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I am sitting here with a jar of Mango Overnight Oats, in a miraculously quiet house since the kids aren’t up yet, ready to share a story about how I changed my mind about “kids food.” This happened over a decade ago, but it was such a formative moment in how I think about feeding my kids that it is still clear in my mind.
When my oldest was one, she discovered cheese crackers. Up until that point, I made most of her food—I had the benefit of a flexible job, culinary knowledge, time to cook, and she was my only kid.
She was a toddler who generally ate most foods I made her, so the sudden preference and desire for cheese crackers at snack time Every Single Day caught me off guard. And I quickly convinced myself it was the beginning of the end of her being a “good” eater.
At the time, I didn’t have many close friends who had navigated the toddler food phase of life since I was the first in my friend group to have a baby. Which means that I was all ears whenever anyone talked about feeding kids…and I mainly got my information from strangers on the internet.
The only message I saw with any regularity was that if a child starts to taste “processed” foods from the store, it will become harder for them to like the homemade foods they had been used to (happily) eating.
And since this cheese cracker devotion started at daycare, where they were a regular afternoon snack, I took the only route I thought was open to me at the time…
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What a relatable moment—so many parents go through the same snack-time battles and doubts. It’s refreshing to see honest reflection on feeding kids without the guilt. Balancing what’s convenient with what’s nourishing is a constant learning process.
That’s exactly what it’s like having a kid with food allergies. They don’t understand why you keep saying no, you can’t have the crackers! The sheer effort I went through to make sure my toddler wasn’t excluded and his safe food looked as similar as possible.
I am sure it is, and that is so much harder than anyone can realize if you haven’t been in that situation with your own child. Thanks for sharing that, and for the reminder about how this sort of thing impacts us in different ways.
This happened to me too! Kiddo learned to love goldfish at daycare.
My general philosophy is that eating with other people is a good thing and that if someone else is going to feed my child for me, I don’t complain unless it’s a safety issue.
Actually, one problem at our first daycare was that there was one kid who was getting cupcakes and other sweets in his lunch and my son wouldn’t eat the things he normally liked seeing that. I ended up sending banana muffins with hidden veg and some chocolate chips.
When we switched to a daycare where I had to provide my own snacks, I kept sending some goldfish or veggie straws packaged alongside some favorite fruit and veg.
One thing you didn’t mention is sometimes you need the packaging to keep the snacks fresh for portability. I like to keep some bars and other snacks in the car, and also sometimes I would put a bar in kiddo’s school lunch bag in case he needed an extra snack. It would usually get picked after the veggies and snack food and I could use the same extra snack for a few days.
Agree about eating with other people and the freshness issue!