Snack vs. Treat

Included in a recent post I talked about how my children, or more accurately their grandparents seem to be confused by what is a snack vs. a meal.

We often have umm.."discussions" with the children about what they should have as a snack.

When they are out from under the influence of junk food wielding grandparents, err..umm... I mean when they are home with us we don't often have the snack portion argument. I think they get it now that we are not offering after school meals.

However....

we have a lot of ummm..."discussions" about what is an appropriate snack.

Our first question to the children when they ask for a snack and then follow up with, "Can I have this bit of junk, or not so healthy option?" our response is, "How many servings of fruits and vegetables have you had today?" The answer to this question on a good day will usually be, "One." Unfortunately the answer most days is, "None." We are then forced to insist that the snack be of the fruit or vegetable variety, which is met with much grumbling, huffing, vulture posturing, and various other ways they like to make their unhappy feelings known. (My personal favorite is a note with a mad face sticking it's tongue out. That is a favorite #2 way of expressing anger. It always makes me laugh, and well if you have children I don't need to finish this story for you.)

The children will grudgingly get their fruit/veggie and then invariably ask if they can have the earlier requested junk/not so healthy option after consuming the fruit/veggie.

By now we are typically a bit worn down and just so damn happy that they are actually eating a fruit/veggie that we say ok.

So I guess the grandparents aren't the only ones to blame for all this. Damnit. I really wanted it to be all their fault.

BH was reading the US Today insert in the paper yesterday. He found a little article that discussed snacks vs. treats.

In a nutshell the article said that most people now don't know the difference between a snack and a treat. They pointed out that a snack is for warding off ravenous hunger bewtween meals. A treat is something like cake, ice cream, chips, candy bars, etc. that you eat every once in a while. The problem is that many people eat treats for snacks every day.

Hmmm...this sounds familiar.

So we had a bit of a discussion about that article last night.

Went over pretty well.

We decided that our treat this week would be shakes at the Fork and Dine movie experience we are planning for Saturday.

Tonight #1 asked if she could have the last of her chocolate Easter Bunny today. At first I said ok, because I honestly want the temptation gone. THEN #1 stopped and said, "Oh, but will that be my treat then?"

After I picked myself up off the floor, I said it would, and suggested that she save it for another time. She agreed without fuss.

Victory may be within grasp.