Contributed by Hillary Kennon
As we journey through the long days of summer, as a former Kindergarten teacher, I’m sharing an idea that may help maintain a bit of health and harmony for busy kids at home.
My oldest son is generally ravenous and will eat all the snacks in one day if we let him. So, we have embarked upon the snack basket system.
HOW IT WORKS
It took about an hour to make—including laminating, cutting, and printing, so my response to “Mom, I’m starving!” is a not-frustrated “Check your snack basket.” Boom, it’s out of my hands.
I allow four snacks per day—ideally a fruit and a grain, then a protein and a grain—but he will have to figure this out. Options rotate based on groceries purchased and I don’t tell him what he can choose; if it is in the basket, it’s free reign.
What I hope he learns is that eating all the granola bars in one day means waiting until the bucket is refilled on Sunday to get another.
I hope this will also help him think ahead—something we work on in all his life skill areas.
If he chooses something not physically in the basket, he transfers the appropriate clothespin into a plastic bag attached to the bucket. Over time, he will realize if the bucket is empty in the first half of the week, he may have trouble making it from meal to meal in the second half of the week.
Have genius ideas you want to share? Send us your summer strategies.