Pet Peeves in Parenting, Chapter a billion

One thing that drives me insane is the constant (constant! constant!) offering of snacks to toddlers. If you want to see my head explode, send me an email that says the following:

Hi Moms!
I got this list of people signed up for the 9:15-9:45 movement class on wednesdays. I was wondering if you guys wanted to take turns bringing a snack! just sign up for a week!*

Why must everything involve snacks? It drives me crazy. Today, when I picked up Owen from his Monday class (at the one hour mark they, obviously, break for snack) I was told that he didn't want the apple slices I packed him, but did enjoy the animal crackers that they had, and boy did he eat a lot of those!

Right. So I'm going to explain something to you about kids. Humans, really. The reason Owen did not want his apple was because he was not hungry. the reason he then partook liberally of animal crackers is because animal crackers are cookies. When you offer children cookies, they will eat them. This is really not brain surgery. And of course, Owen came home and proceeded to ignore the (nutritious - or at least better than animal crackers) lunch I prepared for him. surprise, surprise.

Now I am going to say something that is going to make YOUR head explode, so before I begin, let me disclaim it. The following statement applies to my toddler. Yours has hypoglycemia/sensory issues/has a doctors note explaining he can only eat mechanicaly separated chicken. I beleive you. No, really, I believe you. You know all the ways you got your kid sleeping through the night? They don't work on my kid, so trust me when I say I realize that sometimes you just get an outlier.

that said, my kid will largely eat what is placed in front of him at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I think this is because he is actually hungry at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because I don't give him a snack every hour on the hour. Which is not to say that I never allow snacks. I think snacks are fine, and I have trouble getting from noon to 6:30pm without one too. But the sheer volume of snacks, and the type of snack provided that seems to be around us all the time is really undermining. Thursdays drive me crazy, because after our (45 minute) music class, without fail, the kids are offered chocolate chip cookies buy the site host. The class ends at 12:15. Seriously, people? So I have 3 options: 1. refuse to let my kid have a cookie when all other children have cookies, thereby being "that mom" and causing my kid to hate me. 2. Allow him to have a cookie, let him then refuse his lunch and endure the tantrum that ensues at 3 because all he's had for lunch is sugar and white flour or 3) go even further down the 'that mom' road and refuse to participate in music classes and/or other contact with the outside world, and homeschool (home music class?) in a safe, snackfree environment.

None of these options are good, are they?

The thing is, there is some food that tastes better than other food. This is just a fact of life. Goldfish tastes better than broccoli. So although I have seen Owen eat broccoli on many occasions, it usually does not happen an hour after he's been offered goldfish. the other day at the playground another mom offered Owen some of the goldfish her kid was eating at 4:30 pm. Of course he's going to take some, and of course he's going to eat a lot of them. Goldfish are extremely tasty crackers. My question is, why are you offering your kid, my kid, ANY KID snacks at 4:30? Unless you eat at 8? And if you do, well, then, see disclaimer above. But dinner for kids is usually around 5:30-6pm. And when MY kid arrives at dinner hungry, my kid will eat whatever is served. And because I would prefer that he eat nutritious food, I get really peeved by snacks.

and yes. I realize that I already am that mom. you don't have to tell me.

* first of all, she's not really wondering. That email means "sign up for a week or be shunned" and second of all, usually someone chimes in with "my kids are allergic to eggs, nuts, dairy and soy so if you could remember that when you pack your snacks I'd really appreciate it :)"