It’s Thursday at 8:00am at my house. Jona is sitting on the couch, Violet is on the floor, playing with some toys (likely ones that aren’t hers, or not actual toys). They both just finished breakfast, and I turned some cartoons on, hoping that they’re both occupied enough that I can get a little work done. 5 minutes in: “Mom, can I have a snack?” Me: “You just ate breakfast!” Jona: “Yeah, but can I have a snack?” “No, not yet. It’s not snack time yet.” I swear, I could have just given him a 3 course breakfast (#nothappening) and he’d still be begging for a snack 20 minutes later.
To Jona, snacks are the best thing ever. To me, they’re about the most annoying. (Giving him snacks at least… I love a good snack myself.) While I want to have control over when he’s allowed to have a snack, the idea of him getting the actual snack himself is appealing. So I cleared out a drawer in our pantry and made it just for Jona. I spent my $10 at Target this month on two baskets to corral snack options and special treat options. (The baskets were on sale for $3.99 each and I also picked up a box of animal crackers that was less than $2. Those got eaten before photos were taken.)
The snack process used to take forever. I would list several options, and he would take a million years just to tell me he wants something I didn’t even suggest (chocolate chips for a snack? nice try). Now, he has a basket full of choices that he’s able to get himself at snack time–things like peanuts, crackers (usually with hummus, but I have to get that out), raisins, and “squeezy applesauce”. I even put his plates and cups in the drawer, so he can get a glass of water all by himself if he wants one.
This may be a super obvious thing to do for some of you, but it didn’t even occur to me until recently. But it’s a snack time game-changer for sure!
Do you have any sanity-saving tips for snack time?
Linking with $10 at Target.
