Children leave school, after a long day of games and study, and it's time for a snack. We will try to help you offer them the best possible snack after school.
Since it is convenient to make a minimum of five daily food intakes and this is especially necessary in children, we can consider that the snack is mandatory because you should not be so many hours without eating. Then, the content and quantity of the snack will already depend on each child and circumstance, but the snack will always be something important.
We are going to offer you some recommendations to give you the best possible snack after school to children, respecting their tastes but also covering their needs.
Snack mistakes
When children leave class they are usually upset and hungry and thirsty. Many mothers, to receive them, think that it is best to give them something quick at the door of the school. And they usually choose, from what I've seen, some processed foods that aren't the most suitable. Let's see which are usually the most common mistakes in the snack.
The child should be able to drink when leaving school and it is best to drink plenty of water, because during the day we already know that they forget everything. On the other hand, they are often offered milkshakes, liquid yogurts and industrial juices, all sweetened and with much less quality nutrients than any homemade equivalent.
They are also hungry and the worst thing is that the drink is complemented with some industrial bakery product loaded with sugar, hydrogenated fats, preservatives, dyes and white flour. Another mistake that only provides the child with a high blood sugar and does not provide the nutrients he really needs.
What to give at the door of the school?
Ideally, wait to get home to do a good snack, especially if the school canteen is not ideal and we want to cover its deficiencies, but sometimes, the child's schedule and appetite can force us to give him something when leaving. And you have to do it if the child is hungry, of course. Let's see some ideas to give them in the snack at the door of the school.
Be a quick piscolabis to endure home, be a snack in conditions, the important thing is always to adapt the meal times and their contents to the child's natural appetite. Delaying the intake because "it is not the time" or overtaking it by forcing without eating hunger are errors that interfere with the natural regulation of appetite and can, even, in the first case, cause hypoglycemia.
In addition, sometimes, if you do not eat when you are hungry, you feel like it. Therefore, if the child is hungry he has to eat, and we must offer him something healthy and nutritious, not pure empty calories that contribute nothing to the balance of his diet.
At the door of the school we can receive our son with a drink that can be water or a juice or homemade smoothie with fruits and milk or yogurt. And from eating, we can offer you nuts, a banana and cookies and homemade cake. If you want something salty, a healthy snack, we'll see how to do it later. They are easy things to eat and that fill you with energy quickly but also provide essential nutrients.
The snack at home
There are as many possible snacks as eating habits and families. Whenever possible my advice is snack at home, comfortable, relaxed, using that time to recharge energy and enjoy the afternoon with the family.
Some prefer the salty, others the sweet; some that can be eaten while playing, others a more restful meal that allows them to rest while talking with the family and others, also, something they can eat while reading or studying. The important thing is not what we give, there is no kind of snack at home It should always be the same, but you have to look at what we give the child likes, wants, is healthy and balances his daily menu.
We always let's snack fruit and it is one of the best possible snacks. In fact, it is that neither my son nor I eat dessert fruit, nor do we feel like it or feel well. Never. We take the fruit preferably in the snack. A piece of fruit, a varied dish with different colors and flavors and a smoothie or accompanying juice.
If we are not sure that the child eats enough fruit during the day the snack is the best time to offer it. They come hungry, they are ready to digest quickly, they need to hydrate and get energy ... fruit. To take advantage of snack time to give them fruit It helps us to be sure that they take enough and to be able to verify that they really eat it. Then, if you are more hungry, then you can give more things.
We can complement it with homemade dairy, with cookies or with nuts to make it more forceful if dinner is delayed or the child is very hungry. But, my advice, is that the snack has fruit and in many cases the 5 daily vegetable rations are not fulfilled. Even if the child eats fruit at other times or is very good to eat, then half a piece of fruit or a small bowl of cut fruit will surely make him feel good.
Of course other options are also great if they are healthy: both dairy with some kind of pastries and tasty snacks. The milk with cookies or biscuits It is the most typical, but we can use any idea of dessert recipes to offer a good sweet snack, as long as we prioritize healthy and well-balanced ingredients in the general diet. If we opt for milk, my advice is to use pure cocoa and sweeten it if necessary and make our cookies or sponge cake.
With the help of children it is a great activity and we can do to go consuming during the week. We can control the quality of the ingredients: olive oil instead of hydrogenated vegetable oils and without specifying the origin, whole wheat flour, cane sugar ... and in that way the sweet will also provide nutrients of the best quality.
And on the sandwich, the same. We can use the snack on the snack but counting that the daily menu must be balanced and if we now put hydrates and proteins we will have to compensate for the lack of vegetables at dinner.
Regarding the sandwich, the advice, again, will be oriented to make them as healthy as possible and not to use products of low nutritional quality. Real whole-grain bread from a good bakery or preferably homemade, low-fat sausages and without many additives (ham, pork or tenderloin that provide quality protein and carry no more than meat) and put vegetables also inside or accompany it with fruit if possible .
In short, the snack is an important meal for the child, it is a time of recovery of strength and rest. It is important give them the best possible snack, full of nutrients, energy, flavor and quality, so that they recover energy while we get it to be part of the balance of their daily menu.
