Wednesday, May 19, 2010

New Snack Policy

I read about one family's snack policy recently and thought it might work for our house. I feel like I am constantly at odds with my kids over snacks. This is how our new policy works:
1. Anyone can have fruit, veggies & dip, a cheese stick, yogurt, or applesauce anytime they want (expect at night after the kitchen is closed).
2. If they want anything else, they have to take it out of their snack jar. Each child has their own jar with various snacks in it, filled by mom every Sunday night. Once the jar is empty, no other snacks except those listed in item 1 until Monday.

I am struggling with how many snacks to put in the jars but will do a little trial and error over the next few weeks until I come up with the right amount. Abbie only has two left. Kyle is getting low but not that low. Daisy has a ton. I'm sure there will be tears over the weekend or Friday when Abbie doesn't have any more snacks left but hopefully it will teach her moderation...a good lesson for us all.

It took me awhile to figure out how to label the jars. Poor Lindsay had to suffer through multiple texts while I worked through the process. This is an instance where I love texting. I'm sure she was really irritated with me and may not have been able to hide it over the phone but on the text messages she was just fine and I could feel bad without us really having to talk about it. Consider this a public apology.

Our menu for the week:
Wednesday: Grilled Salmon, Rice, Salad
Thursday: Chicken Tacos
Friday: Grilled Chicken, Rice & Salad
Saturday: Grilled Pork Chops (still deciding what to serve with this)
Sunday: Jambalaya
Monday: Easy Tomato Pasta
Tuesday: TBD

4 comments:

Colette said...

I LOVE this idea! My kids are snack-a-holics and this would work wonders at our house! Nice. :)

allyson said...

Ditto Colette's comment.

I was just lecturing my twins on this very subject. Thanks for the idea.

Lindsay Griffeth said...

I wasn't annoyed at all! I actually felt bad that I couldn't get the vinyl done that quickly! :) I think the initials are cuter.

When snacking becomes a problem at my house I'm totally stealing this idea, too. For now, Nate is content with an apple!

Patrick and Jennifer Thompson said...

Great Idea. Snacking is starting to become a problem in our home also. Plus we are trying to encourage healthy snacking instead. I might have to try this.