Can I ask a really silly question for those with older children? Do you give your older children free run of the groceries as in snacks?
Stephen my 11 year old son has grown up knowing he has to ask for snacks and does and honestly I have only caught him sneaking something one time. If he was eating things without permission, I would catch him cause he has a bad habit of leaving his trash lay around.
Alex has seemed to grow up (the last few years with Dad) to just take food here and there and if asked he won't quite admit it. We have taken to putting some food in the bedroom. Today, the kids came home from their Dad's and Alex said he wasn't hungry and didn't eat with us. I had gone grocery shopping and bought two boxes of cereal bars. I left two of each box in the cabinet and put the others in my room.
Within the night, three out of the four are gone. Alex said, he ate one and then it went to two. It's just bugs me that he "helps" himself to food and is kind of piggish about it. I buy those things because they are easy for on the go snacks and not really eating them at home. Also, they are lower in calorie say than a candy bar.
I really don't mind so much children helping themselves to fruit. I even just bought me a cool little basket and I am calling it our fruit basket. Even then, I don't think kids should be piggish with the fruit. I go shopping about once a week and spend on average 75 a week but sometimes more. I really can't afford to go more often or do I want to go more often.
Sorry for venting. I am worried if Alex doesn't follow our rules that all hell will break lose with Stephen and I don't want that at all.
4 comments:
My teenagers are 14, 16, and 17 -- they have free reign to eat what they want. And they eat ALOT of food. My 14 year old is so tall and so thin that the doctor suggested to estimate that he needs 6000 calories a day. And most of those are in carbs (breads, cookies, fruit, chips, bars). I think it is reasonable to expect a teenager to eat far more than an adult, and to be hungrier far more often.
My 11 year old still asks. I spend hundreds of dollars a week on food, and I don't buy expensive things. You can cut costs by baking cookies, snacks etc. I buy a lot of bread and my boys tend to snack on sandwiches. I also buy jumbo bags of chips etc for them to snack on.
Thanks for taking the time to comment on this question. My oldest son (the one who helps himself even though it's not what this household is suppose to do) has only been living with me again since December.
We are used our household rules and I am sure my oldest son is still adjusting to things not being like they were at his Dad's. We don't believe he always had meal times and people with him to eat it with.
Is your son that is super thin really active? My son isn't in any sports so the only physical activity he gets is walking to catch the bus to school or to his friends house. I can see that he would need to eat more than adults because he is very tall at 6'3 and still growing but I believe meal times are more important than snacking. One night he passed up on dinner and then I noticed my cereal bars went away lol I don't mind so much that he finds things to eat if he is hungry but dinner should be ate.
I tend to buy things that are easier to carry around and lower in calories so it does throw me thru a loop if people are eating that stuff up where in the past if would have been left alone.
We also have to deal with that his 11 year old brother seems obsessed with food to the point of eating it off grounds or not wanting to leave his plate until every morsel of meat is off the bone that it has caused some friction when he see's his brother get food or his brother will ask for food right after his brother was told no. They have very different body types. My 11 year old son is overweight and we have gotten a much better handle on the snacking partially to us keeping him so busy. I take him to the Y once a week and a couple times a week he gets some walking in to help us maintain his weight if anything.
My 14 year old is six foot 3 as well and still growing. Family Dinners are mandatory at my house, as is eating breakfast. Lunches -- it is hit and miss if they bring something to school or not. I provide lots of options, but am tired of fighting them on it :)
My boys all play sports and have sports at school and after school, so I assume that affects how much they eat. I would think that for your older son - that providing him "his own" snacks for in his room so that it doesn't conflict with what your younger son is trying to learn would be an option. I don't think you are going to win a battle -- teenage boys are NOTORIOUS eaters. You could also give your son say 20 a week to buy those additional snacks - helping him shop for them, giving him a place to store them in his room, and then let them know that when they run out, he is responsible for getting more.
Thanks Jen, I briefly talked your suggestion over with my husband and he likes your idea and while I may not go with 20 a week for snacks but like the idea pf him picking them and storing and being more in control of it all.
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