One thing most parents will agree upon is that after school the first place the children head for is the cupboard or refrigerator. They are hungry and they want something fast and filling.
In our family, sadly, the choice of our teens was either tortilla chips smothered in cheese sauce, microwave pizza or eggrolls, or a pint of ice cream. Although the result of these daily “snacks” weren’t showing on the 6′4″ and counting grandson, a Junior, they were beginning to be quite obvious on his 5′2″, freshman, sister.
I noted that they always grabbed what was within sight that didn’t require anything more than being “nuked” for a minute or so. They were “starved” and wanted instant gratification.
One day I decided to make some snacks I could approve of and hoped they would too. I boiled up some eggs and deviled and stuffed them with some mustard and mayo and sprinkled a wee bit of paprika on top….Then I stuffed celery with almond butter and cut each stalk into bite sized pieces and arranged them on a plate. Several stalks, stuffed, cut and arranged actually filled an entire paper plate. I cut a cucumber into 1/4 ” slices and placed a tiny shrimp on a toothpick and poked that into the cucumber slice.
The Grands got off the bus the first day and hit the refrigerator running. They spotted the snacks the first thing and asked if they were for a party…I assured them they were just for them. Between the two of them they could not finish them all but they expected their “snacks” every day after that and it has been so easy to urge them into nutritional selections.
Other favorites are apple slices with almond butter on them, Carrots dipped into our Berry Berry dressing, radish flowerlets, (radishes cut to resemble a flower), and broccoli and cauliflower flowerlets, plain or dipped into one of our approved dressings.
I didn’t realize what a success this was with them until I was home for a few days and their mother called to find out what the after school snacks were because the kids complained when they came home and they weren’t there.
If you have children and teens and want them to avoid the pitfalls of obesity and heartbreak, there is no time like the present to start. Children will eat what is available and “looks good”. After a few weeks you can explain to them the calorie vs empty calorie aspect of the foods they were eating compared to the new foods you have introduced. I find, with my children(3) and grandchildren (12), that the less I use the word “diet” or “calories”, the better it is to get my point across. Kids like variety, ease of getting the food from the fridge to the mouth, and the food being presented in an appealing manner is a plus also.
Grammy Elaine