kids who didn't eat breakfast. It was annoying still, but the kids were little and were there all day, so fine. Whatever. I think I had milk in kindergarten even back in the olden days. 😉 In 1st grade, it was even more annoying. I wonder how many grades this snack thing will last.

[whoisjohngalt]

Jul 7, 2017 9:51:40 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I hate the snacks required for after soccer matches. The baseball games were a little trickier because they were held right around dinner time. My kids were either not hungry enough to eat much before, or ravenous by the time they were done. Saturday morning soccer matches? Not necessary at all.

ODS's kindy teacher explained they had a morning snack for kids who didn't eat breakfast. It was annoying still, but the kids were little and were there all day, so fine. Whatever. I think I had milk in kindergarten even back in the olden days. 😉 In 1st grade, it was even more annoying. I wonder how many grades this snack thing will last.

This camp is for grades 4-7, so....