Toddlers Need Snacks Like Fish Need Water

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Does it literally feel like you’re throwing food at your children all the time?  Well, that’s because you are.  You haven’t finished wiping the peanut butter off the floor after lunchtime, or picking the raisin out from your child’s nose (also hoping this is from lunchtime), before you’re planning the next edible offerings.  Snacks.  This doesn’t make you crazy, or pigeonhole you as a people pleaser.  It means that you’re a realist and a forward thinker, with maybe a dash of doomsday prepper mixed in.

It’s just a fact that children are always hungry.  They’re playin’ hard and so they need to fuel their little bodies.  Those pieces of chalk aren’t going to draw themselves and bubbles aren’t blown using sheer will alone.  This is why children need snacks.

Snacks keep children at bay when cooperation starts to melt into confrontation.  “Please honey, Mommy just needs to do this one last thing – here, have a snack.”  Snacks bring kids together when feelings of apprehension take over. “It’s okay, you don’t have to do it.  Let’s just watch for a while and have a snack.”

We should never underestimate the amount of snacks that should be on-hand at any one time.  Easter weekend, my husband and I packed up the car and the kiddos, to go visit my husband’s side of the family – about a two-hour drive.  We weren’t even an hour into the drive, before I was forced to take snack inventory.  I was starting to feel overwhelmed at the sight of all of the empty wrappers we’d started to accumulate.  We’d already gone through three cereal bars, two bags of Cheez-Its, an applesauce, a pack of fruit snacks, a stack of Ritz crackers and a packet of cookies.  The snack bag I’d packed with the intention of covering us, round trip, had lasted a whopping hour.  I suppose, just how mommy is addicted to her coffee, these children are addicted to tiny bags of miniature food items.

Note: Please don’t judge me because most of the snacks mentioned above, were sponsored by my good friend, Nabisco.  A fresh fruit platter just doesn’t travel as well.

There is also an inherent desire to feed these little mouths when they want to eat.  This falls under that whole nurturing side of our mom genes.  Do the kids need twenty snacks?  Probably not.  But I like to have the option to give them twenty snacks.

Here are some snacking essentials that can be useful for toddlers (and mommies) on the go:

Sandwich bags (of various sizes) – whether you’re running out the door, or planning ahead, you’ll be wondering where the Ziplocs are.  I’ve actually fallen in love with the gallon size freezer bags.  If you’re looking for more reusable friendly versions, searching ‘reusable snack bags’ on Etsy gives you lots of choices.

Small cooler – nowadays there are so many options.  You don’t have to wipe down the large camping Igloo every time you want to have a few extra snacks on hand.  I love my Crew Cooler from eBags.  It’s easy to wipe down the insides and it has lots of compartments.  It has compartments for compartments.

Ice packs for coolers – these come in so handy.  You can place them in your cooler, or even your purse, if you have items you want to keep cool for a longer period of time.  They don’t take up much room at all and they get the job done.

Drink of choice – Something to wash down those, as my daughter calls them, “snackies”.  After scarfing down ten crackers, your child will be parched.  If it’s for a car trip, might I suggest just sticking with water…unless you enjoy cleaning juice from the cracks of the backseat cushions.  Which brings us to the next items…

Baby Wipes/Cordless handheld vacuum – It’s inevitable that something you once thought was incapable of melting, will in fact melt, all over your child’s hands and face.  You’ll need something to wipe them down with.  And why does this always happen – you hand your child a bag of snacks and they feel the need to turn it upside down?  They watched you open the bag.  They sat there intently as you advised them that you’ve already opened the bag.  Yet, a simple turn of their wrist, sends you into a game of twenty-two cracker pick-up.  That’s when the portable vacuum can come in handy.

Snacks are fun.  Tapas for toddlers.  Whatever the occasion, necessity or treat, it’s always nice to feel prepared for the next time you’ll be throwing food their way.  Which if history repeats itself, is always sooner than you think.