Kids Not Cows

One of the things that really resonated with me in “Bringing Up Bebe” is French children don’t snack all day. The grazing like cattle habit that is so prevalent in American child-raising simply does not happen. The children eat three meals a day plus an afternoon snack. The end.

I am diligent about not letting Georgia consume calories any where but at table. She generally eats a good bit of whatever is offered, downs an appropriate amount of formula and will often supplement that with some water. She doesn’t drink juice and she doesn’t drag a cup around with her, sipping all day long.

In fact, we don’t do sippy cups. The ones that make it hard to get liquid out (and the kind parents prefer, because they don’t make such a mess), just make Georgia frustrated. The kind that flows easily she also rejects, but she does like watching the liquid stream out onto the floor. Georgia loves doing big girl things and wants to drink water out of the same glasses we use. Her favorite is a fancy juice glass that makes her eyes light up when placed on her tray.

Since Georgia only drinks during meal times, not using sippy cups is not a problem. If she spills her water, we all get wet, especially the dog who eternally loiters under the highchair in hopes of dropped food.  No big deal – we’ll dry. She gets formula out of a bottle so I can monitor her nutritional intake. Everyone is happy and we aren’t in a power struggle over cups, especially since she will have to give up sippy cups sooner rather than later.

Georgia also does not eat between meals. She does eat five times a day and at some point, I hope to whittle that down to three main meals and an afternoon snack. There will be no grazing in the car and when we buy treats, whatever Georgia picks will be reserved for her snack time and not consumed right then and there. She will learn to wait.

While my method works perfectly when I am Georgia’s primary playmate, I live in anxious anticipation of what will happen to our lovely diet and schedule when she starts making friends and going to various kid activities I’d like her to join, because they all involve snack time. No matter what the activity or what time of day, snacks are involved.

The trend of replacing healthy meals with empty calories is well documented and as kids fill up on what are usually empty calories, they eat less at table where (in theory) healthier options are offered. This is all fairly recent.

As recently as the 1970s, kids used to get three square meals a day plus an after-school snack. The end. The French people still do that and guess what? Their obesity rate is lower and their overall health is better. Children in the US are eating nearly 600 calories a day in snacks and children aged two to six are consuming the most snacks and childhood obesity rates and chronic illness are all too common at younger and younger ages.

I am going to have to find a way to balance Georgia’s fun and time with friends with our philosophy of food and eating. I know I will have a short window where we can just leave without snacks, but eventually Georgia will want to stay. If an activity ends close to lunchtime, we will have an early lunch with food we bring.

As Georgia gets older, I rather live in horror of the challenges we will face in our snack-obsessed American society when I am trying to emphasize fresh, delicious, healthy foods and Georgia doesn’t suck down juice boxes, those weird plastic pouches of smoothies and gobble Cheerios at all hours of the day.

Would it be possible to teach her to use self control and politely decline?