Approved Snack
// April 13th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Fathering
This weekend we had several soccer games with our three little ones. They went well, we won 2 of 3 but no one was keeping score. 
Something that disturbs me about youth sports is the insane amount of stuff parents use to validate themselves or impress people. What we end up with is a snack that is large enough to replace a meal. Our 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son came home with more sugary snacks in gallon sized ziploc bags than they eat in 2 weeks. The assortment included in one bag, yay; a banana, capri sun, cupcake, twinky, ring pop, fun dip, cheetos, fun straw you eat, and cracker jacks. Did we miss the memo? Is this what snacks are? How do we keep up? I didn’t know we had to go in debt to provide snacks for our kids recreational sports teams!?!?!
All this made Supermom and I recall a particular Everybody Loves Raymond episode, see video, where Raymond doesn’t pack an “Approved Snack” and the snack coordinator lets him know his disappointment. We laughed as we headed to the car, but soon our laughter turned to this serious discussion of what is expected of us. We don’t want our children eating all this crap all the time. We don’t think a snack needs to have more than 2 items included, one of those being a drink like a juice box, capri sun, or gatorade. The other being 1 piece of fruit OR bag of chips; banana, apple, orange, cheetos, or fritos. That to me is a snack for a kid.
Plus, this got me thinking, if this is what kids parents pack for snacks to sporting events, what must they be packing for kids lunches on a daily basis? Is this the reason many families grocery budget reaches the 4 digit category with 2 kids and 2 parents at home? I say enough, of the craziness, ENOUGH. Be a rebel, bring a snack that really is a snack. See what the other parents say about your “SNACK!” What has been your experience?
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