What Really Are the Best Snacks for Children?

My experience on choosing snacks for kids has been interesting. I am lucky to have discovered the right healthy habits earlier on in my children’s lives.

For me, even when I wasn’t health-conscious per se, I was conscious of not having too much sugar in my diet and in my children’s diets (more so because my father’s diabetic). And I knew that good nutrition from main meals and snacks for children is a must. It’s kind of common sense too though.

So what I would do is dilute any drinks or fruit juices I was giving them with water, so that it would not be sweet. It wouldn’t exactly taste horrible, but it wouldn’t be the sort of drink a child would crave for.

I wouldn’t buy juices or drinks in the house unless we really had to. After all, if the drinks are not in the house, they wouldn’t ask to drink them.

I wouldn’t get the urge to drink them either unless I wanted to get dressed and go to the corner shops, which I found a chore! And that really helped me too not to crave or want drinks!

Get Rid of Unhealthy Snack Habits

Get rid of the habit of stocking up on sugary drinks and sugary snacks for children to start with. They wouldn’t have them if they are simply not available. It is not that they can’t be indulged at all, remember the occasional chocolate, cream, crisps or ice cream is not the problem, it’s the habit of allowing them to have unhealthy foods that the problem will be.

I recently studied the food labels of a packet of Walker’s Ready Salted crisps, and I was quite impressed to see that there were no preservatives added.

That’s not to say that you should start feeding your children with crisps though! It’s VERY fatty. But it’s nice to know that they contain no preservatives for when you find yourself with no choice, or for the occasional once-in-a-while treat.

Try not to label any foods forbidden. Otherwise, you may end up with a situation in which the ‘forbidden fruit’ is what they’ll always want to try out. And when they get hold of it by chance or when out, they’ll probably tuck into it and consume it like crazy.

There’s a wide variety of healthy snacks for kids that are healthy enough, and that would provide kids nutrition and more good calories to keep their blood sugar levels in between meals.

Healthy Snack Ideas

Children are normally quite hungry after school. So here are a few healthy snack ideas for children:

• Smoothies made with fruits and yoghurt. Simply blend a variety of fruits together. Add apples for natural sweetness.

• Brown toast with low-fat cheese spread.

• Sweet corn and peas

• Yoghurt, preferably natural.

• Fruits, cut up really nicely (make a variety of them).

• Home-made biscuits with wheat flour, you can finely grate in some vegetables and fruits too.

• Oat cakes and oat biscuits

• Raw vegetables such as carrots, or baby carrots.
• Raisins

• Oranges

• Seeds and nuts

• Eggs

• Salads with healthy salad dressings.

• Cherry tomatoes

• A plum

• A pear

Regarding drinks, teach your child to drink water often. If you do that, they won’t crave sugary fruit juices. And even when they drink them, as it’s not a habit they won’t like them, or will need them diluted because it’ll be too sweet for them. It’s not a good idea to allow your child require a fruit juice always at meal times. Water is by far the best drink for them.

Healthy snacks for kids can be incorporated in your family’s lives easily enough. You will quickly find that you can make them at home without much fuss. Just try to ensure you always choose healthy, fresh, whole foods. Not processed.