Follow up on the post about too much snacking

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Laurel gave us an idea that she seen from the Nanny show and we have only been doing it for a few days now. We talked about the idea for a day or two before we went out and got this handy dandy box. We didn't go with the idea of a snack cabinet because for right now we think it's better that he has a snack box that is his to carry around or not.

I am keeping the snacks that don't need to be in the fridge in our room to avoid the temptation for right now. This also helps for when my oldest son is here because he tends to help himself to snacks and sometimes thinks he is above his brother in the food department because his metabolism seems to be faster.

Our rule is that he must choose one fruit or veggie to go in the box. If it needs to be in the refrigerator then he puts it in there but he knows it's his. We are doing three snacks a day and want most snacks to be 100 calories or less. If he wants to choose something like a dixie cup of ice cream or something else cold then we will sort of right a ticket it for it and he can turn it in for exchange of the item.

We are letting him decide when to eat the snacks but we are trying to encourage a snack between each meal instead of more than one between each meal.

This isn't perfect. He still has gotten majorly upset when his snacks were gone but for the most part this is making these less stressful around here. It has cut the asking for food down quite a bit.

I am giving a big Thanks to Laurel. You can check out her blog here. She is one of the first adoptees that I connected with through blogging. Thank you Laurel for this suggestion. It was a lifesaver for our family.